IT would seem my very old mother had a rise of $22.23 per fortnight (hooray party time) in her Centrelink aged pension. I assume everyone else receiving a Centrelink pension got the same increase?
However the daily fee charged by her aged care facility increased by $30.52 per fortnight. So her pension increase is actually a net loss of $8.29 per fortnight.
It appears the old aged pension increase has been funded by cuts to the aged care sector, so in turn they have to increase their fees to attempt to provide the same level of care.
Maths 101 really - rob Peter to pay Paul.
Maybe someone from the Centrelink aged care assessment team, a government department or the Ombudsman can provide what Pauline always says "Please explain?"
Please don't say to contact my local Centrelink office as I've had three face-to-face conversations and numerous phone calls, which anyone who has rang Centrelink would know, can last for hours.
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
Sorry state of affairs
TALK is cheap compared to real action. Saying "sorry" to red zone residents doesn't cut it, ('We're sorry', Herald, 11/10).
With the change of federal government, residents of the PFAS contamination zone around Fullerton Cove and Williamtown had hoped for a better deal. But apparently, this isn't going to be the case.
"We understand", "we're sorry", "we'll conduct another independent review" is just more political obfuscation, designed to calm the natives and save money.
Meanwhile the PFAS-affected residents, through no fault of their own, are stuck on their contaminated properties.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
'Get a job' ... it's not that simple
IT was interesting to note the juxtaposition of a recent Short Take, where the correspondent refers to the unemployed as "those who choose not to work", with a Topics item on the next page concerning the high proportion of teenage pregnancies in rural and remote areas.
Among those who "choose not to work", does your correspondent include people over, say, 50 who have lost their job and can't get another one, those who have a physical or intellectual impairment, those who don't have a good command of English, those who just look "different", racially or otherwise, those who are unskilled due to lack of educational and training opportunities, or teenage girls and young people generally who simply cannot find work in the communities where they live? Are all these people "choosing" not to get a job?
Yes, there is a cohort of people who are quite happy to live off welfare, but there is a much larger group who, despite their best efforts to get a job, are denied access to suitable sustainable employment. Surely these people deserve to be treated humanely?
And if the bludgers manage to game the system, that's an unfortunate by-product of Australia's "fair go" democracy and welfare system.
The best governments can do for these people is provide encouragement, incentives, opportunities and, if that doesn't work, penalties to try to change their attitudes and behaviour.
John Ure, Mount Hutton
Tracing grandfather's life
MY grandfather William George Board left Newcastle in 1915 (age 25) to fight in the 1st World War. He was wounded in Gallipoli and sent to Swansea (Old) South Wales to convalesce where he met and subsequently married my grandmother Olive Price Jones, but he never returned to Australia. This is why I now live in Cardiff, in South Wales.
He was an accountant by training and ended working for the Allied Military Government in Trieste, Italy where he died in 1952 and is buried there. I never met him as he died before I was born but have been to visit his grave in the military cemetery there.
The reason for my writing is that my wife and I are visiting Australia for the first time next month and we are seeking more more information on his life before he went to war. He had a sister Marion who I believe became Australia's oldest woman? We are setting off for Sydney in a month's time and are planning to visit Newcastle on November 14 and 15 to try and find out more about him and where he came from.
I would be very grateful if you could pass on this request to anyone that may be able to shed some light on a person I never met so I can share this with my family and future generations. Email: andrew.g.board@gmail.com
Andrew Board, Cardiff, South Wales
Respect for fine leader
IAN Kirkwood's article, 'Vale Newcastle Herald's Brian Noack', (Herald, 8/10), was of special interest to me. As an ex-employee, I had the greatest respect for Brian Noack and found him to be a thoroughly decent person along with being a great boss. Former manager, Julie Ainsworth, stated in the article, "they were different times back then''. Certainly they were, with disputes, strikes and confronting situations to deal with.
However, "Mr Noack'' always seemed to deal with whatever was thrown at him. Even the most militant unionists of that era secretly had respect for the great man.
It was certainly a sad day when he retired and may he now rest in peace.
Col Parkins, Wallsend
The drug reform debate
THE editorial "Drug law reform seen in wider context", (Opinion, 11/10), favours the decriminalisation of cannabis for a number of good reasons. It also states: "But history shows us that cannabis is not always a good prescription, especially for younger minds".
While I believe there is some truth in that, people should realise that young people can easily obtain these unregulated drugs under prohibition, sometimes more easily than licensed alcohol.
We can't assume that ending the war on drugs will necessarily increase usage, as Portugal's 2011 decriminalisation of all drugs has shown.
Michael Gormly, Islington
Contradiction on fossil fuels
WHY did our council refuse to back a ban on advertising of fossil fuels in our city, putting it at odds with many other Australian councils which have enacted such a ban? While claiming to be committed to elimination of carbon emissions, our Labor-dominated council permits fossil-fuel sponsorships right in our CBD.
Not only is the Supercars event itself a major polluter of greenhouse gases, noise, rubber particles and litter, but it aligns itself with a greenhouse gas sponsor.
Further, if council was to negotiate a five-year extension of the event, then Supercars would still be racing in our streets in 2029, just one year short of council's claimed commitment to a carbon-neutral city by, "at the latest, 2030". Consistent internal logic should guide public policy, but these contradictions reflect a failure to enact council's own stated policies around a critically important issue.
John Beach, Cooks Hill
SHORT TAKES
I AM so perplexed to see that power bills are going up, yet Australia has so much wind energy and so much blazing sun. How in the world are energy prices going up in Newcastle? Once again after we have already paid for new poles and wires under Baird?
Simon Ruddy, Newcastle
NOTHING suss about the Queenslander "Big" Mal choosing DCE over Cleary. What's DCE done this year? Bollocks.
Mick Porter, Raymond Terrace
IT is about time the governments who sold off our power assets to profit-making corporations pulled them into line and stopped the excuses put forward for needed price rises. It is not the war in Ukrainian territory, it is supply and demand. The corporations have run the infrastructure down to maximise profit and now cannot supply. Stop this rot and charge them tax to be returned to the people for not doing their job. Market pressures are a smoke and mirrors exercise being sold to the public as fact.
Ian Reynolds, Forster
CHRISTINE Everingham continues her assault on the numbers that were issued as a result of those who attended the Newcastle 500. Does she know that Ticketek is in charge of the scanning of all persons that attend the event? That includes those with free tickets and those associated with the teams. They all require an appraisal ticket with a barcode. This I know as I have volunteered and performed in the role of scanning people in.
Mark Creek, Adamstown
DENISE Lindus Trummel, ("Pack away your prejudices, please", Letters, 11/10), I don't recall Tony Morley mentioning anyone not working hard to afford to live where they live. As for the connection with whingers and bowling clubs, you may have missed the numerous reports regarding people whining about Adamstown Bowling Club's outdoor gigs that finish by 5pm.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
CAN one of the climate change gurus tell me what caused Sydney's 1950 rainfall total of 2194mm some 72 years ago? And in 1954 Maitland's record flood levels never reached again 68 years ago. Was all that climate change or what?
Phil Grainger, Lemon Tree Passage
IN a remarkable display of choosing wilful ignorance over science, Matt Ophir says he loves coal so much he wants to eat it for breakfast. You may as well sprinkle it with asbestos and nicotine while you're at it Matt, after all, we know those scientific nerds only make up the doom and gloom stuff just to keep themselves in a job. You do you - what could possibly go wrong?
