BRADLEY Perrett points out that the Newcastle city needs vehicle access and the reduction of vehicle access and giving it over to bikes (often motorised) is extremely unwise ("Driving home residents' priority", Opinion 27/9). The 30km/h speed limits for vehicles are often exceeded by the motorised bikes, often with up to three people unhelmeted per bike who are unchallenged by the police.
Without the parking/set-down capacity due to the bike corridors, those in wheelchairs needing to visit professional rooms are essentially unable to comfortably visit their city. The rough roads and the unnecessary speed bumps make the experience for my wheelchair-bound customers an extremely uncomfortable but necessary journey for them. They deserve better. We all need to remember that while today we may be fit to walk and ride bikes, tomorrow we may be the ones in wheelchairs.
As a lord mayoral candidate during the recent local government election campaign I raised these concerns and it saddened me that I only received support for this position from Dr Ross Kerridge.
"My Friend as you walk and ride by, I once was were you are now; where I am now you someday may well be; so prepare for lack of health and follow me".
Milton Caine, Birmingham Gardens
Big money? It's all relative
YOUR correspondent, Greg Hunt, questions the salary and worth of the First Nations People Ambassador ("Ambassador's spend questioned", Letters 25/9).
Violence and crime in Indigenous communities does not fall within the ambassador's complex role.
His salary, or worth, depends on his ability to deal with the issues within this role.
A few comparisons are revealing in evaluating the ambassador's salary. In 2019, the Morrison government paid Scott Cam $345,000 for 15 months work as the national careers ambassador. The effectiveness of this has been forever obvious.
Woolworths' Board members are paid between $350,000 and $827,000 annually for attendance at board meetings and other duties. The big four banks pay their directors in excess of $225,000 annually, again for their attendance at meetings and any unspecified duties. Kyle and Jackie O, since late last year, have been paid $20 million between them annually, plus stock options, for their contributions towards a better world.
A wider sample might allow a more objective assessment of Mr Hunt's claims.
Brian Collins, Kotara South
Extending mines was a mistake
I WAS shocked by the Newcastle Herald's front-page news ("Major victory for miners", Herald 25/7). Tanya Plibersek has approved three new mine expansions, giving the excuse that this is ok because they are not new mines. Does the toxic coal ash dust containing lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic, to name just a few, that blows all over the adjacent Hunter and Narrabri townships, suddenly stop blowing because it still comes from the same place?
Do Australians know that exported emissions are not included in the calculations for Australia's emissions targets?
90 per cent of Australian coal is exported. In 2021, we were the second largest exporter of coal in the world. For all the damage that fossil fuel mining does, very little goes back to the taxpayer.
Tax loopholes mean that foreign corporations get to take most of their profits overseas. Nurses and teachers likely pay more tax than some of them do. To add insult to injury, the taxpayer pays billions in annual subsidies - $11.1 in 2023, according to the Australia Institute - to compensate miners for digging up our resources.
Taxpayers need to get smart about what happens to their hard-earned taxes. They need to act. We can't leave proper regulation to governments, whom we once trusted, and particularly when they are beholden to vested interests.
Anne Ammann, Nords Wharf
A poll is not a referendum
PETER Devey ("No zest in renewables", Letters, 26/9), questions the methods and motivations of a poll by Renew Australia For All showing strong public support for renewable energy.
All polling uses the sampling method. Is Mr Devey suggesting he'll only accept a poll of the entire population?
And it's not just this pollster which has found strong support. To give just two other examples this year, surveys by CSIRO and well known polling company Ipsos show that at least 60 per cent of Australians support a transition to renewables.
Perhaps what's really going on here is that Mr Devey simply doesn't want to hear that most people disagree with him.
Transitioning to a renewable energy future is not an "indulgence" we can't afford. Denying the obvious and complaining about the inevitable is.
Michael Hinchey, New Lambton
Discount for bulk buying is costing needy
The following was penned in March 2009: "The large grocery stores are stacking their shelves with goods that require the customer to buy multiples to get a cheaper price per unit. Small households with limited incomes are being conned. Their income does not allow a multiple buy or they do not need a multiple of a product. I believe the stores' margin of profit is based on multiple purchases and selling a single of the same product is a bonus for them." Now it's September 2024, and the shops have increased the so-called specials eg. carton of cordial, two of $20, a single buy $14.50. The shelves are stacked with "buy two and save".
Gordon Geise, Glendale
Details sketchy on cartoon topics
I must be getting old. I thought cartoons were an amusing look at events and people, not a biased promotion of political ideology. How we yearn for Peter Lewis - we understood all of his cartoons.
Doug Hoepper, Garden Suburb
Why economic stances differ
The Minerals Council of Australia says that the government's approval for three large thermal coal mine extensions will "safeguard jobs and economic stability" ("Coal mining approval sparks health fears", Newcastle Herald 26/9). Yet in late 2021, the World Economic Forum, who might surely be considered experts in "economic stability", said "instead of approving new coal mines and funding new gas and oil projects, governments should divert their resources to accelerate a green recovery post-COVID." We know precisely why the two positions, although ostensibly both about jobs and economics, are so different. One is taken by people who represent the fossil fuel industry. The other is informed by science. It is pretty easy to decide which is the more reliable source.
Lesley Walker, Northcote
Perfect is the enemy of good
As a voter who has voted for the Greens on occasions I want to ask them one question: will they be happy at the next federal election when they have helped an ultra-conservative, right wing Coalition led by Peter Dutton come to power? What gross hypocrisy, the fact they are hindering the efforts to introduce policy to improve affordable housing and implement renewable energy infrastructure by the Labor government. When Dutton gets into power they will have something to really scream about. All too late then.
