Newcastle Herald Letters to the Editor: Wednesday, December 18, 2019

While Port Stephens Council may have adjusted its code of meeting practice to allow this process to occur, I find it difficult to understand how the stretched and valued resources of our police can be called on to intervene over rolled eyes. I think the mayor needs to demonstrate he is above saying his councillors make "smart arse remarks".

Raymond Terrace Local Area Command is a very busy police facility dealing with serious matters ranging from domestic violence, drug related crime, break and enter etc. They have little time to waste on resolving schoolyard brawls and should not have attended this meeting.

The frivolity of this entire exercise is available for all to see on the council's meeting website, and residents can make up their own mind about what has happened in this spat, they do not have to rely on secondhand information.

Regarding code of conduct - in my experience it is a waste of time going down this path, consuming energy and resources. I think the mayor should apologise, shake Cr Arnott's hand and move on before this matter festers leading up to Local Government Elections in September 2020.

I WRITE regarding parking for people with a disability at Speers Point Park. Around six weeks ago, with the markets and soccer on, parking spaces were hard to find near the barbecue area, all except for one van that had parked in one space and blocked off another.

I spoke to the owner of the van, and he informed me that he ran a fitness group. He said "the council had given him permission to block the extra park on H&S, grounds" and, noticing my disabled sticker, he suggested we use the disabled parking spaces. I wrote to the council and the community facilities' booking officer, he agreed and said yes, he could use two spaces.

There are two main entries to the park where the disabled spaces are located. The barbecue area is about the middle between disabled parking. At the western area, the disabled need to cross a busy road then with their walking frames or sticks negotiate soft, rough, uneven ground full of tree roots for around 50 metres, from the eastern end the distance and ground is the same but they don't have to cross the road.

I estimate there's 100 car parks closer to the seating near the barbecue area than the disabled parking. If parking was in the swimming pool area across the road from the barbecue area it would be about 25 metres easy walk or on the lake side parking three metres to get to seating.

The anti-discrimination law says "disabled should have the same access to public buildings and parks the same as able-bodied persons".

MATT Kean has stated that climate change is "a matter of science ... not religion". His statement has created a storm of dissent and protest from shock jocks, climate change deniers and the religious right.

In particular, I cannot understand the attitude of the religious right who support profit-making from resource exploitation and ignore environmental consequences. In Genesis, God clearly commands humankind to be stewards of his planet. The Christian right therefore directly disobeys this command by their God and conveniently deny all the science that says that humankind contributes to global warming.

The Abrahamic religion's God understood the disobedient nature of humans when he threw them out of his garden. Given that 90 per cent of bushfires are started by arsonists, perhaps God also worried that either Adam or Eve would burn down his garden.

IN heaping praise on Donald Trump (and offering spurious examples of Trump's "successes"), John Butler (Letters, 16/12) overlooks, or perhaps disregards, the moral dimension of the Trump presidency.

Trump has boasted of sexually assaulting women. He constantly makes racist comments. I believe he is an unashamed liar.

I think he appears to be incapable of empathy, diplomacy or statecraft.

He consistently denigrates and abuses other countries, world leaders (friend, but not foe) and his own political opponents and allies.

He uses the unique powers of his position to divide rather than unite people and to create uncertainty and unrest, according to whim.

He uses social media as a platform for abuse and belittlement of anybody who dares to criticise or disagree with him. He is a climate changer denier. One of his favourite sayings is: "We'll see what happens", which illustrates by his own words that he has absolutely no idea of the possible consequences of his policy decisions and Twitter outbursts.

I honestly believe his megalomania, narcissism, capriciousness and downright stupidity have manifested as a genuine threat to world peace and stability. I do agree that Scott Morrison should not seek to emulate Trump, not because he could not measure up to Trump but simply because he might want to be like Trump. Morrison is already making enough of a mess of things without that.

BRAD Hill (Short Takes, 16/12) is one of a number of correspondents who make strong assertions, apparently totally ignorant of the facts.

Past and present fire commissioners have stated specifically that there has been no impact on, or reduction in, prescribed burning due to the influence of the Greens.

They have made it clear that it is increasingly difficult to conduct such burns because of an ever decreasing window of opportunity. The bushfire season is ending later and starting earlier. They explained that within that window of opportunity, wind, weather conditions conducive to smoke hazard, and perversely, rain, restricted fuel reduction burning.

Also firefighters had complained that cuts in government funding have hampered their efforts.

The firefighters themselves issued a statement saying that the situation was nothing to do with the Greens.

But you know better than the experts Brad? I am not a Greens supporter, but please stick to the facts. Hopefully a case of misinformation rather than disinformation.

JOY Cummings remembered for her vision and strong advocacy for a green Foreshore Park for use by all Novocastrians. Nuatali Nelmes - vroom vroom.

STEVE Paras (Short Takes, 16/12) couldn't you tell I was being ridiculous? Highlighting the waste of time and our money creating legislation to attack the 50 or so unions we never hear of when the courts and Fair Work Commission already have enough powers to deal with the CFMEU.

I AM neither an admirer or a critic of Time magazine's Person of the Year Greta Thunberg, but I had to laugh when I read Don Fraser's criticism of her selection this year (Short Takes, 14/12). I particularly was most amused when he referred to Time as a prestige magazine. Bearing in mind that some of the previous winners include Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin (twice), Ayatollah Khomeini and Richard Nixon I somehow don't think prestige is quite the right word to describe the magazine. In comparison to these notorious characters I feel Greta rates slightly above them in what she may be offering to humanity.

POLITICS is not one of my favourite subjects to talk about, although some readers would disagree, so I will be very brief on that subject and only say this: It took the Australian voters 10 years to realise what type of person former prime minister John Howard was and give him his just desserts. I do not think it will take that long to sort out Scott Morrison and give him and his government the same treatment.

THAT'S right Brad Hill, that rascally green in the house of reps and those do-gooder volunteer firefighters have really destroyed our landscape. We should cut down every tree in the country, problem solved - no more bushfires. You never hear of a bushfire in the Sahara or a flood for that matter, you are a pure genius.

DON Fraser (Short Takes, 14/12), trying to belittle a young teenager with courage, foresight and the ability to speak in a manner that has gained her recognition and respect from all points of the compass, and doing no more than delivering a message from eminent scientists from all over the world, is the one who should be ashamed of himself for thinking that his knowledge is far superior than professionals that have spent a life time in this field.

I SUPPOSE Corbyn will retire to his dacha outside Moscow.

"LET not my epitaph be written till Ireland is free". Now that this Brexit saga becomes unworkable, Ireland should take advantage of this and call for a united Ireland. It is time for "direct action" and put this partition in the dust bin of history. May well we say God save the Queen, because nothing will stop a United Ireland. Up the Republic of Ireland.