Letters to the editor and short takes Monday May 25 2020

I believe that the reason this work is being done now is that it was brought forward because of people power, the thousands of people who signed petitions to exclude private business interests and upgrade our historic baths ('Mixed view on baths plan', Herald 5/11/19).

After all the money spent on Supercars and relocation of council offices, now council assets must be sold to fund this long-overdue project.

When I swim at the baths I often look up at the rusting supports still holding up the heritage-listed facade. Why is only half a job being done? Surely the pavilion's repair is essential to the ongoing use of the baths.

It will be wonderful to see the baths and surrounds upgraded but this is a Band-Aid solution.

RECENTLY I received a letter from a nearby council thanking me for my submission about a DA in a suburb quite distant to me.

I've not made any submission on this matter and from a conversation with that council's planning officer it appears that someone has sent false submissions in a large number of other people's names.

Not only is this a gross misuse of my name and address which has been recorded by the council, I wonder if this is identity theft and therefore a criminal act under law?

As well, such submissions would be counted as for or against the subject DA, completely skewing any community opinion and, further, negating the council's intention of allowing its community to have their true opinion taken into account.

This action reeks of hubris - my opinion is the only one that matters and I will have my way.

IT'S important to note that opposition to Supercars in Newcastle East is not opposition to car racing in general, merely to the location, right at the front door of residents.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant, now a familiar face in her media work with COVID-19, issued a clear warning of permanent hearing loss ('Race 'risk to hearing', Herald 6/9/19) from close exposure to racing noise levels, something long-suffering residents can hardly avoid.

The consequence is that many families with small children, or aged relatives, are forced to move away during the racing week.

In the first year only, some families were financially compensated for these accommodation costs. I consider this a clear admission of potential threats to health.

Surely now it is time to develop plans to move the race to a suitable location, giving fans better access and viewing, space for social distancing, and affording residents well deserved relief.

AN article on the future of nursing (Herald, 15/5) described Pepper the Humanoid Social Robot as capable of relieving nurses by performing menial duties such as greeting patients.

A menial duty is one which lacks skill or prestige. Nursing is so much more than performing clinical skills. Nursing is both an art and a humanistic science.

The experience a patient has on admission sets the scene for the entire patient journey. It is the first opportunity for a nurse to establish empathy and trust which is the basis of a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship. Imagine how a patient afraid and in pain would feel being greeted on arrival to a ward or emergency room by a robot.

To describe greeting patients as a menial task devalues human interaction, which is at the heart of nursing. Technology assists nurses; it cannot replace them.

I CAN remember big coal boats coming unaided into Swansea channel. Then they narrowed the same channel, built a sand island north west of Pelican and what do you know, the channel is now choked with sand.

The current is very rapid and the bar is now very shallow and very dangerous. Lo and behold, Lake Macquarie City Council are asking the residents of Swansea to submit their views on future flooding, using the in-vogue excuse of water rising because of global warming. I think it's a trendy, unproven Greenie opinion and a doom-and-gloom excuse for the council to cop out.

Swansea has always taken water in times of flood and extreme tidal situation and it has not changed in my 80-odd years of memory, but what has changed is these dumb, would-be prime ministers spouting their ill-informed opinion on residents.

If they did their job, they would be seeking funds to remove Mistake Island, pursue a high rise bridge and restraighten the channel to its original and effective state.

Surely if the government can build a bridge to nowhere like Stockton bridge, which would be less expensive because of length, this present way of thinking is typical of a council who either doesn't care, doesn't know how to fix the problem or are just incompetent.

DON Fraser fires from the hip occasionally and his criticism of Greta Thunberg's inclusion on a four-person panel in the US to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic wasn't overly subtle (Short Takes, 19/5).

Not surprisingly, it drew a rebuke from Julie Robinson (Short Takes, 21/5) whose attacks on the Australian Prime Minister on this page recently, have been equally blunt.

In support of Don Fraser, I don't believe Greta Thunberg has quite finished her epidemiology course just yet, so there are probably a few eminent specialists in the field who are just as astonished as Mr Fraser that this child has somehow been invited onto an expert panel, presumably to study the causes and spread of the coronavirus throughout the world.

I MAY be becoming a cynical old man but these incompetent major parties have been selling off our country for years and are leading us to a catastrophic future.

I believe they have stolen the water from our farmers to deliberately send them broke so there will be no opposition to tearing the guts out of the country with coal seam gas.

The propaganda is just beginning. I implore people to watch a black comedy called Nothing but Trouble. You will get a laugh and have a bit more knowledge into this very destructive industry.

FEDERAL court finds big businesses guilty of underpaying casual workers ('Casuals triumph', Newcastle Herald 21/5). Federal government was horrified at the finding. Solution? Legislate to make the abuse of casuals legal. Everything back to normal. Checkmate, workers of Australia!

CANCELLING Supercars ('Hit the brakes', Herald 16/5) could provide interesting comparative costs/benefits for the City of Newcastle council and the residents of greater Newcastle. Maybe Hunter Valley Research Foundation can carry out a full evaluation of revenues and expenses of running the event and not running the event. This would make more sense than council's previous brief to only assess the benefits and not the costs.

FORGET the "$10m splash for ocean baths'' (Herald, 22/5). Sounds like a pipedream headline grab. City of Newcastle should spend the money on Newcastle Tennis, at the very least being a reward for battling on, legally, and staying open so people could exercise their bodies and minds. True, you may not be seen as a latte-sipping super-strider, but the well being achieved in an hour of hand-eye coordination hitting a furry green ball is well worth it.

KNIGHTS supporters, are you getting excited for Sunday? Put your Knights' gear on and give the boys a send off as we did previously. Then go to your lounge room stadium and cheer them on. Anyone, anytime, anywhere. Go Knights.

NOW that all the spin of Supercars and the council has been exposed, it appears that the only argument left for some supporters is to denigrate residents. Mock all you like, it's worth it if we don't have to be locked down for nine weeks over the Christmas period.

JULIE Robinson (Short Takes, 21/5) you are spot on. The sooner Mr Morrison appoints Greta Thunberg the job of chief scientist in virology the sooner the coronavirus pandemic will be over. Greta can then be appointed head of everything and we won't need a government.

BRUCE Brander (Short Takes, 21/5) not only Labor states have borders closed, Tasmania and South Australian Liberal state governments' borders are closed too.

CHINA'S intentions are blatantly obvious; they are trying to send Australia broke. They know how to get what they want.

BRIAN Burgess (Short Takes, 22/5) wants to have the Newcastle Supercars event scrapped altogether. I move that his motions be rescinded and put where they belong.

COULD we have at least one cartoon per week that adversely depicts another party's politician other than Mr Morrison?