Newcastle Herald letters to the editor, Tuesday, May 26, 2020: Teenager taking up fight for the Greta good

She is passionate, but far from unhinged. Instead she is a highly intelligent young woman who has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, (not a mental illness), and displays some typical characteristics of this syndrome.

Those with Asperger syndrome often take an intense interest in a limited number of subjects (climate change in her case), and are very focused and single-minded. They deal in facts and have a remarkable recall of details. They also speak directly, without concern for subtleties and uninformed views of others.

Consequently, on the subject of climate change she will almost certainly be far better informed than her critics, and quite capable of bluntly revealing any weaknesses in knowledge.

WHEN your Letters to the Editor writers make uninformed opinions without doing any research, except possibly listening to Sky News, and then say totally outlandish claims like someone is unhinged I totally despair that there is a small group of I suspect angry, uniformed men who if they don't agree with a person's views they look to attack the individual with slurs about their character or mental health.

Greta Thunberg was not on a CNN panel as an expert in infectious disease, she was brought on to discuss her efforts as a children's activist and her support for UNICEF. Other guests interviewed included a Major League Baseball Commissioner. I did not hear anyone rant about him being on that evening.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Please angry men, get some facts into your complaint otherwise you just look like a frustrated guy no one with any sense would believe. As for the 17-year-old, her credentials and what she has done with her life, and the number of people around the world who support her, calling her unhinged reminds me of the actions of a certain American President.

You may not agree with Ms Thunberg's stance on many issues, so argue your point, but get your facts right. Writing flippant, derogatory comments just turns most thinking people off and makes you like Trump (definitely not a compliment).

I WATCH the empty coal ships, many of them bound for China, queuing up, anchored out to sea off Caves Beach. When the ships stop coming, the Hunter Region will suffer economically, and Australians' living standard will take a hit ("Power shift", Herald, 23/5).

Over the next several decades, China is switching from coal-fired power stations to renewable energy sources. Post pandemic, it will supply its residual need for thermal coal from its own mines.

Where will Hunter coal go after China stops buying it? The thermal coal is easy. Given the Coalition's support for the fossil fuel industry, we can expect our coal-fired power stations to be given an indefinite new lease of life. We can also expect more taxpayer subsidies for carbon capture and storage and in paying for HELE (High efficiency, low emissions) power stations.

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The coking coal is a bit of a problem. Our remaining small, steel-making industry doesn't need and couldn't buy this coal.

Of course, all this means yet another new energy plan. But Australia will still be on track to meet our 2030 Paris Agreement carbon emissions targets. Just ask ScoMo and Angus Taylor.

HAS anyone noticed that the coronavirus has modified a number of our customs and habits?

For example, now that China has a major interest in our major ports, farms, universities and businesses they have stopped pretending that Australia is nothing more than a spare parts depot and we should do as we're told.

We appear to have become another Chinese province, much like Hong Kong and Burma. Someone pointed out long ago that when China sneezes Australia gets a full dose of the flu. Well, they sure got that right.

And when we're really naughty our Chinese rulers put tariffs on our farmers, and if we don't get the message they reduce our coal exports. I wonder what they have in mind for our iron ore.

Back before 1970 we were the "Lucky Country", but since then we've deteriorated to become little more than Chinese servants.

ON the face of it, Scott Hillard is correct (Letters, 23/5); Section 92 of the Australian Constitution does guarantee freedom of movement between states. However this is not an absolute freedom.

As recently as 1988 the High Court of Australia, in Cole v Whitfield, stated that this does not mean that "every form of intercourse must be left without any restriction or regulation in order to satisfy the guarantee of freedom". In other words, under certain circumstances, and a pandemic would probably qualify, states can restrict freedom of movement.

It will now be up to the High Court to decide whether the actions taken by the states, Queensland in the case of the Hanson challenge and Western Australia in respect to the mooted challenge by Clive Palmer, are reasonable. And this is not the first time that this has come up. Freedom of movement between the states was widely discussed during the Spanish Influenza pandemic.

There was an initial agreement that borders would not be closed without mutual agreement but when infected people began to arrive in NSW from Victoria, NSW closed its borders. Further border closures followed and on that occasion the Commonwealth decided not to intervene but to let the states sort it out among themselves. It seems that history is repeating itself.

HERE we are complaining about isolation and money scraps from the government - how about we consider how lucky we are?

There's one group in Australia that have lost everything, their lives, families, their homes and food; over 1 billion animals perished during the recent bushfires. Remember Lewis? I didn't hear him whinging and these poor buggers are still dying. A bird will die and drop from his branch without making a single sound, so how about counting our blessings and remember how really fortunate we are? Have a toast to our fallen icons when you finally can afford a glass of wine or beer. Lest we forget.

Maybe the government can donate some of their excess billions towards rehabilitation and relocation costs of endangered animals. Maybe China can subsidise our animals with monies from their imposed tariffs.

THE Federal Treasury and Tax Office have apparently miscalculated JobKeeper by 3 million people and the cost of the program by $60 billion. Yet Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says we shouldn't blame them for the miscalculations. Well Josh, who or what do we blame? For a government that persistently claims to be wonderful economic managers, this is a woeful error. As Labor leader Albanase says "They couldn't run a bath".

I'M wondering about this bridge that we had to get over. Everything shut down, people losing everything and yet now as we reopen the virus is still out there and active. What and why were we put under these at times ridiculous restrictions? Thousands of people a day go to a Bunnings store and yet a cafe or restaurant is closed down for months. It's a very suspect and contradictory Australia at present.

JOHN Hudson (Short Takes, 23/5). Fancy that; an East Ender sticking up for an East Ender writing a book about Supercars in the east end.

HOW lovely it was to read "Deb's serving up hope", "Little Brayden a big fighter" and "Opening door to hope" (Herald, 23/5). There was an element of sadness in each story but a strong message of hope was heartwarming. Refreshing to read instead of the usual political, crime or violence. Best wishes to all families involved in those stories.

I HAVE come to the conclusion that the best analogy for Berejiklian state government is their project, the Newcastle trolley. It is expensive, disruptive, and doesn't go very far.

NO wonder we're in trouble when our treasurer can't add up.

IT was a mistake for Australia to become so heavily dependent economically with a communist country like China. I'm sure if you asked the average Australian if we should be leasing an Australian port like Darwin or selling agricultural farms to China, the answer would be a resounding NO. The politicians we elect to run the country seem to be waking up to this now that the horse has bolted. In return China might agree to lease us the Great Wall of China for 99 years, but I don't think they are that dumb.

DON'T the games played between the very few rugby league countries only have one ref? Maybe Aussie refs can't handle it.

THE party is a coalition. The goal is a country of division.

ANDREW Bray, while I don't disagree with anything you said about renewables, tell me, how will base load power be generated continuously using them?

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