Letters: Charlestown to coast link on Dudley rail corridor is overdue

In 2014 the Newcastle Herald published a photo, right, of Don Owers and myself on the old Dudley rail corridor pleading for it to be converted to a shared path from Charlestown to the coast.

Newcastle City Council has made great strides building the links to key destinations that encourage safe cycling for frequent short trips. The "pop up" separated paths along Hunter Street were bold and creative.

Charlestown, the largest commercial centre in Lake Macquarie, still has no cycling connections to anywhere. North ward councillors, what have you been doing all these years? If only Morven Cameron had listened to Emily Taylor.

THE polio pandemic of the last century ran a very similar course to the current coronavirus pandemic. My uncle contracted Polio as a child and my father would relate many stories of his older brother with the withered leg.

In the early years, dad would have to fight many battles for uncle Ted. "My little brother could beat you with one hand tied behind his back," he would say. Ted died before I was born and I never got to meet him, nor did he get to see his grandchildren. Polio is just about eliminated now through worldwide vaccinations.

So, to anyone who is debating whether to get the jab or not, you only have to ask yourself one question: do I want to get the Coronavirus? Would I like to see my children, grandchildren or in my case, great grandchildren? I didn't have to think twice about getting the jab.

I READ with interest in the Newcastle Herald regarding the Darling River & Menindee Lakes. In 2004 my partner and I spent a few weeks' exploring the surrounding scenery including the Kinchega National Park.

We were intrigued by the beauty. In an afterthought I said to Bruce that it would take a good picture of our holiday. My erstwhile partner obeyed and submitted it to the Bureau of Meteorology.

To his delight it was accepted for one of the months the next year.

In hindsight I'm so pleased that we captured the pristine quality because so many rivers met a fate that in some cases they would never recover.

The calendar still hangs in my living room as a memory of so many years ago.

IN December 1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan in a move to strengthen their southern border. The various Afghan Tribes put aside old rivalries and became the Afghan Mujahideen to fight the invaders. The CIA, who saw a way to target the USSR as part of their Cold War strategy, supplied modern arms to the Mujahideen, as mentioned by Geoff Black (Letters 25/9).

Afghanistan proved to be the USSR's Vietnam and they retreated in February 1989. Once the Russians left, the Mujahideen reverted back to the old rivalries, and from this arose the Taliban, who begot al-Qaeda, resulting in ISAS and all the various fundamentalist Islamic groups that plague the Muslim world.

I wonder how many Americans realise their own CIA helped to create the terrorist organization that brought down the World Trade Centre buildings on September 11.

PAT Scott, (Short Takes, 23/9), as something of a self confessed pop culture nerd, I'm hoping I can alleviate your concerns with the casting of Tom Cruise as the title character in the Jack Reacher movies.

Author of the James Bond novels Ian Fleming originally didn't agree with the casting of the debonair and handsome Sean Connery, as he envisioned Bond as being quite plain looking. By the second Bond film, however, Fleming felt that he had been wrong about Connery, and admitted believing Connery played the part exceptionally well.

Jack Reacher author Lee Childs stated that there may have been other actors who looked more like the 6'6" blond Reacher than the 5'7", dark-haired Cruise, but he felt they may have lacked the intensity of Cruise, who performs the majority of his own stunts.

The whole height issue was also a concern to those working on the first X-Men movie when the 6'3" Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine, who is depicted in the comic books as being 5'3". However, when Wolverine creator Stan Lee saw Jackman for the first time, he exclaimed "This guy's perfect".

Sometimes it seems that it really is the singer, not the song.

LIKE South Africa abandoning apartheid in the 1990s, it seems Australia will only (finally) adopt responsible carbon emission policies because of external economic pressure and the threat of trade embargos.

History repeats on occasions, this reluctant move by the government to decarbonise Australia due solely to overwhelming financial pressure from other nations.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg made it clear that our sole motivation for adopting a zero-carbon emissions goal is the threat of financial penalty from our major trading partners, who have moved to various penalty systems for carbon polluters.

Environmental considerations about climate change, rising sea levels, and increasingly erratic weather patterns, play little or no part in the Prime Minister's tip-toing towards acceptability at the Glasgow climate conference in November.

It's just about the money, never mind the morality. Perhaps now Ms Gillard and her carbon tax might get an apology.

PETER Devey may be correct that no-one has claimed directly that "unless the burning of coal . . ceases very quickly Earth will no longer be capable of supporting life" (Letters, 27/9).

But in 2018 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "We face a direct existential threat... Extreme heat waves, wildfires, storms and floods are leaving a trail of death and devastation... We are careering towards the edge of the abyss."

Also in 2018, Professor Hans Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research warned, "Climate change is now reaching the endgame, where very soon humanity must choose between taking unprecedented action or accepting that it has been left too late and bear the consequences."

The message from experts, as well as increasingly devastating droughts, fires, floods and storms, is pretty clear. It's time to act.

I'M bemused with "all these bike lanes taking over our city"...appearing everywhere in the CBD for..."the thousands of cyclists...roaring around the city"...all paid by the CBD residents. What about more safe, clean toilets in the CBD, clean, safe hot showers that actually get cleaned - daily - for the thousands and thousands and thousands of Newcastle residents and visitors to our beautiful beaches? Who out in Newcastle agrees with me? Councillors, remember December elections.

TREASURER Josh Frydenberg knows money, and he is well aware of the significant economic consequences for Australia if we do not, in the very least, have a target to achieve net zero by 2050. However, Australia needs to do far more than that. We need a commitment from the Morrison Government for a national plan to slash our emissions by 2030. Our targets need to, at minimum, match the United States, the United Kingdom and our trading partners such as the European Union and Japan. To do otherwise is to invite economic backlash from our foreign business partners.

IN my opinion the funeral for the ALP is not too far away. When you look at Albo, Penny Wong, Bill Shorten, unhappy Annastacia and so on I believe the future for the party looks at best dim, and at worst dead.They have to forgo their boring 1945 attitude; they have to recruit people that can string a sentence together without sneering, and occasionally, smile. With the ones they have, in Gough's words God help Australia, because there is nothing to save the ALP if they continue to travel with the type of candidate they are now showing and present themselves better than very spoilt and obnoxious children.

I NEED to thank the COVID instigators for curing me of watching TV. After some weeks of jab, jab, jab for at least eight hours a day with a constant deluge of fake news, I believe I've more than got the message.

THANK you to all the community members, health care professionals and people impacted by dementia who marked Dementia Action Week 2021 from 20-26 September. Across Australia, individuals and organisations supported our campaign, 'A little support makes a big difference'. The campaign was to increase understanding about dementia and how we can all make a difference to the lives of people who are impacted and help to eliminate discrimination. On behalf of the estimated 157,000 people living with dementia in New South Wales, we thank everyone for their support. For information and tips to find out how you can continue to make a difference please visit discrimination.dementia.org.au.