Newcastle Herald letters to the editor: Tuesday, February 1, 2022

I guess we will soon forget the opposition to expansion and the rejection of funding by a conservative lord mayor - hopefully now, decades later, everyone is looking forward to a new space to share our great collection and show-off valued travelling exhibitions. The problem is, though, that just nearby, the regional gallery in Maitland is under threat - another conservative mayor sees art and beauty as an unnecessary expense. That is a fight just beginning.

I guess the arts are something we always have to fight for and funding is something we, unnecessarily I think, have to continually argue for and defend. Well done to the tireless people who have never given up on an expanded gallery for Newcastle.

IT is painfully interesting to listen to the current lines being spun by NSW and Scomo about their control and balance of the COVID situation.

The NSW premier carefully explains the explosion of cases across all our states, indeed the whole world, but doesn't mention Western Australia or other jurisdictions, like China, that have taken a more cautious approach to reopening. He believes this is best for the good of the economy, our mental health and of course our children's education and wellbeing.

Now I see we rate fairly high on the growth list of Johns Hopkins COVID stats and it surprised me to see that, as a country, it took us until January 10 this year (nearly two years) to reach the 1 millionth case mark. Well, in the next 10 days we have now achieved two million cases... yep... double in less than two weeks.

While deaths are still increasing, it is true that the individual impact on the health system is less severe than previous waves. But with such rapid growth in case numbers, lack of current modeling, dubious case testing statistics and kids back to school in a week, I still feel like we are in a game of Russian roulette with very few winners.

A definitive case of politics overshadowing the science and health advice. Let's see what carbon offsets bring us next!

AUSTRALIA and NSW stumbles and bumbles its way through the pandemic without any real cohesive plan or foresight from our leaders other than to protect the economy at the expense of community health.

We will never know how a federal Labor government would have managed the COVID outbreak but history gives us a pretty good idea. If we look at the GFC, under Labor governance, Australia came out the other side as the world's leading economy and the only major economy to avoid a recession. Under Morrison, the Australian economy is 13th in the world, had its first recession in 30 years and according to the OECD, "GDP per capita is 9% lower than OECD best performers and inequality is higher than in most advanced economies".

Bill Shorten was the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union when the Beaconsfield gold mine collapsed in 2006 and would have been PM during COVID, if Labor had won the 2019 election. Shorten has a history of taking his role seriously. He received kudos from around Australia and the globe for his dedication to stay the course during a disaster. He realised the enormity and seriousness of the situation and even though he didn't hold a shovel, he was the support that the times needed. Morrison just looks to avoid responsibility, make excuses and offload blame, hence the mess we're in.

IN my younger days, I was at the Newcastle No 2 sports ground with Les Johns, former Australian rugby league fullback. I heard Les call out the name "Georgie" and I looked to see who he was talking to. It happened to be a local sports reporter, George Piggford, who then exchanged greetings with Les. Since that time I had almost forgotten George's contribution to the regional sporting pages. However, Mike Scanlon's article ('Women Enlist The Don', Weekender, 29/1) certainly jogged my memory.

Harry Rowlands, who had been the local barber in Mitchell Street, Merewether, during the 1950s and 1960s was a member of Merewether Bowling Club and while I was sitting there with him and his wife about 30 odd years ago, Harry mentioned that his wife had once played cricket against Don Bradman at No. 1 sports ground.

He didn't give me any details of the occasion and Mrs Rowlands wasn't well enough to converse at the time. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of her maiden name but I have often wondered what the circumstances were that found her in a ladies cricket team opposing the great Don Bradman.

George Piggford's new book Cricket Found a New Frontier - Newcastle's Female Pioneers, about how Don Bradman and Stan McCabe captained ladies cricket sides in a charity match in Newcastle in 1931, is something I'm now looking forward to for a number of reasons.

GRACE Tame has been criticised for her reaction to Scott Morrison on January 26. In 2020, when the fireman on the South Coast refused to shake hands with Scott Morrison we applauded him. We all knew his reasons.

Since we are not fully aware of the reasons behind Grace Tame's attitude, we can neither condone nor criticise her actions as we do not know the extent of the trials (possibly opposition) she has endured this past year in pursuing this worthwhile campaign. That said, I applaud Grace Tame.

I RECENTLY read an article on the ABC website which spoke of those we depend on most of all and the way they are treated. It would seem that contrary to what our political and corporate masters are telling us, those we depend on are teachers, healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, truck drivers, those who work in the supply chain, childcare workers, garbage collectors just to mention a few. It seems to me that those we depend on the most are treated worst of all. All too many of these workers are low paid and their conditions leave much to be desired. However, the work done by our corporate and political leaders, along with journalists, may not be missed.

In some cases, the less said about their standards of workmanship the better. A classic case in point was the closure of the railway into Newcastle and the light rail in Hunter Street. The revitalisation that was promised didn't happen. With all of this in mind, maybe it's time we had a total rethink about how we treat those workers in essential services and our political and corporate masters. I think I know who should be paid more and who should be paid less.

THE federal government is green-washing once again, announcing $50 million for koalas ('More habitat needed', Newcastle Herald, 31/1). Not that long ago, minister Sussan Ley approved the expansion of a quarry at Brandy Hill that has a known koala population in the area.

"I DON'T hold a hose": famous words uttered by Scotty during the devastating bushfires of 2019/2020 as homes and wildlife habitat were destroyed, with hundreds of thousands of koalas and other wildlife perishing. Now we see the PM cuddling koalas as he commits $50 million dollars to protect them. Come on Scotty, we all know it's just another photo opportunity for you (I did note that the koala carer had to place the koala's arm around your neck). You might fool some of the people some of the time, but you don't fool me!

WITH all the talk about Ash Barty's historic Australian Open women's tennis title taking her grand slam tally to three, I noticed that the Australian woman who won 24 grand slam titles has been shunned and cancelled by the woke generation.

OUR Ash Barty, I ask you is she any good? Pure class, I'm sure Mr Bradman would agree.

THE indignant criticisms towards Grace Tame by angry white men on this page simply because she refused to smile in Morrison's presence only exposes their own insecurities to our modern world. And these are the same type of people who love to label progressives as "snowflakes". Oh the irony.

SO what has Scott Morrison done to 'Graceless' Tame? Or maybe what he hasn't done on so many things. Worst Australian of the Year? For not smiling at the worst prime minister in living memory. I know which one I care about.

HERE'S the dilemma in respecting the uniform and not the man, when Scott Morrison the prime minister, against his comrades on the hill, barracks for Randwick.

DISQUALIFIED licence, stolen car, alcohol in system, running a red light, injuring people and no jail time ('Crash driver praised for turning life around', Herald, 29/1). It is a joke.

HOW will I receive a lenient sentence if I drink, drive and run a red light and nearly kill somebody? I already have a good job and a clean record. I guess I'll just have to go to jail.

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