Letters and short takes: Friday February 17 2023

The article by Michael Parris ('Trips down', Newcastle Herald 9/1) quoted Opal data showing public transport patronage is barely half of what it was before COVID. It shows that the light rail has fallen from 103,000 passengers in 2019 to 61,500 in 2022. I fully believe these figures are correct. What the survey does not obviously take into account is the number of passengers who do not pay to ride on the trams, and as far as I can see there are many.

It appears to me that if you are under the age of about 20 you have the right to use the tram without paying. I see many school children in uniform and young people in casual clothing heading to and from the beach just walking straight on or off the tram, treating it as a free ride. It is only the working people and senior citizens who do the right thing. The tram service, I think, has become more popular and estimating the free riders the figures would be much higher than 61,500 for 2022 and possibly higher than the 2019 figures. The system of paying is not working, so Transport for NSW and the council need to develop a better system. If they are unable to do that, they should make the service free to everyone.

I BELIEVE that Newcastle East residents have every reason to object to Supercars being held in their precinct as it's being turned into a virtual prison for two months.

Now hundreds of nippers at Nobbys and Newcastle surf life-saving clubs have had to cease their activities at the end of the month because it's just too difficult to access their beaches ('Nippers off for the V8s, Newcastle Herald 14/2).

They are not only losing a chunk of the life-saving season but I believe they are also prevented from final training for regional and state championships. In my view, this is a disgraceful situation, as the nipper program is a wonderful activity for kids and a valuable contribution to beach safety. As Newcastle East residents say, "great race in the wrong place".

DUE to the parking restrictions in Newcastle East Supercars have apparently enabled parking in the children's playground below Fort Scratchley. Despite fencing off the rest of the East End there is no protective fencing between the cars and the playground. There is normally a padlocked gate which limits access to the area around the children's playground.

When asked, council informed us that they have no control and nothing could be done until Supercars have left. We were also informed that this arrangement is temporary. It appears that Supercars and the council think that this level risk to children is okay if it's only temporary?

THE Upper Hunter watches horrified while coal plunders our natural economy to fill its truck cabins. We all know dozens who abandoned clients, suppliers, patients, in order to lift their income. Draining existing employment is the coal mines' open strategy. So, tell the government and public service the truth: that the regional skills and services shortage is mine-caused. We see it every day! Elephant squashes room.

In my opinion it's time the NSW Minerals Council's glowing figures were fact-checked and laughed at, not gullibly swallowed and/or cynically used to cook up "economic benefits" for fossil-approval purposes. No; miners returning to useful, happy work is the best possible economic benefit.

PETER Dolan resurrects the hoary old scare campaign about our backyards being claimed if a treaty is signed and the voice is incorporated in our constitution: "residents will have to pay rent to Indigenous groups claiming sovereignty over their expensive real estate", ("Residents fear 'paying the rent'", Letters, 14/2). Mr. Dolan conveniently overlooks several things.

The High Court in its Mabo ruling clearly and unequivocally laid down the law that only unused Crown land can be claimed under the Mabo agreement. The High Court realised that it would be impossible to unscramble the egg of more than 200 years of private ownership, so it declared only crown land could be the subject of land claims.

If and when a treaty is organised between our First Nations people and the government, it will be a negotiated treaty. It will be the representatives of our Indigenous peoples sitting down with the representatives of our government to work out the forms of the treaty collaboratively. That's what negotiating means. One constraint of those negotiations is the High Court Mabo ruling. Even if both sides wished to include private land in the treaty, both sides would be constrained by the Mabo ruling which would make such inclusions illegal. In other words the law, Australian law, states clearly and for all time that private property is safe from claims under native title. And nothing Lidia Thorpe or any other person says can change this.

So please, can we let go of this hysteria and deal with the issues in front of us? Can we in a mature manner face up to our past and recognise that our history demands that we come to terms with the need to make right what was done in that past?

And can we acknowledge that those affected most by the stains of our history have offered us all a way forward, a way forward that allows us to reconcile our past with our present in order to create a future we can all share.

That way forward begins with the Voice to parliament.

ONE of the great misconceptions about the Voice debate is that the proposal "will divide Australians by race in our constitution." So says Clive Jensen, (Short Takes, 14/2), and no doubt others concur. Sorry, fellow citizens, but that bus is gone. It was waved through by almost 91 per cent of the Australian electorate in the 1967 Referendum. They authorised constitutional change to allow the federal parliament to make special laws for Indigenous Australians in particular states. Our constitution has allowed special laws to be passed on Indigenous issues for 55 years. It might be about time we had a mechanism for listening to what our Indigenous brothers and sisters might actually want.

WE do not want PEP-11 offshore gas drilling off the coast of Newcastle ('Morrison PEP-11 veto 'broke natural justice'', Newcastle Herald 15/2).

IS EVERYONE aware of the impending closure of most lanes on Stockton Bridge this coming weekend? Was any thought given to the impact on travel for residents of Stockton, Fern Bay wanting to go to Mayfield shops? Alternate access is up to three times the distance. Was there any community consultation before this decision was taken?

I AGREE with Ruth Burrell, (Short Takes, 15/2), regarding the same few contributors appearing on these pages on an almost daily basis. Perhaps they could exchange phone numbers and have group discussions among themselves, sparing the rest of us.

STEVE Barnett (Short Takes 16/2), with that I rest my case.

BRIAN Measday (Short Takes, 13/2) said well done to Tanya Plibersek for blocking the approval of the Clive Palmer proposed coal mine in Queensland. Well done? She claimed it would be only 10km from the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, it would be well over 100km from the nearest coral reef. The proposal had already passed all environmental protection requirements. This was a political pay-back decision against Clive Palmer. It amounts to economic terrorism against the mining industry - disgraceful bias shown by the Minister for the Environment and Waters.

IS it really that big a mystery as to who allegedly vandalised Foreshore Park ('Message on park grass', Herald 15/2)?

THE recent coverage by the ABC of a community meeting in Alice Springs concerning the wave of out of control lawlessness and disrespect for residents and property was disgraceful. The coverage predominantly focused on elements of "white supremacy" at the meeting. The ABC has since apologised for airing an incomplete story. Most of us realise some media outlets are biased one way or another, and it is our choice to watch them. The good people of Alice Springs, who have done nothing to deserve the destruction of their properties and quality of life, deserve better.

IT is common knowledge that many large fossil fuel corporations are opposing government moves to limit their ability to keep releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere is proven by science to be the prime cause of climate change. In my opinion it is plain commonsense that the federal government should introduce new laws, with strictly no loopholes and with real teeth, to limit the amount of greenhouse gases that are being released into the atmosphere by many of Australia's biggest polluters.