WELL, watching the Olympics and following the commentary I have learned that all sports are a war of attrition.
The atmosphere at the swimming pool is electric, which could be a bit dangerous, and most of the competitors everywhere in all sports have conquered their demons.
It all just seems so much safer and easier watching it on TV, but then I changed channels and Peter Dutton was there.
I have never been so scared in all my life.
Simon Ruddy, Newcastle
We all suffer without aged care fix
All levels of care in aged care are under attack, while there are many factors of underfunding by the government in preference to more politically attractive issues. Many aged care homes are losing money. While more and more regulation develops through Royal Commissions and the enforcement by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission the quality of care continues to decline.
While regulation is appropriate, support for the sector is much more important. Otherwise, the collapse of the industry is coming unless there is reform about funding. While we can spend billions on climate change and the NDIS, a key area of our health care is left hanging by a thread.
In my experience most staff are very dedicated and underpaid for a very difficult job. The situation of a resident can become critical very quickly, while the day to day provision of a clean, well maintained facility with the provision of a variety of fresh tasty food entertainment and every effort to maintain a resident dignity must be at the forefront of every treatment program.
While blame may get us through the politics of the day, it is becoming sad that we can't adequately support this sector. Each day we get a day older, it is in everyone's interest to see aged care prosper for the organisations, the residents, the families and our communities
Grahame Danaher, Coal Point
Letters investigation must reopen
The lord mayor's response to the latest evidence into the Neylon/Sivo letter writing saga will do nothing to restore the public's trust in this council ("Call for new investigation into letters", Herald, 29/7). She excuses her inaction by claiming this saga is merely a political smear campaign that denigrates a member of her staff. However, she appeared happy to remain silent when this same member of staff wrote to the Herald denigrating the residents and small businesses of Newcastle East ("Park the protests, let city soak up spotlight", Opinion, 23/11/2017).
The Neylon/Sivo letters were themselves a political smear campaign, directed against prominent community members who spoke out against council decisions. Now there is new evidence potentially linking Mr Bath directly to this saga, I believe the lord mayor must act according to her word and reopen the investigation.
Christine Everingham, Newcastle East
We're becoming a zone of interest
Zone of Interest is a film about the ordinary day to day lives of the family of the Auschwitz camp commandant, Rudolf Hoss. They live in a fine house separated from the camp by a high garden wall. The film portrays the commandant and his family as ordinary people. It is of course a metaphor for the present: the brutal occupation and genocide occuring in Gaza, as we continue in our ordinary lives.
It is hard to believe what we were never taught in school: that as long as we allow this to go on, we are part of it. The Hoss family could hear noises from the camp quite clearly- the screams, beatings, shootings. We can see the screams, beatings, shootings taking place in Palestine..
We are about to become more actively complicit as the weapons industry deepens its hold upon the Hunter. The Newcastle Herald has reported that "the Hunter region has been positioned as a defence industry hub in the Indo-Pacific in the Albanese government's first National Defence Strategy" ("National Defence Strategy eyes Hunter as Indo-Pacific industry hub in $50 billion military spend", Newcastle Herald 17/4).
Ten local firms have been "singled out for their roles building, upgrading and maintaining defence equipment, with a particular focus on the Air Force's wing of fifth-generation fighter jets - the F-35A - based at Williamtown. In my opinion, we have seen that the principal use of the F-35 Ais to act as a flying crematorium.
Is that the future of the Hunter that we want? This Sunday is the 79th anniversary of Hiroshima. The Hunter Peace Group will mark the anniversary on the day at 11am at Tighes Hill Peace Park, Maitland Road.
Niko Leka, Mayfield
Figuring out house price pressures
I FIRST wrote this in 2019 in reply to someone making arguments like those of Greg Lowe ("Parents can offer guidance, not just handouts", Letters, 30/7). I've now updated it with some fresh figures:
Returning to Newcastle in 1978 after training in Sydney, I was on $12,000 a year. At the time, a house on a smaller block that might be in need of updating - but not a dump - in an older suburb like Lambton or Adamstown could be had for $18,000 to $22,000. In hindsight, I should have bought one.
Returning to Australia in 1991 with starting pay in my field sitting at around $30,000, those places were now priced $100,000 to $125,000. In 2019 that pay had become $50,000 but then the same sort of house around the corner sold for $635,000. In 2024 the commencement pay is about $80,000 and a comparable property a few streets away just sold for $1,050,000. Do the maths.
In 2019 I didn't know a single young home hopeful who wasn't sacrificing and saving hard while prices went up by more than they could save in a year. That was before, when they paid that cheaper rent.
I don't know what they can do now.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
Broadmeadow needs better links
READING the article regarding the tram land acquisition ("State buys key block to secure light rail corridor", Herald 30/7) I noted the proposed route doesn't connect to any other form of transport. The interchange has very few bus services, so why not sell the interchange and extend the tram to a new Broadmeadow station to service the new suburb? It would connect to XPT trains directly. Public transport is so important to a city's functionality, let's not have another white elephant.
David Turner, Newcastle
'Twisted logic' surrounds Hamas
JULIE Robinson ("Respect humanity on both sides", Letters, 31/7), members of all armies, including our own, are capable of committing atrocities, but Hamas, unlike the IDF, is a proscribed terrorist organisation. As for "reading history and unbiased reporting", former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, whom I wouldn't normally favourably quote, recently called out the "twisted logic" bringing legitimacy to terrorism, describing Hamas as an "actively hostile opponent" to peace, making it currently impossible for him to support Palestinian statehood. He also said the atrocities of October 7 have been forgotten by too many and condemned by too few.
Peter Dolan, Lambton
Promises outnumber the results
WELL we were promised by the current government that they would lower power bills, build 1.2 million homes, lower inflation, make no changes to superannuation, secure and maintain our borders, improve national productivity, fix the rorting in the NDIS, improve Indigenous lives by ditching the cashless credit card, have transparency in government, reduce the cost of living, bring a divided nation together with the Voice, and the list goes on. The only observable achievement so far has been the spin.
