I LIVE near the sporting fields fronting Womboin Road, Lambton. On Saturday there was a football final game in the oval on the western side of Wallarah Rd (cnr of Womboin Rd) Lambton, adjacent to the skate park. In recent weeks residents have watched as people have driven onto the grassed areas to remain in their vehicles to watch games, rather than use street parking and then brave the weather.
At 8.15am on Saturday I took a photo, annoyed that yet again spectators were driving off the streets, over the grassed area and damaging it. Drivers were using the cycleway dish drain to enter the grassed area.
When I returned home later that afternoon I couldn't believe the destruction ($50K repair bill as cars disobey closure', Newcastle Herald 6/9). The finals game was still underway and I couldn't get a park anywhere to take photos, however the 4WD vehicles were two and three deep on what used to be the grassed areas. I returned today and I believe it is evident from the tracks that drivers were using the new pedestrian crossing near the corner of Womboin and Wallarah roads to access the grass areas. There are also muddy tracks indicating that drivers just drove over the kerb and gutter.
I will be raising this with council in the hopes that more people may support locals such as myself wanting to keep our parks clean, tidy and safe for all. If you visit the area you'll also note that there are no garbage bins. It is we, the local residents, who clean up all the mess that people leave behind. I believe the council needs to take action in regard to these matters.
Jan Martin, Lambton
Wash-outs are the way it will be
IS it just me or are we cancelling sports now as soon as there is rain? What happened to playing on, rain affected and in mud? That was the way it was; it's winter, it rains. Yes it's raining more, but what's the plan? No sport, that's it, or we have to build indoor football and soccer facilities?
An example would be of this not being thought through I think is this weekend's rugby finals. Why doesn't the NHRU have a contingency plan for the senior finals, one that reaches beyond the known? For example, rain was forecast so what about a town beyond the coastal rain belt or one with less stress or use on it? What about working with our fellow regional towns as an option, like Maitland or Singleton. It's going to rain for at least the next week. I think pushing out the finals another week is an ill-considered approach and ultimately what we have been doing all year and for many years. Adapt or suffer the consequences. This is particularly impacting on young people given the connectedness and emotional well-being sport provides.
There has to be a more club-centred, community-centred and people-centred approach rather than just asset management.
Steve Wait, Merewether
Care is certainly not child's play
CHILDCARE educators strike today, Wednesday, September 7. I'm looking forward to the first day that we will shut down since COVID began two years ago.
A decade ago when the job didn't require a qualification perhaps then you could have justified the low pay. A Certificate 3 graduate starts from $24 an hour. Their responsibilities can include managing children's complex medical and behavioural needs; this includes finger pricking children with diabetes and administering insulin, peg feeding a child daily that's recovering from cancer, planning for each child's individual learning not a group as a whole. I mean, is there anything you can't ask an educator to do for your child? And how do you ask a child to social distance? Open extended hours, there's no aides to assist and there certainly aren't any school holidays.
We could have a lot less responsibility as a retail assistant at Aldi and make a better living. I know parents have the right to expect a lot when they're paying $140 a day for their child to attend care, but think about the above next time you hand them over.
Odessa Kout, Mayfield
Botany link carries little benefit
THE concept of using super funds' money to link the container ports of Newcastle with Botany as suggested by Greg Cameron, ('Super funds' time has come', Letters, 5/9), with an extremely expensive rail line through mountainous terrain and dense urban areas, would seem to be of absolutely no benefit to freight movements or the economy of NSW.
Only one third of Port Botany's 7.5 mteu freight capacity is used at the moment before an overflow to Port Kembla is even considered. The suggested competition between Botany and Newcastle will prove to be a non-event given the massive unserviced container potential of the Hunter, North West Slopes and Plains and Northern Coast and Tablelands.
Not only will some very simple and relatively low-cost rail line modifications between Narrabri and Newcastle give the Port of Newcastle a $50 per container advantage over other ports, but it will also totally consume the proposed Port of Newcastle's container terminal's 2.5mteu design capacity. If super funds are seeking highly viable options to spend their money on, surely upgrading the rail lines from the north and west to the Port of Newcastle is a shining star. Surely propping up Port Botany with a built-in inefficiency scheme is not a prudent proposal.
Rick Banyard, Maryville
Leaders must weigh all the costs
WHEN I departed Raymond Terrace for Cootamundra, I wrote that I would no longer comment on matters pertaining to the Lower Hunter. However, Greg Cameron's continual banging on about creating a Newcastle container terminal is driving me to distraction, ('Super funds' time has come', Letters 5/9). I am in no way against a Newcastle container terminal, but Mr Cameron's letter after letter reminds me of a Formula 1 motor race just going round and round.
Mr Cameron appears not to be concerned that, if a terminal is built in Newcastle, there will be a considerable loss of jobs in Sydney and Port Kembla. However, I'm fairly confident that the LNP and the ALP in NSW will be 'very' concerned. The Herald has a responsibility to advance the cause for a Newcastle container terminal but, just as Save our Rail discovered, letters to the editor tend not to sway government opinion.
Mike Sargent, Cootamundra
Knights need big improvement
IT was an abysmal season for my beloved Newcastle Knights of six wins and 18 losses, all thanks in my view to how they dealt with halfback Mitchell Pearce's departure as well as the various, endless injuries and the immaturity of Kalyn Ponga as leader. His incident with Kurt Mann in the toilet in a pub, as well as the management's hesitancy to replace under-siege coach Adam O'Brien, made me sick to my stomach. I believe there is no pride and heart in the jersey or in the organisation as a whole. I won't be renewing my Newcastle Knights membership for 2023 and I advise that all fans should do the same until the entire team and the front office pulls their socks up.
Kane Sutherland, Kurri Kurri
AS a very nervous patient having major surgery for the first time I would like to say thanks to the staff at Maitland Hospital. From the pre-admission to the theatre staff I couldn't have asked for better treatment. Even with the stress and overworked conditions they work under they were amazing, explaining everything to me and answering any questions I had. I hope they realise how appreciative their patients are. Also a special thanks to Dr Coren.
Anne Blacktop, Tenambit
THE purpose of defence is to defend the homeland, not to act as an irritant to greater powers at a distance. Not only are successive Australian governments flirting with nuclear submarines to enhance an aggressive stance but they also intend greater military/private sector integration. This will lead to an opposition to global peace by powerful corporations in pursuit of greater profits. Which of our cities will get to paint a target on itself to increase the wealth of psychopaths?
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
DOES the government think we are stupid? They said the petrol tax concession would end on September 30 and the watchdog would keep an eye on unfair pricing. Retailers put it up two weeks ago, so where is the watchdog now? Ripped off again.
Bob Thomas, Adamstown
THE $51m donated by everyday working Australians to Black Friday Bushfire Appeal is still caught up in NSW Fire and state government bureaucracy. What a disgrace! It makes me think twice about ever making another donation. By the way, there are apparently still funds in the lord mayor's Newcastle Earthquake Fund. That was in 1989. Another joke.
Shane Tull, Dudley
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin denigrates himself by rejecting former USSR leader Michael Gorbachev, admired and respected around the world.
George Paris, Rathmines
If we want young people to actually provide us with the next generation, and setting up free childcare does that, let's think outside the box and just do it. The world has changed and one wage won't support a typical mortgage (not since the 1970s, actually). Today's millennials, when childcare was first widespread, have turned out mostly OK.
Marie-Lise Bouic, Lambton
IMAGINE, if slavery had not been abolished in America, black tennis players in the USA could well be working in the cotton fields of the deep south of America for wealthy elites. Racists would have loved that.
Richard Ryan, Summerland Point
RICK Frost, ever heard of the Hindenburg? Electric vehicles will go the same way in Australia. We are bogan and proud of it.
