I WAS intrigued by the picture of a billy cart on Monday's front page ("Need for speed", Newcastle Herald 10/4). There is some hope for the younger generation. The humble billy cart can lure kids away from their expensive mobile phone chat rooms and computer games. I recall as a young child my partner and myself showing off our own billy cart among a crowd of Redex Reliability Trial onlookers. We received as much applause from the crowd as the Redex Trial cars and drivers. What a childhood blast!
The Gresford Billy Cart Derby attracts a die-hard following of tourists to town, but many billy carts seem to be elaborate and welded. I accept that a billy cart in a derby race should comply with safety rules of design, but I think every billy cart should be certified as being made by its driver and pusher, and all drivers and pushers should be under 13 years old.
Geoff Black, Caves Beach
Housing pressure is rising
THE Australian dream of owning a home is evaporating as first-home buyers get pushed into renting and lower-income renters get pushed out. At present, there are 122,000 Australians homeless and four million living below the poverty line; what happened to the lucky country?
The state of the nation housing report by the government's National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation estimates 180,000 accommodations will be required annually for 10 years (a mix of single and multiple-person occupations). The overall problem is the balance between supply and demand. The pandemic reduced worldwide supply, and changing government policies, such as the first-home buyers grants and guarantee and increased interest rates, have pushed up residential housing prices.
The new Labor government migration policy for 2023 increased to 195,000 permanent positions composed of 142,400 skilled workers, 52,500 family members and 100 special cases. There are the added temporary visas, typically for study (263,000) and work (56,520). That's approximately 200,000 people searching to permanently rent or buy and 300,000 looking for temporary accommodation. The ALP aspires further to increase humanitarian yearly intake to 27,000. Australia's natural annual population growth is currently 128,000. To my humble mind, that suggests that immigration numbers are increasing the housing demand threefold. How do we sustain this demand when our building industries are going to the wall? It's easy to be philanthropic when you're not wearing the consequences.
Paul Duggan, Garden Suburb
Coal climb belies the fantasy
A RECENT story ("Coal use climbs despite promises", Herald 7/4) showed a nice picture of smoke rising from power plant stacks in Jiangsu, China. It was a photo taken close to sunset with the red light of the setting sun making the air appear to have a red haze.
The smoke coming out of all those stacks was obviously steam clouds. At each stack vent, the "smoke" is invisible because the exhaust was still too hot to condense into the visible steam cloud until rising a couple of metres further into the air. Then much further up into the air, the "smoke" mysteriously disappears into the air. Why? Because the "smoke" or cloud of condensed water droplets then evaporated into the air. No smoke, no pollution, no end to the world.
The important point of the story, though, was that the reduction in coal plants globally isn't happening anywhere near fast enough to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goals by 2030. In fact, the "coal fleet grew by 19.5 gigawatts last year, enough to light up about 15 million homes". Not only does the 2030 goals look very unlikely to be met but the 2050 'net zero' target is looking more like a fantasy. Why do we indulge it?
Peter Devey, Merewether
Political ship is drifting right
THE Liberals continue to blame their electoral woes on a shift to the left by the electorate. I don't believe that the electorate has moved at all. Instead, the major parties have, over decades, drifted to the right. Labor is now the dominant right-wing party in the country. The Liberals risked losing their brand once Labor adopted so many of their policies. To differentiate themselves from Labor, they have chosen to move further into the wilderness.
Remember Robert Menzies, our longest-serving prime minister, and a major figure in the creation of the Liberal Party? He was definitely anti-Labor, but some of his policies would put him to the left of today's Labor Party. For another example, consider Malcolm Fraser. Once a major figure in right-wing politics, he eventually resigned from the Liberal Party because he disapproved of its drift to the right.
For an idea of where today's parties stand, take a look at The Political Compass on the web, and its results for the 2022 election.
Peter Moylan, Glendale
Yellow becoming the new white
IT is interesting to see the increasing number of yellow cars on our roads these days. Most of the popular brands appear to have added a very bright yellow to their colour range. My brother bought one. As he had always had white cars, I asked why, and he said that as he got older it had become harder to find his white car among the others in the shopping centre car park. So, the colour helps.
It is also interesting to observe that a lot of the hoons on our roads are also painting their cars or utes a bright yellow, obviously to show them off and draw attention to themselves. One can only suggest they are saying: "watch out for me and my car yellow, which I can make bellow".
John Fear, Newcastle East
Use evidence to knock argument
WHILE Ian King, ("Businesses feeling the pay rise pinch too", Letters, 10/4), suggests the ACTU's Sally McManus is out of touch on pay rises for lower-income workers, I politely suggest that Mr King isn't even in touch. ACTU-presented wage cases aren't a magic figure. They use qualified economists and researchers who examine all aspects of the economy, including the ability to absorb the increases and their effect.
The presented report will run to dozens of pages. It's not something knocked up in their back room with a spare 10 minutes. I challenge Mr King to provide his research and evidence based on economic outcomes. Opponents of increases would have more credibility if they did this instead of trotting out the same old disparaging claims they have been using for years.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
The origin of Easter's symbols
IT is appropriate that people celebrate and worship Easter with eggs, rabbits and buns, for these items are symbolic of the practices and functions of worship of the pagan goddess Easter, also known by other names, such as Ishtar, Astarte and more from around 1300 BC. It is remarkable that these practices have been retained for more than 3000 years. What saddens me is that the leaders of over a billion so-called Christians continue to expound such pagan practices, practices that were foisted onto the Christian church by the western bishops of Rome and Alexandria, replacing the God-given practices as depicted in the Bible.
Alan Kendall, Neath
SHORT TAKES
THERE is really only one answer to the claims by Asset Energy that there is greater support for the PEP-11 gas project. That answer was given by the now Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, prior to the last election when he declared, quite emphatically, that the project would not proceed under a federal Labor government. All that is needed now is for the Prime Minister to honour his promise.
Daryll Hadfield, Redhead
DAVID Davies, (Short Takes, 8/4), is still leading the charge to malign the late Cardinal George Pell, and many bush lawyers might agree with him, despite Pell's acquittal by the High Court of Australia. I am not a Catholic, but I believe that Pell was treated abominably in the lead-up to his appeal, and that the people hurling abuse at him outside the court were nothing less than moronic. It's easy to be vindictive, but there is nothing to be gained by it, and I think it's time we allowed him to rest in peace.
David Stuart, New Lambton
I DO not envy people in public housing. I'm told that it is a breach of tenancy to change the setting set by "The Department (of Housing; DCJ)". So, with winter approaching, hot water remains at 21 degrees Celsius, or find your own accommodation. Brutal. Another area where "reasonable and necessary" should apply.
Andrew Spannenberg, Mayfield
IN reply to Graeme Kime's letter, ("Bali helmet blitz seems biased", Letters, 8/4), about helmet wearing on scooters in Bali. If it's "revenue raising" for people who fall off their scooters and were stupid enough to forsake the safety of the helmet's purpose, then good on the Balinese police. The Australian government would do well to educate bike riders who are too pretty and cool to don a helmet about the potential dire consequences of hitting your bare skull on concrete.
Bryn Roberts, New Lambton
MICHAEL Hinchey, ("A power shift on the merits", Letters, 6/4), I could just as easily ask: why do proponents of renewable energy not endorse nuclear power? Renewable energy doesn't need further endorsement. It has a big enough fan club, and is endorsed by government policy. If renewable energy really did possess the "same attributes" as nuclear power, we would need no debate.
Peter Dolan, Lambton
NICE one, Tim Crakanthorp. Apparently when asked directly if you personally supported the end of Supercars it appeared, in my opinion, very clear from your answer that you don't have any sympathy or support for the East End community. Why couldn't you give your personal opinion, instead of just offering what I believe to be another calculated, vague, evasive political answer so you wouldn't cop any heat from the top? Why am I not surprised?
