As someone who started doing volunteer work in 1974 and put my hand up to help all the sporting clubs I have been involved in, it's time to bid goodbye. For the last six years I have been delivering meals. In the early years it involved picking up cash payments from customers. To become a driver I had to undertake a federal police check, which was fair enough. As a surf club volunteer I was required to undertake a working with children check, again fair enough.
However, the latest intrusion by the NDIS has finally broken my will to keep delivering meals to those who need it. The NDIS has six modules which in my opinion are a blatant intrusion of my privacy, and there is no way I am going and can't actually fulfil the requirements. It seems my past unblemished service is not good enough for the public sector.
Who comes up with these schemes to keep themselves employed? Neither I nor my wife are proficient IT users, and I fear that what is in the modules could become targets for hackers. I'm sorry, but now I have to resign from something I really looked forward to.
It is occurring in nearly all the volunteering services I have been involved in, and I'm sure many of those in my age bracket will follow my lead and bid farewell.
Alan Metcalf, Stockton
Inner city can't have it both ways
I reckon the inner city of Newcastle can't have it both ways. It can't be a condensed living precinct and an entertainment centre, especially with the high cost of residence bringing wealthy retirees back into the once CBD, looking forward to a peaceful environment.
I suggest a place away from residential occupation to build and promote entertainment venues, such as part of the former BHP location,built around a casino with tourist five-star accommodation.
With the right management and now a new council with fresh ideas, this could be Newcastle's claim to fame. It would be far more exciting and prosperous, with far more employment opportunities, than a dreary shipping container terminal.
As an afterthought, an international basketball centre would be the icing on the cake.
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
October 7 wasn't the beginning
October 7 last year was not the starting point to the conflict in the Middle East. It can be used as a starting point, though, if the idea is to dehumanise the Palestinians.
If one wants a starting point, why not the Great March of Return demonstrations in Gaza starting in March 2018 when thousands of Palestinians marched peacefully to demand the end of the Israeli blockade and the right of return for refugees? "What did Israel do? It gunned them down with snipers, maiming people, paralysing them" (Aaron Mate speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, September 2024).
Another starting point could be 1967 when, in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, Israel seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. I believe United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 adopted in 1967 has never been followed by Israel. This resolution called for full withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the occupied territories. Yet another starting point could be 1948 when the state of Israel was founded on land confiscated from the Palestinians resulting in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being driven from their homeland.
There are many starting points. Where one starts speaks volumes about one's ideological focus. The British mainstream media has tended to allow belligerents in the ideological debates over Gaza to prescribe October 7 2023 as the starting point, but there's misinformation involved in this deliberate misattribution, I believe. Anything to draw attention away from Israeli crimes. Anything to begrime and befuddle historical accuracy to leave the public as pliant victims of state propaganda.
Louis Shawcross, Hillsborough
Supermarkets cop too much flak
I AM incredulous about the continuing damnation of Coles and Woolworths over their prices with claims that it is misleading to raise the price of some item from its normal price, to an inflated price and then back to a lesser price ("Supermarket woes are clear, so fix them", Editorial 28/9).
There is no normal price in Australia. In 1973 a referendum was held to allow price control. It was defeated 56 per cent to 44 per cent, which means companies can charge what they like for their goods. They could sell them for 6 cents one week and $6 the next. Petrol is a perfect example. Likewise, if you wanted to fly to Melbourne for the football finals It would cost thousands, whereas at other times it would be hundreds.
When a supermarket puts on its sign that an item has been reduced by $2 from what it sold for a week ago, it's a fact. What is misleading about it? I fully agree with the business council when it said why would you invest in a country where, in the supermarkets case, a 2.5 per cent profit is considered price gouging? It is often stated that Coles and Woolworths are a duopoly. In both the areas where I live there are Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and IGA stores. Hardly a duopoly. Any shoppers dissatisfied with the big two can just take their custom to one of the others.
Jan Phillip Trevllian, Fennell Bay
Repatriation should be user-pays system
WHY are Australian taxpayers funding the airforce to bring people back from the Middle East? They have known for a year that it is a no go zone. I certainly don't think the taxpayers paid for their trip over. There should be a system to recover costs.
Greg Lowe, New Lambton
Disconnect in Beirut woes
I'm confused. A woman was on SBS bemoaning that she is stuck in Beirut. Despite warnings not to travel there at least three months ago this woman travelled weeks ago. Penny Wong was saying that only 35 of 80 seats were taken on a recent government funded flight. What am I missing?
Shane Tull, Redhead
Nation at centre of destruction
I BELIEVE the axis of evil in the Middle East is Israel; it has caused more death and destruction under the umbrella of the US and allies than Iran or any of their proxies .
Steven Busch, Rathmines
Why Israel is always the target
For Peter Ronne ("Has all hope flown?", Letters, 3/10), Israel is a rogue state intent on annihilating an entire population. Never mind that it's Israelis who are forced to cower beneath their iron dome while the missiles indiscriminately rain down. Why such hatred for the only liberal democracy in the Middle East? Answer: because Israel has been so successful, a more prosperous, tolerant and free society than the failed Arab states which surround and persecute it.
Peter Dolan, Lambton
Memories you can't shake off
IN reference to recent letters about the Newcastle earthquake ("Wave of curiosity about quake", Letters, 27/9): we live at Pelican and that morning I was outside when I heard a roar. The water in the pool moved like big waves (coming from Swansea direction). The pergola was shaking too. My husband was in the garage and came running out. He said the car was bouncing up and down. It was the strangest thing and we had no idea what had just happened.
