LAND valuations have been raised to abnormal levels. The consequences will have considerable impact for both land owners and renters. It will affect residential and retail customers. In my view, it appears to be another level of extortion. We will not see the full effect for about another two years. However, I believe the reality will be a doubling of land tax, with a considerable flow-on impact on land rates and insurances. It will simply have to be passed on. Therefore, the notion of no new taxes is simply a myth. The push to hold the cost of rental increase for landlords seems extreme in my view.
Ilo Bozinovski, New Lambton
Why we must care about Trump
Trump, Trump, Trump! Really? I'm heartily sick of him, and frankly I don't care. No, wait. Should I care?
The US, one of the world's superpowers, is Australia's strongest ally. We are linked by economic, trade and defence ties, as well as by a common language and aspire to individual freedom and well-being.
Donald Trump has been a polarising figure in US politics ever since he came into our orbit in 2016. It was fascinating to watch his presidency, like watching a cobra and waiting for the strike. Sometimes acting the world leader, sometimes the clown. Whether he wins office again or not, he will be ever present and so will his devoted followers.
Should we care?
I'm sure our policy advisers and strategists will keep watch as they must always do because decisions made by the US on world affairs must always impact Australia. And with so much power in the hands of one man, we must always care.
Gwenyth Collis, Mayfield
Staying in East End doesn't track
IF City of Newcastle wants Supercars in the local area, have the promoters build a circuit away from the built up areas of Newcastle. Build a multi-purpose track that could be used for all types of motorised racing. For example, look at the go-kart track at Seahampton.
What benefits to the general motoring public are derived from having the circuit in the East End? From the multiple issues raised in letters to the editor there's extended disruptions to all normality to trade, public access to public facilities and parking, costs relating to preparing and returning areas and general access/disruption to residents' daily life. Even our super-duper tram temporarily stops short of its end destination.
Build a track with appropriate facilities and the public who have an interest will still attend. I would also take the position that should I buy a new car the results of the Supercar races are irrelevant. No one can buy a Supercar off the shelf. I would possibly be attracted to a vehicle if it was selected and run in for say 5000 kilometres under regulated inspections so no modifications are made, then put on a race track and driven to the max. The car is then inspected and a report given. Surely this would be a guide to the car the public would buy.
Charles Nightingale, Cooks Hill
Keep Voice debate's focus on facts
JENNA Price ("We must get better at appointing human rights commissioners", Opinion 4/4) is at it again, engaging in ad hominem attacks on people rather than the issues. This time her target was Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay.
Ms Finlay was described as a "human rights nobody", "junior law academic" and as having "zero human rights credentials". Really? Commissioner Finlay's great crime was writing an opinion piece where she stated that the Voice would "insert race into the Australian constitution in a way that undermines the foundational human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination". Many legal minds agree with Finlay on that point and it looked beyond dispute to me when you consider that the Voice would apply a right or privilege to people based purely on their race.
Price claimed that five former human rights commissioners "undid Finlay's baseless argument in about two minutes flat" and that her position was "likely to mislead Australians". Wow, that's a stern conclusion. So, what was their argument? What facts did they state that dismissed Commissioner Finlay's statement so completely? Price quoted no detail at all to support her dismissal of Finlay.
The five former commissioners are all themselves lawyers, just like Finlay, though most were also advocates/activists for one minority group or another. Catherine Branson was also a judge but most of her work was in commercial law. There is nothing wrong with the background of those commissioners and I'm sure they all did a good job at the Human Rights Commission. But how are they more credible than Commissioner Finlay?
It's easy for Jenna Price to attack an argument by just attacking the person who made it, but the consequences of the Voice are too important to just resort to ad hominem attacks rather than look at the facts surrounding a significant change to our constitution.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Health system needs urgent care
CARL Stevenson points out where a few problems lay in the health system, ("Insurance needs a health check", Letters, 4/4). I believe that, in effect, roughly 50 per cent of hospital beds are private, however the public system in a lot of cases has doctors' support as they provide clinical care.
It is also true that the private insurance system incentivises public hospitals to take privately-insured people who will have to pay gaps. Those not wanting to use private insurance will go on the "free list."
I believe these anomalies produce incentives that distract the public hospitals from treating all patients in a similar fashion, something public hospital bureaucracy doesn't want to hear.
There are a few issues around the Medicare medical benefit schedule that haven't been reviewed for years, since its inception under Whitlam in 1975. One of these is the significant problem of placing burdens on public hospital outpatients' centres and ambulances.
At the heart of the problem, federal government will need to meet doctor groups to negotiate a more viable Medicare medical benefits schedule more attuned to modern practices. In addition, clearly GPs need a larger share of the cake.
While we see bulk-billed GP visits as sacrosanct, the same bent for specialists doesn't have the same influence, but where it remains it is the glue that holds the system together especially in regional areas.
We do need more accountability in the system and measures that dictate incentives, not just a bunch of money randomly paid on the basis of a doctor's registration. It is really time to get a decent review. The system is a very good one that is bursting at the seams without the required redesign no-one would argue with.
Grahame Danaher, Coal Point
SHORT TAKES
WONDERFUL result Knights. I have never seen so many happy faces leaving the stadium for years. Thanks.
Bill Slicer, Tighes Hill
SURPRISE, surprise another cost to the ratepayers of Newcastle. Now we have to pay for the picnic tables that the council removed to accommodate Supercars because they have been stolen, ("Picnic tables and chairs stolen", NH 5/4). When will this debacle end?
Maria Pye, New Lambton
WE keep hearing the mantra that a referendum only succeeds when it has the support of "both sides of politics", but who said there are only two sides? What may have been true historically no longer abides: at the last federal election the major parties scored an historic low of about 68% of the vote. The remaining 32% are mostly voters supporting the Green and the Teal independents. Maybe a referendum can succeed if it has the support of two of the three sides of politics. Something more for the battling Liberals to think about-they might end up not only being on the wrong side of history, but on the wrong side of the electorate.
Carl Boyd, Cooks Hill
NO interest rate rise? Wow, those under mortgage stress must be celebrating more or less for a bit longer.
Harold Kronholm, Cessnock
CARL Stevenson of Dora Creek has, in my opinion, made some weird and wacky contributions to the letters page over the years. My favourite was his assertion that Tony Abbott would have made a great Labor PM. His latest offering comparing a tidy lawn to the looming climate catastrophe is up there though. Keep 'em coming.
Mac Maguire, Charlestown
IT seems Peter Dutton does not want any competition to the billionaire's Voice to Parliament in Canberra.
Peter Ronne, Woodberry
THE definition of democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. If the Voice referendum gets up, my concern is we will no longer be a democracy as we will have one group of people, based on race, possessing special powers to influence government that the majority of the people of the nation do not have. If you want to maintain our democracy, I believe there's one way to vote.
John Cooper, Charlestown
I JUST heard an interesting ad on the radio that started with: "You wouldn't go to your butcher to get your tax done, so why buy a bed from a supermarket?" Obviously the commercial writers have never heard of Steve Barnett.
Rick Johnson, Tuncurry
IN my opinion, Peter Dutton would have made a great South African prime minister during the apartheid era in that country. Mr Dutton is the man who wanted to fast track entry into Australia for white South African farmers. I will vote yes for the Voice, which I expect will prove fatal for his PM ambitions.
