NOW that the government intends to reduce carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, new skills will be needed in the coal and gas industries if unemployment is to be avoided.
A possible idea which anticipates and could assist is an organised training program for most of those in the industry. It could be named as 'Renewable Energy Training Scheme' (RETS). The scheme could be jointly subsidised by government and industry and could be on a voluntary part-time basis, allowing employees in the industry to continue to work for a limited time until investment in renewables dominates the energy market. The scheme would give hope of future employment.
New skills in electrical trades will be needed for construction of renewable projects and local manufacture of components.
This being known, it would be prudent to plan ahead for the transition to renewables. It is hoped this issue will be raised at the forthcoming jobs and skills summit.
Les Reedman, Cooranbong
Cutting losses on Kurri Kurri plant
ALL car owners know that they can wreck their cars if they pick the wrong fuel at the service station. So regarding the Kurri Kurri gas plant, why did anyone ever think that an engine designed to run on diesel could be made to run on hydrogen?
The previous government had a policy of gas-led climate change because it had chosen gas company executives as its advisors.
The present government is presumably not reliant on the same group of donors. So is there any reason why the Kurri gas generator plans shouldn't simply be scrapped?
Peter Moylan, Glendale
Please reconsider the race
I HATE Supercars. We live on the route and the noise is horrendous. Previously, we have both stayed and gone away for the weekend. In the past at least we got access to the council car park for parking our cars, but as this has now been demolished that will not be available so we have no idea where we can park. To keep our cars at home means we can't leave after 7am nor return before 7pm. To walk out of the area to access our cars we had to cross the bridge over Watt Street which I don't think I can do now.
It probably means we will be prisoners here all weekend. We are 75 and 80. We have lived here for nine years and apart from this event we love the city life. We do not ever complain about noise.
Please council, reconsider having this event here for the next five years.
Sharyn Brown, Newcastle
Uncertainty over pole position
THANK you, Cr Clausen, for reassuring ratepayers that council has now changed its approach to selling off their stockpiled smart poles to developers, ('Council stops pole sell-off', Herald, 27/8). It certainly wasn't a good look for council to be seen benefiting from the sale of smart poles bought with state and federal government funds.
Grant money is usually accompanied by stringent outcomes-based guidelines and the requirement for a financial statement on completion of the project. Was any such report prepared by council? Did council inform their grant providers that there were excess poles purchased and resold with the funds? And why were 300 poles purchased in the first place when this number was obviously in excess of requirements?
Christine Everingham, Newcastle East
Getting back on track
DAVID Littleproud exemplifies the thought processes of the Conservative side of politics. He doesn't care about the PEP-11 gas project because it is not politically expedient to his party.
Barnaby Joyce was happy with Morrison's bizarre decisions regarding dual ministers to preserve a Nationals Cabinet position.
The electoral rorts with sports grants etc are other examples of the Coalition mindset. They only see government as a means of remaining in power, not to serve the Australian population as a whole irrespective of political or social standing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government have declared and acted upon measures to legislate in a fair and just way. They are only 100 days in power, but are making all the right noises.
Alan Cameron, Eleebana
Joining the EV express
DON Fraser, (Short Takes 27/8), cries doom and gloom about electric cars and their impact on the electricity grid. Well Don, my next car will be electric and I'll throw quite a few more solar panels on the roof to charge it. I'll also opt to supply the grid when I don't need all my battery for travel next day.
This will be when demand for power is high and the price I'm paid is higher than the normal feed in price. My guess is that there will be a lot of people like me and that will help even out the peak demand.
Lloyd Davies, Stockton
Qualifications and questions
LLOYD Davies sums up the problem with the climate debate in his last few words "expert to latch on to". For those with a closed mind, no expert is sufficiently qualified to be correct. I might suggest Mr Davies look up Professor Ian Plimer's qualifications; he is well-qualified. Professor Plimer is referring to the Tongan volcano in relation to severe rain events. I think if Mr Davies did some research he might find there is a direct correlation between large volcanic eruptions and high rainfall throughout the history of our planet. A little more research might also enlighten him to the fact that Co2 is an essential part of the food chain.
The problem as I see it is that there is far too much money being made by big business and sections of the scientific community and far too much control by governments and bureaucrats for us to ever have an honest debate on the effects of humans on the planet.
Andrew Hirst, Beresfield
Unpicking the penalty
THE payment Port of Newcastle Investments Pty Ltd (PoN) must make to the state government, ('Port looks to break out of coal box', Herald, 27/8), for container traffic above a "cap", is called a penalty by the government. A penalty is payable by the government to NSW Ports Pty Ltd. PoN is penalised to reimburse the government for paying NSW Ports.
The government incurs the penalty if government container terminal policy is changed in the future. The amount of the penalty is the number of containers over the "cap" multiplied by average wharfage at Port Botany, currently around $100 per container, until 2063. The government claims that section 6 of the "Ports Assets (Authorised Transactions) Act 2012" authorised the Treasurer to penalise the government if the government changed its container terminal policy within 50 years. Section 6 says: "The Treasurer has and may exercise all such functions as are necessary or convenient for the purposes of an authorised transaction."
Parliament may not authorise the Treasurer to penalise the government for changing a government policy in the future. Section 6 does not authorise the penalty. A penalty was intentionally concealed from Parliament. The government denied that a penalty even existed until it was exposed in July 2016 by the Newcastle Herald.
Greg Cameron, Wamboin
SHORT TAKES
LLOYD Davies says that those who question man-made climate change can always find "some expert", (Short Takes 29/8). The same applies to climate change believers. Funny that only those who question this "settled science" are the only ones who want an open debate.
Trevor Toneguzzi, Williamtown
DO the Knights train together? Insert some Energizer batteries into the players for Sunday's game against the Sharks and give the members some sort of hope for next season.
Alan Harrison, Glendale
IAN King (Short Takes 29/8), I haven't been to school for a very long time, but your numbers bamboozled me, so I even went to my trusty calculator (just to be sure), and there it was, the difference between 161.9 and 157.9 is 4 cents, not 36. But you're right, it pays to shop around.
Mick Miller, Salamander Bay
IN my Short Take (29/8) about petrol prices, Coles at Glendale should have read 193.9c not 161.9 which accounts for the 36 cents per litre difference between the cheapest and dearest.
Ian King, Warners Bay
ATTENTIVE students of physical geography and geology will know that volcanic eruptions do indeed cause rainfall. Professor Ian Plimer, as an internationally famous geologist and one-time Professor of Geology at the University of Newcastle, a former colleague and ongoing friend, is of course absolutely right. Believe it or not, so too is the US Geological Survey. Time for some to 'woke up'.
Don Parkes, New Lambton Heights
THANK you Lloyd Davies for pointing out the nonsense spouted by Ian Plimer and Steve Barnett (Short Takes, 29/8). Plimer is one of the most rebutted people on Earth and many of his ridiculous claims can be easily Googled. That Mr Barnett uncritically repeated Plimer's lie that volcanoes cause our Co2 surplus shows that he not only failed to fact-check but also fails in critical thinking - volcanoes, you know, have been around for billions of years so they are part of the Co2 baseline and cannot explain the sharp increase this century.
Michael Gormly, Islington
ILL-educated trade unionists and their industry super funds have outperformed the retail funds every year for 15 years. Showing unions deserve a place at the jobs summit and the Reserve Bank board. It isn't that they can't do worse. It's that all those business and banking types with their experience, fancy Masters of Business Administration and economics degrees can't even match them, never mind do better.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
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