Hunter Workers has labelled the offshore wind farm a 'beacon of opportunity' for the Hunter's future viability ("Offshore wind offers blueprint for Hunter jobs, leadership", Opinion, 6/1). Indeed, the project is massive. Potentially hundreds of up to 260-metre tall turbines plus ancillary infrastructure and cables will be floating 20km+ out at sea, tethered to the seafloor using massive anchors across 1800 square kilometres.
They need to be built, maintained and replaced after a while, all of which means jobs. But there is increasing community resistance regarding the project's viability and size. Among the concerns are its potential impacts on marine life, shipping, fishing, tourism and associated jobs. Visually, the turbines will appear twice as high as the Tomaree Headland when viewed from Nobbys Lighthouse. And still they won't yield nearly enough baseload power to compensate for Liddell's closure.
It's crucial we look at all opportunities for the Hunter's future with an open mind, and renewables surely will have a part to play. But we should not take shortcuts in assessing individual projects. Chris Bowen's rushed consultation has already put parts of the community offside. After all, this technology is invasive, unproven at the proposed scale, and heavily subsidised by taxpayer dollars. SA has already rejected an offshore wind project due to those impacts. So it's only sensible to call for a proper, open-ended consultation process that truly addresses the community's concerns and establishes a positive effect on power prices and the region as a whole.
Thomas Triebsees, Mayfield
CBD change fragmented
Bradley Perrett's cycleway opinion piece raises some fine points for further consideration ("Cycling fetish hits motorists hard", Opinion, 5/1).
There's little doubt that the city's cycleways are a hotchpotch of varied ingredients, often at the expense of the city's other future demands.
Motorised bikes have changed the scene, as Perrett points out. Hunter Street has become the new rail corridor, and Darby Street has an identity crisis. There are further changes afoot likely to bring more fragmentation and isolation.
We need a verified traffic count on bikes, cars and pedestrian movements at key points, along with light rail passenger counts. It all seems mismatched, and way under-subscribed. So much has been built, but people are still not visiting or walking around the CBD and nearby areas as much as expected. There are tumbleweeds rolling down cycleways, light rail, and footpaths. Parking is now deficient.
Perhaps a third option is to unify remaining roads for bikes and cars in the city at 30kmh and open the sidewalks, returning the cycleways for proper pedestrian and family use, grassing areas where we can, and also protecting people.
We need full commitment to change, rather than half-baked or forever incremental. Cycleways and shared pedestrian areas, such as Honeysuckle, are clearly not working. The CBD has never felt more divided and at cross-purposes at times, with more of the same coming. It's time to take stock and perhaps get out from behind the desk and take a stroll.
Dayne Steggles, Merewether
Look to science
I often hear people querying whether human induced climate change can be beaten by science.
The answer is yes, of course it can.
It is an established fact that scientists know exactly how to stop the advance of human induced climate change. Scientists are fully aware that it is the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy that is the prime cause of human induced climate change.
The problem is that corporations around the world, including corporations in Australia, are earning massive profits burning fossil fuels to create energy and appear to have no desire to listen to the loud warnings coming from scientists clearly advising that the practice of burning fossil fuels simply has to stop if humans want to continue living on planet Earth.
Brian Measday, Myrtle Bank
Private school funding
Ruth Burrell ("Private school reality", Letters, 9/1), is way off the mark in claiming that the states make no contribution towards funding private education.
Basic searches of easily accessible websites reveal that the Commonwealth provides 80 per cent of educational funding to independent and Catholic schools, and 20 per cent to government schools. The flip side is that states and territories are obliged to fund public schools 80 per cent of their resource needs and 20 per cent to independent and Catholic Schools.
Brian Collins, Kotara South
SHORT TAKES
Aussie cricket club selective with invites
I have come to the conclusion that the Australian Test cricket team is a club. The only process a cricketer can join this club is by an invitation from its members. Not by selection from outstanding cricket performances over a number of seasons in Sheffield Shield.
Richard Jenkins, Stockton
Bancroft dudded again
Sad selection for opening batsman, erasing Cameron Bancroft. Stop scoring runs in Sheffield Shield. It used to be how to make the Australian team. Sorry that's right, you were the scapegoat.
Bruce Cook, Adamstown
Bowen can't judge
The Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, recently suggested that Peter Dutton would make a worse prime minister than either Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott. He may or may not be right, but I'm not sure that Bowen is performing well enough in his own portfolio to make such judgement calls on others.
Anne Stewart, New Lambton
Lightweight Mussolini
Donald Trump reminds me of a third-grade Mussolini; big ego, same posturing, but with less class, lower morals and fewer ideas.
Jim Bell, Mayfield
No guilt from me
We see another example of warped thinking from Mac Maguire ("Guilt-driven comments", Letters, 11/1). Far from feeling guilty, I'm proud I voted for equality for all Australians, regardless of colour or creed. It's not the mention of it that drives me mad, it's the constant whinging from the losers, some of it offensive.
Greg Hunt, Newcastle West
Secure with vote choice
I thought Mac Maguire was going to change the record ("Guilt-driven comments", Letters, 11/1). I'm very proud that the "no" vote won and stopped the country pouring more money down the drain on another useless "advisory board". Move on Mac, I sleep like a baby knowing I helped prevent this.
Matt Ophir, Charlestown
Democracy 'a process'
The right wing cabal has been out in force on this page recently lecturing disappointed supporters of the Voice to "get over it." Could it be they're trying to "cancel" people? I've said before that a democratic ballot is not like a chocolate wheel - winner takes all and no further debate tolerated. Put another way, democracy is a process, not an event. So my advice in return is "get over it".
