It was a wonderful occasion at Allianz Stadium prior to the Sydney Roosters vs Canberra Raiders NRL match where the crowd paid tribute to and acknowledged the services of NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, Fire and Rescue, VRA Rescue NSW, SES, Rural Fire Service, Marine Rescue, Surf Life Saving Australia and St John Ambulance.
Special acknowledgement was given to police inspector Amy Scott whose brave actions prevented more deaths at Westfield Bondi Junction in April of this year.
Displays of appreciation for those who protect us and provide vital services for our communities are to be applauded and are far more crowd and community unifying than welcoming us to our own country.
John Cooper, Charlestown
Babies deserve end-of-life care
Recently the United Australia senator Ralph Babet tried to introduce an urgency bill into Parliament advocating that abortion survivors (babies born after 23 weeks) should receive pain relief and palliative care. The present system in most states is no intervention and such babies are left to die. The motion was voted down by all ALP members, Greens and four Liberal senators.
This is not a topic about the pros and cons of abortion. It is about babies born at 23 weeks and left to die.
Some politicians argue it is a state issue. A convenient excuse. The Federal Government can override such issues. We ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Where are all the Catholic Bishops? The Christian, Jewish and Moslem leaders What is their view on this tragedy?
When most babies are born at 23 weeks they are rushed to neonatal ICU. Alas not the case with the unwanted.
How do doctors who take the Hippocratic Oath view this practice?
To be fair the alternative argument is that such babies born at this stage need lifetime medical aid. Who gets custody? They would spend most of their lives in state institutions. History judges a society by the manner they treat their innocent and vulnerable. On this issue, Australia should hang their heads in shame.
Helen Douglas, Stockton
Heat on meat hits close to bone
DR JAMES Muecke ("Red meat should not be 'demonised'" Herald, 2/9), definitely seems to be in campaign mode.
Now why would that be? I can't, of course, say exactly, although I have some ideas.
But I do know one thing - if I wanted advice on nutrition, I would not be going to an eye-doctor for it. Nor an Australian of the Year, unless he was a nutritionist.
Like hunk Hamish Roberts, who eats four or five steaks a day and prefers to "think for himself" while following diets provided by other people, I also felt a great deal of "mental clarity" and experienced a very constant mood for whole days at a time while I was on my own diet a while ago.
It was a vegan, fat-free diet.
It surprised me how successful it was, and how easy.
But I don't follow a full vegan diet now. Why? Because I like meat, and I know that moderate amounts of red meat are good for you. I don't demonise it. I just eat a suitable amount of it. That is, not much.
It seems Dr Muecke agrees with me, because that is the same amount of red meat he says he eats.
So why doesn't he just say that - eat red meat, but not too much? That's what most nutritionists say anyway. What is his campaign? Demonising veggies?
As for hunk Hamish, unless he's swilling bottles of vitamin pills and fibre, I don't fancy his health chances down the track.
Tony Troughear, Kotara
Phoning it in on streaming
TELSTRA recently announced the shutdown of their Telstra TV subscription service and subsequent shutdown of the Telstra TV boxes seen in many Australian living rooms.
Telstra have decided that these TV boxes are to be disabled as of November 1 in what I consider an obvious attempt to move current users onto their new Fetch TV system. Some of these boxes are only around six months old.
The decision to disable the Telstra boxes is a terrible one for the environment and the current subscribers to the system, many of whom are elderly. All the devices will essentially become bricks.
There is no need for these devices to be disabled. They could continue to be used for many years for streaming media or watching free to air TV through the built in antenna/tuner. The only reason I can see that Telstra is disabling them is to force users onto Fetch.
I call on Telstra to reverse this decision to disable these devices and allow existing users to continue to use their Telstra TV box if they wish. I also call on existing users to boycott the new Telstra Fetch subscription.
Devices such as Google's TV dongles are very affordable and have no ongoing fees for ownership. Get one of them and tell Telstra to go fetch.
Mark Cowan, Wallsend
Clarification
Michelle Brown's letter published in Wednesday's edition failed to declare she is an election candidate on the Our Newcastle ticket in Ward 3.
Necessary evil means fighting chance for us
Recent history shows just how close the Japanese came to occupying Australia during the Second World War. In an ideal world it would be great if we did not have to defend ourselves. The problem is we do not live in such a world. Manufacturing our own defensive capability is essential. Being caught with our pants down is not an option. We must remember that Williamtown RAAF base is Australia's principal fighter base, home to the F35 fighter aircraft. There are weapons stored in sites all around Australia.
Colin Rowlatt, Merewether
Mobile number the new passport
I had thought that because I was born in Merewether more than 80 years ago that I was an Australian citizen. How wrong can one be? A recent update by a bakery loyalty program required a mobile phone number. No mobile phone, no membership. The same is true of Service NSW online. When I was born, went to school and later enlisted in the Australian Army, I was not made aware that to be a citizen, I had to have a mobile phone.
Bill Storer, Charlestown
High cost for a Lotto snub boss
Glen Wilson's response to Steve Barnett's 26/8th opinion piece got me laughing today ("Make right call for after hours", Letters, 3/9). Glen, I suspect you must be new to letters or just don't get Steve's tongue in cheek opinions. His staff would have found him, hung him up in the butcher's shop on a skyhook with a left-handed screwdriver, sent the apprentice out to get some striped paint and left him up to dry.
Neil Meyers, Warners Bay
Everyone needs to eat
I wonder what the filthy rich will do once there is no food to buy. Starvation will be the great leveller.
Harold Kronholm, Cessnock
Supermarkets deliver super profit
Mervyn Callister ("'Down, Down' what's needed", Letters, 2/9), Coles sold off their fuel stations to Viva Energy on 1/5/2023. So I guess Coles' profits are from all the shoppers in the supermarkets.
