I SAW with alarm this morning that a new outbreak of varroa mite has occured in the Hunter, with the parasite detected at Lochinvar. I commend the NSW govenment Department of Primary Industries for their efforts. Hives near my home were in the varroa "red zone" and had to be destroyed, but it appears all were not destroyed.
I am a veteran and have been in and out of hospital for the past seven months fighting back-to-back golden staph infections. I am immune compromised and a bee sting could kill me, I was not aware a bee disaster was unfolding. Imagine my surprise when I discovered four active bee hives sitting in one of my sheds down the back paddock, put there without my permission. We had a cleaning firm visit our property last Wednesday - they rang in panic due to a bee swarm at our house, people were stung. The swarm settled next to my back door. Then I learn we are in a varroa Mite "red zone" and that all bees should have been destroyed.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries was then notified. They were swift with their actions, and concerned that I have had four infected bee hives placed on my property without approval.
Myles Huntly, Teralba
Dam it, we need more mitigation
THERE is much talk about regarding flood mitigation given the past year's events, yet I see no plan on any table that effectively does any flood mitigation at all. Do they even know what it means to mitigate a flood?
To mitigate is to reduce or remove risk, it seems to me. So to mitigate a flood is to reduce or remove a flood threat. The only things that can remove sufficient excess water from a river system at a significant rate are well located and constructed off-river dams. An effective off-river dam is dug very deep close to the river, or waterway, with a connecting channel constructed so as when the water level in the waterway reaches a certain level then some water is diverted along the channel to the deeply-constructed dam. Grahamstown dam is an example, albeit a poor one for flood mitigation due to three main factors: it's too far away from the Williams river, the connecting channel is far too long, and the dam was not dug deep as it is just a depression with a wall constructed.
The value of off-river dams is they do not stop the river flowing and therefore do not degrade the river's health, as on-river dams do. Because the off-river dam is constructed by digging a large deep hole then the action will not cause any additional flood threat in any community. By comparison, an on-river dam will cause flooding upstream, especially as dam walls are increased in height. When water is released down the spillway flooding downstream also may occur. Off-river dams can also be interconnected so as to prepare for a potential high rainfall event by pumping water from a risk area to a potential drought area. The stored water in the off-river dam can be used in the same manner as any other water stored in our dams. Some very long river systems should have a number of off-river dams along their course. Levee banks are only effective if the heavy rainfall does not fall in the levied area but rather only in the waterway's source catchment. During the Lismore floods the rainfall on the town would have flooded many areas even if the levee bank was not breached by the river systems. Therefore levee banks, while useful at times, are not the full answer at all.
Milton Caine, Birmingham Gardens
We want solutions, not bickering
I'VE just this minute folded the Herald and decided to simply enjoy taking a break from the disgusting news about how taxpayer's money' is abused by governments, meaning immediate help for Australians in need is unavailable. There are two issues I find intolerable and insulting.
The first is Wednesday's story ("Damage control: divide over reef, Newcastle Herald 30/11) that sets out clearly how politicians don't deserve payment for their protracted arguing about serious issues. I am surprised (but shouldn't be) that Tanya Plibersek is crying "we aren't the only ones doing it" when cautioned about lack of delivering firm, trusted, outcomes, to cut emissions by 2030. The Queensland state environment minister will fight the United Nation-backed mission "calling for the Great Barrier Reef to be inscribed on the list of World Heritage sites in danger and that Australia's efforts so far are not enough to protect its outstanding universal values from climate change, poor water quality and harmful fishing activities". These people represent their constituents who have clearly asked their representatives to "do whatever it takes" to halt climate change. Arguing and fighting with international authorities is school playground behaviour. Shame on them.
Karen Barlow ('Time to act, says Claydon', Herald 30/11) draws attention to a situation that most people including myself find mind boggling and abhorrent. We have had a year or so to come to terms with the fact that the federal government has fostered and supported unimaginable behaviour in its workplace. I believe Australians deserve a quote/appraisal cost of the landmark Set the Standard report (already undertaken) . Add to that wages for future parliamentarians and other employees, including Committee chair Sharon Claydon, who will help devise the code of conduct, plus the committee who will establish an independent standards commission to investigate and enforce it. Thank you to whoever's job this is.
Pat Garnet, Wickham
Charge up with common sense
READERS demand the government take more action to implement various conditions/restrictions with respect to climate change without taking into account the common sense factor. For example, this extreme push for the introduction of electric cars (China must be licking their lips - guess where the majority of parts come from). Anyway, back to the common-sense factor.
A family is going on holiday over Christmas / New year in their caravan. Now pulling a caravan is going to really chew into the battery life, so don't turn on the air con or they will not make their next charging station. Heading off, they must reach their next charging station and allow quite a number of hours to recharge before pressing on to the next station and then finally they will be able to settle and enjoy a couple of days at the holiday destination before repeating the process on the return journey.
There's also another number of questions in the interest of common sense. Does this requirement to move to cleaner energy detail a specified timeframe to include our farmers and equipment, plus heavy vehicle transport delivering goods around Australia? It will require a lot of charging stations for long hauls like Melbourne to Perth, and at what additional cost of goods to the consumer? Then there's cargo and cruise vessels along with aeroplanes, and finally the large machinery required to mine all the required battery components that after a somewhat short battery life will continue to leak ongoing toxic chemicals once buried in the Earth's surface.
Peter Mullins, Rankin Park
SHORT TAKES
IT looks like the Federal Labor Government is going to fix spiralling energy prices via temporary direct energy price subsidies. The Reserve Bank governor has warned on 28/11 that fixing the twin challenges of housing affordability and soaring energy prices would be key to taming inflation in 2023 and beyond. So now not only does the government subsidise the installation of solar panels and wind turbines but now is going to subsidise our power bills with more taxpayers' money. That will fix inflation, our national debt and the unreliability of renewables for sure.
John Cooper, Charlestown
I CAN'T believe the hypocrisy of the NRL in not letting Laurie Daley accept a coaching role at Manly because he works for TAB Corp, and they then take as much money as they can from the Betting industry in forms of sponsorship and endorsements that reaks of double standards.
Greg Parrey, Rutherford
WHO is more of a threat to Australia, ISIS brides or Julian Assange? Bring him home.
Richard Walters, Cessnock
The Labor government has set a time frame to help with the cost , to have half of all new cars electric by the year 2030 , that will use renewable energy to charge the battery. Today there are 20 million registered cars in Australia , by 2030 it's expected that 10 million will be battery powered electric , these cars will require a similar amount of power to recharge , as the average family house requires. Ten million houses will require twice the power by 2030 , possibly more where a family requires more than one car. To expect twice the power to come from solar and wind energy , that at best is productive eight hours a day , plus place in storage sufficient power for the other sixteen hours , during these same eight hours , is simply impossible. It's impossible for existing power stations that work 24 hours a day to double their output , let alone do it in eight hours , "what are they thinking" ? Surely , I am not the only one with a bit of common sense , who still knows how to count numbers?
Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
TO answer your question of why Victorians re-elected a Daniel Andrews' government, Don Fraser (Short Takes 1/12), for sixty years I have heard people say that even a bad Labor government is better than a Liberal one. Maybe there is something in this. I refer you to Neil Meyers' short take of the same day. Another adage is Liberal governments get us into trouble, Labor Governments get us out of it. On indulgence, where there is smoke there is fire.
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
THE meaning of the word dumb is temporarily unable or unwilling to speak. So given Dan Andrews resounding success at the election, Don Fraser (Short Takes 1/12), I dont believe Victorians are dumb at all. They spoke, and they spoke in droves.
Andy Ward, Newcastle
IF they attempted to house these ISIS brides in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs, I could just picture the repercussions.
