NO SIGNS, NO IMPROVEMENT
Since the introduction of mobile speed cameras it appears less police are employed to patrol our roads. It also appears the NSW Government have modified the role of police away from road safety. Yet at the same time, road fatalities and injury have increased and place a hefty toll on our society.
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From my experience on country roads, it is not speeding drivers in modern cars which have put me in precarious positions or concern me. I find general risk taking behaviour of drivers trying to overtake on poor quality roads with blind corners, road rage incidents and driver who appear drug affected or drunk are the things I want addressed. The announcement that mobile speed cameras will operate covertly will do absolutely nothing to address those behaviours. If drivers have to wait six weeks to receive an infringement notice, that won't stop the drugged driver speeding past a camera and slamming into my daughter, mother or wife.
Rather than rely on covert mobile phone and speed cameras for road safety, how about employing more police and returning visible law enforcement to NSW roads.
Greg Adamson, Griffith
PLAN IS NOT WORKING
Water is a complex issue. We all know that. But the lack of understanding shown by the federal water minister Keith Pitt is beyond comprehension.
Mr Pitt told us after last week's meeting of water ministers that it was time for action. We've been waiting for action for a decade and, if anything, it has gone backwards since he was appointed earlier this year.
Pitt has not collaborated with our communities in the Southern Basin and I don't think he understands the unique issues. He says water buybacks are off the table, but won't legislate this to provide certainty. "Trust me," he says. We don't. Meanwhile our federal member and fellow cabinet minister Sussan Ley is deathly in her silence.
What happened to the ranting and raving about protecting her communities when she was in opposition? Even on the backbench she was occasionally prepared to stand up to this failed Basin Plan, but now we don't hear a whimper. I'm at a loss to know how this disaster is going to be salvaged so we do not ruin our communities and environment for future generations. One thing is for certain; the current approach is not working. Saving the Murray-Darling Basin and its communities appears to be a stretch too far for politicians who lack the understanding and willpower to fix arguably the biggest policy disaster in Australia's history.
Ron and Val McWhae, Barham
GET BACK TO FARMING
So much is being said about low emissions by both state and federal governments by 2050, in other words our politicians have gone green and do our leaders know what is driving climate change?
The people, farm animals and coal-fired power stations? The vapour that comes from coal-fired power stations is water, and let us not forget that China has 222 coal-fired power stations. Pick up a newspaper and someone has reported that our bushfires were caused by climate change and the over neglect of our bushland, national parks and fire trails overgrown by grass and bushes and the lack of a control burning over many years, when fire and wind join together nothing in its path is saved.
The greatest benefits from climate change comes not from temperature change, but from carbon dioxide itself. It is not a pollutant, but a raw material from which plants make carbohydrates and thence proteins and fats, as it is an extreme rare trace gas in the air, one cannot smell the gas or see it. Less than 00.4 per cent of air on average, plants struggle to absorb enough of it.
On a windless sunny day, a field of corn can absorb half the carbon dioxide out the air, in other words we need to get back to farming when our first politicians built our dams to drought-proof Australia and our farmers are the environmentalists and animals should be allowed to graze in national parks, to co-exist with the native animals and to minimise grass growth.
Fran Pietroboni, Griffith
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