"A local woman "tragically" died without seeing a doctor at a New England hospital, and the local MP claims it is partly because the Queensland border lockdown has made it more difficult to book locum doctors".

It is disappointing to witness Adam Marshall becoming more and more entrenched as a National Party puppet; especially coming up to the Queensland election. Seeking to lay blame (albeit partial) for the death of a woman at Glen Innes hospital on Queensland Labor Premier's Covid-19 border closure policies, defies logic and credibility; it is one of the many politically motivated charades currently playing out in the lead up to this election.

Glen Innes has been exempt from border closure beginning 1 October but apart from that, is the NSW govt so incompetent when it comes to Health care provision that it needs to rely on Queensland? If that is the case then NSW residents had better hope like hell that the LNP fails to topple the current government.

Jan Kleeman, Donald Creek

I have just experienced it. As an aged pensioner I cannot afford my small electric home.

My response is to send all electric heating appliances to the tip, generate my own home-grown electric power, use my own solar and wind to heat water, composting toilet to save water and not use high price council water, and use wood heating and wood cooking as I have plenty on my lot.

As a result I have more employment and motivation; a lifestyle I can afford instead of paying into the piggy banks of investors exploiting me.

I believe this government can do the same. Our esteemed Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he will invest in gas or build a power station himself. Sounds like a dictator and a bully.

Using gas in an earthquake-prone area to fuel perhaps like Liddell to create a warm lake and the radiator to dump the heat into our atmosphere. Global warming? Well it sure ain't global cooling!

We could have more employment in what we already have, like plenty of alternative energy. The people then have more money to invest and therefore do not need rich investors to create more global warming super expensive power. Our investments then create cheaper energy allowing our producers to better compete with our agricultural and machinery to compete for export. Ain't common sense so bloody wonderful? Thank God.

Lindsay Bridge, Quirinidi

The Ovens Mountain Pumped Hydro Scheme has been announced with great fanfare and declared critical for NSW.

A similar proposal was put forward in the 1990's by Hydro Gen Consortium to operate from adjacent to the Styx River dropping into the Styx and George's creek.

I still have a copy of the Environmental Impact Statement for that proposal in which it is stated, quote; "a pumped storage plant will output less power than it consumes." End quote. It then goes on to explain that it relies on power from base load generators which I understand to mean thermal or coal fired. A wonderful battery system that works IF it has excess power available at night when demand is low to be used to pump the water back up to the top of the mountain to be "the battery" ready for when next needed. Indeed it can help "balance" the supply and demand load to help maintain a constant power supply.

Given that coal fired power generators have an undeserved stigma over them and there is no political will to build a new one, what is the future for a new pumped storage scheme? This proposal could be a working proposition if we can find the will to ensure we have also new coal fired stations to make it viable. Or will it be an expensive white elephant? There is also the question of access to the proposed site, with access from either Kempsey or Armidale being a narrow winding dirt road as many of your readers are well aware of, totally unsuited to get heavy machinery and large numbers of workers in and out.

Are we to continue down the dependence on China route for our industry, for our steel, etc? All industry needs a constant reliable supply of power if we are to obtain some semblance of the much-touted independence from China that many political figures are speaking about.

It is reliably told that China is building new coal fired generators all the time and we are fools for giving away one of our greatest resources. Have we not the best engineers in the world to find ways to use that resource ourselves in a much cleaner way? What we produce in emissions on the world scale is miniscule. There is much bluff and bravado about being more independent of China at present, where is the politician who will demand our own base load power suppliers from our own coal. How many Coal fired power stations could be built for the quoted $1 Billion?

David Smith, Inverell