What a party!
A big thank you to all involved in the music festival and talent showcase at Manilla on April 9 and 10. If you weren't there you missed a truly fulfilling two days of uplifting enjoyment.
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A positive spark of talented artists giving us their best - wow. Congratulations to one an all.
Christine Watson, Tamworth
Let's work together on climate change
Do-nothing activist Daniel Peckham doesn't get it ("Climate doomsday proponents", 14/4).
No one is suggesting that Tamworth can "control the climate" - rather that we all have a shared responsibility to work together.
And it would be hypocritical to protest outside the Chinese embassy given that Australia flogs off coal to China, voraciously consumes its products, and per-capita emits two and a half times its greenhouse gases.
Ironically, sand is a base ingredient for making solar panels, but it is also the material into which Mr Peckham's head is permanently stuck.
If he can pull it out for a bit, he should read Dr Karl's Little Book of Climate Change Science. It may help him get it.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
Alcohol and COVID-19
Alcohol use weakens the immune response and damages the effectiveness of vaccination (WHO 2020).
The alcohol industry used the pandemic to sell more alcohol with messages such as "stay in, drink up", "survival kits", "all day everyday", "14-day isolation pack" which contained nine bottles of wine.
Controls on alcohol advertising are self-monitored through the ABAC Scheme and all of the above examples were dismissed when complaints were lodged. There is also no meaningful penalties if guidelines are breached.
Drinking was promoted at home and as a coping mechanism.
There is a strong need for independent government regulation to protect the community from harmful marketing. Put people and health before profits.
Lyn Allen, Tamworth
Parliamentary misconduct
Now the Church of Democratic Enlightenment (CODE) is starting action phase I should mention in relation to parliamentary treatment of women its two other currently proposed mechanical adjustments besides Voter Policy Mandate. These are Same Party Recall and National Constituency MPs. Peter van Onselen's comment that we've so far had "outrages rather than solutions" (Australian 3-4 April) gives the cue.
Though the mass media has typically undermined the immediate credibility of this in relation to Brittany Higgins and the Christian Porter accuser with selective sensationalism, I think we knew the parliamentary culture was toxic, and more so for women, quite likely more so for conservative women.
Recall of Members of Parliament or other elected officials is when constituents petition for an official to be recalled from their position and typically face a new election. Governor Newsom of California is currently the subject of a recall petition.
Same Party Recall, here of parliamentarians, removes the general objection to recall of messing with government numbers - threatening a working parliamentary majority. It thus defeats the common real motive of recall where it exists, partisan political gain on the pretext of misconduct correction. However, for the individual MP, the fear of loss of their electorate's confidence is the greater for that; the individual can be dispensed with without concern for party or government. Members are by no means the full extent of the sexual abuse problem around parliament. However, I'd be confident a more respectful attitude in members would spread to their staff. As it happens, there are other measures to make MPs responsible for their staff's conduct under consideration, so the idea that voters would hold members so accountable through recall seems persuasive, and I think most powerful.
National Constituency MPs would be additional members, say 20 House of Representatives MPs, nominated by political parties for election by the whole nation rather than local electorates. It is a modification of a proposal of Thomas Hare that J S Mill supported. I'd stress "nominated by political parties" because I don't support non-party balance of power. While its purposes are mainly representation of minorities by enabling the national aggregation of their vote, and also better quality MPs, nationally respected figures within the parliamentary parties and parliament would break down the internal party cultures whose insularity permits and even breeds antisocial behaviour.
This is not to dismiss other options like gender quotas, where I think the argument that gender imbalance in itself points to ability deficit is gaining weight. National Constituency MPs would of course be an immediate corrective instrument there, for gender and ability. One could say the same about lack of minority representation being a representative deficit.
I doubt that shifting the goalposts around within a structurally unaltered parliament will do much good; the present party and parliamentary culture is too discredited on too many counts. Sometimes change really requires something different.
For two weeks after the publication of this letter I'll email free papers on National Constituency MPs and Same Party Recall by reply to churchode@gmail.com.
Stan Heuston, Oxley Vale
IPART independence?
At this week's council meeting, councillors voted to make a submission about massively increased charges proposed by the so-called Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). I am dubious about the independence of IPART. I have historically seen proposed utility charges such as water and electricity simply increased annually without concern for the impacted residents. Rubber stamped for the government of the day.
During the most recent drought 2017-20 and as the level of Tamworth's main water supply - Chaffey Dam plummeted, the NSW Government panicked and declared that it would construct a new pipeline from Chaffey Dam to Dungowan and ultimately onto Calala treatment works to effectively transfer the precious water remaining in it more efficiently by pipeline and limit transmission losses. It also promised a 22.5 billion litre new Dungowan Dam. Today the multi-million dollar pipeline sits idle.
As for water there are a number of figures that I had sought an explanation about from the NSW Government especially so-called "End of System Flows - Environmental Water" without success. These are flows measured at Carroll Gap as they leave the Peel River and enter the Namoi River where they are immediately converted back to a tradable commodity. These figures are telling particularly their size during the drought without any inflows. I believe they were released to our detriment for customers elsewhere without concern for the impact to people living in the Peel Valley and especially Tamworth, Kootingal or Moonbi residents.
- End of System Flows 2017-2018 - 25,394 million litres.
- Unaccounted Difference (transmission losses) - 0.
- End of System Flows 2018-19 - 8,941 million litres.
- Unaccounted Difference (transmission losses) - 6,070 million litres.
- End of System Flows 2019-2020 - 62,418 million litres.
- Unaccounted Difference (Transmission Losses) 1,601 million litres.
The figures for 2019-2020 period are large because of the rain events from January 2020 that increased the flow in the Peel River from tributaries such as Dungowan Creek, Duncan's Creek, Goonoo Goonoo Creek and Timbumburi Creek etc.
In October 2019, no one wanted to rock the boat and ask the question of the government about the massive quantities of "End of System Flows - Environmental Water" released during a period of sustained drought with no/record low inflows into Chaffey Dam or any tributaries along the Peel River that brought our city, Kootingal and Moonbi water supplies perilously close to zero. Presumably because at this stage the government promised the pipeline infrastructure and a new exorbitant Dungowan Dam. In October 2019, there was an eerie silence from our elected representatives at each level doubling down to protect the NSW Government from criticism.
Now, the Government's water manager is evidently attempting to claw back the costs of providing that emergency infrastructure through these exorbitant charges. An inequitable 40 per cent increase to Tamworth, Kootingal and Moonbi and an almost 50 per cent increase to Manilla and Barraba. They mismanaged our water supplies during the worst drought on record releasing massive amounts as shown above yet we pay more than any other community elsewhere in NSW. How fair is that? Stand by for even more horror charges when the proposed new Dungowan Dam comes online.
When community leaders were not willing to question the NSW Government's water management practices in October 2019 at an opportune time of drought it sent the message that we would simply docilely accept anything they dished out to us, that we would fold, hence the proposed exorbitant water charges we are expected to swallow now. Such is the dilemma for residents living in a safe electoral region and the game of mates we see playing out.
This explains my cynicism about water management/mismanagement and the subterfuge and motivations of our political representatives, but the impact on our residents, businesses, farmers, industries and growth is profound.
Mark Rodda, South Tamworth