Beach erosion a shore sign of why we need urgent action
CLOSE TO HOME: Climate change’s harmful effects on human health are already being felt, physician John Van Der Kallen warns. It’s common knowledge that the amount of sand on beaches changes over time. Inheavy seas, sand is eroded from beaches. In calmer periods, sand is deposited. However, we are entering a new world and can no longer be reassured by the past processes where sand on beaches is replenished.
Projections are that we are likely to see an increase in beach erosion.The recent events at Stockton where the sea came within two metres of a childcare facility are a prime example.
The culprit behind our receding shores, rising sea levels and increasing extreme weather events is climate change.Yet, disturbingly, articles and subsequent editorial dealing with Stockton’s long-term erosion (NSW government not prepared to fund a groyne at Stockton, January 19, 2018) make no mention of climate change when discussing solutions.Ironically, on the same editorial page there was the story of health professionals getting arrested to stop the Adani coalmine – a mine that will worsen warming.
Climate change is here and now, and we need to start taking it more seriously. Its harmfuleffects on human healthare already being seen.
There have been calls for local and state governments to act. But what do we expect them to do?
The obvious solution is to shore up the beach to allow more sand to accumulate in front of the facility. However, at best, this is going to be only a temporary solution. And what about the rest of Stockton and any other low lying area in Newcastle or Australia?
The expected rise in sea level is well documented. This can be seen on the government website(ozcoasts.gov419论坛). The government is fully aware of what is happening. So why are they not taking it seriously?
I suspect, because it is too hard and goes against too many vested interests.
If the government took global warming seriously it would be urgently changing policy to reduce our emissions as quickly as possible.Seventy-five per cent of NSW electricity still comes from coal-fired power stations. Not only do these cause immediate health issues, they contribute to greenhouse gases and sea level rise.
Nationally, a third of our emissions come from vehicles. How is it possible that public transport is getting harder to use when we need to be using it more? Where are the incentives for us all to be changing to electric vehicles? Where is the money for adequate bike paths?Why does the government spendbillions on new roads and neglect bike paths?
Fifteen per cent of our emissions come from food production. Half of Australia’s land surface is devoted to grazing and 11 per cent for cropping. The majority of the cropping is used to produce food for animals. The majority of land clearing is to provide more space for animal grazing. What we eat has a direct effect on climate change.
The Stockton childcare facility problem is a problem for all of us. There is no easy answer, which is why, I suspect, the government response has been tardy.
Rising sea levels and more erosion are facts of life we are going to have to manage.To lessen the impact, society must take climate change seriously and make dramatic changes. We need leaders who are willing to make tough decisions. Currently, it is business as usual, which is just not good enough.
John Van Der Kallenis a physician practicing in Newcastle and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia.
Charity’s NDIS complaints
PRICED OUT: Meals on Wheels volunteers Robert Wark and Lyn Richardson with co-ordinator Denise Lloyd. The organisation says it is having problems with the NDIS and fears being priced out. Picture: Simone De PeakNEWCASTLE Meals on Wheels general manager Damien Isaacs says he is not accusing his competitors of rorting the NDIS.
But he is saying that NDIS pricing schedules are being applied inconsistently and that some of his competitors are using NDIS delivery fees to cross-subsidise the price of their meals, meaning that Meals on Wheels is finding it hard to compete in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Sydney.
At the heart of his concern is differing advice over how much Meals on Wheels can charge to deliver seven days’ worth of food.
Mr Isaacs said Meals on Wheels was told it could only charge $11.61 for a single delivery of seven meals.
But he said he was losing NDIS clients to competitors who were charging the NDIS the $11.61 for every meal delivered, allowing them to charge as little as $3 a meal, or almost half the price of some Meals on Wheels offerings.
The NDIS told the Newcastle Herald: “Food is a daily living expense, and as such is not funded by NDIS supports.
“Food delivery however, where appropriate and identified as reasonable and necessary in a participant’s plan, can be funded by the NDIS.”
Mr Isaacs said NDIS participants had told him they were moving to competitors because the out-of-pocket cost was cheaper, even though they knew the provider was taking more out of their NDIS package for delivery.
“I don’t really want to get into the philosophy of this but there is a perception that NDIS plan money is not thought of in the same way as direct cash,” Mr Isaacs said.
He said Newcastle Meals on Wheels had about 800 clients including about 40 on the NDIS. He said the organisation would be financially better off out of the NDIS but it was committed to looking after the most vulnerable people in the community.
“What I do want is a level playing field, a fair and competitive market place so that everyone is charging the same way,” Mr Isaacs said. “I have tried to raise this with the NDISsince October but we have heard nothing back.
“What we need is for them to have a quick, simple review of the situation and then to publicise the result, so that we all know the exact amount that can be charged, and whether it is per meal or per delivery.”
The Herald sent detailed questions to the National Disability Insurance Agency, which runs the NDIS, but it replied in general terms without addressing itsclaimed lack of response to Meals on Wheels.
“The providers who offer food delivery services can quote and charge up to the price in the NDIS pricing guide,” NDIA said. “As such, costs may vary, depending on the number of meals prepared and the number of deliveries required.”
The peak body for disability providers, National Disability Services, endorsed the concerns of Newcastle Meals on Wheels.
Its chief executive, Ken Baker, saidhis organisation’sState of the Disability Sector reportreleased in December found that 68% of disability service providers were worried they would be unable to provide services at the prices being offered under the NDIS.
He said the other two mainproblems were inconsistent NDIS plans for individuals anddelays in payments for services already provided.
Readers’ tips: The Tip-o-meter
Tell us about the most exciting day tour you’ve ever taken and we’ll publish the best letters
TIP OF THE WEEK: FREEZE
I recently booked am 11-day tour with to Iceland and, as I often do when I travel to foreign places, I decided to add a couple of extra days to my itinerary. I’m so glad I did so.
I arrived a day before the tour started and found an exciting tour called “Into the Glacier” (intotheglacier.is), departing from the capital, Reykjavik. It’s not cheap but is worth every penny.
An ice cave has been dug into a 1355-metres long glacier (the second biggest in Iceland) and you’re taken inside it and under the ice. Being transported to the top of the glacier in a special huge truck and then fitted out in special gear due to the wet and cold inside was all part of the fun.
Irene Gillespie, North Turramurra, NSW
RED FACES
While holidaying in Berlin we decided to extend our hotel accomodation for a few extra days to give us time to book a visit the German Bundestag (Parliament House). On inquiring direct with the hotel’s front desk we were disappointed to discover they were fully booked.
Undeterred, we returned to our room, searched a hotel booking website and discovered our existing hotel with discounted rooms available for the days we needed. After booking the room, we returned to the front desk, advised them we had booked the days we wanted. We then, much to our delight and their red faces, requested and received our existing room.
Stephen Yeates, Dee Why, NSW
HEY JUDE
On a recent safari trip to Tanzania, my family and I visited and stayed The School of St Jude . It was established in 2002 by an Australian woman Gemma Sisia who, starting with a $10 Rotary Club donation decided to build a school for students from the poorest families.
The first classroom housed just three students and now, 16 years later, St Jude consists of three campuses, 1800 students, 1400 boarders and 300 staff. Hot lunch is provided each day to every student with more than 1 million meals served each year.
The annual budget of $US5 million ($6.26 million) comes from 17,000 donors, mostly Australians, with the school remaining free to students. Please donate if you can. schoolofstjude.org
Philip Monardo, Sydney, NSW Solicitor
PLAINLY JANE
I have been meaning to write to thank your columnist Michael “The Tripologist” Gebicki following my stay at the Jane Hotel in New York, as a single traveller, which I booked after reading his recommendation in Traveller on Sunday.
It was such an interesting place to stay, with a delightful cafe on the first floor, open at hours that suited my long day outings around Manhattan. The sunset view from the roof bar, towards the Hudson River, was glorious. I enjoyed my stay at the Jane Hotel so much I would definitely return to it.
Jennifer Morgan-Nicholson, Lane Cove, NSW
Poor start to blame for Sydney FC’s missed opportunity
Sydney FC are bemoaning a flurry of missed chances and poor use of possession that have prevented them from taking an unassailable lead at the top of the A-League table.
A lacklustre performance by Sydney’s high standards saw the Sky Blues held to a 1-1 draw at home to Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night, a result defender Alex Wilkinson attributes to a sluggish start and a clever counter-attacking game from their opponents.
Sydney gifted the Mariners a penalty early in the game after a poor-back pass left goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne stranded, leading to his foul on Kwabena Appiah-Kubi.
“I think it was probably just a little bit sloppy in possession. The penalty obviously came from us giving the ball away,” Wilkinson said. “They’ve got pace out wide and pace up front and they’re dangerous in those situations. Once we started controlling the game and moving them around, Adrian and Ninko started finding space in those pockets.”
Sydney’s veteran defender praised the character of his team who fought back to equalise on the hour-mark and created a number of chances to score at least one more. However, their lack of clinical finishing meant Sydney missed the opportunity to take advantage of an earlier defeat for second-place Newcastle Jets that would have given the Sky Blues a nine point lead on top of the table with only 10 games remaining.
“I didn’t know about the Newcastle result until after the game but as I said before, we expect to win every game and tonight was no different. We’re a little bit disappointed in the fact we didn’t get all three points but as I said, the boys showed great character coming back. We look forward to next week, it’s going to be a great game in Melbourne,” he said.
Meanwhile, Central Coast coach Paul Okon brushed off suggestions his team has worked out how to beat Sydney FC, after ensuring they’re the only team yet to lose against the Sky Blues this season.
“Our approach doesn’t change irrespective of who we play, maybe emphasised because we’re the only team to beat Sydney and we should have beaten them again tonight,” Okon said.
This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.
Bowling ban won’t stop Thunder’s Nair from Manuka homecoming
Sydney Thunder’s Gurinder Sandhu has backed banned teammate Arjun Nair to “sort out his action and come back better than ever” ahead of their crunch clash against the Melbourne Renegades at Manuka Oval on Wednesday night.
Nair was banned from bowling in domestic cricket for 90 days last week after being reported for a suspect action in the Big Bash League.
Nair’s bowling action was reported by umpires after the Thunder’s match against Hobart on December 30 and testing five days later revealed he was bowling with a materially different action.
The 19-year-old was found guilty of using a different action to the one he used against the Hurricanes earlier in the season, which breached Cricket Australia’s protocol and saw him suspended.
Instead of sidelining Nair, the Thunder have shown faith in the all-rounder and opted to use the teenager as a specialist batsman for the rest of the season.
Nair bats at seven and has averaged 22 in seven innings this summer, but he wasn’t required in the Thunder’s seven-wicket win against the Melbourne Stars on Saturday.
Sandhu went into bat for Nair and backed the Canberran to still make an impact during his homecoming match against the Renegades.
“The Thunder are obviously a great bunch of people and we’ve got around him and are showing him a lot of support,” Sandhu said.
“He knows that and if he needs to talk to anyone he can come to anybody in the team or the coaching staff because we’re all behind him.
“He’s played a few Sheffield Shield games and one-day games already, I’m sure he’ll just have a few things he’ll work on with his action to sort it all out and will come back better than ever.”
The Thunder remain in finals contention and with a win can leapfrog the Renegades and Hobart into third spot.
But the match is their last of the regular season and they need other results to fall their way to clinch a playoff berth.
“We can still sneak into finals if everything goes our way, that starts with beating the Renegades and then a few wins and losses need to go our way,” Sandhu said.
“The only thing we can control is winning and we’re really excited to get out there at Manuka, a few of the boys are saying it might be 200 plays 200 but hopefully we can put them under pressure early.
“We really need to win to keep our season alive and as the home team we’d love an atmosphere that makes the Renegades feel a bit unwelcome and under the pump.”
Sandhu made his One Day International debut for Australia two years ago but after just two matches the 24-year-old has struggled to break back into the national side.
“It felt like at that time everything was happening for me but now I’ve got to actually work on a few different things and try to get better instead of just rocking up and playing and having things go my way,” Sandhu said.
“It’s been a really good learning curve that I’m going through right now and I feel like him almost on the other side of it, I’ve been bowling well and feel like I’m in a good space at the moment.
“I haven’t got much of a chance in the Sheffield Shield at the moment, I started in the one-day cup and played three games there and it would have been nice to play a few more but I happy with where I’m at.
“I’d love to one day hopefully represent Australia at the highest level in cricket, a third of that dream has come true with the one-day cap and hopefully I can add Twenty20 and Test caps as well, I feel like I’m on the right track.”
This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on Nanjing Night Net.
Tributes for Belmont’s ‘true blue Australian’ as road toll climbs
MISSED: Barry Childs was killed in a pedestrian accident at Belmont on Thursday. Picture: SuppliedHE was “everyone’s friend” – a “happy-go-lucky” larrikin who was most comfortable in the company of strangers.
Tributes have poured in for popular Belmont man Barry Childs who was tragically killed in a pedestrian accident outside the Gunyah Hotel last week.
But as one community came to terms with their loss, another was waking up to the news of another life cut short, after a man aged in his 60s was struck by a car and died at the scene on Nelson Bay Road at Fullerton Cove about 9pm on Saturday. The female driver was uninjured.
It is the second pedestrian tragedy in the Hunter in less than a week after Mr Childs was hit by a ute as he crossed the Pacific Highway on Thursday.
A minute’s silence was held for the well-known 79-year-old at Belmont Sporties on Sunday.
Mr Childs’ daughter, Alison Tye, described her father as a “true blue Australian” who lived a nomadic lifestyle with his family, caravanning the country before settling in Seaforth, North Queensland, and later returning to Lake Macquarie.
A diesel mechanic by trade, Mr Childs used to work in the Wallarah Colliery at Catherine Hill Bay, and contributed to milestone projects the Snowy Hydro Scheme and construction of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin.
Mrs Tye said “Bazza”, as he was affectionately known, had a “one-of-a-kind” sense of humour. “Only a few weeks ago he was waiting and waiting for a bus,” she said.
“It got to 45 minutes and the bus still hadn’t arrived.
Alison Tye described her father Barry Childs, left, as a ‘true blue Australian’. Picture: Supplied
“He went up to a lady at the lights, opened her door and asked for a lift to Belmont – she gave him a lift. That was who he was; a larrikin.”
She added: “It didn’t matter if you had not a buck to your name or were a millionaire, you were his friend.”
Son Gavin Childs recalled how there were always strangers around as his father would feel sorry for people stuck in the rain. “He took in campers who were in tents down at the caravan park,” he said. “He’d offer them a bed and a shower.”
Mr Childs said his dad was a brilliant mechanic. “He could fix anything,” he said. Former wife Carol Childs described him as the “life of the party”.
Mr Childs fathered four children and leaves behind three grandchildren.
Police investigations into both accidents were ongoing. The man who died at Fullerton Cove had not been identified on Sunday.
Witnesses were urged to phone Crime Stoppers.
Remediation planned for exposed landfill
The next stage: A surveyor visited the Stockton sand dunes on Monday, to investigate the tip uncovered by erosion. Picture: Simone De PeakCONSTRUCTION of a new access road to the Stockton shoreline will begin on Tuesday, to allow machinery to reach and start remediation work on the exposed tip leaching rubbish into the sea.
A Hunter Water spokesman saidrepresentatives from its organisation, the NSWEnvironment Protection Authority, the Soil Conservation Serviceand a hazardous materials removal specialist met on Monday and decided the landfill needed to be tested for dangerous materials. Sampling began on Monday and testing will start on Tuesday.
“A site survey was conducted by a surveyor on Monday, which will help inform the design and implementation of the remediation job itself,” the spokesman said. “A coastal engineer has been engaged to assess that any proposed remediation works are appropriate for the site, as we want to ensure that any work does not cause further impact or erosion.”
The access road will be built from Tuesday morning.
The spokesman said Hunter Water staff visited the tip on Monday to pick up loose items– including bottles – to prevent thembeing swept into the ocean. They also replaced handwritten signs with formal signage and new tape, to prevent public access to the site. “We will continue the security patrols that began on Saturday through the week to protect access to the area.”
Newcastle City Council staff have also been sweeping the area for litter. Items found at the site last week included tubes ofnappy rash cream, used bandages, car parts and asbestos. A spokesman for the council said it “continues to work with the NSW Office of Environment andHeritage on a long-term plan for addressing beach erosion in light of their decision last year to reject our proposed engineering solution”.
Meanwhile,Mission Australia Early Learning Stockton may reopen as soon as Wednesday. The Herald reported last week a strip of landless than two metres wide wasthe only buffer preventing the play area from being swallowed by the sea. The organisation’s general manager Ben Williams said an engineer inspected the site on Monday and advised that erecting temporary fencing seven metres from the current boundary wouldensure the site is safe. “Therefore we are hopeful that the centre will be open as early as Wednesday and we have communicated this to our families,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the situation with the support of council representatives.”
Thecouncil spokesman said it was likely any temporary solution would require the support of the federal Department of Education and Training,as the industry regulator. “We are hopeful of having an agreed way forward by mid-week.”
Pop fans: Don’t miss this quirky new exhibition in London
As the pitter-patter sound of rain falls from the wall speakers, our guide, Katy, jokingly whips out an umbrella, and welcomes us to a storm-hit Sydney Showgrounds, on the evening of March 3, 1977. Video screens show archive footage of about 20,000 umbrella-wielding fans chanting “We Want ABBA! We Want ABBA!” and in a mock-up of one of the caravan-style dressing rooms is the stained gold and white cape that Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida, the dark-haired one) was wearing when she slipped on the wet stage in arguably the most iconic moment of ABBA’s only Australian tour, which jammed 11 concerts, across four cities, into 13 feverish days.
Our surreal “trip” Down Under is part of ABBA: Super Troupers, a fun, nostalgia-inducing tribute exhibition in London’s Southbank Centre, a short hop from Waterloo train station. Waterloo is one of dozens of ABBA hits that we hear, shake our hips and hum along to on this immersive hour-long retrospective, which is backed by Bjorn Ulvaeus, who was once the “clean-shaven one” and now sports a beard like his former band-mate, Benny Andersson.
There are nine themed rooms, which inventively chart the band’s rise, demise and legacy, with period furnishings and a smorgasbord of memorabilia gleaned from various sources, including glitzy jumpsuits, vintage LP artwork and photographs from Stockholm’s ABBA Museum. The voice of Jarvis Cocker, the lead singer of Pulp and a devoted ABBA fan, occasionally pipes up, his commentary drenched with puns that play on famous lyrics from the Swedish quartet, while our guide, Katy, adds some intriguing, theatrical insights of her own.
To kick-start the tour she’d led us past a vinyl-shaped door and into a dark, tube-shaped chamber that smelled of fresh paint, but resembled an intimate dance floor with a groovy ceiling disco ball. As the opening beats of Super Troupers filled the air, five 50-something female friends in our group began to boogie. Katy then ushered us into a typical British living room from the 1970s, whose decor was as drab and dreary as the content pouring from the wooden TV.
News clips portrayed Blighty’s social and political unrest, with an embattled Conservative government clinging to power, and the country split over its membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), the precursor to today’s European Union. It was little wonder, said Katy, that in such bleak times an act as bright and breezy as ABBA caught the public’s “escapist” imagination.
One of the band’s finest hours is explored in the next room, a champagne-dotted recreation of the Napoleon Suite of Brighton’s Grand Hotel, where Bjorn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha Faltskog (the blonde one) celebrated their 1974 Eurovision Song Contest victory with Waterloo, conquering competition that included Britain’s entry, Melbourne-raised Olivia-Newton John. As well as a TV replay of that night, there are glittering replicas of the costumes the band wore, the original blue beanie that Agnetha had on, and a copy of Bjorn’s star guitar.
Walking, Narnia-like through the hotel’s wardrobe, we’re transported to an enchanted forest-like setting that evokes the woodsy Swedish folk music festivals where the band’s seeds were sowed. Talented solo performers, the foursome formed ABBA in 1972, not long after Bjorn and Agnetha, and Benny and Frida became romantically entwined.
In a replica of the band’s Stockholm Polar Studios, we play producer, fiddling with the levels of classic ABBA tunes at the mixing desk, and crowing along, karaoke-style, to Dancing Queen in a singing booth. Melancholy pervades an apartment-style room, which has half-packed boxes and touches on the couples’ break-ups and the band’s split in the early 1980s.
Yet things end on a high note. As we “take off” in a room designed like ABBA’s private jet, tunes like Thank You for the Music play as the plane windows reveal the band’s influence on popular culture, and how ABBA-inspired movies like Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, helped spark interest among a new generation of fans.
There’s also mention of Mamma Mia! – the movie sequel of which is out in July and titled: Here We Go Again. Exiting the exhibition, everyone in our group, from Millennials to pensioners, is smiling. A few are rubbing tears from their eyes. “Fittingly cheesy” is the verdict from one of the boogying 50-somethings. It’s hard to disagree. TRIP NOTESMORE
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ABBA: Super Troupers is on at London Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall until April 29, 2018. Tickets are priced between ??17.50-27.50 ($30-$48), including booking fee; southbankcentre.co.uk
Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Britain
Tributes for Belmont’s ‘true blue Australian’ as road toll climbs
MISSED: Barry Childs was killed in a pedestrian accident at Belmont on Thursday. Picture: SuppliedHE was “everyone’s friend” – a “happy-go-lucky” larrikin who was most comfortable in the company of strangers.
Tributes have poured in for popular Belmont man Barry Childs who was tragically killed in a pedestrian accident outside the Gunyah Hotel last week.
But as one community came to terms with their loss, another was waking up to the news of another life cut short, after a man aged in his 60s was struck by a car and died at the scene on Nelson Bay Road at Fullerton Cove about 9pm on Saturday. The female driver was uninjured.
It is the second pedestrian tragedy in the Hunter in less than a week after Mr Childs was hit by a ute as he crossed the Pacific Highway on Thursday.
A minute’s silence was held for the well-known 79-year-old at Belmont Sporties on Sunday.
Mr Childs’ daughter, Alison Tye, described her father as a “true blue Australian” who lived a nomadic lifestyle with his family, caravanning the country before settling in Seaforth, North Queensland, and later returning to Lake Macquarie.
A diesel mechanic by trade, Mr Childs used to work in the Wallarah Colliery at Catherine Hill Bay, and contributed to milestone projects the Snowy Hydro Scheme and construction of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin.
Mrs Tye said “Bazza”, as he was affectionately known, had a “one-of-a-kind” sense of humour. “Only a few weeks ago he was waiting and waiting for a bus,” she said.
“It got to 45 minutes and the bus still hadn’t arrived.
Alison Tye described her father Barry Childs, left, as a ‘true blue Australian’. Picture: Supplied
“He went up to a lady at the lights, opened her door and asked for a lift to Belmont – she gave him a lift. That was who he was; a larrikin.”
She added: “It didn’t matter if you had not a buck to your name or were a millionaire, you were his friend.”
Son Gavin Childs recalled how there were always strangers around as his father would feel sorry for people stuck in the rain. “He took in campers who were in tents down at the caravan park,” he said. “He’d offer them a bed and a shower.”
Mr Childs said his dad was a brilliant mechanic. “He could fix anything,” he said. Former wife Carol Childs described him as the “life of the party”.
Mr Childs fathered four children and leaves behind three grandchildren.
Police investigations into both accidents were ongoing. The man who died at Fullerton Cove had not been identified on Sunday.
Witnesses were urged to phone Crime Stoppers.
Brown and Nelmes at odds over review
DRINKS DEBATE: THE AHA says it wants aspects of Newcastle CBD licensing restrictions to be eased, while opponents, including the Last Drinks coalition of police and health workers, want the conditions to remain.COMMUNITY advocate Tony Brown is urging Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes to organise an urgent public briefing for councillors before the council lodges its submission to the Horton review.
But the Lord Mayor says Mr Brown is being “hysterical”, adding thatcouncillors would have an opportunity to contribute to the council submission.
Mr Brown said the two-week extension until February 7 to lodge submissions to the inquiry gave the councillors time to be involved in preparing the council’s submission.
He said a previous request for a full public briefing with key stakeholders including the Last Drinks coalition of police, doctors, nurses and paramedics, had been declined. Giventhe importance of the council’s position, there wasan urgent need for councillors to be briefed, in public, by all sides of the debate, including the Australian Hotels Association. Thereviewer, Jonathan Horton QC, should either take part or be in the audience. The council had such a briefing before the Newcastle intervention began in 2008.
“The AHA and its supporters have suggested Newcastle’s ‘maturity’ justifies relaxing Newcastle’s licensing laws,” Mr Brown said.
“A public briefing would allow the AHAand the councilto hear again frompolice, doctors and emergency workers about the deadly impacts of the over-supply and consumption of alcohol.”
Responding, Cr Nelmes said: “I’m not quite sure what has brought on such an hysterical response about council making a submission to the review, especially when our suggestions would only . . .enhance the current conditions. The firstI heard about this request from Tony Brown was via the media, so if this was a genuine request, why didn’t Mr Brown make it last December when then there was a unanimous decision of council?”
Earlier , a council spokesperson said staff had consulted widely withrelevant stakeholders, meeting Mr Brown, as Hunter Multicultural Community Drug Action Team chair, twice. Staffalso metAHA Hunter spokesperson Rolly de With and the chair of the Newcastle Liquor Accord, Corey Crooks.
The AHA says it is happy to leave lockouts and closing times in place but it wants laws barring shots and doubles after 10pm to be changed.
Clarifying a report in Monday’sNewcastle Herald, council chief executive Jeremy Bath said that while he had been authorised to “lodge” the council’s submission to the review, he would not be writing it.
“The submission, which I am yet to see, is being written by the appropriate council staff,” Mr Bath said.
In an analysis of the Newcastle conditions, the AHA said they had come at a significant cost, with one in four hospitality workers laid-off, revenue falling by 30 per cent and the asset values of affected premises falling by more than $20 million.
“These costs to employment and the economy may be justifiable if the evidence supported the effectiveness of the conditions, however this is simply not the case,” the AHA said, adding that various parts ofNSW had greater falls in assaults in and around licensed premises than Newcastle.
University of Newcastle academic Kypros Kypri –whose analysis has been used to show the efficacy of the Newcastle restrictions – said he did not doubt the crime statisticsquoted by the AHA, although he doubted the way they had been interpreted.
Buthe said his work had been co-authored with the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, had been peer-reviewed and found to be robust. His initial study found assault rates had fallen in Newcastle but not in Hamilton, which had no restrictions at the time.