LETTERS: Hospital being built in wrong location

To me it is and has been made clear that the site is in the wrong place and will suffer blowout costs and delays. Simple demographics would show the Bay is the premier location, between Bega and Nowra hospitals.

To make it worse, Michael Holland MP, Member for Bega, appears to be behind the closing of the emergency department in the Bay. Totally irresponsible in my mind.

It saved my life once and my dear wife twice. Lord knows what would have happened if the emergency ambulances had to travel to Moruya.

It is not too late to cancel and relocate to a Batemans Bay site. The old bowls club would be uite good for the benefit f all and not just a dream of one man and a number of colleagues.

I hope the NSW Premier and health minster will consider my solution to this vexing issue.

I refer to the article titled 'Locals say police presence is essential' (Bay Post, 21/5), which does not tell the whole story.

Neighbourhood Watch Moruya believes that having the Moruya Police Station doors locked at all times means that many crimes go unreported. A police car cannot be compared to a police station. Two different scenarios. Its about respectful communication, especially for our senior citizens.

Often young people and the elderly go to the police station to report their crime in person and go away in despair.

It is not easy to navigate Crime Stoppers or wait on hold for someone to answer the 131444 number.

Members of Neighbourhood Watch Moruya have let us know that they have waited more than 20 minutes for their call to be answered and more than 45 minutes before the police arrive at their residence.

Neighbourhood Watch Moruya was informed by the local police that they have no trouble filling positions on the South Coast and that there is only one vacant position currently being filled.

Our petition is about getting additional resources to fund a receptionist and police officer to enable the Moruya Police Station to be open during business hours. 1173 people signed the hard copy petition handed over to the MP for Bega, Dr Michael Holland on June 24. He will then present it to the Clerk of the NSW Legislative Assembly for consideration.

Asia needs our coal to provide cheap electricity.

Chinese thermal coal demand for its growing number of coal-fired power stations has fuelled a record 25,505 coal mining jobs in NSW, with almost 32 million tonnes of NSW thermal and metallurgical coal being exported to China in a year. There are 3,344 people employed in coal mining in the Illawarra.

World demand for thermal coal is expected to be dominated by Asia as there are currently 6,550 coal-fired power stations in operation in the world, with over 75 per cent of them in Asia.

Japan remains the top destination for NSW coal, followed by China, Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia.

The record number of people working in the NSW coal mining sector shows that over the last 25 years coal mining has become increasingly critical to regional communities and the state economy.

Coal remains the largest export from NSW, in revenue terms.

I love watching a magician or illusionist perform their craft. They deceive the eye through the act of misdirection. "Look over there!", when in reality, the true action is happening somewhere else.

Peter Dutton has pulled on his Mandrake top hat and is now asking us to look at his illusion of nuclear generated electricity. Of course, he has no intention of ever having a single nuclear power plant built.

He knows full well that the cost is prohibitive, the timeframes to deliver a turnkey project are completely unrealistic, there is no plan for disposal of the deadly plutonium generated as waste in a nuclear reactor, that 'small modular reactors' are nothing more than theoretical ideas, and the cost of a unit of nuclear electricity is significantly higher than any other form of electricity generation.

So where is this illusionist hoping we don't look too closely? What he doesn't want us to see is his master plan of delaying any form of reduction in the output of planet-killing carbon dioxide.

This is nothing more than a 'smoke-and-mirrors' show, designed to prop up the fossil-fuel industry and rally against the great positive strides being made through the implementation of renewable energy.

How sad that something so critical to our very survival as a species is politicised and used as a weapon to try to win political office. Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will not be looking in the political rear-view mirror and congratulating Mr Dutton for his political cleverness; instead, they will look back with an accusatory glare and want to know how their forefathers allowed this to happen to the world they inherited.