The wildfires ravaging Los Angeles hold important lessons for Australia which, like California, has large forests of highly flammable (introduced) eucalypt trees, which are nicknamed “gasoline trees” in the US (“Hellfire in City of Angels”, January 9). The oil they produce heightens their explosive flammability. Australia is particularly vulnerable as its combustible bush has a natural and volatile grow-burn-regeneration cycle. The bush is ignited by lightning to spread seeds for new growth.
There are about 54,000 bushfires each year but only the largest make the headlines. Most are started by lightning, followed by arsonists, cigarette butts and other causes. Eucalypt bark and leaves don’t decompose but accumulate on the ground. That fuel build-up, plus long grass and thick undergrowth, can rapidly carry a fire to the trees and canopy.
Barbara Chapman, South Yarra
Celebrities including Jamie Lee Curtis, Eugene Levy, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, and Paris Hilton have been adversely affected by the LA fires.Credit: Fairfax Media
The Californian fires seemed to be part of the usual summer reporting season until I realised that it is winter in the northern hemisphere with severe snowstorms in a number of US states. No talk of sending our firefighters over to help their Californian colleagues, I guess, as they are on permanent standby here in our summer. Welcome to the new normal. Dale Bailey, St Leonards
Life’s good … for some
Your readers are right to celebrate that global indicators for health, education and poverty are at the best levels since the end of WWII (Letters, January 9). However, as Matt Wade writes, nearly 700 million people still live in extreme poverty (“Think the whole world’s going to hell in a handbasket? You’re wrong, and here’s why”, January 8). Many of these are among the 120 million estimated by the UN to be displaced from their homes, a figure that is now at its highest since 1945. So there is still work to be done by governments, NGOs and donors for these communities and the countries from which they have escaped. Clay O’Brien, Mosman
I wonder what privileged part of the population Matt Wade was seeking to reassure that “the world’s not going to hell”. Even in Australia, for anyone under the age of 40, there are no certainties on homeownership, full-time work, climate safety, affordable healthcare or education; and a world war is not impossible. Most concerning is the worldwide ascendancy of extreme right-wing politics; the race to the bottom politics of blame and hate. We Baby Boomers were lucky to grow up with delayed news and the resultant lack of transparency about government actions and what was being done in our name. We had the moral comfort of being able to claim after the events, “If only we had known the truth”. Not so today for anyone engaged in following world events. And not surprisingly, all these factors can lead to nihilism among the young and a lack of faith in government and in the future, which we see playing out starkly in the increasing demand for mental health services. John Feneley, Balmain
New world disorder
After January 20, the whole world will need to respond to Donald Trump’s brave new world (“Donald Trump won’t rule out use of military to take control of Greenland, Panama Canal”, January 9). Perhaps our government should reconsider Australia’s security requirements. At the very least we should seek, using military force as the last resort, to bring New Zealand in as the seventh state and occupy Papua New Guinea, the potential back door for an invading enemy as was demonstrated by the Japanese during WWII. Andrew Caro, Greenwich
Donald Trump Jnr in Greenland. Credit: AP, Bloomberg
Americans always seem to be fascinated by royalty, so the answer to Trump’s Greenland dilemma could be for the US to adopt the Danish monarchy as its own, giving him access to the kingdom’s territories. As a side benefit, our own Mary would become Queen of America. Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills
Donald Trump will rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, but why stop there? By the same reasoning, the Pacific could become the American Ocean West, and the Atlantic, the American Ocean East. And Earth is so ordinary: how about Planet America? There is so much scope to make America great again! Go, Donald! Michael Phillips, Mt Coolum (Qld)
It must irk Trump that the US is many hours behind Australia. I fear that he’ll next demand the international date line move from the central Pacific Ocean to a line in the Atlantic, just off the US East Coast, just so that New York City and Palm Beach Florida are the first to greet the new year with fireworks instead of our cities down under. Izzy Perko, Gundagai
Looks like Germany may be our ally in WWIII. Viv Mackenzie, Port Hacking
Licence to chill
While still learning, I drove a Holden ute over the Cowra bridge with my father who was reading the Herald; I thought he was very relaxed (Letters, January 9). He told me later he was hiding his face because he was so petrified due to my driving too fast. At the end of the bridge there were four roads to deal with and no traffic lights. My father was a WWII veteran and claims it was a more frightening experience than his time in New Guinea. Robyn Lewis, Raglan
I did my driving licence test in Dubbo in the late 1950s. Dad came with me to the police station and stayed in the car during the test as dad and the sergeant testing me were good mates and they took the opportunity for a catch-up. I was basically ignored while I wobbled around a couple of blocks near the station. When we got back the sergeant said to Dad, “He’s pretty rough, Jim, but he’ll be OK” and that’s how I got my licence back. Luckily, I soon became OK, as predicted.
Michael Georgeson, Balmain
I well remember my first driving test. It was only six years ago, at age 85. Fortunately, I passed. My first driving licence was in north Queensland at age 17 when the local policeman told my father he had seen me driving around town and it was time I had a licence. I fronted up and my licence was issued.
John Crowe, Cherrybrook
Having to stop then restart a car on a hill was a part of our driving licence test years ago. Only problem was, there were no hills. So we had to go down to our local swimming “beach” where at least there was a river bank which could pass for a hill. It could also be done coming back from the golf course built on river flats, where I had practised. I passed. Glenys Quirk, Forster
I remember getting my licence about 60 years ago in a small country town north of Brisbane. The policeman stood on the verandah of the police station, told me to get in my Holden, drive down the street, make a U-turn and come back. I did so and he gave me my licence. Phyllis Codd, Bellingen
A great mixer
My mother bought a Kenwood Chef mixer in 1959 in England (“My impossible choice: A kitchen Ferrari versus a retro model leaking motor oil”, January 7). I was 12 years old. About 40 years ago, Mum shipped the Kenwood out to me in Australia and I have been using it ever since. Show me one kitchen appliance that can match that performance. Plus, its performance was far superior to other benchtop mixers. Stella de Vulder, Pymble
Melissa Singer’s Kenwood mixer, handed down from her grandmother.
Outlaw juries
Your reviewer of the play A Model Murder completely overlooks the underlying drama: the power of the jury to deliver a verdict in complete disregard of the facts, represented by the evidence presented during the trial and the law, as directed by the judge (“Dusty ghosts haunt trial retelling”, January 9). The trial still retains its independence from the prosecutor, the judge and the facts. And the jury remains the last vestige of our emerging democratic institution, which has the capacity to set free a person maligned by either the government (through the prosecutor) or by the unfortunate circumstances they have found themselves in. Pasquale Vartuli, Wahroonga
High Speed Fail long time coming
It is great that the High Speed Rail Authority is thinking outside the usual box with interchange stations Epping and Olympic Park as the key Sydney destinations (Letters, January 9). However, despite the corridor speeds enabled, the stated journey times to Sydney and Parramatta will be glacially slow. It is unlikely to generate many more passengers or more economic activity.
$500m/km for a tunnel pair is five times what we paid for the Rouse Hill-Epping rail tunnels. Sydney sandstone is the world’s best tunnelling rock. Clearly, something has gone wrong with the project concept. We need to consider other railway options and other routes. Peter Egan, Mosman
Those of us on the Central Coast with a memory will be forever suspicious of government promises for infrastructure spending. State and federal governments are too happy to trumpet spending on a new hospital, road or rail line, but they omit that they haven’t made plans for maintenance and running costs. Wyong Hospital’s state-of-the-art birthing suite was left unused because of the cost of midwives and obstetricians. Commuter trains are slowed down to 40km/h due to track conditions that make it unsafe to travel faster. Signals short out in heavy rain, stalling trains on the commute home from Sydney. Electricity substations (under private control) catch fire due to lack of maintenance, blacking out major metropolitan hospitals. How can we have hope that a high-speed rail will operate beyond the first six months? Tony Diamond, Killarney Vale
Wee Waa wee waa
It was good to see your article on the devastating cutbacks at Wee Waa Hospital (“Health service cutbacks hit rural communities”, January 9). This fully equipped facility services a large area of the north-west of the state but it now operates only between 9 and 5.30 on weekdays. Woe betide anyone who becomes sick or suffers an accident out of these hours. Someone who lives 100 kilometres from Wee Waa does not need to travel a further 40 kilometres to Narrabri in an emergency. Hunter New England Health seems to ignore the downgrading of health facilities of Wee Waa and surrounding areas. Margaret Slack-Smith, Narrabri
Local MP Roy Butler talks to locals outside Wee Waa Hospital.
Pack a beacon
This summer we have seen two significant searches in NSW national parks (“Hiker missing for two weeks survived on wild berries”, January 9). The successful outcomes in both cases were joyous occasions. In both cases, the expense of professional searchers and the time and effort of volunteers was extraordinary. However, the purchase of a personal locator beacon for under $400 or the free hire of one from a nearby National Parks and Wildlife Service office would have resolved the incident instantly. Location devices are mandatory for boats travelling more than two nautical miles from shore in open waters but walkers heading into wilderness face no such obligations. Perhaps it’s time to consider charging walkers who enter difficult landscapes without a PLB or equivalent the cost of the search. Peter Hull, Katoomba
In a former life, I often went bushwalking with friends. We always had a map and a compass and the rule was if you got separated from the group and couldn’t locate the track, you would just look for a bit of open space and stay put. You wouldn’t go wandering off in all directions making it difficult for you to be located. Patrick St George, Goulburn
Cynical insult
It is wonderful to see your correspondent’s letter about the satirical “Enron Egg” (a small modular home-scale reactor), following the fine Australian tradition of the famous 1943 Ern Malley hoax (Letters, January 9).
Unfortunately, the Enron Egg is no more fanciful than Dutton’s nuclear plan, which has been consigned to the dustbin by former LNP minister Christopher Pyne, who says “the likelihood of a nuclear power plant actually being commissioned in Australia is, let’s be generous and say, limited”. He says by the time anyone has worked this out, the election cycle will well and truly have clicked over. Such a cynical plan, from someone who hopes someday to be prime minister, is not only a waste of everyone’s time, it is insulting to the Australian public. Rob Firth, Red Hill, ACT
Now be fair, Peter Nash, Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy policy and the Enron Egg have at least one thing in common. They’re both jokes. Michele Nicholas, St Ives
Just in case anyone takes the Enron Egg home nuclear power source seriously, it was promoted by Connor Gaydos, the same satirist who started the Birds Aren’t Real campaign claiming the US government had killed all the birds in the US and replaced them with feathered drones. Russell Julian, Port Macquarie
Road to nowhere
In the 1980s, I represented the Department of Main Roads in a joint study with the Public Works Department regarding the removal of both the Cahill Expressway and the overhead railway (The Herald’s View, January 9). The expressway would not be needed after the harbour tunnel was completed, and the railway could be moved underground (at great cost). Funding would come from the sale of released expressway land to the east and west of a new, grand plaza. The NSW government of the day decided it was all too risky. So here we are, 40 years later. Brian Watters, Mosman
Bates Smart’s vision for Circular Quay: the removal of the Cahill Expressway and the rerouting of the City Circle train line underground to create a wide open space reconnecting Customs House to the water.
I recently arrived back in Sydney aboard a cruise ship. It was dawn and our harbour looked wonderful. We slid quietly up to the Overseas Passenger Terminal, the city silhouetted by the brightening sky. Things went downhill from there. The quay was dirty and smelly, the area behind it even worse, all the way as far as the Hunter Street entrance to Martin Place Metro. It made me embarrassed that my city was being presented to tourists in such a bad light. Council and the state have really let us down and they both need to make some major improvements so that the city sparkles just like our harbour. Tim Overland, Castle Hill
Copa-no-cabana
Albo, Copacabana’s newest resident, will soon learn that the suburb is affectionately known as Copa … Not a cabana in sight (Letters, January 9). Simon Andrew, Kincumber
DA is real
Is the Herald really trying to convince me its most confounding cruciverbalist, DA (David Astle), is both human and has a heart (“My road trip full of dreams and destiny”, January 9)? C’mon, pull the other leg. Don Wormald, Bilgola Plateau
Inst-ant forecast
Last week we were invaded by ants. Ants in the bathroom, in the bath, in the bedroom, in the bed, across the furniture. None of our ant-killers stopped them. “Why don’t you write to the Herald, as the only time you’ve had a letter published is when you write about ants coming inside as a forecast of wet weather”, was said. My reply: “Rubbish!” And look what happened. Who needs a weather bureau? Barbara Davies, Bayview
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