LETTERS: Speed limit drop applauded; nuclear plan all 'smoke and mirrors'

But 'oh no', some drivers say. 'It will mean I take one minute longer to get to my destination'.

A small price to pay for increased road safety and, by the way, it will be good for your mental wellbeing to slow down and take it easy.

The decision to reduce the speed limits are not 'draconian' or 'unwarranted' but are rather 'sensible' and 'in the community's best interest'. Councillors in particular should realise this.

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.

How can a previous rubbish dump disposal site be considered a point of impactful heritage importance and even a sacred site? ('Midden find halts road upgrades at Wallaga', BDN, 23/6) Really, how did we get to this?

Then to stop work for 6-9 months - really? Six to nine months for a process to be made.

How many more ridiculous involvements are we to be taken into before we tell it all to stop.

Also, [re: schools marking Reconciliation Week] it's a disgrace that schools are playing politics on young minds. Schools should be for teaching, not woke brainwashing.

Look at how far our kids in Australia are behind other countries.

Kristy McBain our Eden- Monaro federal member recently sent out a publicity flyer indicating, among other things, $2.6million for 'critical repairs' on Brown Mountain.

Unfortunately I don't believe this will be sufficient to repair the three areas on the mountain that are requiring attention. One of them has caused one lane to be shut for over two years.

This on top of the unfinished resealing of half the mountain road that was not completed more than two years ago.

Seriously Kristy, for a major service road to the South Coast, your constituents are expecting better. By the way, the 'Doctor (Who)', member for Bega seems to be missing in action on this subject.

On June 12, Bega Valley Shire Council adopted the Merimbula Airport Master Plan 2043. Two significant assumptions are made in the plan. They are:

1. Regular Public Transport (RPT)/passenger numbers will increase from 60,000 to 300,000 over the next 20 years - a fivefold increase in 20 years.

2. QantasLink and/or Rex will fly larger aircraft e.g. B737 Max8 and A320 planes into Merimbula Airport.

There is no evidence that supports a passenger projection of 300,000.

Passenger numbers over the last 10 years have remained relatively static. QantasLink only provides a seasonal service from Melbourne to Merimbula. Usually projections adopt a range of economic conditions and assumptions supported by econometric modelling and statistical analysis. None of this information is in the plan. The passenger projection of 300,000 is fanciful and lacks credibility.

There is no evidence that larger aircraft will come to Merimbula.

Aircraft will only use the airport if there is consumer demand. Where is the demand analysis? Passenger numbers are impacted by seasonal variations and air ticket cost. Have Qantas or Rex indicated that this is planned in the future for Merimbula? What does CASA say?

Car parking is an issue at the Merimbula Airport but this can be addressed now. Airlines do withdraw from a route well before the cost of upgrading a regional airport can be recovered.

'Build and they will come' is simplistic, fraught with problems and a high risk of council overinvesting in the airport at a cost to us, the ratepayers.