He also said that they could not speak English.

Peter’s great, great, great parents would have come from mother England by boat,and these settlers would not have been all that literate  and educated over two centuries ago.

And judging from that dumb statement Peter Dutton made, he is not the brightest star in the sky either.

Furthermore, when the settlers arrived , they  could not speak the Aboriginal lingo.

And when various jobs an tasks  were slowly created, they were given to the white settlers, who had occupied the aborigines’  land.

My family came as migrants  in 1952, and we have done well on all accounts.

I hope that Mr Dutton gets defeated next election, he does not deserve to be in this job.

John Pronk Wollongong

I join with others in the community to express serious concerns about proposals for an “adventure playground”,  gondola and/or mountain bike trail from Mt Keira summit to Robson’s Road.

Particularly I thank the Neighbourhood Forum 5 whose members, like me, reside in suburbs near the base of Mt Keira.  

The NF5 noted that Mt Keira is a national icon with values related to being: “an iconic natural feature for the city; a place for panoramic views of the city; a low-key recreation area;  a focus for understanding nature”.  

Specifically, the NF5 does not support the introduction of a cable car or any activities into Mt Keira that would contribute to pollution or erosion.  Their stance seems to support continuation of the existing draft plan of Management Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area 2011 which, for environmental and safety reasons, does not support cycling, except on the park’s roads and management trails. 

That draft plan reported that illegal cycling had already resulted in cycling fatalities and injuries, as well as “impacts on fragile significant plant communities, fauna habitat and cultural heritage”.  Clearly both of these are undesirable.

To me, NF5’s expressed vision values the nature experiences that Mt Keira already provides, and which I believe over time will only become more precious.  We can all benefit from spending time at a slower pace, in natural rather than human-made environments.

Deidre Stuart, Keiraville

It would be fair to say most of us are sick and tired of inaction on climate change and the need to speed up change from fossil fuel to renewable energy.

However, I could never understand why the Greens never took on the Petroleum (Onshore Act) 1991 that allows petrochemical companies to mine and pollute private properties and our water tables.

We were never in the hunt to totally stop coal seam gas mining while the Petroleum Onshore Act 1991 was in place.

This is the real gate that has to be locked and the Greens, Labor and Liberal have done nothing about the problem.

Brian Johnson, Gymea