THE decision by Newcastle business and civic leaders to take their case for the city's redevelopment to Canberra is to be applauded.
With both federal and state elections looming, it makes sense to ensure that governments at both levels are fully aware of the city's urgent needs.
Many Novocastrians believe, rightly or wrongly, that the NSW Government is too Sydney-centric and too paralysed by political and administrative incompetence to deliver much of value to Newcastle.
As a matter of fact, the State Government seems preoccupied with extracting as much value as possible from the region in dividends, royalties and other payments, arguing at every turn against giving anything back.
On the other hand, the Rudd Government has already demonstrated a tangible commitment to regional Australia in general and to the Hunter in particular. It funded - against the wishes of NSW Labor - the Hunter expressway. It has provided $8.5 million for Newcastle's regional museum. It has helped the region by locating facilities to assist the Hunter's diversification into alternative energy research and development. The list, indeed, goes on.
If any doors will be open to Newcastle's representatives they are more likely to be in Canberra than Sydney.
On this occasion Novocastrian leaders are likely to restrict their requests to relatively small and well-defined ones.
An obvious example is the city's federal court complex. One of the worst in Australia, this centre urgently needs replacement. Properly done, in combination with the state courts, this project alone has immense potential to help transform at least part of the city.
It is hoped that Newcastle's lobbyists meet with success.
Pedophile next door
FEW crimes are as repugnant as sexual assaults against children, and few issues arouse such emotion as the question of whether the home addresses of convicted sex offenders ought to be made public.
Many people believe that neighbours of such offenders have a right to know, since their children may be at risk.
But making the information public can result in hysteria, vigilantism and victimisation of offenders who, in the eyes of the law, have paid their penalty and who, in theory at least, may have reformed.
Authorities have opted for a middle road, where the location of offenders is recorded on a register and their activities monitored by police. The well-known paucity of police resources means that monitoring can hardly be expected to be perfect, but the system has merit all the same.
As police point out, without the register the whereabouts of convicted pedophiles would be practically impossible to determine. Similarly, if the register was published, the probable victimisation of pedophiles would encourage them to abscond and hide from the law.
No system could satisfy everybody, but until some improvement to the present model emerges it remains the best available option.
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