Dowling Street, Nelson Bay is no different, as are many streets in our community, I am sure. Numerous complaints to council have proved ineffective, and from requests for signage of 50km/h (there are none from the roundabout at Stockton Street to the intersection at Shoal Bay Road) I received the reply from council that 'motorists should know'. Really? Unmarked speed cameras are warranted, and as Mr Carruthers mentioned, wherever they are installed they would pay their way in very short order.

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John McInerney (Examiner, Letters, October 7) has boldly deployed 'the women card' to attack my right to question his pick for Mayor.

His argument [seems to] goes like this. Jaimie Abbott is a woman. Therefore it is wrong comment on an issue if it involves a female. Oh it's fine for men like him to comment about anyone and anything. But women elected to Council?

Apparently we have no such freedom.

In this case, Labor's candidate for Mayor has just been appointed without an open selection process to CEO of Port Stephen's Koalas - a much loved facility funded in part by donors and volunteers - but in the main by Council and NSW Government grants organised by Council. It has been a success because of strong political support from all parties. Labor's use of the koala hospital places at risk the "above politics" status of the hospital.

Questions have rightly been asked about the failure to conduct a merit selection process.

It's actually been male Councillors who started raising doubts and I pretty am sure their focus was not on the gender of Labor's candidate. Instead of addressing this genuine alarm about political machinations impacting our koala hospital, Labor's chief local letter writer John McInerney attacks me on the grounds that his candidate is female and because I am a woman I should shut up.

Mr McInerney, I am fully entitled to comment on the full range of issues of concern to my community.

If Labor thinks that nominating a female candidate for Mayor gags me and every other woman in politics simply because of gender - well you are very much in error. His argument began with reference to my personal life - my role as a mother, then he grossly misrepresented the Council attendance issue.

I note my attendance throughout the pandemic is better than several male colleagues - and yet [I am singled out] out on the grounds of motherhood. What is the relevance of Mr McInerny's diatribe about my family to governance of Port Stephen's Koala Hospital?

It is incredibly disappointing in 2021 that these views are still being aired in our media when there is so much evidence women have a right to participate equally in politics, and should be respected as individuals free from attack on the basis of gender.

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Last week's letter from Mr Carruthers (Speeding on Sandy Point Road, Examiner, October 14) highlights the inaction by State authorities on what we locals call "the local speedway".

Despite several requests by a number of residents to the police and to Port Stephens council over several years to place appropriate speed signage on the portion of Sandy Point Road from Pantowora Street to the southern intersection with Bagnalls Beach Road, nothing has been done. Crossing the road and accessing your driveaway is a perilous exercise on this portion of road. Mr Carruthers's comparison of Foreshore Drive's eight speed humps and 11 advisory signs to almost nothing on Sandy Point Road over double the distance highlights the inequality of signage which is, in my opinion, wrong given the demographics of Sandy Point Road.

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