Indonesia
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has said there will be "consequences" if the execution of the Bali drug smugglers goes ahead.
Let those consequences be the withdrawal of the millions of dollars we supply Indonesia in foreign aid each year.
Give it to our hospital and education systems, who I am sure will be most appreciative of the extra funds.
— R. PARKER, Summerhill.
Politics
ALMOST every leader of every political party will, on being elected as Prime Minister, will immediately make the pledge "I will govern for all".
No one believes that statement on plain reading and no one will take any notice of the new Labor Premier of Queensland who has pledged to govern by "consensus”.
Annastacia Palaszczuk probably means she will ask the opinion on policy matters of all her Labor colleagues, plus the Independent Peter Wellington, and then make a decision.
She most certainly doesn't mean by "consensus” that she is the slightest bit interested in hearing the opinion of the other MPs who represent 50 per cent or so of Queenslanders.
Why can't victorious political leaders be up front and declare, "we won you lost, suck it up"?
At every change of government the policy shifts are usually detrimental to the economy - at least in the short-term - and damaging to much of the fabric of society as the new lot change all the locks on the doors, rubbish bin the letterheads and unscrew the name plates on the public buildings.
By the time they've announced, "the economy of this state/nation is in much worse condition than the previous government has led us to believe", it'll be ready to bring in the austerity measures it declares are absolutely necessary.
All of that is stalling shorthand for, "you must give us time to get over the shock of being elected”.
— TREVOR COWELL, Perth.
Human Rights
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott's attack on the Human Rights Commission's report on children in detention is about as low as he has ever got, including before he started "good government”.
Gillian Triggs is a highly respected human rights lawyer and the Commission’s data gathering was extensive and impeccably carried out.
The commissioners visited 11 detention centres, 1129 children being interviewed, over a period covering the watch of both Labor and Liberal governments.
The report drew attention to the appalling conditions suffered by children in detention, including 233 recorded assaults, 128 incidents of self-harm, 33 reports of sexual assault and 27 cases of voluntary starvation.
These atrocities occurred while the children were in the care of Australia; by any civilised account, they demand urgent action on the part of the government of the day but Abbott’s reaction was utterly indefensible: he dismissed the report as ''a blatantly political exercise” and that the commission should be ”ashamed of themselves”.
The report was not political at all, but simply pointing out how much children have suffered under the policies of both Labor and Liberal governments.
Mr Abbott’s response is appalling on several grounds: It refuses to address the huge problem raised by the evidence cited in the report, so children and their families continue to go on suffering; He is the one playing politics by declaring a factual report that applies to both sides of politics “political”; the vitally important work of the Human Rights Commission has been undermined and belittled; yet another signal has been sent to the rest of the world that Australia of all the OECD countries has the worst human rights record of any.
— JOHN BRIGGS, Sandy Bay.
Independents
THERE are a few members of the Senate who have not been heard of since the election.
Maybe it’s because they have nothing to say.
Or maybe they see their role as just being there to add another vote to the way their party wants them to vote on any question.
Marvellous how on becoming an independent, they find their voice and tend to support, or put forward matters pertinent to the state that elected them.
Take Jacquie Lambie for instance.
Since leaving PUP, she seems to have been speaking out for more things beneficial to Tasmania than some other senators have.
For instance, freight equalisation and even reduced fares on Spirit of Tasmania.
Of course, we don’t always expect to see eye to eye.
She defends the exemption of the Bell Bay Aluminium smelter from Renewable Energy Targets on the basis that they only use renewable hydro electricity.
Now, I thought all businesses and households in Tasmania use Hydro power, do they not?
On that basis, we might expect that Senator Lambie does not support any RET in Tasmania?
— BILL CARNEY, Riverside.
Launceston International
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone involved in the staging of the Launceston International tennis tournament, which provided spectators with a wonderful week of high-quality tennis.
The addition of a men's event this year was a huge bonus - as was the great coverage provided by The Examiner.
There were good reasons why American Bjorn Fratangelo and Daria Gavrilova were popular winners.
Fratangelo discovered that he had family members in Launceston he did not know about and diminutive Russian dynamo Gavrilova will soon become an Australian citizen.
Tasmania's Harry Bourchier showed that, at 19, he is poised for a promising career on the world tennis circuit.
Launceston's regional tennis centre did the city proud, but let's remember it's not just there for the super stars to dazzle us for one week of the year, it's there for the kids, mums and dads and grandparents to keep themselves healthy all year round by playing the best family participation sport in the world.
— IAN MACPHERSON, Newstead.
Party whip
ONE wonders why there was a need for a sacrificial lamb (the chief party whip) in the saga of the attempted spill in government.
If the Prime Minister was so unaware of the unease in party ranks, then maybe he is not the man to lead this country.
One of the weaknesses in the makeup of his predecessor was an inability to say "Mea Culpa".
Seems the same applies in this case.
If students over Grade 5 standards were aware of the malaise, surely the PM or his much vaunted departmental head should have deduced it from the papers.
He has shot the ABC, he has shot Gillian Triggs, and now a long-serving and loyal member of his party.
The only messenger he has missed is his head of department.
— D. PALMER, Newnham.
Mobile phones
I HAVE heard on good authority that a device had been invented that when the ignition is switched on mobile phones are disabled.
If there isn't such a device then please someone invent it.
This device, if invented, should be as commonly used as a seat belt.
Simple and effective but no doubt objected to by those who appear not to be able to live without being manically glued to a mobile, loudly talking in the street, on public transport, in restaurants, shouting their sex lives or other intimate details that no one gives a hoot about.
Or, far more dangerously, while driving a car.
Surely nothing is so important that it cannot wait until the car is parked safely off the road.
If there could be such a device that would disable mobiles when the ignition is on, thus preventing many horrific injuries and deaths, then let us have such a brilliant invention soon.
Save us from irresponsible idiots who always feel they can drive, punch in numbers, chat and text at the same time.
— FRANK GILES, St Marys.