Labor
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
SO the Tasmanian Labor Opposition are touring the state in a `Big Red Bus’.
Appropriate really, after all it was Labor’s 15 years in office that got Tasmania into the red in the first place.
— GRAEME PAGE, Launceston.
Passports
BASS Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic has made the best suggestion yet about passports and terrorism.
It should go even further to allow want-to-be terrorists freedom to leave Australia on the condition that passports are surrendered and stamped cancelled, never to be allowed re-entry.
— DAVID PARKER, West Launceston.
Anti-mobile device a must
I HAVE heard that a device had been invented that when a vehicle's 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.
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.
Put dollars back into Oz
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.
Road rules
NEW rules which are set to be implemented Wednesday (February 25) are a step in the right direction in curbing anti-social behaviour on our roads between Tasmanian motorists and cyclists.
The new laws that will allow motorists to cross single and double white lines are welcomed.
A good news story for all Tasmanians in bringing harmony to our roads.
— KYLE BARRETT, Relbia.
Thompson
FORMER Federal MP Craig Thompson should have thought of the consequences of his actions in relation to his “difficulty” in paying a $25,000 fine imposed on him for stealing union funds to pay for his “extra curricular activities”.
What an insult to his former union colleagues (whom he stole from) when he appeared in the Victorian County Court last Friday asking permission to pay his fine in instalments of $50 a month.
That works out to be about 40 years to pay it off.
With that request denied, he faces jail or community service.
At least Health Services Union members will now have some peace of mind that he has not got off lightly.
— ROBERT LEE, Summerhill.
AFL draft
LET us divert our attention away from politics for a moment and give a thought to the AFL draft system.
The principal of the freedom of rights to make a choice of your place of employment is taken away from the draftee where he has chosen football as his career path at this stage of his life.
Everyone has the freedom to choose their place of employment.
The AFL has created a system that denies this common right.
A typical example is when an 18 year old leaves his family, mates he has grown up with, and more than likely a girlfriend, to start a tough physical and mental testing career somewhere not of his choice.
There is no guarantee he will succeed with the club he is forced to play with.
You have not made the draft because someone likes you, you are just a commodity in the world of professional football to be traded, shuttled about to suit club's needs.
To make the draft and not be selected is not the end of the prospect of playing in the AFL. In fact, it may be a blessing in disguise.
Bones in males reach their maximum strength between 25-30 years of age.
Be patient, work harder, and if you are good enough you will make it as a mature aged recruit.
— HUGH BOYD, Launceston.
Citizenship
YES most definitely strip proven foreign terrorists of Australian citizenship without question or hesitancy.
To indiscriminately take the lives of innocent people, women and children deserves no favour, understanding or leniency.
If the Law Society has concerns for the rights of people who kill, maim, and cripple unsuspecting Australian citizens, then change the law.
Do not use the law as a shield for evil.
It is imperative we act now as a deterrent to those contemplating terrorism.
Australia cannot afford to show weakness or direction against terrorism.
Well done Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic, we expect our politicians to protect our lives and well-being.
What we do now defines Australians a safe future.
— PETER DODDY, Trevallyn.
Road Users
THE Liberal Government is committed to doing more to protect our vulnerable road users, including cyclists.
That’s why we have amended the road rules to make it legal for car drivers and other road users to cross continuous centre white lines to pass a bike rider, but only when safe to do so.
It is important to note, however, that the new road rule that commences on February 25 does not provide for legislated minimum passing distances, as some have reported.
Rather, it remains a strong recommendation that motorists maintain a safe distance of at least a metre when passing a cyclist where the speed limit is 60km/h or less, and 1.5 metres where the speed limit is more than 60km/h.
These are advisory safe distances only, they are not the law.
Should the government decide to legislate in this way, it would only do so based on evidence available from the current trial underway in Queensland, which we are closely monitoring.
The bottom-line is that it is the responsibility of all road users to look out for others and be safe on our roads.
— RENE HIDDING, Infrastructure Minister.
Gunns
TREVOR Cowell takes issue with ABC Radio for ‘substantial publicly-funded publicity’ for Quentin’s Beresford’s recently published book, The Rise and Fall of Gunns Ltd (The Examiner, February 11).
I don’t recall Mr Cowell expressing similar concerns when the public purse funded the pulp mill taskforce ‘propaganda bus’ to the vastly more substantial amount of $1 million, in order to spruik the flawed pulp mill project to a deeply sceptical Tasmanian community.
If Mr Cowell reads the book he will appreciate why the author has very few good words to say about Gunns.
Gunns had an arrogant and dismissive attitude towards the valid concerns being expressed by Tasmanians about the potential for negative impacts of the mill, on health, other businesses, the environment, economy and lifestyle.
I for one am very glad Mr Beresford did bother, since this book raises some deeply disturbing issues concerning political and corporate relationships in this state that go back decades, that deserve to be known by all Tasmanians.
— ANNE LAYTON-BENNETT, Swan Bay.