Submarine
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HOW in the name of all that is holy can Australia be expected to build a submarine when we cannot even build a passenger car?
— JACK SONNEMANN, Lucaston.
Jobs
THERE is no need for Job Service Providers.
We did OK for thousands of years without them.
— LEON COOPER, St Leonards.
Cyclists safety
UNDER the new law motorists will now be allowed to cross continuous white lines to pass cyclist, when it is safe to do so (The Examiner, February 23).
Under the old law, how many cyclists do you know that were booked for crossing over continuous white liines to pass a cyclist?
The new law stipulates - ``when it is safe to do to”.
How will I know ``when it is safe to do so” when the continuous white lines were put there to tell me it isn’t safe?
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Railway
SOME time ago I wrote a letter to The Examiner with an idea to remove railway tracks and sleepers from disused sections of the Tasmanian rail system and replace them with walking and cycle tracks.
Some government personel must have read the letter.
My next suggestion is remove the complete rail system owned by TasRail.
The government could sell all the rails to the Chinese, the sleepers (the wooden ones anyway) to garden centres and the locomotives and rolling stock to anyone who runs the same railway gauge.
That would then satisfy all the cyclists as they would only have hikers to worry about.
— JOHN DENNE, Longford.
Education
WE SEE yet again a state Government hell bent on reforms for education and getting kids to learn longer.
We now have four terms so more student free days as soon as the kids get back to school.
And still there is a day off for the Launceston and Hobart cups.
Why on earth does a horse race have to be a day off learning for kids education.
State ministers for education have avoided my letters on this for years.
— DAVID PARKER, West Launceston.
Chaplains
IN OUR now multicultural, multi-faith society what schools need are psychologists – not chaplains.
One of the most important things you can do for a young teenage student is psychological appraisal testing which can determine their suitability and likelihood of success, whether it be for a profession, trade or whatever.
The old maxim ‘Find our what you are good at (which you will obviously enjoy doing) and get someone to pay you for doing it’ still applies and is a guarantee for increased productivity and job satisfaction.
— MICHAEL SCOTT, South Hobart.
Older workers
IT’S all well and good for Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey to sing the praises of older workers being crucial to Australia’s future, and in some ways he is right.
Yet he is out of touch with many Australians when he states ``those days are over where you study when you’re young, work hard in the middle years and then retire when you turn 65”.
Many older workers have earned their stripes and retiring at 65 is a sensible option for them to enjoy the fruits of their labour, rather than Mr Hockey’s (in my opinion) ``stay in the work-force till you kark it attitude”.
— ROBERT LEE, Summerhill.
Abbott
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has really out done himself this time by using terrorism to frighten the Australian public (The Examiner, February 24 ) just to try and divert attention away from his leadership, budget, polls and broken promise problems.
What's worse is that in his speech Mr Abbott promised to keep us all safe, and seeing he has broken almost every other promise he has ever made, that is very, very scary.
— MICK LEPPARD, Invermay.
Midlands highway
A LIBERAL Party pre-election promise was to upgrade the Midlands Highway to a four lane highway, Launceston to Hobart.
Then it became a “10 year aspiration”, which Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding said in December would “clearly not” be finished in that time frame.
Labor spokesmen described this as having led Tasmanian voters down the garden path.
One hell of a long garden path, with only six “safety projects” being undertaken this year.
— BILL CARNEY, Riverside.
Forestry
FORTUNATELY I was sitting down when I read Trevor Cowell's letter (The Examiner, March 24) criticising an initiative of the Liberal Party intended to assist the forestry industry.
Let's hope the enlightenment continues.
— A. CARTER, Mowbray.
Politics
BARRY Prismall (February 24) barely puts his toe in the quagmire that is political shenanigans.
After concentrating on 'leaks, leakers and leakees, Mr Prismall may care to write about the consequences to the political system of those Party nominated MPs who subsequently - sometimes hurriedly - quit their allegiance and brandish 'Independent' as a moniker.
There's a classic example in Tasmania - a person elected to the Senate almost certainly because of a Party connection and support checks out of that Party almost before the letterheads and name plates have been printed and affixed.
Of course great principles are at stake here - the electorate will be assured - but it's never quite apparent what those great principles are.
What is certain is that the 'successful' Senator has betrayed those who voted for the 'Party' represented and 'cheated' the candidate who was next in line on that Party's Senate ticket.
But - there's nothing that can be done about it for another almost six years.
— TREVOR COWELL, Perth.
Professor Triggs
RE: The constant Government Attack on Professor Triggs the secretary of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
As I understand the report was equally critical of the both the Labor and Liberal governments.
The report was about the sexual and physical abuse of children in detention.
By this measure does it mean that the Commissioner examining the sexual abuse of children by various organisations will also be vilified?
I was horrified to hear that in the Senate, the Chairman had not read the report because it was politically motivated.
Yet he was in charge of the Senate Inquiry. Should we lose confidence in this man because of political bias?
Was Professor Triggs being treated with respect by this statement and this person?
So, are we now to assume that, we as the voting public do not have the right to be informed about this abuse because it is politically inconvenient?
I for one have the greatest respect for the brave Commissioner.
The question is, do we want to protect children or not?
Or do we only want to be told about child abuse when it is politically convenient?
— ELLA MILLER, Exeter.
Council amalgamation
ALDERMAN Ted Sands use of the Auckland City Council (Letters, February 25) to promote amalgamation is an example of cherry picking fact to create a suitable argument.
It is certainly true that eight existing councils were amalgamated into the “super council” Auckland City and the council comprises one Mayor and 20 representatives from the surrounding wards.
What Alderman Sands fails to mention is that from eight councils before amalgamation there is now one Council which is broken down into 13 Wards, and these 13 Wards are further broken down into 21 Local Boards.
In a telephone conversation I had in 2012 with then Chief Executive Doug McKay he pointed out that there were now 170 elected representative in the Auckland City Council structure, up from 113 when there were eight councils.
This is the model Alderman Sands wants adopted?
I challenge Alderman Sands to prove that there will be cost savings and efficiencies in amalgamation.
It is interesting to note there is growing evidence that in Auckland the super city just isn’t working, with local services set to be cut because of a crippling $7.3 billion debt, with interest payments now costing ratepayers $1 million a day (NZ Herald, July 14, 2014), and average rates that are now 30 per cent higher than 2010 levels.
— TIM WOINARSKI, West Tamar Council Councillor.