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JEFF McKinnon (Letters, April 21) complains about the government cutting foreign aid and that it could mean foreign children won’t have access to clean water.
Try telling that to the local children living at Pioneer and surrounding areas.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Security
I HAVE been watching the preparations for increased Anzac Day security and the thought struck me that most of our fallen war heroes would be turning in their graves at the fact that we now have people who have been accepted into our country planning terrorist acts.
How has this been allowed this to happen?
Our people in authority must stop sitting on their hands and actually put a stop to terrorist activity in our great country.
Good people have died so that we can have a wonderful life in our country without fear of terrorist acts.
— M. WIGGINS, Hadspen.
Smoking
THE solution is simple for the problem of the new no smoking policy in jail.
Do not break the law and go to jail.
It is where one goes after being found guilty of breaking the law.
The penalty is incarceration and subsequently loss of all privileges.
Smoking is a privilege.
There is an upside, the government are starting the process of helping the inmate to rid themselves of an truly expensive, unhealthy life style.
— PETER DODDY, Trevallyn.
US Hypocrisy
THE US is concerned that former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and other party members have been given long jail sentences.
Did they expect anything less?
It seems a long time ago that the Western powers were so upbeat about free elections in Egypt.
Unfortunately for the West and US in particular they could not allow an Egypt, probably hostile to Israel and backed by Iran, on the door step of their only ally in the Middle East.
So the high ideals of democracy where disregarded and the military allowed and no doubt encouraged to impose martial law.
Immediately the army imprisoned opposition leaders and imprisoned amongst others foreign and local journalists and other dissenting voices which was the complaint levelled against Morsi.
When will we learn that countries have a right to their own determination and not attempt to impose change by force?
— A. CARTER, Mowbray.
Politics
THE volunteers who regularly clean the pristine beach of Cox’s Bight highlight a major issue facing us now – the universal use of plastics.
Plastics in many forms from as far away as Madagascar have reached our shores.
Not only that, constant sea action has broken up and reduced plastic to very small pieces which small sea life and birds mistake for food.
This leads to their death and the reduction in their numbers.
With the added increase in acidity due to our increased atmospheric CO2 our oceanic environment is badly threatened.
Australia can lead (it has scientific backing) a demand for the banning of plastic at all levels – international, national, state and community.
It is time to play a major role.
— M. CAMPBELL-SMITH, Launceston.
Geelong star
OPPOSITION by the Greens to the Geelong Star fishing trawler is being conducted along emotional, not scientific lines.
It is claimed the present vessel should be banned because there was an earlier ban on even larger vessels. That conveniently overlooks the fact that the fishery experts at that time said fishing with that vessel was sustainable.
But emotive opposition won over science then and the Greens are keen to repeat the exercise.
Our government has done the right thing by its approval of the vessel and it is about time the Greens developed positive policies that will benefit Tasmania rather than continuing to oppose any forestry, tourism, mining, fishing etc development in their attempt to keep the state a backwater.
— JOHN COULSON, Dilston.
Zombie walk
IN reply to William Cameron (Letters, April 23) there is nothing wrong with any society that allows people the freedom to have a bit of harmless fun in public.
The zombie walk has been going for six years and each year the mean spirited complain about it. Complaining about an event that is drug and alcohol free and involves a bit of dressing up.
Some seem to base their complaints on ‘it scares children’ but ignore the fact children take part. They also ignore the fact that many things can scare children and it is part of growing up to learn what is real and what isn’t.
I’ve seen children terrified by Santa but yet to see calls to ban the jolly old fellow because of it. Some people really do need to get out and embrace more of our great and diverse society rather than complaining about people enjoying themselves and providing a bit of entertainment to boot.
— GEOFF McLEAN, Launceston.
Liberals
SOME Liberal politicians would have difficulty in running any business, including the club raffles.
Is it therefore not surprising that the state and federal Liberals sanction the fishing trawlers, without first publishing the history of the vessel, and the state of the fisheries, these ships have been fishing in.
With the loss of seals, dolphins, and dead bio catch, surely the writing is on the wall, these ships will destroy our fishing.
These fish can take decades to reach breeding stage, but when all the fish in an area are harvested, there are no breeding stock left.
At 7.4 per cent the fishery could be destroyed each year, before the breeding stock can recover.
Remember the orange roughie, Australian salmon in Bass Strait, or the douboy scallops? Caught under a quota system, destroying the fishery for all.
Let’s continue to lobby for the eradication of factory ships, in the public interest.
— JIM CAMPBELL, Ulverstone.
Ambon
IN December 1941, 1100 Australian soldiers were went to a small island just north of Darwin called Ambon.
They were sent to help protect Laha airport from falling into the hands of the Japanese, who wanted the airport as a stepping stone to invade Darwin.
Twenty thousand Japanese invaded and all the Australian soldiers became prisoners of war. They endured terrible atrocities and more than 700 died.
My great uncle Frank Greig was one of the soldiers that was beheaded in retaliation for a Japanese ship being bombed in the harbour.
In September 2014, I attended a memorial service at Laha, Tawiri and the war memorial where all the fallen soldiers are buried.
Most Australians haven’t heard about Ambon yet there has been a number of books written, including one from Courtney Harrison (a survivor of Ambon) and a movie called Blood Oath staring Russell Crowe, which covered the was trials of 93 Japanese.
— CHERYL SHEARING, Youngtown.
Live export cruelty
IT IS well and truly time that the live export trade is shut down.
It is inherently cruel and time and time again the Australian public have viewed horrific footage obtained by brave investigators of Australian animals being brutally treated.
The RSCPA has launched a campaign to have the industry shut down and it's come up with some compelling reasons.
They include:
On average over the past 10 years, Australian meat exports have generated a staggering $6.8 billion annually, seven times more than the live export industry.
Animals unnecessarily endure long, cruel sea voyages, suffering heat stress, overcrowding, salmonella and pneumonia.
The system does not protect Australian animals.
They are subjected to unstunned and inverted slaughter as well as physical abuse, roping and street slaughter in importing countries.
Numerous investigations illustrate the inherent failures in the system.
The cruelty of live exports far outweighs the benefits particularly when there is a viable, profitable and more humane option available.
Shut down this industry and stop the cruelty meted out to millions of Australian animals.
— PAUL MURPHY, Launceston.