Government
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BUDGET speech stated. Deficit is currently $43 billion.
Remove the tax benefits to wealthy superannuation $32 billion.
Remove negative gearing $18 billion.
Simple maths says, budget returns to balance in year one with a credit of $7 billion.
If the Government is for real.
Why not?
— WALLY REYNOLDS, Perth.
Truck accident
SO ONCE again we have heard that another log truck has rolled over in this area.
This would be the fifth or sixth one we have heard about.
How much longer before some innocent person is involved in one of these crashes.
There have been so many since the trucks have started transporting plantation logs.
Isn’t it obvious that the trucks are going too fast with the loads so high.
— T. PERRY, Westbury.
Tamar
IT WAS interesting to see the Federal treasurer being escorted on the Tamar river on Friday, May 15 at a well choreographed event.
Would it not have been more beneficial and dramatic to have chosen a time of low water when the real needs of this terrible plight can be better understood?
I would like to know how far any our many caretakers would be prepared to step from their comfort zones to show the true health of Launceston’s beleaguered and septic waterway.
— GEOFF SMEDLEY, Launceston.
Meander school
THE Meander Valley Council has declined the state government’s offer to take possession of Meander School (The Examiner, May 14).
The council voted to turn down the school but expressed an interest in working with the community and the department to find a use for the facility.
Affordable housing for the homeless would be a good use, but I doubt the council would champion the idea judging by all the "unused” buildings at the ``disused” Deloraine racecourse.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Japan Post
RE TOLL takeover by Japan Post (The Examiner, May 14).
Ray Horsburgh, Toll Chairman, states Japan Post is acquiring the skills and knowledge of Toll employees.
All over Australia, Toll employees are being sacked and are now unemployed.
This takeover is not good for Australian employees.
— M. DAVIS, St Helens.
NBN
ISN’T it wonderful that Australia has extremely fast internet with the NBN.
Too bad there are still towns with undrinkable water and raw sewerage going into our river and citizens that can’t get the medical help they need.
Ahh, Australia, the lucky country.
— MARILYN REIS, Ravenswood.
SS uniform
WE talk about, and it was made a big show of this year, `”Lest We Forget” - Anzac.
Seeing a reputable newspaper like The Examiner feature Troy Walker playing with war toys (for amusement).
Fair enough, “toys for boys”, looking for a “shed” to re-construct war toys earlier this month in your newspaper.
Please note - the SS uniform (very shabby) was no less insulting.
Lest We Forget - The Holocaust.
— ELSA de RUYTER, St Helens.
By-pass
AFTER viewing the proposed first stage of re-routing the Midlands Highway from Breadalbane to Perth, I would describe it as a complete waste of tax payer’s money and will cause problems with a bottleneck a few meters north of Youl Road when it re-joins the old highway.
The conglomeration of road works to the west of the current Breadalbane roundabout would cost millions of dollars, and at this stage are not necessary since the installation of a slip road for northbound traffic travelling from the south was installed.
This could be complimented with the addition of an overtaking lane for heavy vehicles travelling south from the roundabout to the top of the hill adjacent Island Block and Paving.
The money saved here could be used for the immediate start on the Perth by-pass section of the highway (apparently several years away) which in the view of the residents I have spoken to, all agree should be the priority.
This will get the traffic and heavy vehicles off Main Road, Perth allowing for the safety of pedestrians.
— BARRIE STEPHENS, Perth.
Quarantine
THE saga of "pistol" and "boo" really sums up the cringe mentality of Australians when it comes to so-called American icons.
Probably, for the first time in his career, I was in agreement with the Federal Minister for Agriculture in his attitude to this ploy.
Australian quarantine laws exist to protect our industries from the consequences of stunts such as this.
Each year European trainers bring in horses worth astronomical sums for our racing carnivals.
These people employ veterinarians to ensure that their animals are healthy. Nonetheless, they are subject to strict quarantine rules.
Owners and trainers are happy to agree to this state of rules, as they recognise their importance.
What was really disappointing in the sags as the disparaging attitude taken by media outlets, especially News Limited.
A cynic would almost come to the conclusion that this organisations owner was angered by the delay to his film production.
This was possibly also the case with the member of parliament who was so vocal, but he is becoming irrelevant.
— D. PALMER, Newnham.
Domestic violence
IT IS disappointing the Federal Government has provided precious little in terms of new money towards tackling domestic violence in the Federal Budget.
That is despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing it recently as an "unfolding tragedy’’ across the nation.
On average one woman dies every week in Australia as a result of intimate partner violence and violence against women costs Australia more than $15 billion a year.
The only new Federal funding in the Budget was Canberra’s $16.7 million contribution over three years to a National Awareness Campaign to reduce violence against women and their children.
This campaign was agreed to with the states and unveiled at the Council of Australian Government meeting in April.
Two other budget items that address domestic violence are short-term extensions of funding, one for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) and the other to community and Indigenous legal services.
The NPAH is an important agreement as domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness and the agreement seeks to prioritise services that assist women and children escaping domestic violence, but it had been announced previously.
The 1800RESPECT – the national 24/7 crisis line for sexual assault, domestic and family violence – service is in desperate need of extra funding but received nothing.
Last year it responded to 54,853 calls but another 18,631 were not answered because the service did not have adequate staff. In other words one in four calls for help were not answered.
It is high time the Government put some new dollars behind its rhetoric on domestic violence.
— LINDY O’NEILL, Uniting Care Tasmania chief executive.
Integrity Commission
IN HIS recent piece about the Integrity Commission, (“Please call back Lisa, I want to have a chat”), Martin Stevenson says that he has done `”a little research” about the commission.
It appears to have been very little indeed, given the factual errors made and questions posed.
Mr Stevenson incorrectly says that the Commission is “bereft of a chief commissioner” and refers to the departure of Ms Barbara Etter and “successor Murray Kellam’s term having ended in June 2014”.
For the record, Ms Etter was never the Chief Commissioner - she was the CEO and she left the Commission in 2011, I have been the CEO since 2012.
Mr Kellam has been the Chief Commissioner since 2010 and his term does not expire until August this year.
One of the key objectives of the Commission is to enhance pubic confidence that misconduct in the public sector will be dealt with appropriately, because the commission undertakes its functions on the basis of facts and evidence.
Every two years we arrange for a “Community Perceptions Survey” to find out what the Tasmanian community thinks about the integrity of its public sector, as well as what it thinks about the Commission.
Mr Stevenson was apparently contacted to take part in this year’s survey but, unfortunately, did not stay on the phone long enough to contribute his views.
The results of the 2011 and 2013 surveys are available on our website (www.integrity.tas.gov.au) which also contains a great deal of information about our work, including about complaints and investigations.
Like all agencies, our budget is published in the Government’s Budget Papers each year.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but those who have the privilege of airing those opinions in the media also have a responsibility to get the facts right.
— DIANE MERRYFULL, Integrity Commission, chief executive officer.