Silt
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HERE we go again racking the silt and letting it move down river. When are these guys, who have said ok, go for it and get it away from Launceston let the other people down the river take care of it as long as we don’t have to. What a shambles.
— JOHN GUMLEY, George Town.
Johnny Depp
I’M NOT sure actor Johnny Depp thinks he is, in relation to his bringing into Australia on his private jet two pet yorkshire terriers without declaring them to customs for quarantine.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce is right in stating that there is a process to follow if one wants to bring animals in the country and just because he is Johnny Depp doesn’t make him exempt from Australian law.
I say, Australia’s biosecurity must be rock solid and protected at all costs and any breaches of protocol as in this case must be dealt with swiftly.
— ROBERT LEE, Summerhill.
Death tax
YOU know it wouldn't be so bad after you've passed away, if the council that wanted to charge more for you being interred into a specific area, actually looked after the site.
Unfortunately this does not happen.
You're charged to more or less rent a burial site for your loved ones.
The council charges for the honour, then they totally neglect the actual grave site.
This impost by the Launceston council is an outright grab for money from the family left behind and has nothing to do with maintaining cemeteries.
In other words it's a tax on dying.
— D. PITHAM, Beauty Point.
John L Grove
I CANNOT believe that the government is considering closing the John Grove Rehabilitation Centre.
This centre changes peoples lives, and it would be a tragedy for the people of Northern Tasmania, should those who need this specialised treatment be denied access to the wonderful facility.
I speak from experience as I have had a granddaughter who was at the centre for seven months.
The staff made a remarkable difference to her life, not only to her mobility but to her positive attitude to recovery and to life in general.
The staff at the centre are dedicated and give loving care to their patients.
This facility must be available to those in need of this rehabilitation.
— B. MARTIN, Riverside.
Victims
THE Royal Commission into institutional sex abuse of children hasn’t a wide enough reference.
We are hearing all kinds of sad stories of abused children in various institutions run by churches and government, but that is where it stops.
The terms of reference should have included children who have been adopted into families where they were abused by their adopted “Mums” and “Dads”.
Evidence is coming forward from various sources that some of these abused adoptees have tried to make representation to the Royal Commission but have been denied the opportunity to tell their stories to the Commission.
Why is this so?
Has there been children abused by their adopted “parents” and those “parents” are now occupying high places in government? In some cases it would seem so.
Will we ever see justice for the abused children who have told their stories and for those whose stories have not been allowed to be told?
It would be a pity, after all the time and money spent on this Royal Commission, that it turns out to be a white wash as has happened so often in the past with Royal Commissions.
— JAY NAUSS, Glen Aplin.
Debt
MANY readers with opinions should speak up re this budget for fools.
I say that because the national debt has increased, with no reduction over the last five years, we are still borrowing from overseas to pay the interest on the national debt, and we have made tax cuts, whilst we shoulder such a massive debt.
As Labor has no answers of how to repay the national debt, it seems to me that we need a bi-partisan agreement, like has happened before, setting out a definite plan to repay the national debt over a defined number of years.
We then need to live within our means even if that requires higher taxes for a short time.
When paid the money allocated to the repayment could be invested in a future fund which would hold investments here and abroad, setting up a buffer against another global setback.
It is time for co-operation of the political parties to rid the debt burden in the public interest.
— JIM CAMPBELL, Ulverstone.