Tennis tantrums
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WHAT is it about this country that we can produce such magnificent tennis players who are top category tantrum merchants, bores, brats and all round bad sports?
Aussie, Aussie…
— MAX WELLS, Sorell.
Car space Samaritan
AFTER parking in Paterson Street on July 6, I jumped out of the car and rushed down to the Red Cross to donate blood, leaving my brother to unload his wheelchair by himself.
Before the lift had retracted into the van, a kindly passer-by covertly topped the meter up to its limit.
Whoever you are good sir, thanks, I hope you had a fantastic day.
— BEN FLOOD, George Town.
Alexander Spirit
I FEEL it is about time Australians take back the jobs lost to overseas, even blocking companies from trade with foreign workers to force their hand with the government.
Alexander Spirit, if given to Asian crew, block it and it never moves again.
The government cannot allow Australia to run without fuel and make the company employ Australian crew and this should go for other ships that come to Australia, especially the ships we have already lost, one by one.
— WALTER CHRISTY, Shearwater.
Kyrgios
NICK Kyrgios has informed the world that he doesn't really want to play tennis and didn't want to be at Wimbledon.
He also tells us that he wants respect.
Well Nick, here is news for you, one has to earn respect and after your appalling behaviour at Wimbledon it seems you have an awfully long road ahead of you.
To earn respect you have to firstly respect others.
— GLENNIS SLEURINK, Launceston.
Equality
`MARRIAGE equality’ is a misnomer. If its promoters called it ‘Marriage Transformation’, which it is, how many people would support it?
The name misleads on both counts.
What is demanded is neither marriage (the human race represented in microcosm in a mystery of union with the other) nor equality (giving more people access to an existing right, not redefining the right and turning it into something else).
Talking of equality, Natasha Foster (The Examiner, June 30) claims it prevails in 12 mostly Western countries which, she says, have approved ‘same-sex marriage’.
She then urges Australia to catch up with the rest of the world.
Since when have 12 countries comprised the world?
She also cites some countries that have not approved ‘gay marriage’ but apparently these don’t count as ‘the world’.
I hope this doesn’t mean that some countries are more equal than others.
It’s one thing to seek personal identity and an individual sense of worth.
It’s quite another to undermine the common meaning of language and the integrity of other cultures.
— KATHERINE ABETZ, Poatina.
Drugs
THE USE of recreational drugs within the AFL is an issue that must be addressed sooner rather than later.
To have a three strikes policy before direct action is taken is patently flawed and places those players above all other sports people in Australia.
Additionally, the self reporting to the club doctor by the offender places an enormous burden quite unfairly, onto the shoulders of the medico who is there in the club for the good of all, he or she is not appointed to be the confidant of those who stray off the track.
As a former ASADA chaperon for several years, l am absolutely amazed and disappointed to read and hear that the AFL will probably consider a two-strike ruling.
There should be no escape clause for any athlete, regardless of the code they represent.
If a player submits to a urine testing regime and the A sample comes back positive, then he or she has the right to have the B sample tested.
If that result also comes back positive, then the substance has essentially been found to be confirmed.
There are further avenues such as the Court of Sports Arbitration for athletes to appeal to but it is a last ditch effort to save their careers.
All sporting codes must as a matter of fairness and openness adopt a policy that recognises the problem of the sport-person, acts accordingly, and provide the support to that athlete for their wellbeing into the future.
— TED SANDS, Launceston alderman.
Love
THIS great bloke and I got married because we loved each other and after 50 years still do.
We didn’t ask “will you have children with me” it was all about how much we love each other and wanted to be married.
We were unsuccessful child producers so is our wonderful marriage null and void because we failed child production?
How does this make our two wonderful adopted children and our four grandchildren feel because we are the only parents they have ever known?
Is our very happy golden wedding year marred by all this talk of marriage as a purely child producing gig?
I think not.
Our daughter said “Mum and Dad, one person” when she was speaking at our Golden Wedding celebrations.
Marriage is primarily about love and commitment.
Everyone who loves should have the human right to be married to the one they love.
— BETH MULLER, Glenorchy.
Lambie
SENATOR Jacqui Lambie was telling her audience what it wanted to hear when she made her tasteless 'joke' (The Examiner, July 4).
She would have done better to tell them what they need to hear - which is that mining (and logging) jobs are now on an irreversible downward slide.
As well as the downturn in world markets for woodchips, and a global shift that is recognising the age of fossil fuels is rapidly coming to an end, it is also because technology is - and has been for several years now - replacing the jobs that once were done by humans.
Computers are controlling much of the heavy machinery that used to be driven or operated by people.
Companies are shedding employees because it's cheaper and more efficient to have a machine do what humans once did.
An ABC program recently suggested that all driving jobs were about to become 'toast' because vehicles will be programed so won't actually need a person behind the wheel. This is the future.
There will be jobs - we don't know what half of them will even be yet - but they will require different skills and qualifications.
It's not the first time in history that technology has caused such a serious, radical and painful shift in employment, (think going from coaches and horses to motor cars; and from the spinning wheel to textile mills), and it probably won't be the last.
However, to suggest the Greens are the cause of this is incorrect and silly.
Our political leaders would serve us far better to acknowledge this transition is inevitable, it's happening, and that industry needs to change and adapt so that as many employees as possible are qualified to work in this new working environment.
— ANNE LAYTON-BENNETT, Swan Bay.
Greece
GREECE'S vote is as much a triumph for democracy as it is for sensible economics.
The tragedy of Greece is not one of a nation in too much debt – the crisis is due to the political failure of the Eurozone.
The Greek people know the path of continued austerity can only lead to prolonged depression with no end in sight.
It doesn’t even reduce Greek debt as the economy shrinks faster than repayments are made.
A generation has already been thrown on the scrap heap by morally bankrupt creditors that refuse to accept their responsibility for a financial crisis of devastating human consequences.
Greece is already running a primary budget surplus.
It can recover if only Europe would change tack and invest in a restructuring of the Greek economy, to revive growth and let go the debt that can never be repaid.
— ADAM CLARKE, Launceston.
Labor
TASMANIAN Labor Senator Helen Polley’s letter (Aged care crisis looms, The Examiner, July 6 ) is further evidence of Labor’s attempts to play politics with aged care.
Aged care is too important for attempts at partisan point-scoring.
The fact is, the government is delivering on its commitment and undertaking a stock take and analysis of Commonwealth-funded aged care workforce activities.
This is in the process of being finalised, including consultation with aged care representative groups.
The stock take will inform future funding priorities of the Government’s $220 million Aged Care Workforce Development Fund, which will be implemented from January 1, 2016.
The Coalition, when in Opposition, broadly adopted a bipartisan approach to aged care policy.
We stand ready and willing to engage constructively with both the sector and the Opposition to help secure the success of the changes to aged care.
Fear mongering across the sector and the community is counterproductive.
— SENATOR MITCH FIFIELD, Assistant Minister for Social Services.