Rally
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BRAVO to Roxley Foley, caretaker of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
At a Reclaim Australia rally in front of federal Parliament House, Foley silently held up a sign saying, "Not yours to reclaim."
Foley's quiet dignity and four simple words say it all.
— JUDY BAMBERGER, O’Connor, ACT.
Guns
I READ the Editorial (The Examiner, July 17) by Deputy Editor Barry Prismall, and would like to comment that collectible firearms are a form of investment which also depends on originality.
To permanently deactivate them would reduce their value enormously.
That action would financially hurt many collectors and serve no public safety advantage.
I’d like to hear more about how to deal with thieves who steal all manner of goods including firearms.
— LES MULLAN, Kings Meadows.
Speakers
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott cannot have his bets both ways when to choose to go after an appalling speaker of the house that even some Liberals claim is too partisan.
It was easy to see Abbott’s desire to get Peter Slipper for the $900 taxi voucher costs for political grounds and the fact Slipper was persona non grata with the Liberals Bronwyn Bishop makes Slipper look a spendthrift with her thousand bucks a day average on limo costs and other lurks and perks that indicate she has no sense of proportion.
— PETER M TAYLOR, Midway Point.
Meander School
MEANDER Valley Primary School will be for sale because the Meander Valley Council had declined an offer to take ownership of the site (The Examiner, July 16).
Why would they accept the offer when they can’t look after what they’ve already got?
A government spokesman said "The council was given the opportunity to have the land and buildings at peppercorn value”, while for anyone else it will be offered at "caviar value”.
The government spokesman said "It is disappointing that this very reasonable offer was rejected by the council”.
Further disappointing is it won’t be offered at the same price to anyone else.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Politicians
FEDERAL Treasurer, Joe Hockey, tells us the age of entitlement is over - but not for politicians it would seem, where we appear to have a new species, "The Entitled".
Surely in a country, tightening its belt in meagre times, we should expect no less than a similar, ethical response from our politicians.
Costly, extravagant expenditures on travel and all the other perks politicians have rewarded themselves with over the years, just leave voters with angry feelings, leaving us, "The Unentitled" to do the heavy lifting.
It will take more than denial and smooth talking to save such people and their claims of "entitlement" with elections getting ever closer.
— DICK JAMES, Launceston.
Taxation
I HAVE read in the news media recently that the government has called for a mature debate on general taxation reform.
Almost in the same instant I have heard the ever-manipulating Abbott government manoeuvring to exclude superannuation perks for high-income earners and negative gearing for the more affluent property owners amongst us.
Abbott claims that he is against an increase in GST but the softening up process has begun as a Coalition Senator and Business lobbyist telegraph the idea, a bit in advance, to lessen the shock and awe when the tax white paper bomb hits later this year.
The GST is a regressive tax, it hits the poorer disproportionally harder than the wealthier.
The budget panic strategy, seems to have failed to achieve an increased GST so to plan B - the tax white paper will have to do.
No mention of increasing tax rates on the wealthy, no talk about taxation on pollution, no talk about a sliding scale medicare tax.
I hope they haven’t forgotten about all those tax havens that were in the news a few weeks ago too.
I guess these latter options don’t meet the mature debate criterion stipulated.
— M. FYFE, Riverside.
Cricket
TWO or three years ago, I was watching cricket being played on TV in England, where Steve Smith was a young leg spinner trying to make good.
As I have played cricket most of my life and now can only watch, I am 84, I take an interest when new blood appears on the scene.
I had thought that Steve Smith was showing signs of more a batsman than a bowler.
To my amazement a senior official of the game, an Australian, had suggested in the press that Smith should not be selected in the team.
I wish I could remember his name, because it would be nice to bring to his attention what Smith has been doing as a batsman lately. Exactly as I had expected.
Someone may remember who that was, and I and maybe others, would get a kick out of reading that in the sports news.
— KEN MANNING, Deloraine.
Rules
SORRY, but I don't get it.
How in an enlightened and supposedly clever country can we have two sets of rules?
Our politicians seem to think that they able to answer to a different set of rules than the rest of the working population of the country.
Their arrogance and hypocrisy is absolutely breathtaking.
How can any politician get away with lodging false or excessive claims for expenses that are outside the set guidelines?
If this was put in the context of private enterprise, inappropriate expense claims any employee made and lodged would upon discovery be summarily dismissed and rightly so.
Therefore, it is right and appropriate that party leaders should take action against such transgressors and expose them for what they really are as abusers of the public purse, therefore no longer suitable to hold public office.
No wonder Australian don't place a lot of faith in their elected representatives, at times it is totally justified.
— PETER KERSLAKE, Greens Beach.