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SURELY no one has ever seen Opposition Leader Bill Shorten as a potential Prime Minister?
A "fill in", a sort of political Bill the Baptist waiting on he that is to come; regardless of the fact that there appears to be no one to come now or in the foreseeable future.
— LEN LANGAN, Longford.
God
CLAIRE van Ryn (The Examiner, July 20) quotes from the Bible, stating that ``God created man in his own image...male and female he created them”.
From that, I infer that he was bi-sexual.
Surely he would therefore approve of marriage equality.
— VAL CLARKE, Kings Meadows.
University
MOVING the University campus from Newnham to Inveresk makes no sense.
It would be in the same category as renaming the libraries - money spent but nothing changed.
How will moving the campus improve educational outcomes?
How will it revitalize the CBD? It won’t - end of story.
— MARILYN REIS, Ravesnwood.
Doctors
Doctors working in rural towns are more likely to leave regional community practices (The Examiner, July 21). And it’s always the good ones that move on.
Having a stable and positive relationship with a general practitioner can lead to better health.
Putting your wellbeing in the hands of someone you’ve never met before can be huge. I think it all comes down to “trust.”
I’ve only trusted one or maybe two GPs in my life and they both left rural towns after two years practice.
— A.R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Labor
ALL WE need now is for the Prime Minister to accept that urgent action is required to halt climate change and we can officially declare a one party state following Labor’s unbelievable backflip on their Immigration policy.
Necessary, of course, in the name of humanity without any thought of vote catching.
Should the Labor Party wish to regain it’s soul, they will find it was buried at sea on July 23.
— A. CARTER, Mowbray.
Power
APPARENTLY it has been very windy in little Denmark this past week, so windy in fact that their windmills generated 140 per cent of their domestic electricity needs.
Those clever Danes were able to sell the excess to Sweden and Germany; they also have the ability to store the power in case the wind doesn’t blow for a while.
I guess it is an ill wind which doesn’t blow someone some good.
I can’t help but wish the ``Roaring Forties” would blow some our way.
— CHRISTOPHER HAYTON, Trevallyn.
Homeless
WHY do we have homeless in Tasmania where some form of basic shelter is inexpensive?
I guess there are a plethora of reasons, maybe someone could write and list them one - 10.
There is a social welfare system, maybe some fall through the cracks? Why?
I can understand it in Melbourne or Sydney where I could not afford a dog kennel.
This is a serious request. I want to understand.
— MALCOLM SCOT, Newstead.
Depression
THIS year, over three million Australians will experience depression or anxiety or both.
Today, seven Australians will die by suicide It may be someone in your family, a person you work with or a mate on your footy team.
You may have noticed something is amiss, but you’re not sure if you should say something or mind your business.
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
Many people don’t know what to say or worry they could make the situation worse by approaching the person.
However, reaching out to someone you’re worried about is often the catalyst for that person starting on the road to recovery.
To help people to have what could be a difficult chat, beyondblue has produced a guide on how to Have the Conversation.
The guide, which was funded with donations from the Movember Foundation, explains how having a conversation can help people feel less alone and more supported in getting help for anxiety and depression, and what to do if your attempt to have the conversation is met with a bad reaction.
If you are struggling a bit, but don’t know how to reach out for support, or you’re concerned about someone else, but don’t know what to say, visit www.beyondblue.org.au/conversations.
And don’t forget that you can speak to a mental health professional any time, day or night, by contacting beyondblue’s Support Service on 1300 22 4636.
So please, check out our resources and have the conversation.
— GEORGIE HARMAN, Beyondblue ceo.
Vultures
Like vultures seeking their prey, our political leaders went into ‘retreat’ to work out how they can squeeze more taxes from the long suffering public.
Is anyone seeking answers to where all the money now collected is going?
As anyone would know, politicians are forever pork-barrelling huge amounts of money all over the place.
We are robbing our own people to give huge amounts to overseas governments.
Within Australia there are grants going for myriads of projects. Anyone who can write a good story why they should have a grant: it may well be approved.
Why can’t the political leaders have a ‘retreat’ where all the places money goes can be questioned and the vast amounts of give-away projects curtailed or abolished altogether.
Governments at every level have become huge and have taken on more and more responsibility, and it is bankrupting us all. It isn’t good enough for them to raise more taxes to waste on needless projects.
Unless spending is reined in we’ll all be bankrupt.
Talking about new taxes and increasing the existing ones is a futile exercise.
— JAY NAUSS, Glen Aplin, Queensland.