Silt
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RE Launceston’s Tamar River silt.
Try doing what Devonport did approximately 55 years ago.
Build in Devonport by "Finlayson Bros” it was called a "dredge” (suction).
I know, I was there.
— JOHN R. CONWAY, Riverside.
Orchestra
MY husband and I had the pleasure of attending the City of Launceston Philharmonic Orchestra's performance on July 25 at the Albert Hall.
It was also great to see this event well supported.
A lovely night of beautiful music, played by our very own talented musicians and conducted by Stephen King. Well done everyone and we hope to have the opportunity to see you perform more often.
— L. and P. SCALES, Punchbowl.
Guide Dogs
IT COSTS more than $30,000 and about two years to raise and train a guide dog, and the charity receives no government funding for the program (The Examiner, July 22).
I didn’t know that, perhaps the money saved from a few less helicopter rids by politicians could be redirected towards raising and training these magnificent (eyes for the blind) canine.
— A.R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Aged care
IN RESPONSE to our report, Aged care opportunities (July 19), where "the challenge for Dorset is to build something that’s going to be sustainable, innovative and allow old people to live where they’ve lived all their lives - and create employment” is tongue-in-cheek sentiment, when the existing system, policies and funding, cannot viably deliver aged care to our local community.
Other considerations need to be raised; lessons drawn from a strongly supported public meeting (held last week) that rallied against the closure of Aminya, for which the venue was filled to capacity.
Genuine care is fundamental to the provision of aged care.
A provider, such as Presbyterian Care, by its very name, expects people to recognise this attribute as integral to its service.
The disappointment, if not betrayal, felt by the NE community has been obvious.
Aminya needs to stay open.
If the management of Aminya is financially unviable for private enterprise, then all stakeholders must be proactive in their negotiations to secure its future.
Take note, John Brooks (CEO, Presbyterian Care), Michael Ferguson (Minister for Health) and Peter Gutwein (State Treasurer/Bass MHA), your absence was noted from a public meeting showing solidarity towards this goal.
State Government and the DHSS must be transparent and supportive for a merger of the James Scott Wing with Aminya, and provide incentives to do so.
Federal government, in redirecting funds to pursue new policy objectives for the aged to "live longer and better”, must not ignore existing, essential aged care arrangements in a rural community which has suffered more than its fair share of economic hardship and business decline.
Make aged care sustainable and applicable in regional areas.
Our community rallied to retain the critical services and vital role supplied by Aminya to the people of North East Tasmania.
All stakeholders need to rally to their responsibility of putting CARE back into aged care at Aminya.
— RAY van ENGEN, Scottsdale.
Beazley
WHILE having lunch in Elizabeth Town's country cafe - in an idyllic lush setting, with cows grazing nearby, a terrific commotion startled all present.
The cause of this unexpected disturbance was the pompous arrival of a parliamentarian ... Hon Kim Beazley, by helicopter.
While this event took place several years ago, one can only hazard a guess at the number of times, nationwide, privileged parliamentarians have flaunted and misued their so-called entitlements from the public purse.
Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has recently drawn attention to this waste of public money, with her unnecessary helicopter ride, at a time when the government is trying desperately to restore a surplus.
Surely a good source of revenue would be the retrieval of the thousands of dollars wasted on such unnecessary, grandiose travel in the past.
— J. A. TAHIR, Deloraine.
Revenue
THE Federal Government is currently concerned about raising more revenue, via increased GST, increased taxes etc.
I imagine that if allowances for retired politicians were cancelled (life long pensions, travel etc) and politicians used their salaries to pay for accommodations, meals, cars etc, an extraordinary amount of revenue could be raised.
How many ex-politicians do we have on the payroll?
People in normal life do not get subsidised travel and high pensions when they choose to leave their jobs, or lose their jobs.
Why do we pay the expenses of politicians when they are on salaries over $100,000?
— DIANNE SCETRINE, East Launceston.
M Campbell-Smith
IT IS sad to realise that Mollie Campbell-Smith’s letters will no longer be appearing in The Examiner.
She was extraordinarily knowledgeable on so many topics and hit the nail on the head every time with clinical analysis of a problem and a rational and reasonable solution.
We will miss you Mollie, and thanks for helping to keep us on the right track for so many years.
— JOHN AND DENISE PAULL, Lanena.
Refugees
IN SPITE of all Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s alpha male, beating his breast, tribalism the sad fact is that he has exonerated Scott Morrison’s washing of his hands, treatment of refugees.
Both parties now march in step to the same xenophobic drum beat, dressed up as stopping wretched people drowning at sea.
How my heart throbs in harmony with the compassion running through their collective breasts.
Anyone who stands for either party is revealed for what they, are and if we vote for anyone of them we condemn ourselves.
The pledge to increase refugee intake from elsewhere is like killing a thousand children and compensating the fact by building more maternity hospitals.
— GREG MANSELL, West Ulverstone.
Forestry
AMERICAN, Dr Reese Halter, may be a conservationist but his reported statement at a recent Hobart meeting organised by the Bob Brown Foundation suggest that he is no more than a mouthpiece for that organisation.
He is touting the usual green misinformation about the Tasmanian Forestry Industry.
As `Planet Ark’ explains, harvesting forests on an 80-100 year rotation, locks up more carbon than leaving them uncut to burn or die of old age.
All wood products from the harvested forests store carbon for their lifetime.
The timber in your house is storing carbon for its life of probably well over 100 years, in which time the regrowth trees re-store more.
Dr Halter is reported as stating that "in a decade there will be no forests and no jobs”. I assume he is referring to Tasmania.
Perhaps Bob Brown neglected to tell him that almost half our state is in reserves and protected from harvesting.
If he believes that his statement is true, what process does he suggest to prevent harvested forest areas from regenerating.
He is then reported as saying that "logging is a one off deal with a really bad outcome”, wrong again.
Our production forests have provided Tasmania with environment friendly, natural, carbon storing and renewable wood products for over 200 years and will continue to do so in the future.
If the Greens are genuinely interested in using our forests for carbon storage, they should be promoting more use of wood products - not less.
— LINDSAY MILLER, Hillwood.
Aurora
AURORA Energy is treating all Tasmanians as complete and utter fools.
We want to install a solar energy system but Aurora Energy will pay us 5.5 cents per kilowatt for excess power while we pay them 28 cents for the same amount of what may be clean green energy, but may also be imported (mainland) brown coal energy.
Now they want to add to that huge insult by removing the discount for tariff 41 (hot water) energy.
This comprises over 70 per cent of our Aurora energy bill and I believe that this is the same, or worse, for most Tasmanians (don’t get me started on fixed charges!.
In return they say they will drop tariff 31 (residential light and power).
Their bottom line swells enormously by doing this while we pay and pay, and yet they want us to think that they are doing us a favour.
— MICHAEL ANDERSON, Margate.
Tas network
I AM certain that the Prime Minister was overjoyed to announce that following repeal of the Carbon Tax the price of power would be lower.
Also the electric power providers in Tasmania received a bonus for carbon credits.
How then, can Tas Networks contemplate increasing costs for power used to heat water and homes, particularly at the levels quoted in the (The Examiner, July 28).
If adopted the daily fixed charge will increase by $263 pa. or $65 per quarter, the increase per kilowatt hour 61 per cent.
Tas Networks wants to encourage users to change customer habits to use power at off-peak periods.
The temperature is only allowed to drop at convenient times and morning showers postponed to after 9pm.
If the Australian Energy Authority rubber stamp these increases I will wonder why it exists.
— A. CARTER, Mowbray.