Dying
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TASMANIAN Labor has given the Dying with Dignity crusade new energy by endorsing Lara Giddings' motion in favour of legislative change.
Beyond the Northern Territory - whose "Rights of the Terminally Ill" legislation was struck down at Commonwealth level, via a Private Member's Bill from current Minister Kevin Andrews - this must be the first time a major party has chosen compassion over confusion.
More than 80 per cent of Australian voters who support Dying with Dignity will celebrate their wisdom.
— BRUCE LINDSAY, Scottsdale.
Pornography
AS Claire van Ryn wonders aloud about how difficult it is to keep the young and impressionable, in the future, from the ubiquitous power of pornography on the internet, it is worth remembering that God sent His own Son into the darkness of this world and through it He walked unscathed and did not stumble.
Rather than trying to shut down the breeding ground of evil He walked above the clamour and reached out a hand to those who had fallen into the gutter and said to the religious of His day that the tax gatherers and the sinners would get into heaven before them!
— GREG MANSELL, West Ulverstone.
Bike trails
INTERESTING to read Garry Bailey’s letter (The Examiner, August 24) re how much he would like to see invested in bike trails.
To my mind the $21.3 million he would like would be better spent in our health system that benefits all people rather than a small minority.
As we live in a user pays society now, when bike riders start paying registration then perhaps funds can then be directed to their requests.
And the old chestnut that bike riders have vehicles and pay registration already doesn’t cut it as if you have two vehicles you pay registration twice as well.
— KEN BALL, Trevallyn.
ALP conference
AS AN observer at the Labor Party Conference in Hobart I was disappointed to see that outgoing Senator Lisa Singh attended only the Bill Shorten address and then quickly left the conference to hijack the media outside.
Unlike her Federal and State colleagues, Ms Singh did not return for the remainder of the conference to contribute to the important debates on issues that are important to the whole of Tasmania.
Perhaps this type of behaviour is the reason members of her own party chose not to support her for a winnable spot on the Senate ticket.
— CASEY HILL, Prospect.
Development
ONE only has to observe the part finished buildings on previously vacant corner blocks in Tamar Street, opposite the Albert Hall, and Wellington Street, for Woolworths, to appreciate how wonderful these developments are for the city.
If only more vacant corner sites were developed - such as the previous Examiner car-park corner in Charles St, and the one up St John St, opposite the church – our city would bound ahead.
Methinks until council pushes and promotes such positive building activity, the multi-million dollar City Heart project, on its own, will not achieve very much.
— JIM DICKENSON, Launceston.
Silt
COMMENDABLE though it is Hydro Tasmania has agreed to a three day trial of controlled water releases from Trevallyn Dam, in conjunction with silt raking operations, to assess the impact of flows on tackling siltation in the Tamar’s upper reaches (The Sunday Examiner, August 23), sadly it will achieve nothing; ...a three month trial ‘possibly' would; ...a three year trial certainly would but 'three' days ...zilch.
To put it into perspective; Trevallyn Dam has reduced to a mere trickle natural river flows through the Cataract Gorge in to the Tamar for 60 years; it will take a very long period (years) of significantly increased flows to have any impact whatsoever on reversing the environmental devastation which has occurred immediately downstream of the Dam in the Cataract Gorge and Tamar River.
— JIM COLLIER, Legana.
Euthanasia
I REFER to recent reporting about a euthanasia bill being proposed by Labor and the Greens.
While I am open to a parliamentary debate about better end-of-life care and support, I have not said I would co-sponsor any such bill.
From what I have read, the bill in the last Parliament was deeply flawed.
The topic of end-of-life care is very complex and needs to be addressed with compassion and sensitivity.
I will continue to consult the community with an open mind should legislation of this nature come before Parliament in the future.
— SARAH COURTNEY MP, Liberal Member for Bass.
Government House
WELL said Barry Prismall (The Examiner, August 19) about disposing of Government House.
We’ve commented for years about the Governor’s daily diary - so and so for luncheon, "President and Mrs Whatsit” for dinner - why?
Get rid of it and put the $4 million a year to maintain to much better use.
Education and health would be a good start, then roads.
— L. KENT, Launceston.
Politics
IN RECENT times I have enjoyed hearing two words that were new to me.
The words were being used to describe the nature of some of the ministers of the current government.
The first was to dissemble, used on an ABC current affairs programme, and the second was perfidious, used by an online blogger.
Dissemble - to conceal or disguise the true nature of intentions so as to deceive.
Perfidious - to be treacherous, involved in a breach of faith, contrary to loyalty and truth.
Do I detect a common theme here?
I didn’t realise that politics could be so enlightening.
— M. FYFE, Riverside.
Head of state
SOME people have been asking me if the Governor General is our Head of State?
The answer is no, a president would be, but as is the Queen is.
The Governor General is the Queen’s representative to the Australian Government and is not even some kind of a super governor.
The only real difference is that his wife is also addressed as Her Excellency.
Like the Queen, I am still amazed that the Republic Referendum in 1999 got a majority in no states and only 45.13 per cent of the popular vote.
Maybe we should try again when Charles ascends the throne as King George V11, I believe he likes that style.
— MALCOLM SCOTT, Newstead.
Economy
HERE we go again.
Our Government tells us, today, our economy is shaky, might be good tomorrow though.
Our health system is in crisis, our education system turns out illiterate students, our aged care system has failed, our unemployment is too high, and our taxation system requires urgent attention.
But hey, those things are tedious and we are not sure how to handle them so, let’s do something stimulating until ironman season returns.
We could go and whack Syria, give our pilots some experience, waste a few more millions of dollars, make a few more million people homeless and hope they don’t want to come here.
Do we never learn?
When John Howard joined George Bush invading Iraq they let the genie out of the bottle and created this Middle East tragedy.
The problem is tribal going back 1800 years.
They are best to work it out without our intervention because we do not understand.
When we have learned to mind our own business and get our own house in order, we may then be qualified enough to provide advice, instead of bombs.
— WALLY REYNOLDS, Perth.
Climate change
RALPH Marshall (Letters August 28) is not alone in his intolerance of the views of climate sceptics.
Prominent former true believers, such as Professor Lennart Bengtsson and over a minimum of 1000 others have discovered to their cost that open dissent will quickly lead to persecution which he described as akin to McCarthyism.
In total contradiction of the basics of science, an essential qualification for a climate scientist is total commitment to the theory that climate change and global warming are man made, with no other views tolerated.
At the risk of being accused of cherry picking, in the period 1910 - to the present, land-ocean temperature has risen by one degree Celsius.
But in an 8000 year period in Greenland the temperature has fluctuated between -32.5 degrees and -28.5 degrees.
By 2000 it was back to -31.5 degrees, which is below the average.
That's a lot of cherries.
Climate change is continuous, with the impact of human activity being practically insignificant.
For example, the 2010 eruption of an Icelandic volcano was releasing up to 35,000 tons of sulphur dioxide per day, more than double the amount produced in Europe from all sources of human activity.
And there are around 20 volcanoes active at any time, with an average of 50-70 eruptions per year.
In the end, the polar icecaps will tell the truth.
They will either confirm the alarmist theories by melting as predicted, or refute them by continuing to grow.
— M. CHUGG, Prospect.