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I AM intrigued to know why Greg Davoren from the Brighton Council has such an interest in the rating system in Launceston (The Examiner, November 12).
The Brighton council says their flat rate system is fair.
Well Mr Davoren, if ratepayers are charged on the value of their property, is that not a wealth tax?
Council rates are for services delivered, not how much money you have.
— DAVID PARKER, West Launceston.
University
THE $220 million mentioned in the editorial (November 11, 2015) got me thinking.
Are we being treated like mushrooms?
What is this $220 million that is quoted?
Is it based on present costs, actual costs, does it allow for contingencies, blowouts, strikes, inflation, future costs and is the amount sufficient to complete the model we are being shown or will it be downgraded?
We all know the story of the Sydney Opera House budget: $7 million, the actual cost $100 million (had to have lotteries) 1970’s figures.
The same applies to the 10,000 students.
I can’t imagine they will all be banging on the door when and if it is finished seemingly from nowhere.
Is it a year, five-year or 10-year projection?
What is this new facility going to have that Newnham hasn’t got, a lecture theatre is a lecture theatre, except it will be in the zone of transition.
Inveresk is not the CBD.
I personally think the whole thing is a hypothetical and will never happen, I could be wrong.
— MALCOLM SCOTT, Newstead.
Religion
SEVERAL decades ago, Italian communist Antonio Gramsci claimed that the power of a cultural elite could subdue and dominate the masses.
He predicted that a cultural elite using only rhetoric as a weapon would more easily mould and manipulate the minds of the people than any power relying on physical force.
His predictions have now been realised with the prosecution of Archbishop Julian Porteous for the offence of sending to Catholic parents a booklet in which marriage is confirmed as being between a man and a woman.
A generation ago this would have been considered ludicrous.
In a few short years the cultural elite have conquered the indomitable Australian spirit in which it was once considered a virtue to call a spade a spade.
— MAREE TRIFFETT, Lenah Valley.
Pamphlet
I AM absolutely blown away, no, astounded, no, disgusted, that rubbish like this can be printed in this day and age.
In this pamphlet the Labor party rubbish the NBN, slower and second rate.
The Labor party could not even get it started under Steven Conroy and had no costings or time frame or plan to get it going.
The GST?
Here comes a scare campaign, but I ask the Labor Leader Bill Shorten, if they don't get the budget back into shape,or surplus (like Wayne Swan was going to do every time he fronted the media), what will you and your party have to squander like all previous Labor governments have done in the past.
Will you borrow money like the previous Labor lot has done?
Stop all the politics, pass the bills, let Australia get back on track as it did under Howard and Costello,then when the next generation or two gets to vote, there will be money there for you to squander once again.
— STEVE ROGERS, South Launceston.
Hospitality
TASMANIA is pinning its hopes on the tourism and hospitality industry to grow the states economy, employing Tasmanians.
As most of the manufacturing, timber and mining is being forced to close shop, so will hospitality where poor service is regularly received.
I visited an eat in-take away establishment in Launceston, ordered a coffee and a toasted sandwich to eat in. Got the coffee within two minutes and 15 minutes later still no toasted sandwich.
I asked and got a blank look and walked out with no apology.
I visited the same establishment two weeks later, ordered the same with a piece of flake.
Received the coffee and toasted sandwich, no fish.
When I asked where the fish was, yet another strange look.
Again I walked out in disgust vowing never to return.
A similar occurrence on November 11 when ordering lunch at another establishment, went to the bathroom, came back to find other people at your table eating your lunch.
No apology from the waitress, I walked out in disgust.
It appears this is a fairly common occurrence.
I am told of many instances of similar happenings when talking with tourists, not only in Launceston but the whole state.
Get your act together and employ competent staff or get out of the industry and stop trashing our Tasmanian tourism industry.
— ADRIAN GOFTON, Newnham.
Civic pride
WE frequently travel to the North-West Coast to shop and visit the surrounding areas.
We always stop in Devonport and usually travel on to Ulverstone.
Travel through these areas reveals attractive approaches, riverside parks replete with flower beds and large mown areas with lots of trees.
At all these parks there are lots of people walking dogs, pushing prams with toddlers and runners and walkers having an enjoyable time.
It is obvious that both councils take a lot of care with these areas and in the towns pavements are well kept and everything is neat and clean.
Both towns have the same empty shop problem and serious unemployment, yet they do all this from a smaller population and smaller rate base than Launceston.
It is clear that Launceston could learn a great deal from these two towns.
If we go into Launceston from the West Tamar, we see drab, unattractive approaches and poor pavements leading into the town centre.
If one travels as a short cut around the back alleys, the vista is quite disgusting.
Unhappily Launceston has areas where derelict buildings pose an eyesore to passing locals and tourists.
Can we be proud of rubbish cottages and a cordial factory?
We have a local council that seems oblivious to all these shortcomings and it’s about time that councillors took a long, hard look at their town.
Do they ever walk in their own city which they are responsible for?
We could do so much more to create parks, grassy areas and approaches to the city.
Maybe I am asking too much.
— CHRIS TURNER, Exeter.
UTAS
I WAS visiting from Melbourne a few weeks ago, and I was disappointed to see that whatever the height restrictions, or lack thereof, with the new UTAS student accommodation on the banks of the Esk River by Victoria Bridge, at the beginning of Inveresk, have obscured the view across to the mountains in the north-east.
It is perhaps a debatable planning decision.
I understand that students need somewhere to live, but I must say it strikes me as a bit of a kooky location and while I appreciate volume is important, it seems a sloppy or poor planning decision to allow them in that spot and at that height.
I'm not the expert on available land in Launceston, or a professional town planner, but surely UTAS could have squeezed them in somewhere else, on or near their Inveresk campus.
I think this was a wrong decision and that goes for everything that's been done around that bridge since 2014, too harsh aesthetically and utilitarian.
I know cities and councils have to do and be seen to do something and progress, but the levee strengthening project around the Victoria bridge is ugly in my view and compromises the natural sanctity there, as do the new UTAS student accommodation, mainly their height.
— HADEN YOUNG, Brunswick, Victoria.
Political participation
IT’S a well known fact that membership of political parties has decreased over decades.
In a time in where many people are disappointed and frustrated with the lack of input they have into community decision making, it is important to note the ability to have a direct input into local, state and federal government does exist.
The recent legalisation of paintball within Tasmania is a timely example of the community being heard and listened too.
The policy proposal began as a policy motion at the 2012 Liberal Party state council by a Liberal party member.
Furthermore the sensible and measured law of introducing a specific offence for the interference or desecration of a war memorial also was originally a policy proposal from a Liberal Party member.
The capacity to influence, change and debate issues is within the reach of all people.
— KYLE BARRETT, Relbia.