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I TOTALLY agree with K. Kerslake’s letter (The Examiner, November 13).
Maybe R. Armstrong should sit at bus stops or breathe in all the car fumes.
I am sure if she does, she won’t smell a few little puffs of smoke from a cigarette.
With everything going on in the world, I would have thought there were more things to worry about.
— LYNN MORTON, Beaumaris.
Cars
BILLIONS of dollars wasted to develop the driverless car.
Millions of dollars will be spent on promotion.
It has started, watch a driverless car reverse into a small parking bay.
This same driverless car can also avoid witches hats..
If you don't use it, you lose it, that includes the brain.
The introduction of the driverless car is another gimmick that avoids using the brain.
The only group of people who will gain from a driverless car are “terrorists” (car bombs).
— HUGH BOYD, Launceston.
Wilderness
WHAT people like Vica Bailey and other ``wilderness warriors” don’t seem to realise is that Tasmanians have been the custodians of all these areas for a long time and apart from a few errors of judgment, most of us think that we have done a pretty good job, otherwise we wouldn’t have all these wonderful areas preserved in such untouched condition.
We would like to be given credit for being responsible enough to manage them without draconian rules and regulations, and very much resent the way a perfectly good industry, and our state as a whole, has had its reputation damaged by negative propaganda.
We just want the room to make our own decisions, not be dictated to by an outside organisation.
— MALCOLM McCULLOCH, Pipers River.
Accidents
TASMANIA has recorded the highest increase in fatal car accidents of any state in Australia, with this year’s death tally 13 per cent higher than last years (The Examiner, November 14).
What a disgrace. Is it due to the condition of our roads or what?
I’ve read the story and it’s hollow.
If the Road Safety Advisory Council was serious about reducing Tasmania’s shocking road toll, wouldn’t you reckon they’d have included the ``cause” of all crashes, both fatal and non-fatal.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Citizenship
THERE’S one significant difference between those of us who were fortunate to be born in Australia, and those who have been granted the precious gift of Australian citizenship.
Apart from military, police and other sworn employees, most of us have never pledged loyalty to Australia.
Sure, many kids have stood in school-yard gatherings uttering various statements, but they were children – not consenting adults fully cognisant of their words.
Adults granted Australian citizenship are different, they make oath or affirmation “… I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey”.
No grandiose proclamations, just a few simple words, simple statements about what we are and believe.
Surely, if a competent adult chooses not to stand by their declaration to be an Australian, their right to continue to be regarded as one can be challenged.
— JOHN CHIAROTTO, Trevallyn.
Politics
I AM not going to sugar-coat the latest EMRS opinion poll – it shows Labor has a lot of hard work to do.
There is no doubt the whole country is sighing with relief at the change in prime minster and the reality of this is that Liberal governments around the country have received a boost in support.
Opposition isn’t easy, especially against a new majority government.
Tasmanians rightly expect that the government they elected will deliver their promises and they expect that if they don’t, the opposition will hold them to account.
And that is exactly what we are doing.
We’ve got eight members of Parliament compared to 17 Liberals.
Despite limited resources we have already released a range of policies aimed at improving education, health and employment.
We are catching the Government out on secret deals, we are holding them to account for failures in child protection, biosecurity and hospital waiting lists.
I am excited by the number of people who want to run for Labor in 2018.
Like us, they know that fundamentally people do better under Labor and that when you put people first, every sector of our community and our economy does better.
By the time the election arrives we’ll have 25 candidates across the state, all talking up Labor’s ideas for Tasmania’s future and all championing Labor values.
We will be talking about how we look after the most vulnerable in society, how we can put people in meaningful employment and how we can continue to grow the economy through vision and innovation.
In the meantime, we need to work hard and engage with the community about what we stand for, at the same time as holding an arrogant government to account.
I’m committed to leading Labor to the next election and a couple of opinion polls won’t knock me off course.
— BRYAN GREEN, Oppostion leader.
Terrorism
LOOK at the sorry history of Western interference into other countries problems.
Vietnam failure, Iraq failure, Afghanistan failure, Syria failure waiting to happen.
Terrorism is the consequence of us meddling with the internal affairs of other countries.
Terrorism and asylum seekers are the price we pay for our present policy.
— BERTEL SUNDSTRUP, Newstead.
Global warming
GLOBAL warming alarmists are about to gather in Paris for the biggest climate carnival in their 21 year history.
Surely on their 21st birthday it is time they grew up and faced some adult world problems.
Any urchin on the streets of Paris today could tell leaders like Ban Ki-moon and Barak Obama that the “biggest security threat facing the world today” is not a minuscule increase in atmospheric plant food, caused mainly by gentle natural global warming which has triggered minor out gassing from the oceans.
Mr Turnbull and co should not insult Parisians by taking part in such frivolous folly.
— VIV FORBES, Rosewood, Queensland.
Terrorists
THEIR actions in Egypt will kill off tourism so that country will face severe economic hardship.
This in turn will increase community unrest and play into the hands of ISIS.
The Paris bombings will curtail the attraction of that great city and put a cloud over security in Europe.
The mass incursion of refugees will put another question mark over this.
And the threat of ISIS action has significantly changed life in Australia and other countries.
Considerable community resources are now devoted to increased security at airports and elsewhere.
Tracking and retaining communication is proving necessary.
The net result is proving to be an expensive decrease in freedom.
Worst affected are the peaceful Muslim communities who want no part with ISIS but their religion is held responsible.
Countering this is the job of the Imams and other leaders who, to date, have not been very visible loudly opposing ISIS.
The road ahead looks very complex with many potholes.
Basically it requires a broad community effort, with particular input from the Muslim community.
Input that effectively counters the insidious ISIS propaganda.
It is a war of words as much as it is of weaponry, but at the moment we are not winning.
— JOHN COULSON, Dilston.
Gorge
FANTASTIC editorial calling for the Gorge and Tamar River to run free.
I could hardly believe my eyes but of course this newspaper has been supporting Tamar clean-up calls for years (The Examiner, November 11.).
Of course they should run free; there is absolutely no doubt a free flowing Gorge and Tamar River will instantly start to reverse the incredible environmental devastation immediately downstream of Trevallyn Dam.
You simply cannot block a major waterway without suffering horrific environmental consequences and that is exactly what we have in the Gorge and the Tamar’s upper reaches.
Despite this brilliant editorial, one wonders if our political masters, and they are the only ones who can save the river, will read it and are paying attention to similar and numerous warnings emanating from a variety of scientific and community sources or will they continue to sit on their hands (bury their heads in the mud) in the hope the problem will simply go away?
It won’t of course, just worsen consequently more difficult, and expensive, to ultimately resolve but hey; is anybody out there in political circles actually listening or indeed caring?
— JIM COLLIER, Legana.