Plumbers
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THE rate for the most expensive trade is for a plumber at $75.16 a hour in Victoria.
How come I was charged $350 dollars a hour in Launceston to renovate my bathroom?
— MARTIN LEACH, Kings Meadows.
Decorations
OVER the years I have seen quite a few photos of Hobart's new Christmas "tree", both in The Examiner and on the television news, usually under a headline reading something like "Scaffolding Collapse at Building Site Injures Three", or similar.
How nice it was to stroll through the Brisbane Street Mall today and see Launceston's real Christmas tree being decorated.
— RICHARD HILL, Newstead.
Mastermind
THE war on terrorism is a war of persuasion.
Words and images are powerful.
If you want to glamorise terrorism and present the protagonist with all the appeal of a handsome rogue pirate in a Johnny Depp movie, then call him a mastermind and flash his youthful visage with all the trappings of ISIS regalia around the world - that will certainly do the trick.
Call him what he is: a prime suspect in a terrorist atrocity, don't name him and blot out his face.
Every time I hear mastermind I hear the equivalent of a YouTube clip gone viral.
We really have to smarten up.
— TONY NEWPORT, Hillwood.
Star Trek
WHAT wonderful self-awareness Chris Clarke displays in his article (A better man, friend, son and boyfriend, The Examiner, November 17).
If only we were all able to closely examine the way we see others.
An episode of Star Trek (The Outcast) might help those having difficulty.
It deals with an androgynous race in which heterosexual relationships are forbidden.
Anyone identifying as male or female is considered a misfit, a deviant and a criminal.
Medical treatment is available to provide a cure.
Does this sound familiar?
A relationship develops between Riker and Soren, who has had female feelings all her life.
She is found guilty by a tribunal, then taken away to be ‘cured’.
It is confronting yet compelling viewing.
— VAL CLARKE, Kings Meadows.
Tourism
NORTHERN Midlands Council at its November 16 meeting received a $20,000 feasibility study into future investment toward the development of Ben Lomond ski-field as a tourist resort.
Council is hoping for $1.8 million to be found somewhere to fund the project.
Meanwhile, the council has allowed a tourism resort at Lake Leake to be destroyed by draining the lake for irrigation.
Lake Leake was a 24/7, all year round tourism attraction before it was handed over to the irrigators by the council.
What hypocrites.
— BILL CHUGG, Campbell Town.
Budget
PERHAPS to your disappointment, Jack Sonnemann (Letters, November 19), Australia does not live in a bubble and the health and well-being of our closest neighbours very much affects our own, and increasingly so.
Who do you think is buying around 60 per cent of what our farmers produce (according to the National Farmers Federation).
Also, the federal budget is not the zero-sum game they would have you believe.
Aid (which, by the way, prevents painful death of mostly children under five – not bankruptcy, with support – painful death of small children) does not come directly from borrowing.
The whole budget for the whole country is decided upon and often strategic borrowing is required to fund it.
Savings need not come from the lives of the world’s most vulnerable – why are their lives so less valuable than your own?
— S. BRINCKMAN, Otago.
Shipping
THE article in The Examiner (November 19) is misleading and under-researched.
Under the present rules, a Chinese vessel may make stops at numerous ports to drop goods off for Australia and pick up goods for China.
It is not allowed to pick up Australian goods for other Australian ports.
This is known as a single voyage permit.
To say that a ship can't come to Burnie to drop off and pick up goods is false.
All they are trying to do is add interstate Australian cargo to their voyage to make higher profits which will all flow out of Australia to China.
— KEN TERRY, Bridport.
University
THE Launceston City Council must be congratulated for moving quickly and voting unanimously on the proposed University of Tasmania moving its inner city campus to the Inveresk site incorporating the Willis St car park.
This is biggest project proposed in Launceston since the loss of the timber industry and the closure of our five textile mills.
The building is a world class design which will be built on a clear site, which is very rare so close to the CBD which will give the city a great lift.
Plans should be drawn up and presented of how vacant upstairs shops can be renovated to be utilized as student accommodation which will give the lift that is needed.
This site lends itself for this magnificent proposal and should not be questioned by the pessimistic.
— DAVID LEWIS, Launceston.
Tax returns
AS a retiring tax accountant it annoys me to see politicians and councillors flaunt the law; some of their making.
Tax returns often contain details of pecuniary interests, eg. dividends from trusts, that can influence the decision making (called conflict of interest).
It is in the public interest to ensure that these elected representatives have lodged their tax returns on time, and where required paid their taxes in full.
Failure to do so surely should contain a penalty, including suspension from the parliament and councils.
To notify the Australian Tax Office, does little as they often ignore such feedback.
What do our readers think should be done?
— JIM G. CAMPBELL, Ulverstone.