Water
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THANK you Bryan Green for propping up your budget bottom line (carbon credits) and instigating the Basslink disaster, leaving us without a utility that has no insurance water.
The Hydro was set up as a state utility to provide the state with sustainable electricity at affordable prices.
Electric Eric would turn in his grave.
— ANDREW GARDNER, Perth.
Foxes
TASMANIA is receiving $2 million over four years under a federal government fox eradication program (The Examiner, November 20).
Based on the figures, it's about $10,000 per sighting.
I don't believe it (10k per sighting).
Can anyone explain how it could possibly cost that much to investigate a sighting?
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Turnbull
EVEN though he is a Liberal Prime Minister, hasn't it been different watching Malcolm Turnbull’s performance on the world stage recently, compared with Tony Abbott, who as a backbencher is continuing to embarrass Australia overseas.
Why is the media still interviewing him when no one is interested in anything he has to say?
Surely the actions of Tony Abbott before and after he got the flick as Prime Minister must bring into question the judgment of Bass Liberal MHR Andrew Nikolic and Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz, who still voted to retain Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, possibly the worst Prime Minister Australia has had.
— MICK LEPPARD, Invermay.
Flag
THE first New Zealand flag referendum started on Friday, November 20, when people began receiving voting papers in the mail to get rid of the British Union Jack.
Voters were asked to rank five alternative designs to the current flag in order of preference.
The designs were chosen from a short list of 40, picked from 10,000 options submitted by the public, to a Flag Consideration Panel.
Voting closes on December 11.
The second referendum, with the flag against the most popular alternative, will be held in March 2016.
Acting New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English has urged people to exercise their right to vote on the flag.
This topic has been discussed in this column many times, and recently had the three amigoes (all staunch monarchists) maintaining the issue of a flag change to ``not be on their list of priorities”
New Zealand Prime Minister John Keys recently claimed ``that many New Zealander’s cannot distinguish their flag from that of Australia’s.
Some New Zealanders believe there will be a flag change because they are ``more socially progressive than Australians”. How true.
With an election almost certain, possibly in March 2016, I call for an open debate in Launceston to debate this and several other concerns that the people of Bass deem to be on their ``priority list”.
An open invitation to the Bass Federal MHR to attend?
— SYD EDWARDS, Launceston.
Health insurance
MY WIFE and I both joined health funds around 1960 and have retained our membership until the present time.
It would not be unreasonable to claim that were it not for ourselves and many others like us, the health funds would not exist and the taxpayers would bear the entire cost of national health care.
People with health insurance have discovered that when salaries were replaced with pensions the cost of health insurance spiralled upwards at the same time that income went down.
This problem was offset for some time by a government rebate on premiums for those on pensions which, until now, has permitted many pensioners to retain their health insurance.
However, envy has resulted in the government downscaling the rebates on health premiums with the result reported in The Examiner (November 19).
Pensioners, who insured when they least needed insurance and kept the system alive, are being compelled to drop their insurance and fall back on the public system at the time of their lives when they are most in need of insurance.
Those who have waged such a successful campaign against health insurance rebates for pensioners might like to consider the cost of the concessions against the savings achieved when insured pensioners meet their own medical expenses.
They might also like to consider the fact that they will probably not be able to retain their health insurance after retirement and ultimately be compelled to rely upon the public health system in their advanced years.
— M. CHUGG, Prospect.