Taxes
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SOME reasonable people in the US are calling for a simple, more fair "flat tax."
Like here, it seems regular folk are for it, lawyers and accountants are against' it.
Any guesses as to who has the greater voice?
— JACK SONNEMANN, Lucaston.
UTAS
I’M SURE most people in the North would agree that the Newnham Campus of UTAS has the ambiances and capacity to be a top class learning centre.
Students would want the space, the beautiful new buildings (as suggested for Inveresk), lets not waste this opportunity to give Launceston a boot up the ladder to stardom in academia.
Let’s embrace the space in Newnham and watch it fly, instead of cramped Inveresk where it will wither and die.
— RON BAINES, Kings Meadows.
Bikes
I WAS very pleased to see that Scotch Oakburn College has a program of bike education.
I saw the pupils riding through Elphinwood, doing all the right things, such as using hand signals.
They were well supervised.
Many years ago my school ran cycling proficiency classes and until you had obtained your Proficiency Certificate you could not ride your bike to school.
Well done to Scotch Oakburn College.
— A. STACEY, Newstead.
Indonesian
INDONESIAN language studies are on track for extinction at Australian universities in the next decade because not enough high school students are coming through at junior levels (The Sunday Examiner, November 28).
Federal shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said ``It is an outrage that more Australian people were studying Indonesian in 1972 than are today”.
I don’t know where Mr Bowen got his data from, but that certainly didn’t apply to the 300-strong (boys only) high school I attended in 1972.
Not a single student signed up for Indonesian studies, as was said back then - What’s the point of learning how to speak Indonesian if you never to to Indonesia.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Refugees
REPORTS that church leaders are genuinely concerned that the federal government is having second thoughts about giving priority to Christians and other persecuted minorities in its 12,000 refugee intake, are most disturbing.
Purely because of the faith they follow, Christians are treated abominably in a vast number of Muslim-dominated countries, killed in their tens of thousands every year, (some estimates at 100,000 annually), their churches are burned to the ground and girls kidnapped.
There are reports that when Christians do flee for their lives, they are often forced out of refugee camps by other refugees.
If the position was reversed and the Middle East was at peace and taking refugees from a war-ravaged Australia, I wonder how many Christians would be included in their quota?
— IAN MACPHERSON, Newstead.
Football
GREAT article by Bart McCulloch (The Examiner, November 23), right on the money and good on him for being so forthcoming.
Also president of Launceston Football Club, Malcolm Atkins comments recently.
Pity a few more wouldn’t speak up.
When will AFL Tas finally understand that their model is failing miserably.
I have been critical of the state-wide league for years and nothing has changed to alter my opinion.
Tiny, almost non–existent crowds, clubs disappearing – North Hobart, Hobart now Western Storm – gone! What are the positives?
The claim that players want to play at the “elite” level is hollow.
Players will play in the highest level available whatever it is.
If there was no State League, then the players would play in the NTFA, NWFL and SFL with less travel and more local interest and support.
The top end players would still be able to make the AFL if good enough.
No brainer.
You really have to ask yourself what is AFL Tasmania really doing to improve football in Tasmania?
— TONY STONJEK, Former Independent Director NTFL.
Postmodernism
IT IS almost inconceivable that just a week after the shocking attacks by religious zealots in Paris, Claire Van Ryn could offer us Monday’s piece.
Readers should make no mistake: those who attack ‘popular postmodern thought processes’ in favour of ‘objective right’ and ‘absolute truth’ might picture themselves as advocating strong morals, but as Paris showed us they are far more likely to be simple-minded, inflexible bullies drunk on some contradictory and imprecise ancient book.
Now I do not assert for a second that your intrepid columnist would support such methods as used by holy warriors to shoot down and bomb scores of ‘decadent sinners’ in the French capital, but there is clearly a middle ground for the abortion-obsessed Christian right: in the USA it has seen doctors shot, and an insidious campaign to use political muscle and money to deny women rights of access.
Different societies, different methods.
The fact that abortion is a morally difficult area is exactly why it should be off limits to politicians such as those associated with Mrs Van Ryn’s evangelical church: the religious and political are no closer to moral truth that is any woman coping with her pregnancy.
The decision is hers alone and always should be.
Why this issue obsesses the Christian right in such a grossly unequal and unfair world is beyond me, but then, so is the thinking of the bomb-vest crew who bang on about idolatry and infidels.
A bit of post-modernism would do them, and society, a whole world of good.
— PETER LLOYD, Reedy Marsh.
Polls
LAST week's poll shows that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is even more on the nose than in the last poll and the Labor Party, because of Kevin's new rules, can't do anything about it.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, however, is riding high in the polls and popular with even Labor voters.
Turn on the TV or radio ad we have the three amigos sniping away because they loved Tony.
Namely Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and Tony Bernadi, the latter famous for remarks concerning the gay community.
They should remember that when elected as leader Tony Abbott only won with a majority of 1 and that was because 2 liberal members were away. Malcolm had a majority of 10 and if those disgruntled Abbott supporters don't look at the polls they have bats in the belfry.
They should all get behind one of the most popular leaders we have had in recent year and if they don't like it they should get out of the kitchen.
Maybe two terms, as in America, would be a good idea and then people wouldn't think they know a name on the ballot paper and vote for that instead of numbering down the page and making sure that anyone at number one isn't automatically elected when they aren't the most popular kid on the block.
— GLENNIS SLEURINK, Launceston.
Tamar
I TOO was pleased to read the editorial piece contributed by The Examiner in regard to the lost Tamar River.
I could not help to agree with every written line but I also believe there needs to be a much deeper investigation into the vast and growing contamination problem that has silently been allowed to occur.
The big talk of moving the college to the floating swamp area to me is astounding, supplying even more sewage and obviously more nasties into the convenient North Esk while the wisdom of all this it seems it can only happen in Launceston, all this mess would have to be attended to before there can be any hope of restoring the rivers flow even then it is estimated it could take up to 3 years of full flow to bring the current silt deposits under control.
— GEOFF SMEDLEY, Launceston.
University
THE alarming removal of courses, functions and staffing from the northern UTAS campus stands in contrast to the promise by the university of 10,000 new enrolments at Inveresk.
Ratepayer representatives are understandably suspicious of fulfillment by the university of this aspiration particularly when valuable land is being gifted to the university.
The council perceives ongoing social and economic compensation, a substantial ‘dividend’ for ratepayers and the city from university activity at Inveresk in exchange for the land.
And the proposal only makes sense if that undeniably significant activity is the outcome.
The problem, however, is that while council has included conditions about timing and completion it has not specified performance conditions about increased enrolments and university activity.
Without that increased staffing and enrolment the proposal is the sort of ‘dud’ ratepayers suspect.
Only by council specifying these conditions as part of the approval process is there sufficient incentive for the university to deliver to the city and region the justification for alienating public land.
It is not unreasonable to specify these conditions, given the university’s own repeated promises.
— DR MICHAEL POWELL, Lecturer, Launceston.