Basic needs
WHERE are the vulnerable in Australia going to be at the end of the now government’s reign? So many are already battling just to meet basic needs, things so many take for granted. The elderly should not have to struggle after all the years they have lived, the disabled are not the way they are by choice so why are any one of them also targeted to lose their only means of be able to live?
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This entire scenario since the onset of budget cuts has been a basic witchhunt on all who battle and it is unreasonable no matter how you look at it. I have to ask, are alcoholics and drug addicts who are on payments going to lose?
You see this in my mind is not a disability but a way of life they chose – elderly and disabled did not ask to be this way, so why is it these critical cuts are happening to them? They called Australia “the lucky country”, but sadly now it is “the lucky country for some”.
It is not the fault of any average people that Australia is in debt, so this government should stop targeting them to fix what they the government created, let our elderly and disabled live adequately without taking away basic human needs.
Susan Goebel, Invermay.
Personal donations
RECENT correspondents to The Examiner have sought to play down Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s large personal donations to his party. This is claimed to be especially outrageous because members might be Liberal voters. As a shareholder and superannuation contributor, sadly my money is used without my consent and often without my knowledge, to pay off political parties and support shady quasi-political intrigue groups.
But in the case of unions, they cannot perform their work protecting members without a legal basis upon which to do so, and only the ALP and the Greens have consistently supported workers’ rights against concerted ideological attack by conservatives.
My direct experience of the work of unions includes overturning cases of grossly unfair dismissal, reminding managers and owners of their role in workplace safety, and providing counselling and advising of access to services for those injured or with health issues. With parties like Pauline Hanson’s One Nation emerging to distract workers with fear and racism, it is important that unions can do their good work and have the legal protection to operate.
Peter Lloyd, Reedy Marsh.
Stop Greens bashing
FOR AT least 30 years, the Greens have advocated for tourism, hemp crops and renewable energy.
Government thinking and reaction time has been so slow and outdated that forestry was funded over tourism, other states beat us to hemp production, and the myth of clean coal is still being promoted over renewables. Many Green ideas come to fruition once the government of the day has hesitated and missed the boat.
Is it too much to ask that ideas from all sources and parties are given serious consideration, not dismissed out of hand because of their origin? Lateral thinking in the once-depressed North-East has resulted in mountain bike trails of such appeal that Derby will shortly host a round of the world championships.
This is a great example of retaining forests whilst encouraging tourism, and along with tourist cycle trails statewide, should be top of the list to encourage vast quantities of energetic cyclists to this state.
Cycle tourism is huge worldwide, and you only have to look to the revival of many dying country towns in Victoria to see coffee shops and accommodation businesses thriving along the rail trails. This may also take the pressure off iconic Cradle Mountain and Port Arthur which are in real danger of being loved to death.