Zac Carroll-Whiteley, Launceston (12).

NANCY Donnelly’s letter “Sewerage System” got me thinking whilst relaxing with my newspaper. How to rethink our sewerage system? Then an answer came to me. The Dunny Drone. Why hasn’t this obvious solution been flushed out before.The benefits are immediately obvious. No plumbing or pipework anywhere. We hit the ‘eject’ button and the drone takes off. Powered by methane of course. It’s course is determined by local farmers using the ‘Triple D’, or Dunny Drone Directional App.

We would also need a flight traffic control system, CAPS or Crap Accident Prevention System, to avoid unfortunate drone collisions. Our Hydro energy would provide emergency energy to prevent ‘brown outs’, the consequence arising when energy systems fail. Empty Dunny Drones would detect full Drones taking off and park in their place, thus avoiding embarrassing queues. Public toilets would have ‘hover stations’ for the same reason. The similarities of this 21st Century solution to the 19th and 20th Century Nightman system requires one more safety device, the SOS or Seat Occupied Sensor. This will avoid any chance of the Drone taking off whilst still in service. A similar sensor would be floor mounted for gender specific reasons. I hope this letter doesn’t give offence. This subject can be a bit ‘on the nose’. Thank you Nancy, for giving me something to contemplate in my quiet moments.

Mal Wilson, George Town.

JUST HOW serious are some young people about saving to buy a home? Expenditure on the latest mobile phone and its associated costs, on clubbing, on overseas vacations and so on are often the early priorities so when maturity dawns and the desire to mate and settle down kicks in, there is only a credit card debt as the starting point. As a contrast I know of one young man in his 20s who did bypass hedonism in his youth and was able to save up enough to have a significant deposit on a Hobart house costing over $500,000.  He was given wise advice by his parents about handling his finances and was not overindulged as more than many youngsters are these days.

It is time to get the housing “crisis” in perspective.   Headlines are about high prices in Melbourne and Sydney but not all places to live are as expensive. And as Derryn Hinch recently said, home ownership is not a right. It is a privilege for those who work and save for it. That said there are young adults who do make an effort to save but do find house prices too high and beyond their reach. This poses the question as to whether the taxpayer, via the government, should be obliged to financially, or in some other way, assist. The problem there is that no one can be sure what the outcome might be.

Political interference in the housing market might have the effect of raising those prices even higher, or, worse for the economy in general, might cause the bubble to burst. And Canadian experience shows that tapping into superannuation savings is a very bad idea. Bottom line is there is no simple answer but governments should keep their noses out of it and if the sincere efforts of individuals to save fail, then renting is a viable alternative.   At least there will be a roof over their heads.

John Coulson, Dilston.