Terrorism
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PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has really out done himself this time by using terrorism to frighten the Australian public (The Examiner, February 24 ) just to try and divert attention away from his leadership, budget, polls and broken promise problems.
What’s worse is that in his speech Mr Abbott promised to keep us all safe, and seeing he has broken almost every other promise he has ever made, that is very, very scary.
— MICK LEPPARD, Invermay.
Media
WITH the daily, relentless onslaught by the political arm of the left-wing media, of serving up and magnifying Tony Abbott’s supposed `faults’, whatever happened to the Australian way of giving someone a second chance, with a fair go?
Mr Abbott has acknowledged his past mistakes, has pledged to improve; and yet this is never enough for the media, who continue to whip up everything he does and says with repeated frenzied attacks and hysteria.
It is completely selfish of the media to do this, as they are not thinking about the Australian people at all, and the actual good things the Liberals are achieving and delivering, which of course are hardly ever mentioned.
Give the poor man a break by highlighting, for a change, what his government is doing for the Australian people, and stop resembling the gutter press.
— CARMEN FRELEK, Launceston.
Health insurance
WITH the Post Office making a loss on its letter area, there is a dilemma.
If the cost of posting a letter increased to say $1 people would stop writing letters and it would incur an even greater loss.
The same applies to private health insurance with the premiums expected to rise by at least three times the rate of inflation.
People will opt out and fling themselves on the public sector in their droves.
As I don’t run a car, it is my greatest expenditure after food and electricity.
When I broke my arm in Melbourne, I was admitted as a private patient, but had to be reclassified as a public patient in order to be admitted to the hospital’s luxurious convalescent unit.
— MALCOLM SCOTT, Newstead.
Aquatic centre
I HAVE to hand it to the operators of the Launceston Aquatic Centre, a $30 million project by the Launceston City Council.
To have a state swimming championship round of sprints and relays arranged for last weekend and then drain the swimming pools would take a lot of organising.
Southerners would be laughing their heads off at this effort, except perhaps, for the people who came up from Hobart for the competition.
— JOHN DENNE, Longford.
Midlands Highway
A LIBERAL Party pre-election promise was to upgrade the Midlands Highway to a four lane highway, Launceston to Hobart.
Then it became a ‘‘10 year aspiration’’, which Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding said in December would ‘‘clearly not’’ be finished in that time frame.
Labor spokesmen described this as having led Tasmanian voters down the garden path.
One hell of a long garden path, with only six ‘‘safety projects’’ being undertaken this year.
— BILL CARNEY, Riverside.
Economics
I CAN assure Peter Taylor (Letters, February 26) I have not missed the point and my “attack” on Bill Shorten simply points out facts that all but those with their head in the sand are already aware of.
By the next election it will be too late to know Mr Shorten’s policies because every day he blocks legislation our debt rises, and we will be an economic basket case by then.
If he continues his blocking, then surely people have a right to expect him to offer an alternate and/or better way, particularly from the person who wants to be prime minister, a worry from someone who thought David Hicks could be due an apology and whose shadow treasurer, when interviewed, didn’t even know the tax free threshold or the rate.
— KERRY FOLEY, Launceston.
Petrol
IT WAS interesting to hear the head of the RACT calling on the small independents fuel retailers to drop their prices when the wholesale price dropped (no mention of Coles and Woolworths).
Most retailers dropped the price to a few cents below Coles and Woolworths.
Now that the wholesale price has started to rise again, we find the big two dropping their price to $1-21 (without discount).
How can they sell at this price when the wholesale price is around $1.24 at the moment?
They would not be trying to put the small independents out of business would they?
Now I ask, why haven’t the RACT taken on the big two for keeping their price up when it came down and how come they can now sell it below the wholesale price?,
I think it is time for the RACT to take on Coles and Woolworths and leave the small retailers alone.
— C. PATMORE, Bracknell.
Chairlift
IN 1972 the chairlift at the Cataract Gorge was built.
Over time the chairlift has become a respected centrepiece to locals, interstate and international visitors.
In 2015 another sensible development is being proposed with different sides of the debate emerging.
The positives and negatives must be weighed in terms of the Cataract Gorge Sky Lift.
It is my personal view that if we as a community follow the lessons of the chairlift in 1972, this new proposal will be to the benefit of all residents and visitors to our region.
I urge those who are concerned about the nature or speed of development at the Gorge to asses the Sky Lift on its merits, not oppose change, for change sake.
— KYLE BARRETT, Relbia.
Poverty
I AM a 61 year old disability pensioner, my wife also with health issues forced to work for the dole on New start.
After her working 51 hours in a fortnight, is left with $300 less than when working 29 hours in a fortnight.
As this also affects my pension, after working the 51 hours, we are $60 worse off than if she didn't work at all. We paid the government $60 so my wife could slave for less than nothing.
Hung by the thumbs.
— P. S. WILLMOT, Rocherlea.
Local Govt
FULL marks to Ted Sands for persistence (The Examiner, February 25), but, like Ted, I doubt any voluntary rationality ever making headway in local government reform.
The only way we will ever see change is if the state government sets up an independent inquiry, free of politicians, maybe by the Productivity Commission, to fully address local government in this state with its major finds to be subject to referenda proposals by, say, 2018.
This would help take the political heat out of the situation and hopefully deliver major savings, in the order of $6 million, to ratepayers across the state.
— DICK JAMES, Launceston.
Rehab Centre
MY mother-in-law received wonderful care at the John Grove Rehab Centre which enabled her to return home to independent living.
What I fail to understand is why did the Labor Federal government grant the LGH one-off funding to develop the centre if there was no ongoing funding within the LGH budget for its future?
The LGH management also need to explain why they applied for and accepted the funding knowing they didn't have the resources to maintain it.
What a waste of taxpayer money if this facility ends up closing, and what a pity for those patients who will miss out on treatment there.
There was obviously a need for the centre or else it wouldn't have been built.
We need our political representatives to start working together to make sure this facility stays open.
If we can afford to maintain two AFL football grounds in the state, we should be able to afford this much needed facility.
— PETER ELLIOTT, Newstead.