Refugee
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SIMPLE, but a deadly serious question.
Just who do you call for a refugee background check in Syria?
— JACK SONNEMANN, Lucaston.
Students
NOW that the battery hen cages, cleverly disguised as student accommodation at Inveresk are nearing completion, I wonder how many overseas students will be squashed into each room?
Hope they get more space than the actual feathered variety, who are forced to exist in over-crowded misery, equal to that of an A4 sheet of paper each, before they get the chop.
— CARMEN FRELEK, Launceston.
Republic
IT IS certain that Australia will not become a republic while the Queen still reigns.
And when her reign ends, it should be up to the Australian people (put to the vote) as those in power should not be the only ones in Australia to delegate a prime minister and president on the onset of any republic.
Personally if the people were to vote on whether we became a republic or not, I feel it would be rejected given the amount of people of English origin that reside here who have no doubt been loyal and will remain so to the royal family.
— SUSAN GOEBEL, Invermay.
FRANKLIN Labor MHR Julie Collins says more tax should be put on tobacco when governments are looking at ways and means to help curb the ratio of alcohol affected patients at emergency departments in our hospitals.
Ms Collins, why do governments never increase the tax on alcohol to help stop its use like they do with tobacco tax to help stop people lighting up?
Seems tobacco is just being used as a money earner.
— DAVID PARKER, West Launceston.
Gramsci
MAREE Triffett (Letters, November 21) offers a biased interpretation in her use of Gramsci theory to argue against same-sex marriage.
Certainly it is true that Gramsci’s theory of hegemony is the idea that the ruling class can manipulate the value system and mores of a society, so that their view becomes the world view.
However, Ms Triffett fails to acknowledge that Gramsci regarded the Church as a cultural hegemonic power, and it is certainly true that for decades the Church has wielded influence over our society.
Using Gramsci theory it can be argued that what we are seeing now in regards to same sex marriage is the results of a Gramscian “war of position” where the dominant cultural values of the Church have been challenged by those outside of the institution, and those who have challenged the Church now have the power and position to begin to bring about a change in cultural attitudes.
— TIM ZICHY-WOINARSKI, Grindelwald.
Economy
PICKING up on Steve Rogers’ insistence that “all previous Labor governments” have squandered the national budget (Letters, November 21), I would like to remind him that it was the Hawke government that returned the country to surplus after the economically disastrous Fraser years.
This period saw the biggest debt this country has ever seen and was, coincidentally, under John Howard as treasurer - thanks for that, Johnny.
But you know, not to worry, because Labor fixed it.
This notion that Labor are inherently bad at economics is bogus.
Even Menzies’ “golden years” saw 17 consecutive deficits.
Yes we have a level of debt, and yes we should be doing something about it, but I have to wonder how vocal all these “budget emergency" shouters would be if they had lost their jobs in the recession that the Rudd government kept us out of.
— CODY HANDLEY, Hadspen.
Guns
THE Greens want to amend the state’s Firearm Act to counter a controversial new shotgun with the capacity to fire five rounds without reloading (The Examiner, November 20).
A previous model of the shotgun had the ability to fire eight rounds without reloading, but it has been banned and replaced by a new version of the gun with a five round capacity.
What a sick joke, put one round in the chamber and it can then fire ``six” rounds, which makes it capable of ``killing six people” without reloading.
— A. R. TROUNSON, Needles.
Archbishop
THE Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous has achieved what I as a writer only dream about, having what I have written or associated with being dragged before a legal or quasi legal body.
I get a broadsheet magazine ``Eternits” published by the Bible Society.
The matter got a full page with the heading ``First they came for the Catholics”.
The magazine has a circulation of about 1 million, mainly fundamentalist Christians - non Catholics.
Before the publicity, most Catholic families would have probably put the booklet in the waste paper basket, but are now reading it to find out what all the fuss is about, and I like many non Catholics are desperately trying to get a copy of ``Don’t Mess with Marriage” to find out what the fuss is about also.
— MALCOLM SCOTT, Newstead.
Christmas tree
WHAT on earth are those"sticks" made of gold - that thing that is called a Christmas tree in Hobart..
The amount of money that it cost is ridiculous.
Think how that money could have helped the poor and homeless.
I'm horrified at the thought that so much money for what?
Thank goodness the North of Tasmania has more sense and tradition.
Get rid of it Hobart and treat everyone to something beautiful.
Merry Christmas.
— BETTY WORSLEY, Devonport
Gifts
THE article regarding the register of official gifts received by the government members (The Examiner, November 20), makes for interesting reading.
What would make even more interesting reading would be a register of official gifts received and gifts given that covers all politician’s gifts.
Would that not be transparency across the board?
Surely political parties don’t think we are all that gullible to believe that only elected government members receive gifts?
— ANTHONY CAMINO, Youngtown.
GST
THE GST is regressive and belts low-income earners.
That is fact.
NATSEM modelling on the present 10 per cent GST shows it gobbles up 13.4 per cent of the disposable income of the lowest 20 per cent of income earners while only impacting by 5.9 per cent of the top 20 per cent.
Of course lifting the rate or broadening the base makes the impact much greater.
A 15 per cent GST would swallow over 20 per cent of the low-income earner’s money while having less than half that effect - 8.8 per cent - on high-income earners.
Of course the Prime Minister has indicated that compensation would have to be included in any package, and rightly so, but this “churn” means the initial impact will be revenue neutral and will not help current revenue problems.
The burden of present taxation – whether GST or income tax - falls heavily and disproportionately on ordinary taxpayers while those in business enjoy a considerable advantage.
Shell, with 870 petrol outlets, earned $60 billion in profit over the past three years and paid no tax.
Gas producer Chevron ‘operates’ out of Bermuda and pays no tax.
The list goes on – Google, Uber, Microsoft, Apple and most online businesses – pay very little tax if any in Australia.
As a result, the burden on ordinary taxpayers is immense.
The GST has its place in taxation reform but it is hardly the priority.
We would be mugs if we fell for this line before governments of courage tackled the stripping of our wealth by foreign entities.
— DR MICHAEL POWELL, Lecturer, Launceston.
Terrorists
ABC’s Four Corners showed how the federal police have in their knowledge names, phone calls etc, from terror cells here in Australia, and what I and all Australians want to know is why these criminals are not rounded up and shipped out before they kill more innocents.
Even those already arrested and in jail are still motivating young people to join their cause.
How is this so?
The Greek spokesman on Q&A hit the nail squarely on the head when he stated that instead of going to them cap in hand, the West needs to take to task the “Arab Emirates” as being the main financiers of the cowardly, murderous atrocities about the world.
Before there is an atrocity here as was in Paris, every person known to have a connection “of any kind “ to these terror cells, or choose to be loyal to, over Australia, should be rounded up and sent there, never to return and once this is made law and enacted such behaviour would cease overnight.
— DON DAVEY, Launceston.