Those pictures on 60 Minutes can never been unseen and nor should they. This trade has been responsible for one scandal after another, animal suffering on a huge scale and yet the Coalition continues to support it.

The disgraced Barnaby Joyce made the situation worse when as agriculture minister he removed what little protections the poor animals had. What a disgrace.

And now the government is desperate that the trade continues. And it will be administered by the Agriculture Department, which has shown be hopelessly compromised and ineffectual in preventing cruelty. What confidence are we to have that anything will change? None.

Labor has said it will phase out live sheep exports and I urge anyone who cares about animals and their welfare to vote accordingly because if the Coalition gets back in thousands and thousands of poor sheep will continue to suffer agonising lives - and deaths.

Paul Murphy, South Launceston.

THE Sunday Examiner, October 14 “Centenary celebration for Czechoslovakians”. This story stirred in me many strong emotions and would have in others also, be they Czech, Slovaks or Sudeten-Germans who lived during the Czechoslovakian Republic.

And I should not forget Jews and Romany’s. Reading this article and knowing not better, one could think that the Czechoslovakian Republic still exist. Of course the Czechs had all rights to be a sovereign state.

Thomas Masaryk, the first president of the Republik was a man of integrity and good intention. It has to be said that the Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in the early 1990s. Slovakia then became a state on its own.

This was tested by a free and democratic referendum. The government region of Moraria tried to do the same. The Germans of Sudetenland should have had a referendum in 1918/1919 too. But instead they got it, when Hitler was a quantity and only 10 months before WWII. One cannot overlook the rights of Slovakians, who wanted overwhelmingly break away. They complained that they were treated as second-class citizens. The German speakers before had similar claims.

Their tendency to break away was answered with hostility. There were for example unnecessary difficult language tests for German public servants. I wonder if Czechoslovakia would have been more stable with a federal system. This is not a critic, just an afterthought. I think about Switzerland. The expulsion of three million Germans was an exercise of “ethnic cleaning”, and as such very successful.

Rudi Thurmer, Newstead.

AS WE approach the time of our annual Christmas Parade might I suggest that the long silence at times, without music, are stepped up by inviting our wonderful school bands to play.

Gail Wilson, Newstead.

HEALTH and Community Services Union (HACSU) state secretary Tim Jacobson says staff have begun industrial action after rejecting the state government’s 2 per cent wage offer, and in the same breath states that 100 extra staff are needed across the board. Well the reality is, you can’t have both. The best approach is to hire more staff, which will in turn lessen the workload significantly for staff therefore no need for any pay rise.   Or is it about the money?

Robert Lee, Summerhill.

I REFER to Lisa Harrisons letter (The Examiner, November 6), who wants her kids teacher to notice if her kid’s upset and give them a hug. Fair enough too. But I want my kids teacher to protect my kid from physical assault. What do you do when a funding submission is rejected by the Education Department for a primary school teacher to access support for a student who has been continually physically assaulting other children at random? I say strike and go forward with as much industrial action as you need. We need to help these children now before they grow up thinking that this behaviour is tolerated. It pains me to think that these children may grow up to be the future perpetrators of domestic violence, assault and even murder. It has to start somewhere. And it has to stop now. In the meantime, we need to protect everyone in their path. If you or your child is affected by bullying or assault, www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au is a fantastic resource to help parents, students, teachers and the school.

Naomi Munro, Launceston.

STEPHEN Brough (letters, November 5) is spot on. Nurses are never appreciated until you need them, and then they are worshiped. Remuneration should reflect their value, and doesn’t. And no matter how hard they work or how long their shifts, they are wonderful caring human being in times of need.

They care for your most important possession your body, with professional skills and calming care, no matter how tired they are. To need them is to appreciate them, yet they work under unbelievable pressures.

Even when prognosis are grim they lift you up, to always have hope. Why would a top leading urologist surgeon waste time bringing attention to it, if it wasn’t a problem. Their job is critical to patient recovery in life or death situations. Above all these people need to work in a good environment, and we need to make sure it happens.

Peter Doddy, Trevallyn.