The unions of my day were vigilant in their opposition to work practices that lead to such a condition. In the mine, in which I worked, you could be sacked if you “bored dry”, i.e. did not use water when drilling into rock to damp the dust.

The blind opposition in this country to unions has gone too far. We are a society going backwards and young men's lives and are being ruined.

JIM Collier (Letters, November 25) needs to stop his obsession with skate parks. Some facts for Mr Collier.

The Ravenswood skate park is built on publically viewable land with the nearest residence some distance away. There is no such council owned land in Legana like this and Mr Collier is well aware of this.

Not all youth skate. In a recent extensive survey of the youth in Legana including students from Riverside High and Primary, St Anthony’s and Launceston Christian School, a skate park just scraped into the top ten.

As a result of the survey, the West Tamar Council is expending significant funds to build a youth recreation space in Legana which will include ball sport courts, chill out areas, free Wi-Fi and skating elements.

This is what the youth of Legana have identified that they want, not what someone like Mr Collier thinks they want.

LABOR has a landslide win in Victoria and what do we get, Josh Frydenberg stating it was on state issues not federal that is exactly why we are going to have the grossly unpopular Bill Shorten as our next Prime Minister and the only possible way the Liberals can save this from taking place is to do exactly what should have been done initially to replace Scott Morrison with Julie BIshop. It’s what the people want and the only way to save them and the rest of us from another Labor nightmare.

I REFER to John Denne (Letters, November 21) in support of not standing for the national anthem. Mr Denne says that at the AFL Grand Final most weren’t standing for the anthem, more interested in having a beer (oh, they were in position and standing Mr Denne, make no mistake about it, the ball is bounced in close proximity after the anthem, you must have been watching a a different ball game).

Mr Denne absolutely detests “the world’s worst national anthem” (well, rather than whinge about it, here is your big chance to shine, write another one, who knows, might turn out to be a number one bestseller).

The crowd at the race car meeting didn’t remove their caps for the anthem (shock horror).  Of course, there are no laws stipulating that you stand for the anthem (just a little old fashioned word called respect, which is slowly losing relevance).

At least Mr Denne stands for the flag, better than nothing, unlike some.

Everyone wants to change the world these days, well guys, its all up to you, the expert, get ready for the handpass.

And now, as the chicken said the the egg shell, this is where I shoot through.

I KNOW what I was born and I am sure most of my fellow humans do as well (Felicity O'Neill, The Examiner, November 23).

One must add including transgender fellow humans, who simply want to be accepted for who they are - in public and in private.

As for the oft quoted UK man incarcerated in a women's prison found guilty of raping female prisoners (J.Boyle, The Examiner, November 23). One must add that transgender prisoners in male prisons being subjected to rape is far more common and one of the reasons for the current legislation.

What is unfortunate is a prevailing attitude that our physical appearance is our God given destiny.

This is the exact attitude that drives those who continue to react against any perceived deviance from heterosexual norms.

One suspects they will never change.

SUE Hickey has shown her true colours by crossing the floor to vote with her true party, the Labor/Green coalition.

As Speaker of the House she holds the casting vote, so in doing this, she has effectively removed herself from the Liberal Party who preselected her for her seat of Denison.

She engineered herself the Speaker’s role, in a deal with Labor/Green coalition mates.

It is patently obvious now where her loyalties lie, which is very concerning, as Ms Hickey is keen to see the LGBTIQ activists supported by her party of choice and hence, we have the passing of a bill in the lower house, which will, if passed in the upper house, permit transgender identifying people to have their biological sex removed from their birth certificates, to enable them to avoid any scrutiny, by employment and other agencies.

All of this, with no requirement to undergo surgical reassignment.

All sports will be required to accommodate transgender people, which could render all female sports and all male sports unequal and therefore non representative.

I implore the upper house to see the folly of such far reaching distortion of truth.