Time to go
NOW at 80 years of age and a political follower, I have picked the outcome of every federal election since the 1960s, so a message for Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
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Assuming you are a true Liberal and truly want to win the next election, it’s just not going to happen. Mr Shorten, despite his personal unpopularity, will win.
Mr Morrison is relegating this country to a state of anarchy, and the only way to stop this from taking place is for him to volunteer and stand down in favour of Julie Bishop.
She is the only politician at this dangerous time with the power, the total respect of the Australian people, wealth of experience, and perceived decency to bring the Liberals back from the brink with a healthy majority.
Despite this party’s perceived failings, which originated with the back-stabbing of Tony Abbott, Mr Shorten and Labor rabble will once again relegate Australia to a third-world persona. That would be the action and sacrifice of a true-blue Liberal politician.
Don Davey, Launceston.
Prime Minister
WELL school holidays are almost here and the usual movies are coming out involving fantasy and fairytales.
I reckon Tony Abbott is getting ready as he's musing on becoming PM again.
He has to retain his seat first and that seems to be in some doubt and as for him being Prime Minister again, that is certainly in the realm of fantasy.
Glennis Sleurink, Launceston.
Election campaigns
CAN we have the truth in election campaigns.
In the Sunday Examiner (November 25) federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese encourages Australians to call out the cynical excuses of campaigning that uses fear and marginalisation to win votes.
I now call out federal Labor to stop campaigning using lies as they did in the last federal election.
For example: “the coalition will privatise medicare” (the now famous Mediscare campaign).
The old saying that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones rings true.
Fear campaigning is alive and well with the Labor Party.
Don Hazeldine, Hillwood.
Gender reforms
ANYONE who is genuinely concerned about the safety of women should focus their attention on a very real, not concocted, issue: the epidemic of male perpetrators of intimate partner violence.
So far this year, 60 men have murdered their current or former female partner.
Let’s stop the unnecessary fear campaign and work together to eliminate violence against all women.
Charlie Burton, Hobart.
Asylum seekers
THANKS to the political rearrangements of the past months, the independents are on track to introduce some long-awaited legislation to reset Australia’s moral political compass in areas such as obtaining urgent medical help for those suffering on Manus Island and Nauru.
It is outrageous that nearly six Christmases have passed with asylum seekers still being held in Australian offshore detention centres without any hope of release.
This fiendish concept that punishes a group of innocent people in order to achieve the outcome of “stopping the boats” is a blight on our human rights record.
This is also the lazy way of addressing a complex and wicked problem where the billions of dollars spent in incarcerating people on Manus Island and Nauru could have been directed towards more ethical solutions. Matters involving asylum seekers should never have become a political issue where the major parties have excelled in taking us on a race to the bottom.
Ed Sianski, West Moonah.
Julian Assange
SORRY that some people like Peter Doddy (The Examiner, November 28) feel as they do about Julian Assange.
To many people he is a brave hero, exposing deep-seated corruption within our governments and agencies as has Edward Snowden. God bless these brave people.
Steve Nielsen, Launceston.
Southern Huskies
I READ with great interest Rob Shaw’s article on the Southern Huskies.
Launceston is a city rich in basketball history (Launceston Casino City NBL champions 1981) but sadly we have not seen top-flight men’s basketball since the demise of the SEABL’s Tigers some 20 years back.
I read with dismay in The Examiner (December 6), and whilst it was great to see basketball on the back page of the paper, unfortunately it was stained with Rob Shaw’s standard North-South rhetoric that he continually defaults to. For god’s sake Rob, please quit the North v South thinking.
When the news of the Southern Huskies dropped, the announcement was that Launceston will get five games. To me that is a statement that this team is a state team and a vote of confidence to the North.
We all know the public struggles the Huskies have had with the Derwent Entertainment Centre and the Glenorchy City Council, this is an opportunity.
This is a long-term deal (five years), if the Launceston people get behind this concept and out draw southern crowds we could get our grand goal of NBL in Launceston.
I call on all of Launceston to get behind this, in particular the community media, and drop this North v South rubbish. It’s too late once the horse has bolted, this will be a show so please vote with your feet.