Mindless drivel
IS THERE any wonder that there have been rumours of the ABC being privatised?
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Despite it being the most top-heavy, over-employed junket in the country, it could be disastrous.
It could end up going the way of SBS which is quickly catching up with, and in many cases has surpassed the commercial stations in paid advertising.
The ABC and SBS air the only programs worth watching, but they are so heavily overstaffed and offer far too many stations when two or even one would suffice. They could cut the huge wage bill and invest in quality programming without constant and endless repeats.
There are 15 television stations, and nothing but mindless drivel on 14 of them, dumbing down society.
So instead of the government talking ABC’s privatisation, cut their funding.
Just who needs news repeated 24 hours of the day? Only fund them for as long as they present quality programming, as they once did, without constant repeats.
How hard is that?
Don Davey, Launceston.
Cataract Gorge
As someone who has been going to our wonderful Cataract Gorge for about 50 years and conducting guided tours for more than two, I found the criticisms by Pamela Gill (The Examiner, December 21) to be rather perplexing.
The Gorge is a beautiful place and attracts nothing but praise from those who visit. The grounds are extremely well maintained by a dedicated and hardworking team of groundskeepers. The developed areas of the Gorge-First Basin have changed over the decades but only in a minimal fashion and I have a collection of photographs going back over a century that details that.
I do agree the pool fence is a bit of an anomaly but it has been in place for a decade now. However, the pathways are far from looking tired and are very well maintained and do not need resurfacing.
The path-steps to the Alexandra Lookout is also far from being almost impassable and I have taken numerous visitors, including many groups of grade 2 students, there. None had any problem and loved the views.
Our Cataract Gorge is a place of wonder and grandeur and the criticisms by Ms Gill do not stand up to scrutiny.
Geoff McLean, Launceston.
Oatlands
The main problem with Oatlands is that it is geographically isolated, neither close to Hobart or Launceston and of course, it has been bypassed.
It is, however, well worth a visit.
It has the greatest collection of Georgian buildings in Australia, then there is the Catholic Church designed by Pugin, who designed the British Houses of Parliament.
The TKO Bakery Cafe not only has excellent food but is full of Errol Flynn and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.
Oatlands is also home to one of Tasmania’s finest artists Malcolm Hamilton.
You should ask where you can obtain one of his paintings and you may even be fortunate enough to meet the artist. I have seven of his artworks including arguably his finest Tigers at Night, which suggests the Tasmanian Tiger is alive and well and living near you. The Pancake Cafe has the best pancakes I have ever eaten and is worth a visit.
Don’t delay, detour today.
Malcolm Scott, Newstead.
Bulk-billing
Donald Trump did not invent fake news. Australian political parties are well practised in feeding misinformation to the public and responding to their opponent's claims with misleading statements and statistics when it suits their cause.
A recent example was the statement by federal Health Minister Greg Hunt that Medicare was in great shape because 86.6 per cent of all GP services were bulk-billed and the response from our local member, that by ringing round, his office had been unable to find a single bulk-billing GP practice. Until recently there has been a four-year freeze on general practice rebates. This freeze was initiated by Labor.
There are a significant number of socially disadvantaged and chronically-ill people in our community. A GP with a normal spread of patients will bulk-bill approximately 55 per cent of all consultations and of the privately-billed patients, a significant percentage will receive a discount.
People deserve better than this continuing simplistic misinformation coming from the major parties.
Mr Hunt has a particular case to answer as he has conveniently forgotten to tell the public that of the 86.6 per cent of bulk-billed services, included are all the radiology and pathology services requested by GPs. It is no wonder that so many people are disillusioned with the major political parties.
Malcolm Tilsley, Trevallyn.
Syria withdrawal
Donald Trump is right to extricate America from the never-ending war of the Mideast so foolishly begun by previous presidents.
The rulers and peoples of this region, the Sunnis and Shias, are going to have to find their own way and fight their own wars.
ISIS is a Sunni terrorist organization. And, as such, it detests the Alawite regime of Bashar Assad, and Hezbollah and Iran, both of which are hated by ISIS as Shiite heretics.
This has gone on for almost 1500 years and America simply can no longer take care of other countries problems however intense they are. America has a long and storied history of abandoning former allies. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s abandonment of 100 million East Europeans to Stalin at Yalta in 1945, to the abandonment of its Nationalist Chinese allies to Mao in 1949, and of its South Vietnamese allies in 1975, America has often been forced into retreats leading to the deaths of allies.
The extraction of American troops from Syria is not only long overdue but not entirely unexpected despite the looming dire political ramifications.