Over the past nine years the banks have ripped their clients off to the tune of something like $7 billion and the Liberal Government has continually tried to stop the victims from getting their money refunded with compensation - shame on the Liberal Government. Australia is the land of a fair go but the banks are still squirming, trying to keep the money they have stolen from their customers. You do not have to be too clever to work out which side the Liberal Government is on - jobs for the boys.

This country’s top bank chief executive officers appear to be stagnating and all are tarred with the same brush - greed, some jail time would do them good.

AUSTRALIA is rotting and its leaders are rotten. Our government collects many millions of dollars from its constituents, and because we vote them into power based on our political prejudices and election promises, we are to blame.

We have a health care system that is so flawed that it beggars belief (see hospital and patient waiting lists).

As human beings, we should all be entitled to the same level of health care, be you the prime minister or a homeless person, it is a fundamental building block of a decent society. We have a medical insurance scheme that is based on economic outcomes rather than medical outcomes.

It should matter not what it costs but what are the medical outcomes.

Divert money from overseas aid, refugees, the arts and other such activities to the health and well being of all Australians.

Let’s have a health care system that makes us the envy of Western society.

I MAKE a heartfelt plea to Launceston councillors - please no more monuments or memorials.

We already have too many utterly un-coordinated and arguably ill-designed memorials, notably along the small stretch of foreshore near Stillwater restaurant.

And now I note an application for yet another one. Our foreshore is starting to look way too funereal. I don't care how worthy applicants may be. No doubt there are thousands of worthy organisations who could apply to take up space - how are they to be prioritised and how fitted in?

This is a trend which ought never should have been started. Our foreshore is not the place to clutter with any more memorials.

UTE Mueller’s attack on the tax concessions granted to self-funded retirees (The Examiner, February 21) is yet another example of mindless envy. What is wrong with recognising the fact that self-funded retirees have paid taxes all of their lives and still do after they reach a modest level of income?

The loss to revenue of the tax concessions to self-funded retirees pales into insignificance when compared with such things as desalination plants built for billions and mothballed at an annual cost of millions which have never produced a drop of water.

THE decline of Launceston’s CBD as a shopping precinct has been commonly attributed to car parking fees (The Examiner, March 4) but that is a far too simplistic scapegoat.

Parking metres have been around for 50 years at least and the oldest multi-storey carpark is around 40 years old.

The fees charged by the council are far from exorbitant and if one is able to walk a short distance there are some streets with free parking.

The decline of the CBD is multifaceted but two things stand out: the closure of Birchalls and Myer no longer being a ‘must go to’ shopping establishment.

Both were once very popular shopping destinations but now there are much better options just outside the CBD and shoppers clearly prefer them.

History clearly shows that parking fees are not a deterrent but the retail landscape has changed and therein lies a primary reason for the decline of the CBD.

LETTERS condemning councils lack of vision for Launceston are truly warranted, a walk through the once bustling streets says it all.

Our poor town is today being driven by outside interests which is not healthy for its long-term future which I believe to be important.

I well remember when our lovely town was once regarded as the Northern capital but challenges are now looming.

We are witnessing vast amounts of ratepayer funds are being slid sideways into private development ventures that today are so badly planned that in many cases thought is not given to the long-term problems of traffic flow and suitability to the area now being experienced with obviously more about to follow quite soon.

This is juvenile stuff but appears not so in Launceston, let's have no more of this quaint council election system, a total change is the only way our city can shake off its hobbles and begin to breathe once again.