Tasmanians are in the unenviable position to understand something of what our New Zealand cousins are experiencing.

A tremendous mixture of emotions arise when the full import of the butchery is revealed. That this latest carnage is fuelled by a hatred of people who follow the Islamic tradition is appalling.

New Zealand is renowned for its tolerance of other religious traditions and those with none. However, there are people whose values are twisted and who act out of hatred towards anyone who is different from themselves. Every effort must be made to ensure that these potential killers are not given any opportunities to undertake mass killings with a hand-held weapon.

Meanwhile, everyone in Tasmania will wish to wrap their arms around everyone affected by this massacre and to offer them prayers, comfort and support.

JUST as horrifying as the massacre of innocent people at worship in Christchurch is the fact that all the weapons used, including semi-automatics, were obtained legally by a holder of a gun licence.

If ever there was a stone cold certain argument not to meddle with Australia's strong and excellent gun laws, this is it.

TERROR has no religion.

The incident of shooting at two New Zealand Mosques is utterly shocking not for just Muslims but for all.

This is something that I as an Ahmadi Muslim definitely stand against for several reasons.

One being, the Holy Quran mentions that if you kill one person, it is as if you killed the whole of humanity.

Hence, be it a Muslim or anyone who is being attacked, the holy guidance stays the same for all.

Giving terror a name, religion or any sort of identity is just unfair to people who associate themselves with that identity.

Pray for those affected by these shooting.

WITH the cost of living a possible major issue at the forthcoming federal election, it may be time to contemplate that work for one hour per week is considered employed, and the cost of housing, not rent, is excluded from Australia's Consumer Price Index.

With this summation, it may be cogent to quote former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: "there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics?"

REGARDING the letter from G. Sleurink (The Examiner, March 14), the reference to artists' impression of landscapes has possibly been due to the inclusion in the criteria of the competition of "the best contemporary landscape painting".

The removal of "contemporary" may well be all that is needed to remove many from the mix.

Apart from that, how and why did "contemporary" get in there in the first place?

It may be enough to relieve John from the head-scratching period, and me.

RECENTLY I had a fall behind the CBA at Kings Meadows and I was assisted by three lovely people. I would like to thank them very much for their help.

Afterwards, I was given first aid by a wonderful lady who is my podiatrist and who also organised for me to be seen by my GP.

Thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart, I don't know what I would have done without your assistance. It is so nice to know that there are still beautiful people out there who care.

MEANDER Valley Council recently approved a motion which provides the mayor with a fully-maintained vehicle for both council business and private use.

This motion, which was workshopped behind closed doors prior to the March council meeting, was then passed unanimously without a single word of debate in the council chamber. Requiring a special capital works budget of $30,000 for its initial purchase, the mayoral car will cost ratepayers an additional $8500 per year.

And yet, at February's council meeting, a motion to enable council meeting proceedings to be recorded was not even seconded, reportedly on the basis that the estimated cost of $5000-$40,000 was unaffordable.

Ratepayers have been formally requesting that meetings be recorded since as early as 2011, as a way of encouraging community engagement and ensuring transparency in council decision making.

Perhaps the mayoral car is an example of why the MVC continues to resist the recording of council meetings.

I FOR one am literally sick to death of the pundits AFL predictions.

This amount of utter rubbish has not been seen since the big westerly of 05' rolled through and dishevelled the bins up the road. My goodness, BT would have woweed and put them in the magoos.

Malcolm Blight would think it's a blight on the sport, and I cannot agree more than that with that sentiment. Bring on the bounce, umpire.