Our parliament
SATURDAY'S editorial (The Examiner, August 3) "Parliament size not just about cost" presented a rational and pragmatic case for an increase in our Westminster House of Assembly, but omitted this bit of practical maths: it needs to have an even number of seats.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Which, in turn, makes a 35-member house as handicapped as the current 25 seater because the position of speaker will continue to risk a hung parliament.
Furthermore, Hare-Clark can only foreseeably produce evenly seated houses in tens, so that if 30 proves just as insufficient as 25, then (inexorably) it must go to 40.
Maybe even 50; just imagine that.
There is a straightforward solution, of course, but it will upset one of our favourite apple carts: our unique rejection of single-member lower house electorates, which can return a chamber of 32, 34, or 36 MHAs.
An HoA/LC swap of arrangements?
Leonard Colquhoun, Invermay.
Science
AAH, the sweet arrogance of science and other superpowers.
Like any superpower, science can conspire with good or evil. When harmful side effects of good science are suppressed, good science then conspires with evil.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others. Many past and present are well and truly vilified for questioning respected science, for example Hiroshima.
Even science is fallible - asbestos, thalidomide, plastics, etc can all damage or kill.
Like it or not, even vaccines can have serious side effects and can kill, in some cases.
"If it only saves one life." Minority or not, the lives seriously injured or taken by wonder drugs are precious in the hearts and minds of family, friends and humanity.
These survivors and victims euphemistically classified collateral damage by the powers that be.
Church, state, science, judiciary conspire to confuse and use plausible deniability attempting to convince us how full of goodness evil is when truth threatens their power.
Some whistleblowers who speak out against heinous subliminal abuses of power committed by those in positions of trust are vindicated, however due to the subliminal nature of conspiracies, most are vilified.
The continual suppression of whistleblowers/conspiracy theorists in this community is weakening the integrity of community - humanity.
Deb Johnston-Andrews, Newnham.
Abortion poster
WHILE I acknowledge Kerryn Foley's opinion regarding miscarriage, stillbirth and Emily's Voice (The Examiner, August 7), I find the heartbeat poster to be very beautiful.
While the death of any unborn baby is tragic, it is vital that we remember that all life is indeed a precious life.
This poster shows huge compassion, acknowledging the real loss that women have faced.
We, as a civil society, have laws regarding child abuse, elder abuse, murder etc.
Emily's Voice aims to give a voice to the unborn, to fight for the right for unborn babies to be protected in utero.
A society that denies this protection on the basis of it being a woman's right to intentionally take the life of her unborn, denies the reality of that life.
Mary Sexton, Trevallyn.
Disappointing notice
Councillor Daking put forward a notice of motion stating there is a climate emergency (The Examiner, August 3).
I realise there are many scientists that write on climate change, and also many that write that there isn't such a change going on.
I have watched a few Al Gore presentations and he speaks gloom and doom.
I have also watched many qualified meteorologists, geologists and others, offering a different perspective on climate change or seasonal changes through the ages.
I believe the climate debate should be discussed and deliberated at a national level, and not by local councillors.
What a pity a notice of motion couldn't be put up regarding the Tamar River clean up, which should be number one on the council's list, instead of grandstanding on a futile climate policy that will go nowhere.
Stick to local, and not global, issues please - Tamar River, building heights, traffic issues, and the spending of taxpayers' and ratepayers' money and budgeting it properly.
Steve Rogers, South Launceston.
Climate emergency
IS there no end to the garbage written by the climate alarmists?
In 1990 we were assured that the Maldives would be underwater by 2000, followed by Tuvalu in the Pacific.
For several years we were assured Arctic ice would disappear this summer or next.
But the Maldives are still above water, Tuvalu has grown, the Arctic ice has never disappeared in summer.
Predictions of endless droughts in Australia were followed by a series of floods. Predictions of increases in hurricanes have failed.
An article given prominence by Gabrielle Byrne (The Examiner, August 5) wrote of "unprecedented bushfires in the Arctic".How could a newspaper wishing to present itself as a source of reliable information publish such garbage - bushfires in the Arctic?
Deborah Lynch complains of denying the advice of 98 per cent of the world's scientists (The Examiner, August 6). The claim that 98 per cent of scientists are agreed we are facing a climate disaster is one of the greatest lies ever produced and, like every other claim made by the climate alarmists, simply fails to stand up to intelligent scrutiny.
Thanks to the partisan attitude of The Examiner, none of its readers will have any knowledge of the case taken by Peter Ridd against his former employer, University of Queensland, after he was dismissed by daring to dispute the position of the university on damage to the Barrier Reef.