Australia Day Date
WHY is the City of Launceston council wanting to change Australia Day ceremonies to January 25, instead of January 26?
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I hope that the elected councillors will vote this down. Leanne Hurst is not an elected member, she is the council's development services director.
She may be able to put these propositions forward, but she is not a ratepayer-elected councillor. January 26 is the day in history, that Australia was discovered. Since then it has excelled to the country it is today. Nobody can change history, nobody, but they will try. I voted for councillors to look after this city.
Both my wife and I are not all that impressed. Please leave Australia Day where it is in history. If you don't, does that mean I can pay my rates when I choose as well?
We all know the end result.
Steve Rogers, South Launceston.
Dementia Action Week
DURING Dementia Action Week 16-22 September, Dementia Australia is challenging all Australians to think differently about dementia by asking 'Dementia doesn't discriminate. Do you?'.
We are calling on our communities to consider how discrimination impacts people of all ages, living with all forms of dementia and their families and carers.
While the number of Australians living with dementia is close to half a million, there are an estimated 1.5 million involved in the care of people living with the disease. In the federal electorate of Bass, an estimated 2279 people are living with dementia this year, which is expected to increase to 3276 by 2058. Nobody chooses to have dementia.
We can, however, choose how we respond to the people in our lives and in our community who are living with dementia.
We are asking readers to complete a short survey to help us to create an informed, national picture to better understand how discrimination for people living with dementia occurs, and what it would take to shift that discrimination. More information can be found at www.dementia.org.au/dementia-action-week.
Maree McCabe Dementia Australia chief executive.
Funding Omission
IN the latest Arts Tasmania funding, Arts Minister Elise Archer announced that the Junction Arts Festival would not be funded.
The JAF, based in Launceston is a surprise omission, as the festival provides a boost culturally and economically to regional Tasmania, supports local artists throughout the entire state, and is strongly supported.
Kenneth Gregson, Swansea.
North East Rail Trail
STUART Bryce (The Examiner, September 9) complains about the poor deal heritage rail gets compared with bike riding and opposes the development of the North East Rail Trail. His letters make false claims regarding the effects of bike riders on properties and distort statistics. He claims that the plateauing of bike riding numbers in urban areas signals the decline of bicycle tourism.
This is far from the truth - ask business owners in Derby and those of George Town, the North West Coast, St Helen's and the West Coast who are welcoming the expansion of mountain biking. Off-road trails such as the North East Recreation Trail will help meet the demands of people craving to ride and walk but seeking quiet off-road trails. These trails will attract touring bike riders, yet another form of bicycle tourism that is still to be developed.
Since 2002, the West Coast Wilderness Railway has absorbed a total of $83.3 million in state and federal funding. This is in addition to various grants for projects and private capital. The Don River Railway and the Tasmanian Transport Museum continually receive support. So much for underfunding. In his evidence to the Legislative Council Inquiry into the North East Rail Corridor, Treasurer Peter Gutwein stated that he believed that there were genuine rail enthusiasts and those who just wanted to "ensure that very little occurs". It appears that Mr Bryce and his followers are in this second category.
Malcolm Cowan, West Launceston.
Is religion worth the fuss?
VICTOR Marshall (The Examiner, September 14) queries the value of the world's religions in working to better people's lives and urges government restrictions on their work.
Well, let's look Christianity, the religion I know most about. As a Catholic woman, I am full of wonder at the nuns who from the beginning of settlement made difficult and dangerous journeys across the world to Hobart and cared for the men and women who were struggling to survive. Before the advent of welfare assistance, they set up free schools for poor children of all faiths and none. They cared for orphans, alcoholics and those in prison. These works were supported by the Catholic population.
As time went on they set up hospitals, hospices, research institutes and aged care facilities throughout Australia, as well as Australia's first AIDS clinic. Worldwide, Christians were vital in the establishment of Red Cross, Alcoholics Anonymous, Médecins Sans Frontières, Missions to Seamen, the Salvation Army and a vast range of organisations assisting the poor and marginalised. Today, Catholic Health Care workers, many thousands as volunteers, serve the sick, poor and abandoned, in over 150 countries. Caritas, the welfare arm of the Catholic Church, present in all countries, is second only in size to the Red Cross.
The freedom to exercise the Christian faith brings significant advantages to the world.