Lake Pedder
I WONDER if W Burbury ever got to the original Lake Pedder (The Examiner, October 8). I cannot believe that anyone who was able to compare the two would actually choose the new one.
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Visiting the original Lake Pedder as a child was one of the absolute highlights of my life. We cannot all climb Mt Everest, that doesn't mean there should be a chairlift to the top, we can appreciate some things just for the marvel that they are.
The new Lake Pedder is still very shallow so I hope we aren't relying on the water for our electricity from that part. The Greens aren't looking for an issue to divide the community, the shortsighted, bloody-minded government of the day did that and have continued so ever since.
Rachel Howell, Rosevears.
NDIS
I REFER to the letter from Senator Wendy Askew in (The Examiner, September 29) in which she states among other things that NDIS participants plans are uncapped.
I wish to take issue with this, as I can think of at least two areas in which funds to participants most definitely are capped.
One is transport, which is inadequate in many cases. The other is what is more commonly known as respite.
Appropriate transport is a vital requirement, especially for those living with a disability, and even more so if those people are in rural areas.
If you are a carer for someone even with the most profound disability, the amount of "short term accommodation" is very much capped and way short of even what is allowed under Centrelink rules before losing carer payments.
In addition, I would suggest that it is not simple to receive NDIS funding.
The amount of bureaucracy is horrendous, and many participants and carers spend countless hours becoming increasingly stressed and frustrated by dealing with an organisation which too often simply has no idea of disabilities, or even how to answer the phone, or return a phone call, let alone solve problems. My family have been carers for over 27 years of a daughter with a very severe disability.
Hope has turned to despair at the NDIS.
It has changed our problems, not solve them. Politicians of all persuasions should be properly informed before singing the praises of the NDIS and listen to real-life experiences.
Sue Ferris, Deloraine.
The Dying of Launceston
I HAVE lived in Launceston for 42 years.
Launceston Brisbane Street was a thriving shopping centre with everything you would want in a shopping centre and people just came in to socialise and enjoy the atmosphere.
The elderly made it a place to come and meet friends and have lunch or morning tea.
The shops were full of life and mothers with children enjoying meeting up with friends and doing their shopping.
It was alive.
There were toilets nearby, and lots of choices of places to eat, for example, Myers, Coles, Monaghans, Fitzgeralds and lots more places.
I'm sorry to say Brisbane Mall is dead.
No places to shop, no close by toilets, nowhere to eat except Morty's.
Geradine Hodgetts, Prospect Vale.
Old Growth Forests Still Falling in Tasmania
KELLY Wilton's letter about forests in Tasmania is factually incorrect (The Examiner, October 3). In it, she states that Sustainable Timbers Tasmania (STT) doesn't log old-growth trees, that they stopped the practice three years ago.
This is entirely untrue and STT will tell you this themselves. Sustainable Timbers Tasmania continues to log old-growth trees right across the island. They have stopped the practice of clear-felling coupes containing more than 25 per cent of mapped old-growth in one fell swoop, preferring to do it in stages but ultimately reducing the number of old-growth forests on our island each year.
There are more than 5000 hectares of old-growth forests contained within the current three-year plan, including in places that many in Launcestonians dearly love such as the forests near Ben Lomond National Park and the Blue Tier. In an era of climate and extinction crisis, our leaders in industry and government need to be ruling out the practices that led us here.
Danny Carney, South Hobart.
Extinction Rebellion
THIS week climate protests around the globe are being reported in the media.
Local residents may come across Extinction Rebellion actions in Launceston. I am a part of this group.
Some may believe the situation is not too bleak. In one sense, I don't have an opinion. But I do know what the huge consensus of scientists say.
We are facing a daunting catastrophe of our own making and our current actions, despite what politicians say, are still heading us in the wrong direction.
Extinction Rebellion gets no pleasure from disrupting our city and we seek to minimise it.
Thirty years of talking has done nothing. It would be unethical of us if we did not do all we can to get your attention.
We demand that our politicians tell the truth about our climate emergency and immediately take action to decarbonise our economy with a just transition put in place. Please join us in the rebellion.
Jeff McKinnon, Punchbowl.