Midland Highway
I CAN'T, for the love of me, understand why after trying for years to make the Midland Highway safe for the quick transit of goods and people would anyone suggest adding cyclists to the mix?
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With the 1.5 metre rule in Tasmania you basically would have all the motor vehicles driving in such a manner as to be using the safety zone next to the totally unnecessary centre line "safety" wire rope barrier (which has effectively reduced a four lane highway to three in most places). Relatively high speed transit roads are not the place for generally over-loaded, slow moving touring bicycles and just adds to the animosity of all road users, the cyclists included.
To suggest an idea shows that someone hasn't thought all the ramifications through, half-baked ideas only promote needless debate.
Ken Terry, Bridport.
Government incompetence
I'VE seen many PMs over the years but few as clueless and incompetent as Scott Morrison. What kind of idiot goes to Hawaii in a catastrophic bushfire crisis?
And when I saw him in Cobargo, to me it was proof he is unfit to lead this country. I would say he has to resign, but who else is there? I held my nose and voted Liberal in the last election, not next time for sure.
Albo at least seems like a decent chap with brains in his head.
Michael McCarten, Mosman.
Premiership contest
VERY disappointed that Jeremy Rockliff did not contest the leadership of the Tasmanian Parliamentary Liberal Party and inherent premiership.
Mr Rockliff will be deputy premier in Peter Gutwein's successful bid to be Premier, they were nearly up against the Christian right-wing faction represented by Michael Ferguson, with a perceived southern balance in the form of Elise Archer as his deputy candidate. Unfortunately, the state of Tasmania will be deprived of a potentially decent leader with values commensurate to the position of Premier.
Kenneth Gregson, Swansea.
Reliable Electricity
ALL advanced countries have reliable power; all poor countries do not. Go figure.
Until the electricity market deals mainly with producers able to supply 24/7 we'll flounder with band-aid solutions like NEG etc and ignorant folk will believe misinformation like solar and wind produce cheap electricity. Likewise there has to be market pricing influence to discourage carbon emissions - and it's not too early to start planning for the disposal of solar panels all of which have relatively short working lives.
Gordon Thurlow, Launceston
Parliament Numbers
GREENS leader Cassy O'Connor wants the numbers restored to parliament, along with other MP's including Robin Gray and Michael Polley.
Apparently they say the talent pool is quite shallow. Last time this was brought up the government said an additional 10 parliamentarians was a detracting factor, cost $6.5 million. Breaking news, it still is, unless the 40 per cent pay increase they received for extra work is declared null and void and their salaries reduced accordingly.
Sounds fair to me.
Ron Baines, Kings Meadows.
The Prime Minister and Climate Change
PETER Doddy eulogises the Prime Minister's actions regarding the bushfires (The Examiner, January 15).
Yet a closer examination of Mr Morrison's response paints a different picture.
When he writes that Morrison acted immediately on advice given, showing true leadership this seems a tad optimistic when one considers that, when treasurer in 2017, he axed funding to a climate change adaptation research body thereby reducing that funding from $55 million to just $600,000 which, according to the then director, Jean Palutikof, had left Australia 'not well positioned' to deal with fires nor the silent killer of drought and other global heating impacts. Mr Morrison reacted to expert advice concerning potentially catastrophic bushfires along the East Coast by going on a secret holiday to Hawaii where photographs of him sipping mai tais didn't sit well with those who had just lost their homes and/ or family members in the disastrous fires.
Whether it be creative accountancy regarding emission levels or the government's continued generosity to fossil-fuel industries, few in government address what is now the most serious cataclysm Australia has ever had to face. We still have time to try and avert the scale of this disaster, but we must respond as we would in an emergency.
The question is, can we muster the best of our humanity in time and will Morrison and his fellow travellers accept the science and do the right thing by the by the country?
On the evidence produced so far I seriously doubt it.
Dave Robinson, Newstead.
National Security Risk
THE biggest national security risk that Australia faces is our dependence on fuel from the Middle East. If this supply line was to be cut we would be in big trouble. We need electric cars, trucks and tractors urgently, preferably powered by renewable energy. In his hopeful book Super Power, Ross Garnaut has outlined Australia's great low-carbon opportunity.
Even if climate change will not move our governments to speed up the transition to 100 per cent renewable power, surely our vulnerability to disruption of our oil supply should persuade them.
Bob Elliston, Bruny Island.