Are we then to assume that investors in solar panels and wind turbines have not done any research into the viability of a return from their investment.

Despite a major reduction in the price that Aurora pay to purchase excess power produced from our solar panels it still produces an, albeit, a minor credit.

Imagine if every house had solar panels how much this would reduce the need for power generated by this government's pet industries, coal producers, while the government continues to deny climate nothing will change.

A Carter, Mowbray.

"IT'S not wage theft. It's the complicated industrial relations system.

It's unfair language and a continual attack by Labor on business" Michael Bailey's (The Examiner, February 20).

Usually a sure footed and fair minded response to business and employee relations has failed him on this matter.

Coles is not a small business. They and the likes of Bunnings, Woolworths and Rockpool have considerable means to implement fair and accurate payroll and IR software.

Even small businesses who use off the shelf packages like MYOB are regularly serviced with updates.

Yes they can still make mistakes so not every business is implicated.

Nonetheless too many are and wage theft is an entirely appropriate term for their behaviour.

What has made working life far more complicated and unaccountable is the gig economy and a lack of transparency and accountability.

"No one wants workers to be underpaid" is simply not true.

Particularly when it comes to franchises and those on work visas.

We were a country that could once make and buy Holdens and own our homes.

Now it is all self regulation and get away with what you can.

Suppressing wages and defrauding employees whilst expecting retail sales to rise is nothing short of the magic pudding like thinking that passes for government policy these days.

Tony Newport, Hillwood.

PETER Manning's recent public lecture on the Middle East at the University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, was a very informative and contemplative one.

It demonstrated the aforesaid university's very important role and responsibility to a free exchange of ideas.

To raise questions of public importance, and to contribute to an informed and inclusive society.

Kenneth Gregson, Swansea.

WILL Badcock's letter (The Examiner, February 16) highlights a point often overlooked regarding a Northern prison. That is, any jobs remain available if a prison is sited slightly further away from Westbury and other small towns.

Businesses and residents concerned about the current site are simply calling for a better site, to avoid socio-economic risks to any small town while retaining any benefits.

Surveys of 28 Westbury business owners showed that none thought a prison at the current site was positive for them.

These businesses, and the WRAP group, are not calling for "no prison"; that's a tired myth. They're calling only for a more appropriate site. That way businesses, residents and the government can all be satisfied. Any jobs remain. Although, with media reports of Risdon officers describing a toxic culture of bullying by bosses, and insultingly low wages, the question regarding jobs in a prison may be "who wants to fill them?".

R Donaldson, Hobart.

IT IS not without great irony that Scott Grisman (The Examiner, February 15) states that "none of us should believe the web of disinformation being spun around us by those ..." who support a Northern prison near Westbury, when Mr Grisman himself makes so many false and unsubstantiated claims it almost defies belief.

He describes the proposed prison as being a mega prison when it clearly is not. A mega prison is the one being built near Grafton that will hold over 1700 inmates, whereas the Northern prison will hold 270.

Mr Grisman also states that wherever there is a jail near a small town that town is "rundown, neglected and riddled with crime", however, he provides not a single example of that.

It also flies in the face of the documented fact that regional towns across Australia bid against each other to have prisons built in their area as it provides jobs and economic stimulus and there is no evidence that supports Mr Grisman's claims.

Geoff McLean, Launceston.

TODAY'S editorial is a breath of fresh air (The Examiner, February 24). Thanks for saying what needs to be heard. Building more prisons means the government is expecting more crime. If half the present prison population has a drug or alcohol problem, we should spend the $270 million on services outside prison, and half empty Risdon now.

Heather Donaldson, Westbury.