Blood alcohol limit needs review
THE editorial in (The Examiner, July 9) makes the valid point that too many Tasmanians are driving under the influence of alcohol, which is one of the fatal five factors in terms of contributing to driving-related deaths or serious accidents.
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But even if a driver adheres to the requirement to have a blood alcohol level of just under the limit of 0.05 per cent there is still a substantially increased risk of an accident.
Norway has a legal limit of 0.02 per cent blood alcohol content for drivers and, on a per capita basis, has less than half the road fatalities that Australia experiences (108 deaths in Norway compared to 1135 in Australia in 2018, with Norway having about 20 per cent of Australia's population).
It would be appropriate for Australia to follow Norway's lead and reduce our legal limit to 0.02 per cent blood alcohol content.
This would likely lead to hundreds of fewer road-related deaths and thousands of fewer injuries in Australia each year.
Chris Forbes-Ewan, Scottsdale.
Cats need to be desexed
ALL domestic cats should be desexed at three to four months of age unless they are kept by licensed breeders.
Licensed breeders should not be allowed to breed more than a certain number of kittens each year, hopefully, a very low number.
There are always cats at shelters looking for a good home and they are always desexed. Cats are wonderful companions for older people and young ones too and should be appreciated and cared for.
Bunty Jackson, Penguin.
Prison a positive, just build it
I FULLY support the new Northern Regional Prison to be built in either option one or two areas.
The building process and further employment will be good for the area, also allowing better access to prisoners if required or allowed by family members, which in return may help with better rehabilitation and release back into the general public when the time comes. I don't believe it will have a negative impact on the surrounding towns, it just may be positive with extra housing and facility upgrades including better roads, more local employment to build these upgrades and new projects that can be supported by the taxes from the state built prison. I'm sick of all the negative views on what could be a very positive outcome for the Meander Valley municipality.
Berris Atkins, Westbury.
Government trust questioned
IF YOU are banned from buying vegetable seeds, but not cigarettes, it's not about your health. If you are banned from the dentist but not the abortionist, it's not about your health. If you trust the government and it's 81 per cent false positive COVID-19 test results and think that paper masks, more toilet paper and hand soap are going to protect you then it's about your intelligence.
By the way, why hasn't this virus completely wiped out the homeless population?
Jack Sonnemann, Lucaston.
Support pointed out
It is important to me that I again clarify my position on VAD. I support End of Life Choices. I have had so many people ask me about this and it is important to me that my position is clear. I have also never been a member of a political party. I am proudly Independent and support End Life Choices.
Janie Finlay, independent candidate for Rosevears.
A personal experience
MY mother died from Motor Neurone Disease, I sat with her for the last 10 days of her life. She was in a palliative care hospital and asked the doctor to give her a needle to end it all. He was not allowed to carry out her wish. She was unable to swallow as her throat muscles would not work. So the end was very slow from starvation and dehydration. She was not allowed to end her own life peacefully, she was forced to suffer what to her was a horrific death. She was fully aware of what was ahead of her and how she would die. In the view of the Christian lobby, it is up to god to determine when a person dies.
God had determined when my mother died but our medical system wanted to extend that time. Who decides when it is God's will or the doctors will when it comes to leaving the body. Christians believe we are headed for heaven so really what is the problem with dying, it should be celebrated that a person is leaving a painful, decaying body and returning to bliss. Thank you to Mike Gaffney for bringing the matter of Voluntary Assisted Dying to parliament again.
Peter Godfrey, Nunamara.
Eliminate pain rather than patient
UNABLE to cogently deal with the principles concerning the protection of human life John Paull (The Examiner, July 8) resorts to the unfortunate personal and denigration of people of faith to justify his support for state-sanctioned suicide.
Many people who are instinctively drawn to supporting euthanasia nevertheless oppose it on deeper analysis given it is impossible to provide the necessary safeguards.
Amongst them are Paul Keating and Bob Carr; neither of the Christian faith.
Another Labor Senator Patrick Dodson opposes state-sanctioned suicide from the belief system of the Indigenous community. It is hardly a revelation that Australians want to die peacefully, painlessly at a time of their choosing. Wouldn't we all.
The issue is the involvement of a third party facilitating the death of a fellow human.
Care, comfort and support is what a loving society delivers not the irreversible finality of a premature death. Let's eliminate the pain rather than the patient.