Casting the net over targeted communities invariably picks up some white unemployed, allowing the government to use that fact as a shield against racism claims.

The trial of the cards in Tasmania targeted - guess who? - Cape Barren. The cards leave targeted people with as little as $60 cash per week. A day at the footy with a pie would use up most of the cash. A pack of smokes and a beer a week and they are broke. The intention is to get people off welfare by punishing them, and so far it has not worked.

REGARDING family laws, serious offenders who have been put on restraining orders should wear an ankle bracelet tracking device so the police know where they are at all times. This will go a long way in protecting women from serious offenders.

IN RESPONSE to Jack Sonnemann (The Examiner, November 17) questioning why the Australian authorities never stopped any adult from smoking.

Despite the deaths it directly caused, the short answer is the revenue raised for the government that goes into consolidated revenue.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Australians have consistently been told to trust the science and believe in the data.

For some years now the science and data surrounding the use of tobacco unequivocally states, that if you use tobacco products, at best, it will be the cause of some of your health issues.

At worst, it will ultimately be the cause of your premature death.

Therefore, for all intents and purposes, the following question should be asked.

"Is it not both immoral and unethical for the federal government to receive a vast revenue source from the sale of a product that science and data conclusively prove can be deadly?"

One has to get one's priorities right, I suppose. About 50,000 people were allowed to cram into Suncorp Stadium, in Brisbane, to "yell their lungs out" over each other while barracking for a bunch of sweaty blokes fighting over a football in the State of Origin rugby decider between NSW and Queensland. But here in Launceston, the much more sedate, family-oriented and well-spaced annual Carols by Candlelight in City Park, which might attract up to 6000 people, has been cancelled.

So instead of a candle-lit celebration with a "thousand voices" singing the favourite carols, all we'll have this year is a disappointing and dark Silent Night in City Park.

Sleep in heavenly peace Launnie. The last one to bed, turn the Christmas lights off. Sorry about that Jesus, maybe next year.

I REFER to the extraordinary comments made by Peter Doddy, (The Examiner, November 20) about the alleged war crimes by some members of the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan.

Mr Doddy appears to think that illegal killing is acceptable in a war zone.

To kill another human being is murder and these servicemen and women must be held to account.

Killing is never acceptable in any circumstance, not in war zones, not in abortion zones and not in terminally ill zones.

Don't allow Australia to drop into the culture that permits killing in certain circumstances, capital punishment was abolished in 1973, and let's leave it that way.

PETER Doddy is wrong in apologising for the war crimes committed by our military representatives in Afghanistan (The Examiner, November 20).

There was no witch hunt "hell-bent on proving improprieties".

These alleged crimes have come to light through the testimony of soldiers whose moral compass was more properly aligned to our normal society than those of their warrior companions.

The alleged actions were no "heat of battle' impassioned response but cold-blooded killing by highly-trained professionals to support a culture of dominance in the self-centred warrior tribe.

How can we stand up and defend our role in trying to convince a population that the values of our society are more appealing than those of a dominating extremist group when a small group of our representatives behave in the same way?

The brave and courageous people in this situation are those who blew the whistle on their peers.

IT IS ironic to learn about the alleged Australian war crimes on the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials.

The government expresses horror about these allegations.

Considering the government's response to these allegations makes it impossible to comprehend the government's inaction to protect Julian Assange from the USA political witch hunt.

His only crime was to expose American war crimes to the world.