FEDERAL CONUNDRUM
YOUR editorial (The Examiner, March 25) regarding the temptation for Premier Peter Gutwein to call an early election in May is well reasoned but there are more subtle undercurrents at play across the nation.
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Incumbency will help the Premier as it did in the recent elections in Western Australia, but having lived there for more than 20 years the problem there is also structural in that its demographic is very narrow and diminishing.
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That is the Liberal Party is run and controlled by the "bunyip aristocracy".
Old and older members from suburbs like Cottesloe whereas the demographic of the Labor Party is a broader and younger one.
The other force at play in the forthcoming state election is the malaise in the federal Liberal Party and its misogynistic nature.
While there are some very good female ministers for example the former foreign minister Julie Bishop, female members of parliament are there more for show to be trotted out for display whenever the question of female representation in the Liberal Party is raised.
The recent allegations that have been raised by a female staffer, and its denial, at the federal level and more recently at a state level concerning the speaker and a senator highlights a deep-seated malaise in the Liberal Party at both a state level and the federal level.
There is the possibility of some cross-pollination of anger amongst female voters and male voters that could affect the election.
Roger Oliver, St Helens.
BEHAVIOUR IS TERRIBLE
ON A scale of one to 10, what's the difference between the man putting his feet on the desk of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the pornographic filming from the table in our House of Parliament.
In America, it's called an act of treason and insurrection from the outside.
IN OTHER NEWS:
In Australia, it's called a culture of boys will be boys on the inside.
Prime Minister and all of us need to be quick in the wake up, and the shake up, lest rabid failure of common decency, comes further towards violating us all.
Helen Tait, Launceston.
THANK YOU FROM THE HEART
TO THE lady who helped me on March 16 at the traffic lights in Newstead. I was stuck in the middle of the crossing in my wheelchair.
I'd like to thank the lady for helping me cross the road when my prosthetic leg fell off. It was deeply appreciated, due to the fact you may have needed to be somewhere else yet you still stopped to help me.
It was very nice and I thank you very much as no one else had stopped
Paul Wells, Launceston.
US-CHINA TALKS & CLIMATE
I NOTICE that the US and China are in trade talks and also negotiating on matters such as North Korea and climate change.
I hope that despite their problems with trade, cyber attacks etc, they can come to some agreement on climate change control.
This is awkward for the US as it wants to be the top world empire but helping China to transition to a low carbon economy it could be making China stronger.
One economist expects around 200 million Chinese to move from the regions and into the cities over the next 10 years so one can imagine the increase in CO2 emissions unless China transforms its energy systems to low carbon ones.
Together the US and China were producing about 35 per cent of the world CO2 emissions before the COVID epidemic took hold so they're working together to reduce their emissions over the next 10 years is a must.
Theo Bakker, Norwood.
GLOVER PRIZE GENDER BALANCE
IN reply to Helen Vaughan's letter (The Examiner, March 29), women not becoming finalists and winning is rather amusing to me seeing that the organisers go out of their way to bring in two female and one male judge nearly every year.
It is the judges who select the finalists and the winner.
When I look at the artists work, I am looking at the actual artwork and not the artist's gender.
An example of the ratio in 2019 was 26 female finalists to 16 male.
There has always been a lot of women involved in the actual running of the Glover over the years, in the committee, the judges and the curator have always been a female since its inception in 2004.
Helen also fails to mention the fact that women have their art prizes around Australia, that are only open to females.
No male can enter. Now that is blatant sexism, isn't it? The Glover has always been female inclusive.
Paul Becker, Launceston.
A DESTRUCTIVE ADDICTION
I WAS very disappointed to hear the major parties opinion supporting pokies and not speaking up about the misery they can cause with some people.
Except for independent MLC Meg Webb who is doing her best and the major parties who appear to not give a damn.
What message can be given as this government takes money from gambling for their election and maybe gives tax relief to a gambling concern in our state?
I will be leaving these parties at the bottom of my selection and am appalled that this continues.
My highest praise for you Ms Webb, we need people to speak up as you do.