Perhaps in the promissory frenzy, Mr Gutwein would like to tell the Tasmanian people how much the Marinus project would cost in total.

Perhaps once this figure is known, Mr Gutwein and Mr Barnett could tell us who will own the Marinus project, and how, in the light of the government's backing for private green energy companies, the Marinus project would remain part of state-owned Hydro Tasmania?

I MUST apologise to our Climate Change Minister, Peter Gutwein, for misunderstanding the meaning of this weighty title.

I now realise our premier takes his role very seriously. He encourages the clearance of old growth forests, developments that impinge on ecologically sensitive areas and many more activities that are so important in advancing climate change.

Premiers of other states (even without such a title) are also doing their bit. Throughout the nation enthusiastic governments encourage clearing of forested areas, fracking for gas, endorse new coal mines and discourage electric vehicles.

With such a determined effort by governments to advance climate change, we can look forward to much more excitement from massive floods and fires, and other extreme events in the not too distant future.

I BELIEVE the Prime Minister when he said his attack on Christine Holgate was not gender based. Scott Morrision was doing what all good/bad politicians do in times that his party, his people, are under attack - create a diversion. He did this [with Ms Holgate] with the bonus of presenting an illusion about him being interested in the little people [by attacking a CEO].

The CEO in question was a barrier to privatisation plans and she was not a member of his tribe, so a perfectly satisfactory scapegoat. Morrison's parliamentary performance was entirely an artificially-affected act, conjured anger and an outrage disconnected from his previous behavior with regards the misdoings of his own people.

As I recall, at least one other scandal was on foot at the time, his colleague, the New South Wales premier needed a distraction from her own far more serious lapses of moral judgement.

LAUNCESTON has been fortunate to have hosted the Australian under-18 hockey tournament at St Leonards.

The value to the economy of Launceston and surrounds would have been very welcome in these COVID-19 times.

Unfortunately the facilities are tired and need upgrading, so this will probably be the last time Launceston hosts a major hockey tournament, unless work is urgently done.

I call upon the candidates for the upcoming election to support this project.

DREDGING is just one technique that can be used as part of estuary restoration and can also be used as an operational maintenance method. It has been used in the past and is currently permitted for use by Southern Marine Shiplift.

Raking and prop washing are also possible in certain locations. The idea that dredging is not a silver bullet to the full suite of problems facing the Tamar estuary is understood - and no one is claiming it is.

The Tamar Estuary Management Taskforce's report on sediment solutions is now overdue from it's "first quarter 2021" delivery, and not to mention it being three years plus since the submissions it is reviewing were made. So far, all Launceston has had regarding sediment management is a marketing line - "learn to love the mud".

No, the city needs to learn to manage the mud using long term, science based techniques. Stuck in an eddy of indecision, we must now return to dredging maintenance as an interim fix while larger, rational, long term and science based programs are developed and commissioned.

HISTORY, science and commonsense says the only way to fix the mud in the Tamar River is to remove it. So well done to Peter Gutwein for committing $4 million over two years for Tamar River dredging (The Examiner, April 11). The fact is under normal conditions silt can't escape from the upper sections of the Tamar. Silt in fresh water sinks when it meets saltwater and in the Tamar the incoming tide is stronger than the outgoing tide.

Only a major flood can push silt past Rosevears and over time the stronger incoming tide brings it back. Mud in the Tamar has been a problem for Launcestonians since the beginning of European occupation, and well before the Trevallyn Dam. Dredging of the upper reaches of the river was conducted by the Launceston Marine Board from the 1890s until the 1960s when the Port of Launceston moved to Bell Bay.

Addressing all the other long-term issues associated with the river, such as reducing upstream erosion, improving water quality and flood protection, are important and have been or are being addressed. But the only way to fix the mud is to remove it.