As a person at the coal face of educating pre-service teachers in various units, I know that claim is completely false.

It also denigrates those who do four years of hard study and practical experiences to become HPE teachers. There is no shortage of wonderfully talented emerging early childhood/primary teachers.

However, the main problem occurs once they graduate and have to secure employment in the public school system as teachers.

Many of them end up on short-term contracts that means they get no income for periods of non-teaching time, and in particular at the cessation of term four.

The lack of job security is a significant contributor for qualified, and very talented teachers leaving the profession.

PREMIER Peter Gutwein has done a great thing in calling the bluff of the AFL.

As he said, we are going to see how much they really value their Tasmanian fans.

What makes his move so beautiful is the potential it shows for his leadership: if he is willing to stand up for the general benefit of the Tasmanian population, and negotiate with business instead of facilitating them, we could have good government back in action.

For far too long, those who should be representing us seem to think that they are there for the other party: the Federal Group with its pokies deal, Daniel Hackett with his plans to develop Lake Malbena.

Heads of government departments forget who they work for and roll over like supplicant puppies, negotiating with all the finesse of a drunk seafarer.

Bring on the new era, Mr Gutwein.

We, your real bosses, are impressed.

IN Victor Marshall's view the opinions of the presenters on Sky News are those of the extreme right wing and we are better off not to watch them (The Examiner, August 13).

I argue that the same could be said of some of the shows on the ABC, which have a very left-wing bias.

Every person has a right to form their own opinions, and those of us with a fair bit of life experience will realise that to follow any extreme views will only cause trouble, and to say certain opinions must be suppressed is the way to totalitarian dictatorships.

I don't always agree with the things I see on TV, but I would like the chance to watch what I want and form my own opinions.

WITH the dual retirements of Hawthorn's coach Alastair Clarkson and long-time player Shaun Burgoyne, the situation has a certain deja vu with the simultaneous retirements of Essendon's long time coach Kevin Sheedy and captain James Hird at the end of AFL season 2007.

OBVIOUSLY the federal government hasn't viewed evacuating Afghans who assisted Australian trios in Afghanistan as a race, either.

Appalling, what does this government actually stand for?

What has happened to care, compassion, vision and conviction?

I AM compelled to address the quotation: "We still need to eat, we still need to build things. So you would expect construction, retail, food retail and others to remain open". That is outrageously specious.

Yes, we all need to eat, but no one (in individual, existential terms) needs to buy anything other than basic food - not meals or anything else. And construction? Why is that necessary? This nonsense needs to be called out. It's not OK to distort reality and conflate logically separate things.

IN (The Examiner, July 31) it was revealed that any compulsory acquisition of the area generally referred to as Birchalls car park was out of the question, at this time anyway.

It was mainly due to a legal stoush between two companies. Further on, mayor Albert van Zetten states that the council was eager to see a strategic higher-order use for the site as soon as possible.That statement puts the motorist and their passengers who bring in considerable revenue both to any business in the area, including council, very firmly in their places as being unworthy of any consideration. This is from the state government who will allow an interest-free loan and City of Launceston council who are getting too big for their boots. Councillors don't care about parking. RIP to our CBD.

IT IS to be hoped that pharmacist Anne Todd (The Examiner, August 14) reads her scripts better than she reads my opinion piece, which clearly encouraged people to be vaccinated, yet was willing to respect the rights of those that don't want to or can't be vaccinated. As to her worrying suggestion that discussion of personal liberty is "petty", it is noted that diverse sources including trade unions, churches, the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Premiers Palaszczuk and Berejiklian have all expressed similar type reservations as my own.

Indeed, the Prime Minister has ruled out compulsion which I welcome. Any immunisation undertaken by a pharmacist can only be administered if valid consent is given, which requires the absence of undue pressure and coercion.