'If nothing else our upbeat Prime Minister is consistent' | Letters to the editor, August 29, 2021

According to the latest Resolve Political Monitor poll we do.

Bushfires, sports rorts, car park pork barrelling, mishandling of sexual harassment allegations in his party, continuing mixed messages on lock downs, vaccines and the bungling of the vaccine rollout.

His head is in the sand on a national quarantine solution, reverting to type on Afghanistan and making future refugee intakes from that country a boat people issue, regretting we may not rescue all of those Afghanis who have assisted our soldiers.

The government has had years in some cases to assess claims supported by our soldiers, totally compromised on climate change by Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals.

If nothing else our upbeat PM is a constant - like a winter tomato bright red and shiny and full of summer promise and goodness on the shelf, only to prove tasteless and disappointing on the palate.

Still we keep buying.

WHETHER we're talking Burnie, Hobart or Launceston, public faith in the decisions made by and trust in the actions of our elected councillors, including council senior bureaucrats, are key to the proper functioning and confidence in appropriate governance.

As a former full-time serviceman with the Australian Defence Force, in my humble opinion we are extremely fortunate to have a right to witness and expect good governance, at all levels of government in Australia.

But watching civilian rights unravel in Afghanistan (particularly for young girls and women) reminds us democracy is not a given or a perennial gift from our predecessors.

As citizens, we collectively must continually work to preserve it.

The validation of probity (evidence of ethical behaviour and equity in a particular process) is particularly important in councils fulfilling their statutory obligation as Planning Authority ("Conflicting roles for councils" The Examiner, August 17).

As the principal petitioner calling for an independent parliamentary probity review (of Hobart City Council's actions and decisions over the past decade, in relation to the cable car proposal and its dealings with the proponent) is about shining a light on what has proven to be an extremely time-consuming, costly, emotional and political issue - over a protracted period.

But demonstrating probity means more than just avoiding corrupt or dishonest conduct.

It involves proactively demonstrating that any governance process is robust and the outcome is beyond reproach.

Review findings will inform changes needed to the planning process, state-wide.

If councils are to retain planning decisions, the appointment of external, genuinely-independent probity oversight should be mandated through an amendment to the Local Government Act.

We should stand for nothing less.

So I invite my fellow Tasmanians to consider signing the online Legislative Council petition.

The public can take confidence from the fact the independent member for Murchison, the Honourable Ruth Forrest MLC, has sponsored this petition, given her longstanding call for probity, for all tiers of government.

Tasmanian Adam Poultney joined the ADF in 1991 when he was 18, serving full-time until 2018.

WHILE others like myself are fully vaccinated, it is becoming a real hassle to have to sign in all the time.

There needs to be an authority bill made through Parliament that everyone needs to be vaccinated.

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