STATUES EARNED THEIR STRIPES
LEAVE the mall statues be.
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They are interesting, historical and aesthetically pleasing.
I am sick of the minority running everything down and council running scared in case they are sued.
They are no more a hazard than any other structure in the mall.
What a huge fuss about nothing.
Sherry Avery, Gravelly Beach.
SLOW ROAD TO SAFETY
TASMANIA does not have dedicated freeways and has many narrow winding roads.
In line with other states such as Victoria and NSW, speeds in Tasmania could all be reduced by 10km/h to see if it accidents decrease.
Please RoadsTas, tourists will love it, and people and animals will be safer.
Annabel Richards, Somers.
DO YOU WANT OUR BUSINESS?
TWELVE months ago, I organised a golf trip to your wonderful state.
Sixteen of us are due to fly into King Island on December 9, and then out of Barnbougle on December 12. Five are coming from the Northern Territory, three from Queensland, and the remainder from Victoria.
We are all fully vaccinated and happy to obtain a COVID test prior to our departure.
I would estimate between the 16 of us, we would be spending in the vicinity of $80,000.
Unfortunately, the Victorian Government - and all the Labor governments, for that matter - have taken a sledgehammer approach to COVID measures, and the current case numbers in Victoria are a clear example of it not working.
Surely our example is one that could be used as a test case. If the staff at the golf courses and places of accommodation are fully vaccinated and we all present with a recent negative COVID test, then surely the risk versus reward is heavily in favour of the people running those golf courses and restaurants.
The one-size-fits-all approach is not one that is sustainable into the future.
Tasmania has a wonderful opportunity to grab a big piece of the travellers' pie that Queensland and WA do not want.
The question is, are you willing to take it?
Craig Berry, Victoria.
DESTRUCTION UNSUSTAINABLE
HOW ingenious of the Gutwein government to be able to convince itself that the continued destruction of our native forests is good for the benefit of climate change.
A government spokesperson says the government ''won't be decimating our sustainable native timber harvesting sector'', and that it ''takes a balanced approach'' towards the logging of our native forests, yet continues with the destruction of our threatened/endangered orange-bellied parrot and swift parrot habitat.
Once again Tasmania's public forestry enterprise, the so-called Sustainable Timber Tasmania recently failed, after numerous attempts, to obtain Forest Stewardship Council certification.
This was because of its continued failure to protect the swift parrot and orange-bellied parrot habitat, and the improper harvesting of old growth forests, as well as numerous other failures.
It is way past time that Sustainable Timber Tasmania changed its name to a more appropriate name such as Unsustainable Timber Tasmania.
K Thomas, Launceston.
LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY
PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has complained of the "lack of accountability" for tech giants who allow anonymous trolls to post abuse and libel.
He said: "Social media has become a coward's palace, where people can just go on there, not say who they are, destroy people's lives and say the most foul and offensive things to people, and do so with impunity." (Crikey, October 8).
So what would you call politicians, who hide behind parliamentary privilege, who cherry-pick stats, who take money from donors to distort the law in favour of vested interests over the public interest?
Politicians who make ideological claims without evidence, who tell one group one thing and another something different, who delay resourcing of health, disability services, social security, and then claim fiscal good management and budget surplus?
Politicians who allow water theft, who spread misinformation about climate change and who refuse to have an independent corruption investigation body? The list goes on and on and on.
M Fyfe, Riverside.
DONORS DAMAGE DEMOCRACY
IN RESPONSE to Alan Leitch's ludicrous claim that minor parties and Independents are jealous of the Liberal Party, and need to attract more donors (The Examiner, October 7), it would seem he has a worrying understanding of the true meaning of democracy.
A healthy democracy is not a commodity that can be bought and sold.
It is, or should be, a government made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds and experience who are elected to office because they wish to serve their community.
It was never intended to be a career.
If our democracy has sunk to the level where candidates from major parties expect to receive hefty financial donations from businesses or people to get elected, then the system has broken.
The community must also realise that legislation passed by candidates elected to office on the back of such financial generosity may not be entirely unbiased.
Donors after all generally expect a return on their generosity. It's certainly time for political donation reform to occur.
How much fairer then for elections to be publicly funded, with strict and enforceable limits on candidate expenditure.
The benefits would be significant.
It would create a much fairer system for everyone and could also encourage a greater diversity of candidates from various backgrounds to consider standing for office.