WHO ASKED FOR E-SCOOTERS?
SO now we may be having e-scooters in Hobart and Launceston.
In the latter city we already have animals in the mall to the detriment of pedestrians.
Now we have the prospect of people hooning along our rather narrow streets on scooters.
No doubt if there are casualties, our city manager will say it's in attention by those hits.
Who will buy these scooters?
Will it be the long-suffering ratepayers or taxpayers?
Who will cough up for medical treatment should the need arrive and which smart alec decided that they are something we desperately need?
Our councils could spend the money better by cleaning up the CBD and making parking cheaper or free, but I guess in the case of Launceston they have to get their $1 million back from installing meters, that people need instructions on how to use.
Glennis Sleurink, Launceston.
NBN blowout deepens legacy of waste
Documents kept secret till this week reveal the cost of key elements of the Liberals' National Broadband Network to be three times higher than what they told Australians.
The Liberals said they would deliver a "multi-technology mix" NBN for $29.5 billion, compared to Labor's full-fibre $53 billion version. Now, it turns out the Liberals' version has so far cost $57 billion.
If the Liberals had kept Labor's original NBN they would have saved money and delivered a better service.
But the Liberals have managed to spend more to deliver an NBN that does less.
And yet we keep being told the Liberals are "better economic managers". For years the Liberals have been desperate to keep the truth of this scandal from the public.
FOI requests have been knocked back and officials have refused to answer questions.
Now, the documents reveal: Rolling out copper has cost three times more than originally forecast; the copper-based fibre-to-the-node rollout cost $2330 per premises, nearly four times more than the $650 the Liberals claimed; using pay-TV cables to deliver the "multi-technology mix" cost $2752 per premises, more than three times the $850 the Liberals claimed; and Liberal analysis in 2013 costed building full-fibre networks at $4777 per premises, despite recent NZ reports estimating a full-fibre build at $2598.
The Liberals want us to forget about this multibillion-dollar scandal. They just want us to move on, but that's not good enough.
Australians have a right to be angry at the lies and the mistakes. Labor warned the Liberals they were making a huge mistake, and we were right. This expensive mess should never have happened.
After eight years of Liberal government the NBN is slower than it should be, areas still aren't serviced, there are towns on satellite that should be on fixed wireless and suburbs on fixed wireless that should be on fibre. The Liberals have made a mess of the NBN and our economy is paying the price as we scramble to catch up with international competitors that have invested properly in fibre-based broadband and which are now rocketing ahead.
There is a consistent theme here.
Whether it's building national quarantine, securing vaccines on time, funding public housing, caring for older Australians, training apprentices or providing broadband, the only thing you can count on Scott Morrison to deliver is failure.
- Brian Mitchell is federal Labor Member for Lyons and is a member of the federal parliament's Joint Standing NBN Committee.
IT APPEARS OPINIONS DIFFER
IT APPEARS as though at least 180 Tasmanian tourism and other businesses beg to differ with Nick Steel's opinion that "Tasmania's forestry industry doesn't damage the Tasmanian brand" (The Examiner, November 10).
For so many local businesses to put their names to an open letter calling for an end to native forest logging suggests they are deeply concerned forestry practices are anything but complementary to tourism-based businesses.
Many Tasmanians would agree with them.
It's safe to say tourism employs considerably more people now than forestry does, and it's also safe to say that many of those tourists who visit Tasmania come here to experience our unique native and old growth forests, and want to see them standing tall and intact.
READ MORE: Local Government wants change to Act
Science has shown that upright and intact forests are of crucial importance in combating climate change.
They are also of crucial importance for biodiversity.
Global markets have been demanding timber is sourced only from plantations for years.
Mr Steel's comments about Tasmania's specialty timbers will probably also ring hollow with craftspeople.
When I bought a magnificently crafted piece of sassafras at the Deloraine Craft Fair recently, I was told how fortunate I was, because sassafras is now increasingly rare and hard to get hold of, mainly due to forestry's destructive methods.
Forestry has been the subject of controversy for decades for good reason, not least for its failure to turn a profit without regular injections of taxpayer funding.
It's time for Mr Steel to recognise forestry must change its business model, end the logging of our native forests and instead respect, protect and conserve these precious natural assets.
Save the logging for our plantation estates.
