COST OF RENTAL CARS
IF Uber can unceremoniously walk in and set up shop so successfully in the taxi industry, as it has, then what is to prevent ordinary Tasmanians with a spare vehicle handy setting up a nice little earner as a rental car provider?
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A very attractive financial proposition if you can charge anything near those established firms who are asking more than $500 per day for a five-seater, run of the mill SUV during the upcoming holiday season.
Airbnb invaded the hotel/motel accommodation scene without any problems; Uber's proliferation on the roads is ever present, so why not use the old hack in the garage to rake in dollars when the tourists come a callin' in the months ahead?
Better still, get a good used car from a reputable dealer and let the tourists pay for it with their rent.
The serious side of this is that the astronomical cost of rental cars due to lack of supply in relation to holiday-period demand is a serious deterrent to tourists considering Tasmania as a destination for their disposable incomes.
Noel Christensen, Punchbowl.
LOGGING AND TOURISM
THE last thing tourists want to see are log trucks everywhere and what suss timber has destroyed.
Rosalyn Newton, Prospect.
TASSIE ASHES TEST MATCH
WHAT sort of state do we live in when Gutwein wants to underwrite a cricket Test match with $1 million while some Tasmanians don't have a home, and have to live in tents, cars etc?
Michael Robinson, Beauty Point.
CASHLESS DEBIT CARD
I NOTE Frank Giles' letter (The Examiner, November 9) warning pensioners about the cashless debit card.
Sadly, Mr Giles has believed the fake news being peddled by Lyons Labor MHR Brian Mitchell and his ilk.
I'd like to enlighten your readers on the facts of this matter.
Mr Mitchell has published a number of misinformed Facebook posts recently, insinuating pensioners will be forced into using the cashless debit card, using aged pensioners in Cape York communities as his evidence.
Mr Mitchell is omitting the fact that pensioners in these communities volunteered to use the card.
During recent Senate Estimates hearings, the Department of Social Services confirmed that they have never provided advice to the government in relation to requiring age pensioners to be placed on the cashless debit card.
And Minister for Families and Social Services, Senator Ruston further clarified in relation to the trial sites that "700 people have voluntarily moved on to the cashless debit card, some will be aged pensioners".
The Morrison Government has already voted to protect aged pensioners, we voted with Senators Lambie and Patrick to do that last year.
Mr Mitchell is misinterpreting the facts and misinforming the people of Lyons, who he claims to represent, in the process.
Mr Giles should be assured that the Morrison Government will never force aged pensioners onto the cashless debit card.
Don't believe the Labor lies.
Senator Wendy Askew, Liberal Senator for Tasmania.
THE GREAT FUEL PRICE GOUGE
WE hear daily that people believe they are being gouged on fuel prices, and quite frankly we are.
A quick internet check shows that in 2011 the crude oil price was $102.56 average per barrel, but petrol average $1.33 per litre. In 2012 crude was $101.9 and petrol was $1.43.
Now in 2021 crude is around the $80 to $82 mark per barrel, but petrol has sky-rocketed to between $1.80 and $1.90.
They keep saying that it's the price of importing that adds to the cost, but I would love to own the ships that are charging 40-50 cents a litre to transport it.
Ken Terry, Bridport.
LAUNCESTON PARKING METERS
IN (The Examiner, November 7) it was reported that a complaint by Ms Hoy was brought to council regarding the extra-large amount for our new ugly and difficult to use parking meters. Ms Hoy, like myself, fell a bit more research and shopping around would have reduced the more than $1 million council is spending. Ms Hoy asked: Was there any thought into putting these blue monstrosities in and how the majority would about using them? Given chief executive Michael Stretton meandered on about solar power and street infrastructure, I would say the answer would be a resounding no.
Ron Baines, Kings Meadows.
CLIMATE CHANGE REFUGEES
ED Sianski (The Examiner, November 3) is concerned that rising sea levels, caused by climate change, threaten our Pacific neighbours and countries such as Bangladesh.
He clearly accepts much of the hyperbole presented by alarmist material in parts of the media.
There have been some significant scientific studies utilising satellite data over many years that show fears are unfounded.
Two such studies report:
- Over past decades, atoll islands exhibited no widespread sign of physical destabilisation in the face of sea-level rise. A re-analysis of available data, which cover 30 Pacific and Indian Ocean atolls including 709 islands, reveals that no atoll lost land area and that 88.6 per cent of islands were either stable or increased in area, while only 11.4 per cent contracted.
- Satellite images show that three quarters of the islands in Tuvalu are growing rather than shrinking.
Further, global sea level has been rising at about 3mm per decade since at least the mid-1800s, and data show there has been only minor recent acceleration.
Facts, as always, are critical in debating climate and any changes associated with it.
David Houghton, Evandale.
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