A BULLDOZER'S MENTALITY
BULLDOZERS have played a major role in building almost every Australian industrial, agricultural, transport, forestry and mining projects that benefit our entire community and economy. Examples, Snowy Hydro, Ord River dam and irrigation scheme, roads, rail, mines, airports and so on.
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As Scott Morrison has found, there are also situations where the dozer needs to move obstructions. To get the job done and to his credit, he has been prepared to take similar action when necessary.
Lindsay Millar, Hillwood.
TARGETING ARCHER UNFAIR
"IS the ACL on a candidate smear campaign or telling the truth?", Vanessa Cheng, Australian Association of Christian Schools (The Examiner, May 16).
It's appalling that Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer is being attacked by mainland organisations for standing up for Tasmania.
The Canberra-based Australian Christian Lobby is leafleting Bass with the message that Ms Archer is a threat to Christianity.
Now, the Canberra-based Association of Christian Schools says she is an enemy of religious freedom (The Examiner, May 16).
What did she do to deserve this?
She voted against the override of Tasmania's gold-standard Anti-Discrimination Act by the Morrison government's religious discrimination bill. That bill would have taken away Tasmanian anti-bullying protections that are particularly important for people with disability, as well as discrimination protections for teachers in faith-based schools.
Ms Archer also voted for Tasmania's strong discrimination protections to be adopted nationally, including protections for LGBTIQA+ students in faith-based schools.
Finally, she voted against the religious discrimination bill because it would have allowed more discrimination, not less.
On most of these issues, Labor, the Greens and many Liberals voted the same way as Ms Archer. The campaign against Ms Archer seems futile when there is cross-party support for Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Act.
Rodney Croome, President, Equality Tasmania.
NEGATIVE ELECTION ADVERTISING
THE first laws to be passed by the new federal government should be a ban on all negative advertising about the other parties, and to increase the time before the election with no advertising to three years. The voting public would be very happy with these laws.
John Elcomb, Trevallyn.
ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
ONE of the most disturbing elements of this election campaign is the refusal by Scott Morrison to commit to an ICAC hearing.
It would appear that he is fully aware of the appalling level of good decision-making among his government ministers and that should an ICAC be held, then his government would in all probability fall. This is not to say that the ALP doesn't have its share of black sheep, but they would pale into insignificance compared with Morrison's lot.
But something has to be done, otherwise, Australia risks going down the path of the horror stories emanating out of America every day, where democracy is in its final stages of decline, thanks in no small part to the Donald Trump controlled supreme court.
And heaven forbid we ever go that way.
Brian Lee, Riverside.
DECLINING FAITH IN DEMOCRACY
DESPITE his promises, Scott Morrison failed to deliver a corruption watchdog.
Instead, he spent his entire term on a toothless ICAC model, "designed to protect parliamentarians and senior public servants from investigation" - Stephen Charles AQ QC. Trust in politics has fallen to crisis levels with a declining faith in democracy itself.
This PM is an accused bully, slow to act or missing in action when it comes to the bushfires, the floods, COVID masks, vaccinations, RATs, climate change and more. In effect, we all did it without him so why keep him there? As a former Tasmanian Young Liberal, our federal Liberals are a drain on the public purse and just here to look after themselves. Cronyism in relation to appointments to a government agency (the AAT) has risen from six in 100 under John Howard to two in five under this government.
Morrison is happy to blame everyone or anything else. Can a leopard change its spots? Not this one.
Clive Stott, Grindelwald.
UNAPPEALING MAY 21 CHOICE
THE Liberals warn us not to trust Mr Albanese as he is an unknown. Scott Morrison says he is reinventing himself from being a "bulldozer", after the election. Does that then mean we can no longer know or trust Mr Morrison? With this information, the conclusion would be to vote for neither of them.