Letters to the editor | June 18, 2022

Thus we would have two North-West electorates, Launceston alone, the rest of Bass and in the South, Hobart and southwards, Glenorchy and northwards and all of the Eastern Shore making up three Southern electorates.

To somewhat budget the ledger, I would then reduce the number of municipalities by 10 or thereabouts. All small councils should be incorporated in their neighbourhood, although some changes to boundaries would also be appropriate.

Each disappearing council would save at least the cost of an additional member of Parliament.

Nothing about our present method of governance is set in concrete. It is just up to our state government to have the fortitude to make the changes. New Premier Jeremy Rockliff is displaying the necessary fortitude to bring about these changes.

THE "perfect storm" of weather conditions and "entitled" customer expectations has led to a national outcry at the $10 price tag on a lettuce.

Anyone born before 1970 would remember when summer produce was only available in summer, not the dead of winter, as we now expect it to be.

Let's all calm down, carry on and make do with something else. Or send that $10 to one of the millions going hungry every night and every day in all corners of the world, and in Australia, for that matter.

We reap what we sow, except when we don't.

THURSDAY, June 16 was Clean Air Day and here is something to think about.

"Every single disease that is non-communicable is impacted by air pollution. It is not only involved in worsening diseases but in causing them, and new diseases that would not otherwise occur are happening because of air pollution", according to Sir Stephen Holgate at the National Clean Air Conference in November last year.

No wonder our health system can't cope when we deliberately fill our air with wood heater and forestry smoke.

Wood heaters need to be removed from built-up areas. Tasmania has 100 per cent renewable power. Now is the time to phase out wood heaters and switch to clean electricity.

A generous heater buy-back scheme would allow Launceston to have more than just four hours of 5ug/m3 clean air as was recorded by the EPA recently.

IN her response to the history-making community petition calling for an end to taxpayer funding of dog racing, Racing Minister Ogilvie asserts the industry is critical to the Tasmanian economy.

For goodness sake, if Tasmania's prosperity depends on greyhounds being run to their deaths in the dark of the night we are in a lot more trouble than any of us ever imagined.

Apart from the ethical considerations, which she glibly brushes aside, her comments are scarcely suggestive of a future-focused modern government.

If Big Brother is the best show to put on TV, I think Channel 7 has a very big problem.

The people on the show are loose with their bodies and minds, and the men all look like they need a good haircut, and badly need a bath. It's degrading and disgusting.

I CAN'T believe the AFL believes Tasmania will need to have a new stadium in Hobart before it will even look at giving us our own team.

Don't Premier Jeremy Rockliff and AFL boss Gil McLachlan realise we are heading into very hard times? We have a perfectly good stadium in Launceston that meets AFL standards. We pay the AFL millions of dollars a year for the two AFL clubs to come here. Both get the benefit of local memberships and gate revenue.

Tasmanians are starting to walk away from the AFL because of the way we are treated. It's time the Premier told the AFL we want our own team or we walk away from supporting Hawthorn and North Melbourne.

Maybe it's time to revert to the good old days when we had the Southern, Northern and North-West leagues and keep our money in the state instead of propping up the AFL. We could create a competitive hub of our own.