COMPETING TO RUN THE STATE
Don’t be seduced by rhetoric
HOLD on to your hats folks, it’s the pork-barrelling merry-go-round again. The tired old Labor Party, offering not much more than forever supporting the Liberals in chopping down more forests and degrading our national parks system, are at least correct when they point to the Liberals’ hypocrisy over their failure to fix an embattled health system when they have had seven years to do so and are now grandstanding that they now will. If Tasmanians can’t see through these charades continually presented to us as responsible governance, we don’t deserve the vote.
Tasmanians deserve better, but we won’t until we refuse to be seduced by would-be leaders incapable of delivering anything but hackneyed rhetoric. Chris Bell Fern Tree
WORKERS, NOT PEN-PUSHERS
I AGREE the health system needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into 2021, but I think there are more pressing things to throw that kind of money at (“Doctors’ $400m remedy,” Mercury, April 23). Preparing discharge summaries still requires going through the record of admission, composing a summary and getting it typed and sent, regardless of whether by computer or fax. I fail to see how workloads are lightened or care impacted. Too often, bricks and mortar, another overseer or more pen-pushers are seen as the answer. The answer is more staff appropriately recompensed in order to retain them, rather than losing them interRobin state to better pay and conditions. There is a huge bureaucracy controlling health. Many have no background in providing care, and many are more interested in how to reduce costs. They often earn far more than those at the coalface and, I suspect, eat into a larger portion of the budget. Maybe the first step could be to reduce the number of bosses and recruit a few more workers. Jane Hall Rokeby
PROVE YOU CARE FOR SENIORS WHAT a great opportunity to score a few votes from seniors and pensioners on issues close to their hearts, eg, costs of aged-care homes and independent living units (council rates on these seemingly never resolved); discrimination visiting venues without a smartphone; pensioners get payment rises but self-funded retirees need a government-type bond providing some interest on savings (lobbying to federal government needed); more subsidised buses and community transport; a dedicated aged-care minister and bureau for advice on financial matters; and perhaps even advice on where to seek assistance on health issues, especially relating to COVID-19 vaccinations. Peter Patman
New Town
STOP BLAMING GOVERNMENT IN regards to Emergency Department queues not being like this 10 years ago (“Tell politicians it’s an emergency,” Talking Point, April 23), another reason is people getting rid of private health. A lot of people get rid of private health in their fifties, then it is too expensive to get back into. If you can afford $100 a week for a couple, get yourself some private health and take some pressure off the public system. It’s time to stop blaming the government of the day and for the public to take some more responsibility for their own health.
Russell Henry Blackmans Bay
HICKEY REVELATIONS
THE question Mr Gutwein must address is whether he revealed to the Governor that Sue Hickey had given him a letter stating clearly she would support his government and hence he still had the confidence of the House. If he did omit this in their meeting, he has in effect misled both the Governor and by implication our head of state, the Queen. Had he done so it seems likely Her Excellency would have requested him to test his position in parliament, as Gray had been obliged to many years ago, and we would not be having this unnecessary election.
Ian Broinowski Battery Point
OUTLANDISH PROMISES
AT the debate at the Country Club on Thursday, the Premier decried the Labor Party for running an election campaign full of fearmongering and making outlandish promises. This comes from a man whose party’s ads all over the media say a vote for Labor is a vote for the Greens, and making his own outlandish promises (many from last election’s laundry list of unfulfilled promises). Both leaders say they will refuse to lead a coalition minority government. Why is the Premier so scared of that? The party he belongs to can only form government federally in coalition with Nationals. His party, under premier [Tony] Rundle, formed an alliance with the Greens in 1996.
Martin Hamilton
Westbury
SPEAK UP ON PLANNING
WILL the Labor Party please tell us whether it supports planning that prioritises good housing and communities, including meaningful rights of participation and appeal? Or is it planning that prioritises profits for interstate and global financiers, as the Liberal Party apparently does? Because so far it is not clear, leaving many to seek alternatives. Peggy James
Howden
ANZAC RESPECT SPECIAL thanks to Aunty Wendal Pitchford and to Hazel Davies for making wreaths in respect for both Colonial-era conflicts and all Tasmanian Aboriginal soldiers who fought in world conflicts. It will be an important moment of respect from the RSL towards Aboriginal Tasmanians. This will be a special day for all Tasmanian Aboriginal communities, one that has taken too long.
Dale Greenland
Hobart
FLYING COVID RISK
Bill Arnol Brighton
NEW EDITION FISH WHAT a wonderful anniversary. Twenty years after the publication of Gould’s Book of Fish the great Tasmanian author gives us Flanagan’s Book of Fi$h (“Flanagan lets rip at fish giants,” Mercury, April 22). A truly great Tasmanian. Stephen Jeffery
Sandy Bay
NOT SO SHORE
IS it just me or is there something a bit perverse about the Tasmanian Greens’ policies to bring fish farming onshore while sending wood production offshore?
Simon Grove
Taroona
PARADE PUZZLE
I DO not understand permitting 100,000 people to attend an AFL match and only 8000 veterans to march on Anzac Day. It’s all about the money, not honouring those who served our country. Stewart Edwards
Mount Stuart
VACCINE BLACK SPOT
I SAW my doctor about a COVID-19 jab and he asked if I wanted it at Launceston, Kingston, New Norfolk or Brighton. What about those without a car? Why isn’t there a clinic in Hobart? Doesn’t anyone live there anymore? Mark Mifsud
Goodwood
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? — James 2:14