Speak for yourself

MIRIAM Cope, you certainly have a right to express your opinion regarding Tony Abbott but you have no right to underscore your statements by using the Australian Pensioners’ Party title. Who elected you as the spokesman? Furthermore as a pensioner myself, I have never heard of or been solicited as a member, so your views are not truly representative of the majority of Australian pensioners.

Tony Abbott might have a brilliant mind but he seemingly also has a very vindictive personality, hellbent of promoting disunity and self aggrandisement. He has had his run as PM and had proved a dis-

Cruel treatment

CONGRATULATIONS to Mr Dutton on his appointment to the new mega-department. I hope he will not bring to it the skills he honed while minister for Immigration and Border Protection. On Manus Island the lights have gone out in an attempt to persuade the so-called illegal maritime arrivals to move into town. They know they are not wanted and fear further violence against them.

On Nauru, children and their families are still in detention while our government declares neither of these situations is their responsibility. Here in Australia, asylum seekers are receiving rejection letters to their applications for a three-year temporary protection visa or a five-year safe haven enterprise visa.

The letters I have seen reject the legitimate reasons and fears of those seeking asylum and all but accuse them of lying or consider the fears irrelevant. They are to be sent back to the very dangers they attempted to escape.

Can things get any worse? Will the new conglomerate department with Mr Dutton at its head finally show some compassion and humanity or will it continue to destroy lives? Will the Coalition and ALP see the cruelty of their policies and stop playing political games with people who chose the option of searching for what is a human right for us all? Asylum from persecution. If only. themercury.com.au readers have a new way to have their say. It’s free to use, just register and have your say. For more details and to register, visit the website.

No to fixed terms

SORRY boys, the electorate is not ready for four-year terms. Why on earth would Australians commit to four-year terms after the shenanagins of the last six to eight years and just see more of the same drag on longer? When we finally grow a crop of mature politicians capable of earning the respect of the electorate, who are prepared to work with all stakeholders and are attentive to the electorate view, cease their bully boy tactics against those having an opposing view and demonstrate a genuine desire to solve the country’s problems instead of grandstanding and lighting smokescreens to mask their grab for personal power, then maybe there would be a case for change. Should this occur, then maybe voters would look favourably on a plebiscite to extend state and federal terms to four years. However it would be highly unlikely for the current crop to change sufficiently to earn the electorate trust.

All we have seen in the last eight or so years is backstabbing and treachery and a Senate that is anti anything put before it because they think they run the country. I think a move to a four-year term should be coupled with a rewrite of the Senate’s powers which excludes them from vetoing government legislation and leaves them with the only right to see that there state has not been compromised at the expense of others. That was the intent set down for the Senate in the first place. But when you stand back and look at the whole package I can’t see it happening.

Sorry boys you don’t have the runs on the board.

Slow trickle down

BRETT Geeves’s article ( Mercury, July 22) is an eye-opener about Cricket Tasmania’s excessive waste of funds and ridiculous enforcement of attire standards to young cricket fans.

Terms grate

GOBBLEDYGOOK — words like “elephant in the room”, “world’s best”, “lace out”, shows the person using these words have nothing in their own kit.

Market cornered

SENATOR Abetz has every reason to feel confident that Cory Bernardi will not get a foothold in Tasmania — he has hoovered up all the available ratbag right extremists already.

We call the tune

IF we must have high-rise buildings, stick to the current council regulations. They were made hopefully to protect the city. We can’t keep changing the rules. Developers must dance to our tune.