Too old? Too young? Too right

AGE AND POLITICS

MY trembling ancient hands can barely type. I have a confused question for the Liberal Party state director who says one candidate for the Pembroke election is too old at 71 but says Labor leader Rebecca White is a learner, even though she has been in the Parliament for nearly eight years. What is the right age for Parliament? Is Labor’s candidate for Pembroke Joanna Siejka too young, even though she has run management positions? Or is the right qualification more an ideological one, like loving the idea that the State Government should take over TasWater’s profits to bolster its own budget? The Liberal state director also says that negative campaigns work. After the Pembroke election on Saturday, could he please explain to us old fogeys why this is so? the inner light and fight to rally a nation to resist. With age comes wisdom, and wit, and the kind of fight that knows no fear, matched with a will to win. Politics is an art, so we can consider some of the great artists, like Pablo Picasso wielding a paintbrush into his 90s. With climate change to test our will to survive, and the robot revolution set to eliminate half of paid work in a decade, we will need wise elders able to see a way through.

This new world is set to create a different breed, with a healthy and creative life expectancy well beyond a century. Are we ready for the future, where age will bring out a lively level of insight for extended decades, where citizens can work like an artist to the end or bark like the British bulldog in any parliament?

Vote boost

IF the comments attributed to the Liberal Party denigrating mayor Doug Chipman for his age are true, this has to be a new low from a party which now attacks the man. Doug will gain a significant sympathy vote from this surprising attack which I truly hope will get him elected as A new way to have your say 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. the next member for Pembroke. Age, skills and experience are exactly what an MLC role needs and he qualifies on all counts with integrity, dignity and a record of performance which others can but envy.

Goldilocks argument

IS it just me or is the state Liberals’ brains trust channelling Goldilocks and the Three Bears? They say Rebecca White is too young and inexperienced and clumsily hint that Doug Chipman is too old and is past it. The Libs presumably want us to approvingly infer that their state parliamentary candidates, replete with middleaged males drawn mostly from narrow social and working circles, are just right.

The new 40

IF, according to Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt, 70 is indeed the new 40, then we can expect to see many more wizened and white-thatched men and women in Parliament in the foreseeable future.

Savings

THOSE voters interested in economising may think voting for an elderly candidate would mean future savings on parliamentary pensions. Some of the young rockets that shot through the House will go on costing us for many years to come.

Fix ditches

WE have all seen those drainage trenches next to rural roads and sometimes it is hard to find a safe place to pull off the road without causing damage to one’s vehicle. Councils every one or two years spend fortunes to remove the grass that covers the trench. It would be better to do the job right first time and lay pipes and cover the trenches and stop the waste of money year after year cleaning trenches.

Living free

DAVID Walsh reminds me of a mountain man, because a man is free if he lives how he chooses.

Pembroke candidate Doug Chipman

Come clean on wages

HOW dare the ABC boss Michelle Guthrie not disclose the ABC’s staff wages. It is not a private business. The ABC’s motto is “it’s our ABC”. She should come clean.

Hard luck

BARNABY Joyce unemployed? I bet he doesn’t have to make ends meet on Newstart.

Walkway plea

AT long last the Battery Point walkway gets a mention for construction. Will we have the silvertails blocking its construction again? Money wasted running the Taste could be spent on this project.