NBN disaster
I AM an IT professional with 40 years’ experience. Regarding the NBN, I am disappointed by the uninformed comment. The most important, and expensive, part of the infrastructure is the fibre to the premises. If this is in place, fibre is capable of providing huge bandwidth merely by cheaply upgrading the hardware at the exchange and the home. This is why the Federal Government’s change to fibre to the node is such an unmitigated disaster.
Horses treated fairly
I WAS disappointed to read the Talking Point piece by animal rights campaigner Jenny Moxham ( Mercury, October 31). Claims about mistreatment to determine whether thoroughbreds are suited to racing, physical damage inflicted during training, time they are kept in stalls per day and administration of drugs are simply wrong. But the most alarming claim was that most horses that retire are sent to slaughter. An Australian Veterinary Association conference in Melbourne this year was told that much of the information animal rights activists use in cam-
State architect please
IN Canberra last weekend, my partner and I were blown from one end of the city to the other between square multistorey buildings forming lovely wind tunnels everywhere. Helen Burnet’s call for a state architect is an exciting cross-level of politics call that makes sense. If we want a Hobart city full of Vodafone buildings and Ibis (token green square) and token colours on concrete blocks (UTAS/Parliament Square) great! Let’s keep going as we
The cost of war
I WAS deeply saddened by Simon Bevilacqua’s essay ( Mercury, October 28) titled “Dangers lurking in the deep”. It outlined the staggering cost of militarism, especially here in our Asia-Pacific region. Simon asked what would happen if the $500 billion spent each year on preparing for war was used instead to make people’s lives happier. In economics, the term for what is given up through a particular investment choice is “opportunity cost”. The opportunity costs of militarism are peace, freedom, the end of poverty, better health, education and so much more — all great economic stimuli.
Socialism for the military (and no one else) works for the military industrial complex, but think how the economies of so many countries would blossom if governments invested in life rather than in agents of death.