Create a magnificent hotel
IT is my view that the Government and Treasury staff should release the Treasury Building. The cost of maintenance is unsustainable and the outlay should be returned by turning the building into commercial use. It should not become yet another museum extension. It seems we can’t afford the cost of opening hours of the current museum, and another adjunct would further burden the state budget.
Converting the Dunn St carpark into an extension of TMAG is not viable. The museum is fine as it is, but the loss of precious parking is not a good plan. The Treasury Building is a magnificent edifice not shielded by modern high rise buildings. It could become the equivalent of the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne, or the converted NSW Treasury Building that became a hotel. The public could enjoy the facilities of a grand hotel in restaurants and cafes. The Murray St garden would be a wonderful outdoor cafe. I would hope a shopping arcade would not emerge as there are options in a more central area. I am mindful the Government tourist bureau once occupied a section on the Macquarie St frontage. This could possibly be sublet again for a tourist facility. Failing that, an accessible cafe from the Macquarie St side would be a good attraction.
Maze puzzle
MY wife and I owned and ran Richmond Maze for 12 years from 2002 until 2014. We had people come from all over the world as they still do to visit the maze. We won Business East’s award in 2011. Believe it or not, the mazes are still there, brandnew ones that no human has walked on, set at the back of the property. We had to sell due to my declining health which, thanks to the Royal Hobart, has been fixed. So what is happening to the maze? As it stands, it is an absolute disgrace. It is at the entrance to Richmond and what does it say, certainly not historic excellence, more a rubbishy dump. Something needs to be done, perhaps the Tourism Minister could come up with an idea, or crowd funding or the Coal River Valley promotional society. It needs to be done now. case the US offers any of them sanctuary, just after the pigs fly off to Never Never Land. Malcolm Turnbull is very good at making very bad decisions.
Not apartheid
GREG Barns labels Israel “the apartheid state” (Talking Point, November 13). All of Israel’s citizens regardless of race or religion have equal rights, and minorities are well represented across all branches of society, including Parliament and the judiciary. Israel is the one state in the Middle East where all citizens have what we regard as full democratic rights.
In most other Middle East states, minorities are persecuted, jailed and tortured. Barns also complains about the supposed excessive influence of the Israel lobby, citing Bob Carr who is a paid lobbyist for China, and attacks concerns about Russia and China interfering in other countries’ affairs. China and Russia do not share the democratic values of Australia, Israel and US. are so many ways in which those billions, our taxes, could build nations and create more peaceful relationships.
Smack in the face
AUSTRALIA’S young people registered to vote in the same-sex marriage, noncompulsory, non-binding plebiscite thingy in their hundreds of thousands, hoping for a Yes vote. These are the voters essential for Australia’s healthy democratic future. The participation of nearly 80 per cent has been an uplifting result. The Far Right of the “Liberal” Party has been working for years to stop same-sex marriage with arguments unrelated to marriage. If it succeeds in delaying a Bill for equality, it will deliver a smack in the face of the youngest and newly enthusiastic voters.