Lake Pedder lesson

GREAT article, Simon Bevilacqua (Mercury, January 6). I am definitely not a “greenie” by any stretch of the imagination but one of the greatest stuff-ups by any political party in recent history was the decision by Labor Premier Eric Reece to flood one of nature’s and indeed the world’s most beautiful icons, Lake Pedder. I had the privilege of numerous flights over the magnificent South-West with the destination being Pedder with food and drinks aboard a light aircraft preparatory to a barbecue on this most pristine beach. This tidal beach catered extremely well for aircraft landings and takeoffs with Tiger Moths, Chipmunks, Cessnas and twins all

Invest in over/underpass

A GIVEN: money may be borrowed for infrastructure used by future generations. Needed: a political party with a visionary plan. Possibility: overpasses or underpasses to get rid of Hobart’s traffic problems. An example: Sydney had a population of about one million when money was borrowed (in today’s money bout $500 million) to build Sydney Harbour Bridge (started 1925). The last loan repayment was in 1988. Tolls have always applied.

Mountain tunnel

MY younger son is snowboarding in Zermatt, Switzerland, and mentioned that he reaches the top of the cliffs above the town by a combination of a tunnel and underground train which has replaced the chairlift that was there earlier last century. This seems to be a solution to the problem of accessing the summit of kunanyi/Mt Wellington with a minimal impact both environmentally and visually and with due regard to Aboriginal heritage.

For the record

AN article on Page 4 of Wednesday’s Mercury said, “Recent studies suggest there are about 8000 Tasmanians considered to be problem gamblers”. In fact, the figure refers to the number of “problem and moderate risk” gamblers.