Basic principles of freedom

SENATOR ERIC ABETZ

THE irony of Eric Abetz’s poignant Talking Point conclusion “He who does not defend his freedom is not worthy of it. AMEN” is chilling ( Mercury, July 23). The locking up of people in immigration detention centres, on and off shore, contravenes fundamental rights of democracy — justice and a fair trial. These rights date back to the Magna Carta (1215), which is recognised to be the cornerstone of the freedoms our democratic system of government purports to uphold. I do not want Eric Abetz or his colleagues to have to walk the same path through hell suffered by detainees. I just ask they uphold these basic principles of freedom. totalitarian regimes with no questions asked, countries that continually hack our systems, the Marxist rant falls flat.

Forgiveness lacking

IN attacking Braddon independent candidate 54-year-old Craig Garland for an offence committed as a 24-year-old and condemning his character as inappropriate to hold public office, Senator Abetz is clearly not a fan of forgiveness.

In Australia we are seeing this happen through the politics of fear, particularly in the past 20 years. We are told we must fear boat people, be afraid to go to dinner in Melbourne for fear of African “gangs” (despite many publicised rapes and murders by white men), that a choice of dietary preferences somehow imposes a foreign legal system on us (halal and kosher). We are slowly stripped of our privacy and freedom in the name of these fears.

Citizenship

YEARS ago the question of Senator Abetz’s dual citizenship was raised and Tasmanian electors never saw proof he was not a citizen of Germany and Australia. We had to take the Senator’s word he had resigned his German citizenship.

In writing please

TASMANIA should not be worried about the GST. Premier Hodgman will get the promises in writing. Surely the Federal Government would not make promises because of the coming by-elections. They would put it in writing if honest.

Islanders

MY ignorance as to why Torres Strait Islanders are referred to separately when discussing indigenous affairs prompted me to think that maybe we should be referring to Australians and Tasmanian Islanders. It has a nice ring to it.

Trump’s best work

I AM convinced Donald Trump does his best work late at night after multiple Big Macs washed down by gallons of Coca Cola while watching a Rocky movie. It’s a worry