GOVERNMENT

Who will give us good care?

THE French healthcare system is financed by government. The World Health Organisation found France provided the close to best overall healthcare in the world, spending 11.6 per cent of GDP. Switzerland’s mandatory basic insurance requirement guarantees every person in Switzerland affordable access to good medical care. Health care in Japan is, generally speaking, free through the National Health Insurance System for all. The Netherlands has universal healthcare. The government requires all adults to have insurance. The British National Health Service is another example of accessible health care. No single system is perfect, however, they are miles ahead of what we have in Australia.

Healthcare should be a basic right. It takes trained staff, compassion and the best equipped hospitals, hospitals we see undermined by funding cuts. When will we have a true leader who will say, “The highest quality health care will be available to all Australians, I won’t settle for less or be diverted from achieving the goal, so let’s on with it and make it happen”.

Land tax hike

HOW lazy can the State Revenue Office and councils be when levying rates and land tax on property-owners, and where is the oversight by politicians and councillors who purport to represent these property-owners. The State Revenue Office and the councils all blame the Valuer General for rate and land tax increases but they should be able to calculate the rises taking into account the Valuer-General’s adjustment factors.

There is no excuse for the 66 per cent rise in land tax, except for a money-hungry Treasury taking advantage of these regular or legislated adjustments by the Valuer-General.

Politicians’ staple diet

THE holy grail, Vyv Alomes (“Take 2kg of junkets and some fresh rorts,” Letters, October 1)! You have managed to get hold of the politicians’ secret recipe to be nurtured and handed down no matter in which political kitchen they have been trained. A timeless recipe, sacred to all politicians who rely on it as a staple diet because they can’t imagine or are not capable of cooking anything else. A recipe that has no appeal to the rest of us, wonder why?

You should be angry

I FULLY endorse the Prime Minister when he says young people should not be anxious about climate change. Instead, you the youth of Australia, should be very angry. Our generation, the opulently wealthy, negatively geared and obscenely immersed in franking credits, generation, have let you down. As an 18-year-old septuagenarian I feel your pain. Our generation, the on-the-way-out in the departure Disrespect undercuts democracy Political correctness has created a veritable smorgasbord of things that you’re not allowed to say. Perhaps all this bottled up bile comes spilling out when people sit down at the keyboard. lounge generation, don’t give a damn about the warming planet. Having removed free education (which they enjoyed) and helped themselves to taxpayer subsidised largesse (negative gearing) to buy and inflate housing, while condemning you to rent for life, then again helping themselves to tax refunds (franking credits) for which they paid no tax. In fact they welcome global warming for their decrepit bodies before they fall of the perch.

Utopian dreams

IT appears Rob Sitch of Utopia fame must have visited Hobart (“Flying Start,” Mercury, October 3). How else would promises for international flights and a new Bridgewater bridge evolve? With promises in the wind for Mac Point, affordable housing, decreased waiting lists, actions on traffic, a four-lane highway to Sorell, etc, I can’t wait for Rob’s suggestion of a fast train to Launceston being included so Mick Leppard can visit Blundstone Arena.

A sober city

WHILE not wishing to get into the debate on drug/alcohol testing of politicians and/ or alderman, etc, nonetheless I wanted to draw attention to a proposal from Brigadier Charles Rosenthal, CB, CMG, DSO of World War I fame. In 1926 Brigadier Rosenthal controversially advocated that a law should be enacted banning alcohol in the new national capital, the press reporting that “Canberra would only become one of the finest cities of the world if residents all remained sober”.

Tattoos and piercings disfigure

NATURE has blessed our females with a beautifully sculptured form. Yet we see girls in their teens and later years disfiguring themselves by permanent tattoos, body piercings such as in eyebrows, tongues, lips, nipples, belly buttons and certain private parts! Why is this? Could any of your readers suggest a logical reasons for such conduct?

What might make them anxious?

TAKING aim at the UN and Greta Thunberg, PM Scott Morrison criticises the “anxiety-inducing moral panic” of “some circles” today ( Mercury, October 4). Has he ever stopped to ponder the cause of this plight? Could it be “thepowers-that-be” (both earthbound and otherwise) have comprehensively demonstrated that they’re “not-up-to-it”?

Cartoon catalogue

LOOK no further than Polly’s brilliant cartoon ( Mercury, October 4) for the answer to the conundrum expressed by “Never leaves the siding” (Letters, October 4). Polly’s artwork captures the very essence of the state of play of progression in Hobart. If it wasn’t so true it would be very funny.

Fish names

A FISH called Wanda ( Mercury, October 3). There’s a start.

Beef up buses

WITH the kids on holidays, the roads are coping easily, so why not bigger, safer school buses? Mums could still take kids to bus stops. GPO Box 334, Hobart, Tas 7001

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