Blind forestry religion
pension I went to Glenorchy City Council offices to request a refund but was refused. I explained I will be unable to use the free weekend in November/December. I believe the Monday could still have been free as the tip it was open. Why cannot we be entitled to two free vouchers a year?
No-brainer for Brighton
I WELCOME Mayor Foster’s enthusiasm for the Northern Suburbs Railway and agree it’s a no-brainer for it to go to Bridgewater and Brighton (Talking Point, October 21). The Northern Suburbs Railway would be the backbone of a public transport system connecting people to services, employment and education. Like Brighton, Glenorchy municipality is growing fast with over $1 billion in private development along the rail corridor.
We have a large development at Austins Ferry championing a future rail station at the heart of its subdivision! We thank state and federal governments for commitment through funding in the Hobart City Deal. We are looking forward to working with government and councils to see us breaking ground on the railway in the next two years. With developers, on the back of the City Deal, willing to invest in housing and new opportunities for business and employment there is no better time. It will drive employment through apprenticeships, traineeships and jobs for local people. Contrary to anti-rail rhetoric, a Hobart to Brighton railway is estimated to cost only $160 million based on the State Government’s own figures. This is a small fraction of mainland projects because Hobart is already blessed with the rail corridor and we do not need to acquire land. In terms of “bang for buck” it stacks up against unsustainable road expansion, but most importantly is a catalyst for urban renewal and supports social and economic wellbeing. I stand with you Mayor Foster as a fervent supporter of the Northern Suburbs Railway!
HOW obtuse can a Tasmanian government get? Renewed logging in the Tarkine by the state-government owned business just at a time when there’s a major row about to erupt over illegal land-clearing in Queensland and NSW … and when there’s a universal call to replant trees to help with climate control. The governmentowned industry has a licence for sustainable plantation-based monoculture timber production, not a licence to destroy remaining wilderness. What is the return to the state? Who will buy the timber? International accreditation? Forget it! Apart from the increasing value being placed on unspoilt wilderness, Tasmania needs as much tourist support it can get. Our current mob are blindly repeating the mantras of the past spruiking forestry as major religion. It never was and will never be.