Standard bearers

SIR Max Bingham’s letter raises questions about the University of Tasmania ( Mercury, September 16). Among them were the literacy standards of students at the end of primary school and teacher preparation. The NAPLAN National Report for 2016 states there is significant uniformity across all Australian states based on Year 7 NAPLAN, apart from the Northern Territory, which is below, and the Australian Capital Territory which is marginally higher. On the NAPLAN measures Tasmania is consistent with other states at the end of primary school. Teacher education in Australia is highly regulated and all programs have to meet the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership standards. Universities also have internal evaluation. Although UTAS graduates may find employment in Tasmania, many find positions interstate. The employment of teachers is the responsibility of the employing authority. Regardless of where teachers do their initial preparation they must meet national standards, with the Teachers Registration Board of Tasmania

Prepare for fires

THE Tasmania Fire Service, government and councils need to be ready to go with such a dry winter and a large amount of grass in areas such as Bonnet Hill, Taroona, Sandfly, Coningham, Neika and Margate. The fire service should be looking at burning off next month because when November comes, we are going to be in a real bushfire time due to recent dry times. Grass is around half a metre long and within a month will be about a metre high. With the strong winds we normally get each year, the fire service is going to have an uphill battle to keep control of fires once they take off. With a lot of areas that didn’t have burnoffs last year, we are in for a bad fire season this year.

Grounded

CHARLES Wooley (Tasweekend, September 9) was spot on. If the problems outlined in getting on and off our island by air were not so frustrating and a hindrance to tourists, it would be as laughable as Monty Python. Sadly it’s not. Earlier this month was no exception with a flight from Melbourne delayed for hours. The one bonus was that passengers were alerted to a spectacular aurora in the early morning — very early morning — past midnight. Flights out on Sunday evenings are delayed for up to two hours, making arrival in Melbourne after trains have stopped running an expensive addition to travel costs. Those who have to find employment on the mainland and fly to keep in touch with loved ones have no option other than to fly on Fridays or Sundays.

Not a whisper from politicians and the likes of Luke Martin, who daily spruik how wonderful a destination Tasmania is. Charles Wooley’s tips have some merit, but flying in or out the day before, avoiding the disappointment of missing events, adds to the costs. It’s time the airlines were held to account.

Rogues

IT is gross hypocrisy for the United States to refer to North Korea as a rogue state. US administrations have interfered in the affairs of a great many sovereign states since the end of the second world war, for its own strategic ideological reasons. The establishment of forward military bases in other countries guarantees paranoia and hostility. To reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula surely requires a progressing demilitarisation. The withdrawal of American forces from South Korea is obviously an option that is not on the table.