Onus on us to learn from history

I NOTE Melanie Stone’s letter (Mercury, May 5) about the Hobart City Council soon to make a decision on whether to remove the William Crowther statue in Franklin Square.

Can I remind the HCC, history is not there for you to like or dislike.

It is there for you to learn from it. If it offends you, even better, because then you are less likely to repeat it.

It’s not yours to erase. It belongs to all of us.

Rod Force Sandy Bay

RAP RADICALS’ KNUCKLES

THE Bob Brown Foundation has lost its appeal to the court to stop the tailings dam being built in the Tarkine.

Rather than accept the umpire’s decision, the BBF has announced it will recommence protesting in the region at the proposed site of the tailings dam.

The Tarkine has been logged and mined for many decades and cannot be claimed to be a complete and untouched wilderness area.

If BBF radicals start protesting again, going against the court’s decision, the full force of the law should be bought to bear against them.

Alan Leitch Austins Ferry

BUBBLER OVER BOTTLES

MOST airports I go to have water bubblers where you can fill your own water bottle. As far as I know there is not one at Hobart Airport (at least I cannot find one). I used to fill up in the toilets (a bit gross). I cannot even do that now as, since the toilet upgrades, the taps only give warm water.

Hobart has some of the best water in the world. I know that everything at Hobart Airport is about extracting money from travellers and I guess no water filling steers thirsty travellers towards buying a bottle at inflated prices from the shop.

At other airports they have bubblers that count the refills with a reading saying “we have saved (a number) plastic bottles”; in the tens of thousands.

In this day and age of re-use, recycle, Hobart Airport is out of step (I believe) with community standards.

Malcolm Riley Taroona

NO CROWNING GLORY

ARE we about to see the heroes and heroines of Mariupol obliterated by the armed thugs of Russia’s legacy-seeking, megalomaniacal Russian President?

Does the world really Need Another Toothless Organisation (NATO) if it’s prepared to participate in Putin’s will to power by simply standing by and not acting directly in a war against him,

witnessing instead the loathsome slaughter of brave human beings fighting for values so much more worthy than the corrupted values of a billionaire communist, come ex-KGB inquisitor, come barechested Animal Farm boss and abattoir overseer?

The heroes and heroines of Mariupol deserve more than the cowardice of countries around the world, afraid to confront the would-be Ruby in the Russian Crown prepared to buy his legacy at the cost of actual rubble in too many towns, Mariupol being just one – but more priceless and magnificent in its devastation than any precious gem could ever hope to be.

So my message for Putin is this: you can put a crown on a piece of excrement but it will remain just that, a piece of crap – however you dress it up.

Michael McCall Primrose Sands

NO VOTE FOR LIBS

I HAVE three high priority reasons why I definitely will not consider voting for the Liberal coalition.

Firstly, the planet is rapidly on its way to destruction, either by nuclear war or by climate change.

We have a fair chance of avoiding nuclear war, but little chance of avoiding destruction by climate change unless all countries make reducing greenhouse gases of vital importance. PM Scott Morrison pays a bit of lip service to this but really seems quite indifferent.

Secondly if Mr Morrison does get back, presumably the Nationals’ Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan would also be back and remain in cabinet. Their main aim seems to be to dig up all the coal in Queensland that they can and sell it overseas at a high price. Climate considerations be damned.

And thirdly, it is reported that in the Senate voting, Liberals are

often being urged to give second preference to Clive Palmer. The amount of money he is spending on advertising to get United Australia elected is obscene. Our political system is sick if that is allowed.

John Sale Battery Point

WILKIE A SHOO-IN

FORGET Covid, has Tony Geeves contracted either the myxomatosis or calici virus perhaps?

His assertion that voters would be fools to vote Clark independent Andrew Wilkie into his fifth consecutive term in office (Quick Views, May 7) is ludicrous.

Our popular, hard working and diligent member is a shoo-in to be returned, with the second biggest swing in the entire country (about 22 per cent) needed to unseat him.

I predict Mr Geeves will be a very discontented man come the morning of May 22.

Steve Bailey Glenorchy

THRIFT PAYS OFF

THE interest rate rise is cyclic and inevitable.

Having said that, why the panic about such a small rise?

Those who overpaid for housing on the premise that rates were going to continue at such ridiculously low figures did not think it through. Those who are whining now have never had it so good and should spare a thought for those of us who saved and paid even when experiencing high mortgage costs and exorbitant tax payments.

Take a lesson and be thrifty, pay your bills on time and don't expect to start off with a McMansion. Scott White

Sorell