Time to cut the royal circus loose
FORGIVE me but I had to have a little cynical chuckle the other night after seeing Prince Charles pontificating on climate change and the need for his subjects to protect themselves from the sweltering heatwave affecting the UK.
I guess he must be doing it tough, as he gets driven off in his airconditioned Jaguar or Range Rover to his airconditioned palace with an endless supply of cold drinks, shaded gardens and doctor on call 24 - 7.
Meanwhile his mummy’s, the Queen’s, Guards have to stand in the blistering heat in full regalia! What a load of royal poppycock.
Time to break off the shackles of this pretentious aristocratic circus, although I suppose it keeps the cheap tabloids in business.
John Holley West Moonah
GIVE HCC THE FLICK
Louise Elliot is right to call out yet another instance of overreach by the Hobart City Council (Opinion, July 21).
The provision of and access to medical services is the responsibility of commonwealth and state governments – not Hobart City Council.
Sue Smith, as part of the Local Government Review calls for “innovative service consolidation” (Talking Point, July 22).
Well, for a start, the state government needs to put a stop to Hobart City Council behaving like some quasi-regional government by abolishing the Hobart City Council.
Reserving the CBD and Botanical Gardens to be administered by the Department of Local Government on the grounds they are whole of state assets.
The income from CBD rates, charges and fees would more than pay for the 10 extra politicians our Premier wants and their showboating on the political stage.
The CBD could be serviced by Clarence council on a cost plus 20 per cent basis providing Clarence with a new, growth income stream.
As for the balance of the Hobart municipality, it could be split between Kingston and Glenorchy councils to provide them with a viable rate bases thus removing their incessant cap-in-hand demands on the state government purse.
And, most importantly, a saving for Hobart ratepayers from being used as cash cows by the HCC to finance feel-good and virtue signalling policies that are outside the scope of council.
The government can do the same thing to Launceston council. Max Watson Sandy Bay
TIGHTEN THE REINS
On the one hand we have the police campaign telling us that over is over on television, we have daily horror stories of motor crash fatalities and their aftermath in the Mercury, but nearly every TV advertisement for a motor car, SUV, or light 4X4, mostly depicts dangerous and reckless driving, letting us would-be buyers know, that we can try and kill ourselves in their product.
Sure, in some instances on the bottom of the screen it says the ad was made under controlled conditions, but normal everyday drivers are not driving under controlled conditions.
Perhaps it’s time the advertising watchdog tightened the reins on these type of adverts.
John Hunt Warrane
DON’T TELL US WHAT TO DO
We no longer need to elect a state government or councils as it seems that the AFL and a few chief executives are now telling us what we have to do.
Who do they think they are? After all I always thought that we were a sovereign state and entitled to run our own affairs.
By the way I do support our own team. As regards the so-called Devils Den let’s be a bit more creative, what about “The Islanders”?
Mel Cooper Blackmans Bay
ACT ACCORDINGLY
Unsurprisingly, given its complexity and vast constituency, the IPCC has become all things to all people.
It provides support for both sides of the forestry debate. Mark Poynter (letters, July 21) could also note that in 2019 the IPCC wrote: “Maintaining and increasing forest area, in particular native forests rather than monoculture and short-rotation plantations, contributes to the maintenance of global forest carbon stocks.”
Tasmania must critically study its forestry practices and the consequent carbon balance, and act accordingly.
Craig Brown Eaglehawk Neck
BRING BACK MANDATES
Who actually runs Tasmania – is it the Liberal Party or is it the businesses of Tasmania?
I would say the Liberal Party has no backbone, businesses in Tassie pushed and pushed until all mandates were removed just for them and now we have Covid worse than ever and the Liberals won’t do anything about it.
It’s well overdue for this socalled Liberal Party to bring back mask wearing as compulsory.
Bill Arnol Brighton
DOING MORE WITH LESS
Our health system has been progressively underfunded and downgraded over decades. The current crisis has been coming for a long time, it has simply taken a pandemic to tip it into public view.
It has long been obvious to both those who work in the system and to those awaiting consultation and treatment, it has simply become more visible to all.
Lack of staff, lack of beds, ambulance ramping, excessively long waiting lists for both initial consultation and treatment have been creeping up as more and more administrators grow within the system, demanding that more is done with less resources.
Jane Hall Rokeby