Letter of the Week
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IT is time we stopped talking about “franking credits” which many people (including Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen) appear not to understand and start calling them “provisional tax”, “withholding tax” or “PAYG (pay as you go/earn tax)”.
Shorten/Bowen’s idea of “fair” is to tax the Australian share-based earnings of self-funded retirees at double the rate (30 per cent) that they and others saving for retirement pay (15 per cent) on contributions and earnings in their superfunds during the accumulation phase.
Younger voters should note that only people already receiving a government pension when this change of Labor policy was announced will still receive full refund of this income tax (which Shorten/Bowen assert is not income tax) which should not have been collected in the first place from self-funded retirees over 60 years old who are currently tax exempt. It will probably affect their retirement income too, eventually.
ROBERT BOULTON, CARRARA
I THINK Ron Nightingale has the wrong idea about community groups which he dismisses as “groups of whingers”.
It’s hard to know which ones he is referring to but few, if any, have political affiliations.
Mostly community groups come together to protect rather than destroy things they value in their environment. They do not issue “propaganda” and certainly don’t force their views on anyone.
Groups don’t create issues in their locality but may respond to them and are formed when likeminded citizens find each other. Individuals can try and make their concerns known but it can be a dispiriting and lonely experience. There’s strength, as well as support, in numbers and well-organised groups provide this while
working hard to get reliable information and keep people up to date. Politicians – and the “spin” they can put on information – are a reality but community and neighbourhood groups are another matter altogether. Mr Nightingale would do well to not confuse the two.
YVETTE DEMPSEY, CARRARA
WHAT a wonderful feeling to have had my name ticked off at the prepoll and voted in Southport Mall.
I can now tolerate the rubbish we are really going to hear ramped up until election day. Voter’s remorse? Who cares?
They are all hopeless.
DAVID HALL, COOMBABAH
YES a lot of countries especially those that don’t have any are trying to faze out of using coal, but why should we when we have a abundance of it which should provide us with cheap power and a lot of much-needed export dollars?
I have yet to hear a sensible argument to do otherwise
ROD WATSON, SURFERS PARADISE
OVER the weekend I saw that the residents of the town of Clermont in Central Queensland stood their ground against the Greens-led Adani protesters who invaded their town.
Residents and shop keepers alike made it very clear that they did not want them there and they would not give them any supplies or support.
Despite this the protesters who are some of the most radical climate change advocates ignored the wishes of the town’s people and set up in the town’s showground. They used the town’s electricity to recharge their electric cars, they went into the town and complained when the town’s people would not sell to them.
They did to the people of Clermont the same as they have done to the people of the Gold Coast in the past. They were disruptive and arrogant to the feelings and wishes of the people.
One resident felt strong enough about his town being invaded by these people that he did to the protesters what they have done to many of us in the past and disrupted
their meeting at his town’s showgrounds.
He did not drive a car, he rode his horse, he did not charge down people or place anyone at danger, he expressed his disgust at them.
It was reported a protester was injured after trying to trap this man by closing the showgrounds’ gate on his horse after he was finished making his protest against them.
The police have confirmed by the video shot by the protesters that they had tried to trap this man and they have laid no charges. The protesters say it is his fault. I say that we need to stop giving these people any chance to disrupt our lives by creating situations by their failure to abide by the wishes of the people and act respectfully towards our beliefs.
As I travel around our beautiful Gold Coast I have noticed antiAdani signs erected by Greens candidates starting to appear.
I have noted that this Friday they want our school children to again not attend school so they can be used to support the Greens.
I am with the people of Clermont and I shall show my total disgust towards these people who treat us with such disrespect at the one place I know will send them a clear message that average people have had enough.
RON NIGHTINGALE, BIGGERA WATERS
BILL Shorten appears to be swanning around without a worry in the world as if he’s already over the line. Overconfidence can be one’s undoing and I think Bill knows it but is too scared or stupid to admit it.
Who are his advisors? Not Penny Wong or Tanya Plibersek? Perhaps the unions?
It’s like a “play it cool Bill and you’ll be ok” scenario. His swansong is nigh but no-one’s told him.
KEN JOHNSTON, ROCHEDALE SOUTH