People never complain about lifejacket brand
THERE is a level of inaccuracy that one must address in Wal Warren’s letter of August 31.
He and his wife are in their late 70s (approaching 80) and are “afraid” of the Astrazeneca vaccine, probably the direct result of the inappropriate reporting of risk in context of rare clotting events and even lower risk of death and poor communication by health authorities.
People in this age group are commonly on regular aspirin with a 1/10,000 risk of death or approximately 100 times the risk of death from AZ rare clotting syndrome, which has no association with previous common clotting history often put forward as a concern.
People in this age group have a 15 per cent chance of death from Covid if unvaccinated. People in this age group have had months to get a very safe vaccine and very good vaccine with latest data showing longer immunity (antibodies) than Pfizer.
People have chosen to wait when given priority due to risk and now complain when access is hard as it is open to all. Age appropriate vaccines are given for influenza and other infections as well.
Each time an older Australian inappropriately on personal preference takes a vaccine not necessary or recommended for their age group they prevent a younger person who needs that vaccine getting it.
In a constrained supply situation that is more than a little selfish although I note many Australians aged less than 40 are fronting up for AZ.
I don’t see people choosing their brand of life jacket when a boat is sinking.
Please get vaccinated with the most appropriate recommended vaccine for your age group as soon as you can so we can all move towards the future.
DR CRAIG COSTELLO, MBBS FRACP
Townsville.
COUNCIL SHOULD FIX ROAD
THE Townsville City Council is going to install a gate at the entrance to the road at the top, at the Forts, prohibiting any cars from travelling to Arthur Bay on Magnetic Island.
The road to Arthur Bay itself is passable. A couple of potholes near the top and three quarters of the way down
are easily navigable with ordinary cars. A council sign a few hundred metres from the top proclaims “end of road works”.
At the bottom of the hill there is a council car park with a council “P” sign and good parking for around eight vehicles.
At the moment the new car park at the Forts is full most of the times, and congratulations to the council for a job well done.
However visitors to Arthur Bay will no doubt use the Forts car park now to access Arthur Bay, which will cause frustration for people not able to park at the Forts car park.
The irony of all this is that the three beaches now inaccessible, namely Arthur, Florence and Radical Bay are arguably the best beaches with great coral beds for snorkelling on the island. Interestingly the new visitors information booklet features Radical Bay on the cover!
One last point is that Opposition Leader David Crisafulli promised a million dollars to fix Radical Bay Rd if he was elected. Maybe next time.
Do we really have to wait until the next election with our fingers crossed and hope he remembers his promise?
Apparently the person responsible for the upkeep of the road, the private owner of land at Radical Bay defaulted on payment to the council many years ago, which means the council has supposedly reclaimed the land and road down to it so why can’t they stump up the ante with help from the government and fix the darn thing. AVERIL THOMAS,
Magnetic Island.
CANVAS CABINET ANSWER
RAY Peck (TB 30/8) attempted to discredit Lumholtz’s temperature recording of 126F, on the banks of the Diamantina, on the basis of no shade.
In 40 years of environmental monitoring I have never seen a thermometer placed in the shade of a tree. They are always in a little white cabinet with solid top and bottom and angled slates to allow air flow but no direct sun.
Well Ray, show some respect to the Norwegian who could easily have rigged up a fold down cabinet of canvas to do the same job.
Your comments perhaps show your lack of field experience.
Oh by the way I believe in global warming but not guesswork by letter writers.
GIL FLETCHER, LRS Environmental, Annandale.
SACK THEM ALL
THE Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 allowed the former colonial states of Australia who, humbly relying on the blessing of
almighty God, agreed to unite in one indissoluble federal commonwealth under the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and under the constitution hereby established.
The term indissoluble means no state can secede, withdraw, lock down or close its borders to prevent the free access or entry of the Australian people who, under the constitution are the sovereigns of Australia and not some transitory elected state premiers who by doing so commit a serious breach of the constitution and must be removed from office by the Prime Minister.
Section 109 states “when the law of a state is inconsistent with the law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid”.
But if the Prime Minister is reluctant to do so the Prime Minister should also be removed by the Governor-general who takes his advice from the Queen who is the executive power of the Constitution.
In 1932 the New South Wales Premier Jack Lang was dismissed by Governor Sir Phillip Game and in 1975 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed by Governor-general Sir John Kerr and new elections were called for in both cases.
The Governor-general is the commander in chief of all defence forces so did he, or the premiers impose martial law by using soldiers?
Unfortunately, like the flu Covid-19 is a virus and will not be completely eliminated but locking people in their homes is not the answer but will bankrupt Australia.
LESLIE ROY SULLIVAN,
Charters Towers.