It’s dangerous not to chase stolen cars
I SUPPORT Jeff Williams of Condon in his letter “Dodging bullets” (TB, 22/9).
Jeff’s letter is all about the police being restricted to give chase to juveniles with stolen cars.
In my opinion, the most scary part of Jeff’s letter is where he says that these restrictions “has resulted in more than one promising officer’s career ending”.
What are we doing losing good quality police officers because of these ridiculous restrictions?
Yes, there is risk in chasing anyone in a stolen car.
But there is risk the minute you set foot on the floor to get out of bed in the morning.
You may slip on the tiles, backing your car out to go to the supermarket to get your groceries, and get hit by some drunken whacko, or a million other ways that life has to offer.
If we keep bringing in more of these ridiculous restrictions, the criminal percentage of our society will skyrocket, because the law is drifting more towards their side.
Yes, of course there is some risk in a police chase, but surely we can all see that there is more risk in some juvenile, who has never passed a driving test, planting his foot down in an irresponsible thrill-of-the-day ride in some poor law-abiding citizen’s stolen car.
The quicker that he (or she) is apprehended, the safer it is for all of us.
KEN KNUTH, Rangewood.
SUBMARINE BUNGLE
BEING aware of Australia’s commitment to buy 12 submarines for $50bn, under PM Turnbull’s ministry in 2016, I felt that this was a big mistake.
The submarines would be diesel-electric and could only remain submerged for a few days at most.
A nuclear-powered submarine can remain submerged for 90 days or so and needs resurfacing to restock supplies for the crew. Because of these limitations I thought the idea was stupid.
Australia did not allow nuclearpowered vessels to come to Australia so could not, would not, try to build a nuclear submarine, especially as Australia does not have a nuclear industry – other than a nuclear reactor facility at Lucas Heights.
Australia is the only G20 country where nuclear power is banned by federal law.
By 2018 the price was now $70bn. I felt that the public were quite complacent about the dieselelectric submarine project and the price increase. In fact in a letter March 27, 2018 to the Bulletin titled “Handbook for pollies” I said, “It is also OK to change numbers when they are large – to say that some projects stated as costing $50bn will now cost $70bn – with large numbers this is acceptable, the public won’t mind”. And indeed this is so.
We now see that the submarine contract with the French went to $90bn. And now Australia has reneged on the contract.
It is not surprising that the French consider that Australia’s action is “a stab in the back”!
REX AGACY,
Gulliver.
LEVEL OUT OF REACH
OVER the past two weeks I have wondered why the Queensland Premier has been vigorously encouraging Queenslanders to be vaccinated.
Her reasoning has been that she wants Queensland to be prepared for any onslaught of Covid.
On Tuesday, I learnt the true reason.
Sky News reported that the state government will not open Queensland to the rest of Australia until 90 per cent of the Queensland population is fully vaccinated, a deviation from the nationally accepted 80 per cent, which will not be reached in Queensland until December 5.
This approach has been driven by polling that the majority of Queenslanders prefer to retain the status quo. Western Australia will also seek the 90 per cent rate.
With the number of antivaccine advocates in the community it is difficult to imagine the 90 per cent rate will ever be achieved so border restrictions will remain and lockdowns will continue to be implemented.
RAYMOND VICTOR HORN,
Annandale.
LET IMMIGRANTS IN
I’M 12 years old and I think I am more logical than the Australian government.
I saw an article on the news highlighting the changes in the Australian immigration laws, enabling exceptions in the Australian immigration process for outstanding artists and sportspeople.
I think that if there is any prioritisation in the process it should be for people attempting to escape dangerous situations such as war zones and humanitarian disasters. The Australian government should pay less attention to their public image and more attention to the people who are affected by being declined immigration into Australia.