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Letters Uncategorized

The Evil One

Scott Morrison believes that social media is being used by the “evil one”.  I’m not quite sure what he means by the “evil one” but I presume he doesn’t mean the leader of the Labor Party.

He also admits that he asked God for a sign during a difficult run on the 2019 election campaign and believes God gave it to him.  If God is going to listen to a scheming ‘happy clapper’, then why doesn’t he listen to many other seriously devout Christians who pray to him for assistance?

I also wonder what his God thought about the actions of the Morrison prayer group that used to meet on Tuesday nights in parliamentary sitting weeks. And especially the one just before Scott Morrison ousted Malcolm Turnbull two days after he put his arm around Malcolm declaring exuberantly  “this is my leader and I’m ambitious for him.

I think Scott and I believe in a different God.

Categories
Letters Personal

Waste

We are constantly being reminded to be less wasteful and to be ultra-conscious of what we dispose of and what we recycle.

In last Saturday’s Age newspaper, there was a 50 page glossy DOMAIN magazine, a 40 page glossy Harvey Norman magazine, an 8 page travel glossy plus the regular travel section.  All went straight into the recycle bin.  Plus there were several pages within the newspaper of Harvey Norman and Domayne full page ads which I never read and never will.  I wonder how many other people throw this much away like I do.  At a guess, I would say more than 50 percent of people.

Categories
Letters Politics

It’s tax time

Every year the gap between the haves and the have-nots gets bigger.  The high earners are earning more money than they can sensibly spend and still they want more and they will get more.  One can only make a profit if one has something to invest.  The low end of the scale isn’t growing and doesn’t look like it ever will.  They are destined to be poor.  It’s time that the politicians in Canberra faced up to these facts and set fair and equitable tax rates.  The top earners pay far too little in tax and that is wrong.  They can afford to pay more and they should.  It’s all very well to say that the leaners should get off their backsides and look for better jobs but for the majority that isn’t possible.  The majority of the top end earners have never been leaners and have been blessed with a better start to life than those on low incomes.  An unfair advantage that needs to be righted.

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Covid-19 Letters

Vaccinations

Anglesea is a coastal-rural town.  We are blessed with excellent medical facilities and a well-run nursing home.  When the Medical Centre receives supplies of the vaccination, my doctor will contact me and give me my jab. The nursing home residents ought to be able to receive their Covid vaccinations from the local doctors, but they can’t.  It seems the Federal stalwarts have outsourced that task to a private company.  Here we go again.

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Letters Uncategorized

Biloela family

It is three years now since the Biloela family were taken into detention and nineteen months since they were sent to Christmas Island.  How these two girls can still smile is truly amazing.  They must be very strong.  It breaks my heart to see this picture.

Categories
Letters Politics

Political leadership

Unless one is a dyed in the wool, paid up Liberal voter, it is clear to anyone with a conscience that our leadership in Canberra is abysmal, and the same can be said for the other mob, especially among the male politicians.  If I were the chairman of a large corporate organisation looking for a new CEO, I would be hard pressed to find anyone if I wanted a politician except maybe one or two women politicians.  Looking around the world, it is the same everywhere, hard to finder a leader of quality.  Angela Merkel is one of the few standouts and possibly Joe Biden will prove to be a capable leader.  The big question is, how do we encourage the right sort of person to go into politics in the first place, who would want to be part of the current rabble, and especially when people like Barnaby Joyce make puerile comments like “by its very nature, Parliament has the objective that one side has to get rid of the other, and vice versa.  It’s a hostile crazy boarding school out in the country”.

Categories
Letters Politics

Overpaid University Vice Chancellors

In 2018 the former Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University earned $1,589,999 compared with $1,304,999 the previous year (1).  Clearly the current Vice-Chancellor will be earning a lot more than that.  It is no wonder that the Universities are desperate to bring the high paying overseas students back into the country. 

The average salary for a High School teacher is $72,092 and for a Primary School teacher is $69,627 (2).  To graduate as a teacher today will cost at least $20,000 and that is after their parents have forked out significant school fees and other payments.

This trend isn’t going to go away anytime soon and I dread to imagine what it will be like in 10 years’ time.

There was a time when education was free and it should never have been abolished.  Every child regardless of background should be entitled to a free education and therefore have the chance to realise their full potential.  And preference should be given to local students over overseas students every time.

  1. https://www.smh.com.au/education/university-vice-chancellor-salaries-soaring-past-1-5-million-and-set-to-keep-going-20190620-p51zq3.html
  1. https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=High_School_Teacher/Salary

Categories
Letters Politics

Refugees

Like many writers to The Age, I too am horrified that we still have many refugees in deplorable  conditions in detention.  But I gave up writing about this a long time ago and I wonder why so many people bother to still write about it.  I’m sure neither Scott Morrison nor Peter Dutton read The Age and even if a staffer reads The Age and puts clippings in their in-trays, neither of them gives a fig.  As far as they are concerned they have stopped the boats and that’s the end of it.  The fact that some refugees have died in detention, and more are likely to,  is of no concern to them.  What a tragic fiasco this all is.

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Letters Uncategorized

Barnaby Joyce

After a one hour Zoom Empathy training course run by Katherine Teh, Barnaby Joyce’s comments were that: “Empathy probably has a much stronger role to play in an organisation with a single purpose.  But by its very nature, Parliament has the objective that one side has to get rid of the other, and vice versa.  It’s a hostile crazy boarding school out in the country”.  And I thought their objective was to run the country for us.  Silly duffer!

Categories
Letters Politics

Labor leadership

Bill Shorten lost the unlosable election and was replaced by Anthony Albanese who is most likely going to do the same thing as Bill.  With the current situation in Canberra regarding the treatment of women, blind Freddy will tell you that if Labor were to appoint Tanya Plibersek as leader and Penny Wong as deputy leader, they would shoe it in at the next election.  Wake up Labor and get your act together.  Even Albanese would rather be a Minister in a Labor government than be leader of the Opposition for another three years.