UPDATE MARCH 2007 PART TWO

LETTERS

The latest news poll showing the Iemma Government six points in front of the Liberals and should win the March (2007) election comes as no surprise.  The State Liberals became unelectable when John Howard and Bill Heffernan moved in to remove control from the left faction and put the "fanatical" religious right in charge.  This was political suicide in a State with the largest gay and ethic population in Australia.  The only time the Liberals have been able to win government in NSW is when the right is pushed well into the background.

The religious right is political poison and the takeover by the right has consigned the Liberals to the opposition benches for at least the next 20 years.

With the performance of the Iemma Government over the past few years, Orange Grove the Cross City Tunnel, the growing deficit, etc - the Liberals should be at least 10 points in front.  If John Brogden and the moderates were still in control, they would be a shoo-in.

Time and time again the NSW public have demonstrated they will never vote for a party controlled by the religious right, no matter how many churches are built in Sydney.                                                                                             John Moulis, Pearce ACT

A BONUS THAT CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED

I have no objection to a bonus payment to an employee but $20 million is hard to accept.  I don't think anyone is worth that sort of bonus, after all he receives a hefty salary for being there and that is his job to do the best he can regardless of a bonus.

A person who works on the assembly line for General Motors does not get a huge bonus if they make a profit yet without him and others on the line General Motors would not be able to build the cars that it sells.

The same principle should be applied here.  What about all the workers at the bank?  Without them he would not be able to do what he does and therefore out goes the bonus.  I am sure the staff at the bank will not receive such generous bonuses.

I don't think anyone should get such a bonus unless he risks his own money, that is he puts up his house or other security and takes a risk then he deserves what he gets but someone who takes risks with other peoples' money then he does not deserve such a huge bonus.  After all he gets a hefty salary to do the job in the first place.   Arthur Theodoridis, Strathfield

TOWN HAS PLENTY TO COPE WITH ALREADY

Just as yourself, how would you feel if you were a refugee and were placed in a town that is dying of thirst?

Tamworth is such a town, with a depleting water supply.  There is even talk of restricting the use of evaporative air-conditioners.  If that happens, many people young and old will suffer from heat exhaustion and some will die.  Medical services in Tamworth are struggling to cope, with every doctor in town booked out for weeks.  The hospital system is already stretched to the limit and needs more funding.  Every week, more and  more people are put off because of the lack of work.

Tamworth is not just about country music, it is also about trying to look after its own people first and foremost.  Now is not the time to bring extra people into a town that is already struggling to look after the ones already there.

The Government should put a stop to all immigration until problems of water, health and education have been dealt with.  It is unfair to migrants and the Australian community to keep bringing people to this country when essential services are in the state they in.

                                                                                                                                     S. Dickinson, Wee Waa

DEVELOPERS HOLD CITY TO RANSOM

On the night of Wednesday, December 26, 2006 ABC television news featured a story about the NSW Government's furtive plan to increase the population of Sydney enormously.  The plan is to force the development of many huge apartment blocks on local councils to do the Government dirty work.

Once again, in response to huge developer donations to the Labor (ALP) and Liberal parties, the State Government is giving developers a licence to print money,

The Claytons Opposition is inert, other than to smear the opponents of profit - driven development, and Sydney is rapidly turning into a slum.

Commercial donations to major political parties must be made illegal.  People who buy from developers must be warned that, if they do so, they will get only a fraction of value for their money.

And at election time, put Labor and the Liberals last.  Both parties have betrayed their supporters and financial members one way or another at Local, State and Federal tiers of Government.  I totally agree with the "Voice of the People" Sentiments, that we should vote for an Independent candidate instead of voting for Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber; Government.

                                                                                                       Ray Jones, Central Coast

HUNTER DAM PROPOSAL FLOODED BY SCEPTICISM

How long has the NSW State Government been planning to build a new dam in the Hunter region?  Call me sceptical, but I find it coincidental that, with the battering the Iemma Government has taken as a result of the Orkopoulos Affair and his subsequent resignation as the member for Swansea, that they suddenly announced a proposal to build a new $342 million dam there.

With the next State election in March 2007 I wonder if this is an early carrot to try to bribe people into voting for Labor (ALP).  I also wonder with the State being in the midst of a horror drought, how they plan to fill it.                    B. Thompson, Cowra

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FAR FROM FINE

I have just heard Premier Iemma justifying the payment of Ministers' parking fines from the office budget.

Imagine the reaction of auditors if a school principal used school funds to pay parking infringements incurred while using their own car for official business such as picking up the school mail.

Any rational thinking person would deem a parking fine as a personal responsibility and to be avoided in the first instance.  I shake my head in disbelief at the chasm between the life of a politician and reality.                           Gary Halloran, Chipping Norton

LEAVING WORKERS SICK AND SORRY

So the latest "improvement" in workers' conditions as set out by John Howard is to allow them to cash out part of their sick leave.  Adequate sick leave provisions were established after a struggle over many years by thousands of workers and their unions.  This new provision and the disgraceful decision to cash out part of their holidays will eventually lead to a reduction of holidays and sick leave as soon as enough struggling workers hit by interest rate rises and inflation take up these options.  

John and his employer mates 'rationale will be Workers don't want all that sick leave and holidays, just look at the amount they have cashed in.' 

                                                                                                                                      Stuart Maurice, Sanctuary Point

PERMANENT JOBS TO CASUAL WORK

Not content with being given the right to discard workers whenever they wish under 'Work Choices' all encompassing "operational reasons," employers are about to receive the power to stand down workers whenever their businesses are affected by circumstances outside their control.

That's another catch-all phrase which effectively converts all jobs into casual positions.  It also guarantees that when the economy sours the pain will be mainly confined to employees.

That may not worry most of us too much now with the Chinese boom fuelling our prosperity.  But if China sneezes, it'll be Aussie workers who will be struck with economic pneumonia.                                                                             Agnes Mack, Chatswood

FANNING THE FLAMES

The bad news for Morris Iemma is that there may be more political disasters to come.  The Rural Fire Service fire  fighting manuals state that the one factor that can reduce the intensity of bushfires is a mosaic of prescribed burns.  This provides a defence in depth to ensure that hazard reduced areas are not overwhelmed.

The statement made by the NSW Labor Government's bushfire Bureaucracy that hazard reduction does not reduce the intensity of bushfires alarmed the 2002 parliamentary inquiry into bushfires.  They asked for an immediate audit of fuel loads across all land tenures to identify dangerously high fuel loads.  Mr. Iemma needs to disclose the state of preparedness in NSW for the next firestorm.                                                                          Kevin Lake, Wentworth Falls

SPEND ARMS CASH ON FOOD

In this time of peace and goodwill it is important that we reflect on the profligate spending that has been occurring.  No, I am not speaking of the indecent $33 billion Christmas splurge but of the staggering $1,118 billion that the world spent on armaments this year.  This more than $2 million a minute.  Over the 11 year period from 1995 to 2005, world military spending increased 34 per cent.  The United States is responsible for 48 per cent of total spending, followed by Britain, France, Japan and China with 4 per cent to 5 per cent each.  This raises the question:  is ever-increasing militarism the path to security?

Diversion of just 10 per cent of the spending on arms would alleviate world hunger and go a long way towards tackling epidemics such as HIV and malaria.  

                       Dr. Colin Hughes International Physicians for the Prevention of War, Swan View (West Australia)