Bricks don’t save lives
Australia has had a national suicide prevention program for 20 years.
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In that time more than 40,000 Australian MEN have taken their own lives. 20 years of ‘awareness raising’, psychotherapy and pills for no appreciable benefit. These strategies have proven to be as harmful as throwing a drowning man a brick.
The majority of Australia’s suicide deaths are adult men who are not mentally ill and who make one attempt and die. Our prevention strategies target the young, hospital presentations (largely female attempts) and mental health. Our health services and support agencies demonstrate little knowledge of how to recognise and assist distressed men and less desire to.
We cannot reduce suicide rates in this country unless we recognise and sympathetically assist the men who make up the majority of those dying.
A. Humphreys, Narrawallee
Tax cuts hard to sell
Problems, what problems? This would appear to be the Turnbull mantra.
Still no substantive energy security policies, budget bills blocked in the Senate and the new proposal of a reduction of company tax cuts of $50 billion of which $7 billion will go to the banks.
This is after all banks are announcing obscene levels of profit.
Best of luck, PM, trying to sell this dog of a bill to the public, especially those 4000-odd pensioners in the electorate of Gilmore, some of whom have had large deductions in their pension entitlements.
Ann Sudmalis will have a hell of a time defending that policy.
Again Bill Shorten has been gifted an own goal in his campaign of alleged class warfare as Turnbull continues to display poor political judgment.
Probably the right way to go from a business sense but politically, it would be suicide as there is simply not enough votes in the proposal.
I can hear it now. Tick, tick, tick – the political time bomb for the government is about to explode as Turnbull dithers.
B. Cumberland, North Nowra
Capital gains our loss
Capital gains tax is a tax on capital gains, the profit realised on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a cost amount that was lower than the amount realised on the sale. The most common capital gains are realised from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property.
If you sold an asset, possibly at a profit, you'll generally pay less tax on the gain than you would pay on ordinary income, such as wages. You must keep a capital asset longer than one year to qualify for the special rates.
Add to Capital Gains Tax those exponents with incomes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year who have a few properties negatively geared to offset the payment income or company tax and you have the panacea of government economics.
Extrapolate the number of taxpayers “feathering their nests” while avoiding paying tax (these include politicians) possibly by the millions and you have the reason why the country is broke.
To make matters worse Malcolm Turnbull is cutting funding for welfare, schools and hospitals; while at the same time touting for a cut of $50 billion in company tax.
The Turnbull government is an enemy of the people and has to go.
J. Macleod, Berry
Blatant fuel rip-off
Once again, we the driving consumers are being ripped off by the major outlets in the Shoalhaven. I have just returned from a trip to the Illawarra, where the price was considerably cheaper than in the Shoalhaven. The people of Shoalhaven deserve better. I, for one, intend to write to my local member, to protest the unethical behavior of the parties involved in the blatant ripping off of Shoalhaven residents.