Late to the party
The NSW Coalition government has been in power for seven, going on eight years.
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Recently we had an overflow of politicians visiting the Shoalhaven with a sudden interest in this place.
The politicians say $1.7 billion has been invested in the Princes Highway, projects and planning. If so, the conditions and state of it would not be so neglected, especially the black spots.
Now, NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey calls on Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese to get on board instead of talking all about city stuff and show commitment to regions as well. Commitments! Is she kidding?
The Coalition are the ones that are all talk about city stuff. Everything is about Sydney to them. The tearing down of and rebuilding an enormous new stadium is an unnecessary, extravagant project. That money, over $2 billion, should have been spent on hospitals and roads.
Don't you just love it when an election is on the horizon? The buck passing begins and words such as "This is not about winning back our seats. We've been working on this for a long, long time"?
Seven going on eight years of doing what? Nothing! So I say to the state Coalition politicians”: No more buck passing. Deflate your egos and rein in your self-importance. Listen and commit to what the people need, not just what the politicians want.
A. Hutchison, Nowra
The race is run
"Euthanise". "Put down". "Put out of his misery". All polite terms to disguise the fact that the stallion Cliffsofmoreh was killed after suffering a fractured right shoulder during the Melbourne Cup.
This was a totally needless death, yet another example of animals suffering to amuse often intoxicated punters. Before they've even finished maturing, these 500kg animals are forced to race at breakneck speeds while being whipped and pushed past their limits, supported on ankles as small as those of humans.
Cliffsofmoreh was the sixth horse to die due to the Melbourne Cup since 2013. Two other horses were found to be lame after the race, another suffered lacerations after crashing into Cliffsofmoreh, and a fourth horse suffered an internal bleed.
Considering Australians hate cruelty to animals, a race in which horses routinely die is fundamentally un-Australian. While public holidays give Aussies a break, horses are breaking legs. It’s time for the nation to stop the race.
D. Bellamy, PETA Australia
Make sale transparent
One would have thought after the recent media coverage of churches’ infractions and behaviours, they may have acted in a more transparent manner with the sale of the Anglican Church in Huskisson.
Firstly the land was donated, then built with community labour, so in essence, it's a community property, with the church registered as owners.
The church does have the legal right to sell the site, but does it have the moral right to sell without giving the community who built it, the opportunity to acquire it, so the area can remain in community possession as it was intended.
There is a constant erosion of community assets by commerce in the pursuit of profit, airports, freeways, land registry departments, and so on. Each one of these privatisations must produce a profit for shareholders at the expense of consumers.
People are left with less public space and the privileged few take ownership of once highly regarded public space.
So I ask the Anglican Church to have a discussion with the community before disposing of its asset.
It’s planning to sell 80 churches throughout Australia to pay for the damages incurred from child abuse. Why not sell assets, which have less impact on our communities, like shares or bank assets?