Grey electorate isolated
Dear Editor,
The State Election in Flinders in March next year is starting to look very interesting as candidates start to line up. Many of the candidates are running as Independents. There are probably two reasons for this; the first is the good showing that Independent, Liz Habermann, made in the 2022 election and the second is the prediction in the polls that the Liberal Party will be annihilated State Wide this time round.
The electorate has been pretty much held by the conservative side of politics since its creation in 1857. The current member, Sam Telfer, has a very healthy margin and is probably happy that the increased number of Independent candidates will split the vote every which way. That these opportunistic candidates all seem to be concentrating on either niche matters or the so-called cost of living crisis won’t hurt him either. The new Liberal Party leader, Ashton Hurn, seems to be indicating a re-emphasis on traditional conservative values, which will be useful too. A lot will depend, of course, on how the preferences of the Independents and any minor parties in the race eventually fall.
So, assuming the polls are right and the Liberal Party is annihilated, Sam Telfer might be one of the few survivors left standing. That, unfortunately and despite Sam’s abilities, will not be a good thing for the people of the electorate. Our Federal Electorate of Grey is currently isolated from Canberra and our State Electorate of Flinders will no doubt be isolated from Adelaide, much more so than it is already.
Phil Fitzpatrick, Tumby Bay
Ramping continues
Dear Editor,
The Nurse and Midwifery Federation and the South Australian Ambulance Employees Association seem to have adopted Simon and Garfunkel’s once-popular song “The Sounds of Silence” as their anthem, with ambulance ramping now likely to hit 50,000 hours for 2025 (“Mali hits ambulance record”, The Advertiser, 11/12)
During the 2022 state election campaign, both the South Australian Ambulance Employees Association and the Nurse and Midwifery Federation vigorously supported the Malinauskas Labor Party’s claims that ambulance ramping would be a priority for a new government and almost guaranteed that it would be addressed.
Ambulances were regularly chalked to publicise the issue.
Media statements, reports, and emotional advertisements, highlighting its impact, which strongly implied that it was due to the Liberal Government’s policies, were released and aired incessantly.
Considering that ambulance ramping in 2021, the last full year of the Marshall-led Government, was 28,152 hours, their response and reaction to this 77.6% increase has been met with a “deafening silence.”
It would seem that the perilous danger that ambulance ramping once posed to patients is now no longer an urgent matter.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna
Corrective discipline course
Dear Editor,
Having often been critical of Premier Malinauskas and his government in previous letters, I strongly commend them for rejecting a royal commission call to stop parents abusing children under the guise of discipline (“Parents still OK to smack children,” The Advertiser, 12/12).
This common law defence has always allowed parents to use “moderate and reasonable physical punishment” to correct their child’s behaviour or discipline wrongdoing as they grow and develop.
Rather than banning the smacking of all children, the small minority of parents who go well beyond a smack and who inflict violence on children can still be prosecuted and their children protected.
Without corrective discipline, children can exhibit Difficulty with Self-Control, Problems With Respecting Rules and Authority, Poor Social Skills, Emotional and Behavioural Issues, and experience a harder transition to Adult Responsibilities.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna
The judgement will be recorded
Dear Editor,
Correspondent Ian Macgowan of Ceduna should not go unchallenged on his oft repeated claim that judgements should not be made on events that happened in previous eras. This could be interpreted as a blanket silencing of shameful or abhorrent aspects of our history.
Today we witness the attempted silencing of reports from Gaza and the West Bank by the actions of the Israeli Defence force in carrying out the murders of Palestinian and other journalists in Gaza.
These brave individuals have attempted to document the widespread human rights abuses which continue to this day and which despite the best efforts of the Israeli Government will be continue to be judged by future generations.
The Trump ‘Peace’ plan is no such thing. Cynics might say it was devised to neuter the huge uprising of civilian populations in countries such as Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, England and Australia as well as many others, to the Genocide occurring in Gaza and the suppression of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Attempts to silence protest groups such as Palestine Action, now before the British court system show that whatever the outcome of the appeal, the judgement will be recorded and analysed for future generations to debate.
Whitewashing controversial issues especially when basic human rights are involved will backfire; whether it is the attempt to silence discussion of the Frontier Wars in Australia, or the Australian War Memorial blocking the declared winner of the Les Carlyon literary prize Chris Masters from receiving the award.
So often correspondents, politicians, News Corp Opinion writers and others, use the lazy term ‘political correctness’ to whitewash over unpleasant truths. In Israel repression is more extreme as dissent is crushed and in Gaza journalists are eliminated. But the truth will out and good people will not be silenced.
Kathy Bradley, Louth Bay
Political expenses questioned
Dear Editor,
With the examples of questionable expenditure by our elected parliamentarians growing each day, it is clear that they lack respect for the taxpayer’s money, which is being used to fund these expenses.
Perhaps it’s time to bring our politicians in line with the process that all other taxpayers are required to follow when completing their yearly tax returns.
To submit any eligible personal expenses, from my salary, to the Australian Taxation Office, I must claim them as deductions in my annual return.
For an expense to be deductible, it must meet several criteria, including being spent by you, that is, directly related to earning your income, and supported by a receipt.
The ATO then determines whether the submitted claim is granted, which reduces your taxable income and leads to a lower tax bill or a larger refund.
Making politicians spend money from their own pocket and then requiring the ATO to determine the eligibility of the claim may rein in some of the largesse that is currently being exhibited under the flawed travel expenses rules.
One tax rule for all should apply.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna