The Northern Rivers Times
February 24, 2022
12 LETTERS & OPINIONS
LETTERS, FEEDBACK AND OPINION
berated by these poor misguided soles is like being lectured on quantum physics by Fred Flintstone. And there’s more bad news for the rightist antiABC knuckleheads and their constant bleating about ABC bias and taxpayer funding. Upon coming to Govt., the Labor Party has pledged to restore punitive Coalition funding cuts and to protect both the ABC and SBS against any future ideological cuts and any political interference by granting the public broadcasters
GREAT PUBLIC SERVICES ARE BETTER FOR THE ECONOMY AND OF COURSE THE COMMUNITY According to economist Richard Deniss, the richest, happiest, and healthiest countries in the world have the highest tax rates and the most public services, (In the
Byron is congested and barely moving 15 kms back to the highway. It’s clear that the government wants to destroy the whole railway supposedly for a bike trail. Given that the railway land covers most of Byron CBD it’s more likely to see it eventually end up in the hands of developers. Other countries have great public transport systems and are building more railways right now. Cutting public transport hasn’t helped our economy and it’s left the most vulnerable groups without transport. It’s time to return to effective, accessible public services for all. It’s better for the economy. Beth Shelley
from the loss of their rights. The decision by Lismore City Council to return 37 miserable hectares of land that was never rightfully acquired isn’t about Council’s debts or the rates they charge or the potholes in their roads. It’s about having a conscience and that is often more important than paying the bills. Barry Walsh Lismore RAILWAY COMPANY FARCE The ‘return the train’ folk are being completely disingenuous claiming two railway companies have expressed interest in bringing rail back. These “companies” have no meaningful funds behind them, no government support and a look at their Facebook pages reveal that the Northern Rivers Rail Ltd
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COALITION ATTACKS ABC It really makes one’s day to know that when one aims at a certain target, one hits that target dead centre. Oh, the desperate squeals of the extreme right are becoming more shrill and deafening by the day. These infantile ramblings of the vanishing right do not even warrant a
LISMORE COUNCIL’S LAND HAND BACK When white Europeans took this country they made no payment to the original owners, offered them no compensation, no treaty, no thanks. Soon the Aboriginals had no land they could call their own. If they resisted, they were killed. But as a race they refused to die out despite the dispossession, massacres, inequality, and blatant racism. Over the intervening years they’ve never ceded their sovereignty to their country’s land and waters. And we’re the
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Please keep under 250 words & include address and phone number This material from the originating organization/ author(s) may be of a pointin-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).
Booerie Creek
IO
letters@nrtimes.com.au
National Interest, SMH, 12 Feb 2022). He says Australia has been obsessed with balancing the budget and cutting public services since the 1990’s and it’s not good for the community or the economy. “Governments in Australia that underinvest in our people and our infrastructure have been setting us up to fail, not to prosper.” We can see this clearly in NSW where governments have been cutting rail services in regional areas for decades. An obvious example is the recent destruction of the Murwillumbah end of the Casino to Murwillumbah railway line. This line runs through the middle of Byron Bay which gets over 2.4 million tourists
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cycles. Recent polling by the Australia Institute found that a majority of two to one want the $84 million cut in the last three years restored. A massive 61% of respondents also agreed that a strong independent ABC is critical to a healthy democracy with only 19% disagreeing. There have been $526m in cuts to the ABC budget since 2014, with an ongoing reduction to base funding of $106m per year by 2021-22, the ABC has told Senate estimates. In a world of right-wing misinformation and outright lies Australians are relying now more than ever on honest and quality news reporting, emergency broadcasting and great documentaries that tell Australian stories. In the unlikely event the Coalition is re-elected, they will double down on what Tony Abbott set in motion when he blatantly and infamously lied about no funding cuts to the ABC or SBS. that immediately occurred under his Govt. in the 2014 budget. Keith Duncan Pimlico
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and the Northern Rivers Rail Action Group have identical pages! A closer look reveals the people behind both are the same. Please be more honest about HOW you will FUND the return of the trains. You have had since 2004 and have been unable secure funding support from the Byron Solar/Diesel private train, Simon Mitchell, and his Vintage Railway Journeys company and neither State nor Federal governments. There is people to economically train track would only service people who live in Casino, Lismore, Bangalow, Byron, Mullum and Murwillumbah (plus some small whistle stops between). So, move on and get behind a genuine public transport action group which could run electric buses across our numerous villages and towns. The Community pathway for walkers and cyclists IS HAPPENING, the governments have so
far invested $20 million dollars. Let businesses grow and develop as into fruition by the end of THIS year. Let local families, school kids and many others get out and at last enjoy this corridor that will join together 4 local government areas. Richard White East Ballina ROYAL COMMISSIONS It’s about time those senators and politicians Who implement royal commissions should not implementing recommendations from royal commissions. It’s such a waste of taxpayers’ money and a complete farce that should be outlawed we should only have royal commissions if the recommendations are implemented a hundred percent or don’t bother wasting tax payers money. Alan Mosley Yamba
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