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Canberra Today 15°/17° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Letters / Like it’s raining money

AS much as I like Michael Moore, I find his advocacy at times goes beyond public benefit to rent-seeking advocacy (“Health starts to hurt election prospects”, CN May 26). Having a health policy and social policy background myself, I am surprised that Michael seems to have forgotten the decades long struggle of Federal governments of both colours to restrain health outlays while improving health outcomes.

quillMedicare is only a small portion of the health system. Labor tried co-payments in 1991 and also froze indexation regularly when in government and made substantial changes (i.e. reductions) to areas such as pathology, which saved many billions of dollars over subsequent years. It also came around to private health insurance rebates, too.

While Michael may wax lyrical about Medicare, he is overselling it. Along with many other programs, it comes with significantly escalating outlays, opaque benefits and no less an authority than the late (and great) Labor Finance Minister Peter Walsh noted that such Whitlam Government initiatives plagued 1980s Budgets (and I would suggest beyond).

I know a good health system costs money, but I don’t buy every option offered up. I am sure doctors are delighted with the proposed very expensive Labor policy of the ending of the indexation freeze; for them it would be like it’s raining money. The impact on health outcomes will be much much more modest and for patients it will be invisible.

Martin Gordon, Dunlop

TAMS not talking ‘roos

BOTH last year and this year, I endeavoured to speak to someone in TAMS about the justification for the very large cull of 2000 kangaroos.

I particularly wanted to refer to the work of Dr Daniel Ramp, conservation biologist at the University of Sydney, who was quoted as saying that the justification for killing kangaroos did not stack up.

I rang Canberra Connect on both occasions and was put through to the area of TAMS that handled these matters.

I was told again this year that no-one was available and I would receive a call back. In both instances, no call was received. I can only assume that the section of TAMS that carries out this killing does not want to be held up for public scrutiny and questioning.

Does any other city in Australia carry out annual culls of kangaroos that share the urban landscape with the human population? I certainly have not heard of one.

Colin Lyons, Weetangera

Time to can the haka

IT’S time the Kiwi haka rubbish was called out for what it is: a group of grammatically challenged, mouth-foaming, eye-bulging, knobbly-kneed, blond-haired, blue-eyed twits engaged in 30 seconds of light comedy.

Even some NFL College football teams in America now do it as do a bunch of Americans performing a Pacific Islands show in a resort hotel in Hawaii.

It’s time we told the Land of the Long White Cloud myth masters to take a hike as we are no longer interested because, additionally, just about every Pacific Island nation has a version of it.

Give us a break with the Pacific Island, human-flesh-eater warrior rubbish. We fear the cane toad more.

Jason Ryan, Flynn

‘Sky Whale’ light rail

I AM profoundly disappointed that the ACT Labor government has committed over a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money for Canberra’s very own white elephant five months before an election.

This arrogant act demonstrates just how out of touch this government has become. They have not listened to the tens of thousands of Canberrans who do not want their rates wasted on such an expense, who do not want their roads torn up and their lives disrupted to provide a transport system that services only one tiny part of the territory. Thank goodness the Canberra Liberals have listened and will stop the light rail if elected this October. We did not need the Sky Whale and we do not need this white elephant.

Brooke Curtin, Liberal Party candidate for Kurrajong

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