Council water breach
Re the NDL report in today's (NDL, June 10) paper regarding TRC breaching pumping laws, could someone please explain as to why, and at the cost of all ratepayers, this manager still has a job and the whole of Council has not been replaced as those pumps have meters and there is no excuse regardless of being in drought. It shows just how lax and unable they are which is likely to cost monies ratepayers can ill-afford and will in turn cost a hefty rate rise to all users due to stupidity. Remove them now before more appalling mistakes. Same for defunked state members.
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D.Davis, Manilla
Don't answer the phone
Recently scammed, I've learnt my lesson - don't answer the phone for a start!
The Building Society staffer said scams were happening all the time. In fact it kept her in a full time job. Compared to Ned Kelly and other bushrangers, these scammers are the most cowardly as they never have to show their face. It appears they are not penalised as they go to ground (wherever that is) so cannot be found to take the "wrap". Instead restitution is made by the financial institution, but not in my case, as the credit union has accused me with assisting the funds transfer, despite my innocent protests. And so my day commenced . . .
At least the "Wild West" stagecoach passengers who were most brutally relieved of their savings and chattels, had the questionable 'advantage' of recognizing their scammers, thieves, destroyers.
Lois Edlington, Tamworth
Time to Fast Track Regional Rail
Once again the Grattan Institute is calling on the good people of Australia and their elected representatives to forgo the aim of a better-planned and more equitable Australia - by 'dissing' regional rail.
This time however, the pro 'mega-city' agenda of the think-tank is oddly timed. As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, commentators, businesses and families are all wakening to the idea that remote working and regional living means the great Australian dream of an affordable quarter-acre-block is far from dead. Perhaps it was a firm grip on the status quo and the infrastructure that was holding us back us all along.
This is a concept that Regional Capitals Australia, an organisation I Chair and which Tamworth Regional Council is an active member, has long been championing. We make this case because better-connected regional cities have communities that are healthier and wealthier - more access means opportunities.
In an opinion piece responding to Labor's call for fast rail along the east coast, the Institute has stated the concept must be put to bed. "Good bullet trains are expensive, and bad bullet trains are very expensive" the Institute grandeurs, in what could easily be the catch cry for boffins preaching to the inner-city echo chamber.
Perhaps a more relevant statement is that continuing to serve a ballooning Sydney and Melbourne with new brownfield rail infrastructure is very expensive and the debt we can no longer afford. Our country needs a firm grip on the future.
For good reason Federal Labor and the Morrison-McCormack Government both have 'positions' and 'plans' to improve Australia's regional rail. If COVID-19 has shown us anything, it must be that now is the time to move on past 'positions' and 'plans'.
Now is the time to put regional rail on the 'shovel-ready' and 'funded' track. They say that all good ideas have their time. With a rethink on the way we live and work on the cards and a government ready to build its way out of debt - there has never been a better time to fast track regional rail for the benefit of all Australians.
Mayor Shane Van Styn, Chair of Regional Capitals Australia
Greens fear of guns
Another twelve months has passed and the Greens are rolling out the statistics on gun ownership in NSW again. It is no surprise to see Tamworth coming in first place again.
A study conducted in 2018 by the Australian Institute of Criminology in relation to firearms theft in Australia shows that theft over the 2008-2009 period was at a rate of 3.3 instances per 100,000, rising to 3.4 instances per 100,000 in 2018. These statistics disprove that there has been a significant increase in firearm theft nationally, a line often peddled by those seeking further restrictions on law abiding firearms owners.
In fact, this slight increase over the ten year period can be expected, considering that we not only also had a sizeable increase in population in the same period of time, but also a sizeable increase in those gaining licenses and legally obtaining firearms.
To be issued with a license to possess a firearm, applicants must first let police conduct thorough background checks, if the applicant is deemed "not of fit and proper character", they do not get a license.
The Greens attempts at making us feel unsafe in our communities will continue, but the facts are the facts; law abiding firearms owners are some of the most respected upstanding members in their communities and will continue to be, regardless of the Greens agenda.
Jeff Bacon, Tamworth
