Dear government of Australia,
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I've heard that a lot of animals are losing their homes and lives because of the construction work happening in Australia. Can you take the animals away from their habitat and move them to a new habitat before building?
I live in a new suburb called Taylor and I can see a lot of kangaroos on the streets and they can be killed by cars. That's because of the land the builders are taking.
It's not just the people who deserve all the respect, animals do deserve the same respect humans get and that doesn't mean we ruin their home.
No one would ruin their best friend's house, so we should not do that to animals.
Even if you have your own pet you would also make sure the animals in the wild are safe too.
Mannat Gulati (age 8), Taylor
Pot calls the kettle black
The pharisees are out in force! Cynicism knows no bounds in the contest between canine abusers and equine torturers. Observers, subject to electronic footage, might label it a dead-heat (We were banned for less, says greyhound club president, Sunday CT, 10 November, p.3)! Both groups were caught in flagrante delicto of the dastardly deeds they subsequently denied or, alternatively implausibly, denied knowledge of. Equally improbable were public denials of supervisory bodies - state and industry - of any hint that behind the glamour were hidden unsavoury aspects all wished buried (advisedly).
ACT "sentient beings" legislation, intended to protect dogs and prevent abuse, represents a follow-through to banning greyhound racing in the territory. Having taken this courageous step to protect "man's best friend", it seems somewhat contradictory for a government spokesman to, off-the-cuff, abjectly proclaim "there were no known issues in horse racing in the capital". Might it be a case of la belle indifference as to the fate of horses or maybe a sign of laziness in it being too much of an effort to examine possibilities? NSW's Baird, shamefully, back-flipped as a result of chicanery and horse trading, not on the merit or integrity of arguments for greyhound retention. NSW now awaits a heroic, Hercules-like figure prepared to demonstrate sufficient fortitude to clean the detritus left in the wake of several compromised administrations, in both canine and equine stables. Just like blue-collar workers and little battlers, greyhound racing is consigned to the pages of history, as are its advocates.
Albert M. White, Queanbeyan
ACT uncovered after dark
Further to the article on the front page of the Sunday Canberra Times 10/11/19. About a week ago at the 7/11 in Spence, at 1am, seven cops, three vehicles, all standing around happily chatting, drinking coffee. By Angela Smith's reckoning more than half the ACT was without police coverage while this group were on coffee break for about one hour.
Eddie Boyd, Spence
Consumers pay for the churn
With our baby boomers ageing, the number of older Australians with dementia or extreme infirmity is growing, increasing the need for high-end residential aged care. Government is already struggling to fund a failing system, so consumers must meet more of the cost of end of life care.
Recent stories about the retirement village industry have described how a business model of churning residents into and out of villages maximises profits for operators and hugely disadvantages some consumers. But another consequence of these practices is to deplete those consumers' capability to pay for high-end care, should they later need it. This throws more of the cost burden back onto government and the shrinking proportion of working taxpayers.
As it stands, our tendency to deny old age right up to our eighties plays into the hands of the "churn" business model. More attention must be given to educating consumers about the limited care that retirement villages actually provide, including those that style themselves as aged care providers. Most people would be better off improving their existing housing to meet their needs, and making provision for high-end care should they ultimately require it.
Against this backdrop, the Foreign Investment Review Board recently approved the takeover of the retirement village behemoth Aveo by Brookfield, a private equity firm resident in Bermuda. One hopes the government does not imagine that access to tax-free profits will encourage private industry players to do much to adjust their business models towards public aged care objectives.
Paul Feldman, Macquarie
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