Water, water everywhere but not a drop for local hydro power

Sometimes we do have abundant water - other times a shortage, which is especially true when we sell our water to Victoria in the form of electricity.

When some businesses are denied more power as we have none spare, it definitely inhibits the statement of abundant resources - nothing lasts for eternity.

Ron Baines, Kings Meadows

THE newly appointed Resources Minister, Eric Abetz, was very wrong when he said to The Examiner's Benjamin Seeder on the 24th April "The States forest practices system is well-managed, robust and best practice".

It is none of these things.

If the clear felling of old growth forests and the firebombing of the residue to burn and kill whatever might have survived the initial carnage is best practice, I wonder what he would consider poor practice to be?

I suspect Mr Abetz has not attended any of these forest destruction events.

Michael McWilliams, Western Junction

WITH the strong suggestion coming in The Examiner letters (April 28) that at least a university education is needed to successfully navigate a transaction with a local parking metre, perhaps UTAS should consider plugging shortfall enrollment numbers, created by overseas students heading elsewhere for degrees, by offering a PhD in parking regulatory machines.

Your correspondent sounds more than a bit up himself by his derisory sneer, make that insult, at the non-university educated masses whom he pitied as, in his opinion, they would struggle even harder with the machines lining the parades and boulevardes of Launceston than he does whilst negotiating for a ticket to grant legal car parking..

For general info, there are some university products I have encountered that are lacking in the brains, common sense and dog smarts of...well, a parking metre at least.

Noel Christensen, Punchbowl

THE recent Senate Select Committee investigating supermarket power chaired by Australian Greens member Nick McKim descended into a form of McCarthyism, with the aforementioned Senator issuing threats and goal time towards the CEO of Woolworths for not answering a question that is not universally recognised as relevant to the cost of living.

This pathetic, manufactured "show trial" was an assault on the integrity of the Senate Committee System, which serves a very useful democratic purpose, and should never be abused by opportunistic, populist politicians.

Kenneth Gregson, Swansea

FOR decades now, the Tasmanian government-legislated forest industry, Forestry Tasmania, has been indiscriminately logging then burning public forests for the singular purpose of frantically regrowing trees for future harvest.

At a time when other states around Australia have put an end to native forest logging for the sake of human health, our threatened climate and endangered forest species, Forestry Tasmania continues to log native forests and firestorm everything that is left on the forest floor.

More than half of the forests' biomass is left lying to waste on the ground after logging, which is then scraped into piles and then burned to a crisp. These post-logging infernos irreversibly damage the environment, kill wildlife, harm human health and release huge quantities of dangerous, climate-destroying pollution into the atmosphere.

Most people confuse fuel reduction burns with logging regeneration burns, and the forestry industry does nothing to correct the confusion. There is a monumental difference between the two types of burns. Fuel reduction burns are essential for bushfire safety, but the sole purpose of forestry "regen burns" is to regrow harvestable trees back as quickly as possible for future logging.

The destructive, harmful practice of native forest logging and post-logging burns must end now.

Dr Colette Harmsen, Tinderbox

VERY pleasing to hear that Jeremy Rockliff and his minority coalition government is going to finally fix the Tasmanian health system. Excellent news and it's only taken them 10 years to do it.

Allan Slater, Ravenswood