AN ELECTION COMING
Can anyone feel an election coming on?
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This time it’s for local government, so councillors have started to "speak out", "express concern", " call for" and "fight hard" for any issue that will grab a headline or has been lying around for a while.
For example, the current proposal for council to check buildings for flammability and ( presumably) all land in the LGA for contamination.
Both require more than a desk audit or cursory site inspection and the consequences of getting it wrong can cost hundreds of thousands per case. No wonder the Director of Planning's response has been very cautious. But hey this is for the new councillors to deal with.
Andrew Conacher, Mangerton
OUT OF THIS WORLD
The images on the TV and the Illawarra Mercury are becoming somewhat surreal with army soldiers and special branch police looking like creatures from another planets.
On page nine of the Illawarra Mercury on July 18, the Prime Minister is addressing a crowd at Holsworthy army camp with soldiers dressed in uniform and the heads completely covered in black cloth or mask.
On top of that they were wearing gas masks, machine guns at ready and sunglasses. Now with Peter Dutton as the minister for “everything”, I think Australia has sunk to an all time political low.
In my opinion, the so-called “terrorist arrest” over the last few years could have been executed by our trusted local police. And we have never had a need for Peters Dutton’s soldiers that look like overgrown grasshoppers. If needed bring back the good old diggers instead. They have always been good enough before.
John Pronk, Wollongong
COLD ON SKATING RINK
I am one of many who purchased tickets for grandchildren to the 'Winter Wonderland' ice-skating rink at the Novotel which Illawarra Mercury and i98 advertised last week.
This was an appalling “tourist attraction”. No one could skate on it because it wasn't ice, there was no music, and the video being shown was in full sunlight.
My grandchildren lasted about five minutes and we joined hundreds of people very angry at being ripped off. It says much about Wollongong that this is the best tourist attraction we can offer.
For sheer stupidity, it ranks alongside local state Labor MP, Ryan Park's absurd boast about the booming Illawarra tourism industry standing beside a coffee van on Mt Keira last year.
Don Tate, Albion Park Rail
PAYING THE PRICE
I refer to the State Insurance and Care Governance Act, and the requirement for registered owners to pay a “Medical Care and Injury Service Levy” of roughly $100 (in my case $91) when renewing comprehensive third party insurance policies.
In the event of an accident, the payment of the levy (compulsory) exempts the policyholders and other injured parties from paying ambulance transportation and medical injury costs.
In simple terms, the combined NSW TPI policyholders pay the ambulance transportation and medical injury costs for any accident that occurs within the state.
For every million policies written (using my $91 as an example), the insurance companies rake in $91 million in levies.
To make matters worse I estimate the majority of motorists are either exempt or have already paid the levy and are not obliged to pay MCIS.
Pensioners are exempt from payment under the NSW’s Health Services Amendment (Ambulance Fees) Bill 2014.
And those who hold private health insurance have already paid an ambulance levy under the Health Insurance Levies Act of 1982.
John Macleod, Berry