I have been paying my rates to Wollongong City Council for almost half a century, the rate level set by the Valuer General, based on the unimproved value of the land my house stands on.
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Every year this council has been unable to provide the basic services to ratepayers without getting higher extra special increases in rates. This year they are millions of dollars short in meeting the costs of repairing damaged roads and civic infrastructure.
But a statue for Clifton has snapped my belief in the claims of responsible financial management for this city. We urgently need to establish a fair method of setting council rates. End the waste of money by council.
Dave Cox, Corrimal
It's the leaders, not the people
As John Pronk says (Illawarra Mercury, April 30) it's not the common Chinese people we need to be scared of as they just want to go about their business and be happy and friendly. The same applies to the Russians and any other peoples with whom we have been at odds. The problems reside with their leaders and we need to make that distinction.
Paul Gunning, Famborough Heights
Search for intelligent life
The discovery of life seeding chemicals, needed to form the DNA from which all earthly life is formed, on an Australian Meteorite fallen from outer space, should not raise any false hopes of their being intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.
Even a cursory review of the conditions currently prevailing across this planet, particularly during a federal election, will show that any basis for a belief in intelligent life is far from proven on this planet, so why should we expect it to be different anywhere else?
Garry P Dalrymple, Earlwood
Cash splash while real wages cut
It surprises me that following the biggest cash hand out by any Australian government in history, where everyone and business seems to have received stimulus money for not working, we have trouble in understanding why police, nurses and teachers are striking.
Let's face it, police, teachers and nurses received nothing during the pandemic while everyone stayed at home.
They have had their pay cut for a decade, and have recently been denied pay rises which would simply maintain their buying power of the income they received last year.
It's no wonder so many teachers such as myself are spending our time in other pursuits after being treated so poorly.
Surely we as a society, through our governments can offer more thanks than this for our teachers, nurses and police.
Greg Adamson, Griffith
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