Daily Advertiser letters to the editor, June 27

Many of our fine citizens, including some Wagga Base Hospital staff, believe the hydrotherapy pool at Wagga Base is no longer in use.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Our support group is running up to five supervised warm water exercise sessions per week.

Some of the sessions have dropped in numbers for a variety of reasons, including pool fee structure, the colder weather and the difficulty in obtaining parking.

The parking difficulties are acknowledged. However, it is less than helpful when hospital staff or tradesmen vehicles are parked in the one disabled park and three parking bays designed for hydrotherapy pool clients.

Our session times are Monday – 10am to 11am, Tuesday – 11am to noon, Wednesday – 8,30am to 9.30am and 5pm to 6pm and Friday – 3pm to 4pm. Leaving the designated parking bays vacant for use by support group members during these times would be appreciated.

I WONDER if the Prime Minister realises the irony of his declaration that heads should roll at the ABC. If an “ordinary” citizen said that, would the PM declare them a terrorist? If heads roll will he hold them up in metaphorical triumphalism?

IN RESPONSE to Cr Chaffey’s letter about rail trails.

You would think he would have checked his facts before handling the truth so carelessly.

There was no compensation paid for land resumed for the Wagga –Tumbarumba railway line in our case and I know of no one that was.

My grandfather owned the land then and was told to apply for compensation, which he did but it was never paid. I have a letter from the Minister of Transport, M Ruddock, in 1975 that verifies this. 

THE recent column by Greens councillor Ray Goodlass on the landmark China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) contains serious errors of fact that must be corrected (“How free is the Free Trade deal”, Daily Advertiser, June 23).

Mr Goodlass’s sprinkle of support for the deal is apparently outweighed by “some serious negatives” in an analysis that leaves a lot to be desired.

In what is at best a gross misunderstanding of the deal and at worst an audacious attempt at scaremongering, Mr Goodlass alleges the agreement “allows Australian firms to bring in an unlimited number of temporary workers from China”. The claim is completely false and simply an attempt to detract from a deal that will provide enormous economic benefits to the economy and everyday Australians.

The project agreement programme is underpinned by comprehensive stakeholder consultation which ensures employment and training opportunities for Australians remain the first priority.

If this is the sort of “fine detail” Mr Goodlass is hoping his federal Greens colleagues will scrutinise, he need not worry: these and other protections for Australian workers are already outlined in the deal. Now is the time to celebrate this momentous deal, not attempt to tear it down through false assertions.