Interesting times ahead
Regardless of whether it is Joe McGirr or Dan Hayes that wins this election on preferences, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the remaining 75 per cent of the electorate did not actually vote for the next member for Wagga Wagga.
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The next six months until the General Election will be interesting indeed.
Steff Roe, Wagga
Who should we trust?
Adrian Piccoli has “slammed” (‘Former MP slams seal of confessional’, The Daily Advertiser, September 6) the Catholic Church’s decision to reject attempts to force priests to reveal who said what in the confession. I’m of no religion and certainly not Catholic but I’m astounded at Mr Piccoli’s naivety.
The instigating factor is that of child sexual abuse: inasmuch as it is claimed that if anyone has ever admitted to it in a confessional (of which, by definition, we have no evidence; and therefore we don’t know if anyone ever has admitted to it) then withholding such testimony, by the priest, will be a crime: big deal; no proof.
This is a law that grasps at straws – we don’t know if anyone has ever confessed to this crime in a confessional but we’re hell-bent on making sure that no one ever does because the priest will report them if they do. Good grief! Could there be any law any more self-destructive of evidence?
When Mr Piccoli says that the RC church has a “number one priority of child protection” this is pure BS: that has never been a priority for any church, Christian or otherwise, that I know of; or else I would have joined them.
Assuming that a priest is a person of upstanding morality (which, even as an atheist, I presume most of them to be) and able to offer socially acceptable counselling, do we really want to disenfranchise them from the system? Do we trust the priest? Or distrust him?
Robert Walker, Wagga
Byelection win but will we lose?
Locals delivered a true drubbing to the Liberals resulting in a well deserved ignominious defeat.
But what will we get from our sullied Liberals now? A $130 million pocket full of broken promises poured back into the Sydney/Newcastle coffers?
Right to the end, the Liberals are playing the blame game but too rude and selfish to give credit where credit is due, ungracious in losing to the most humble, deserving, self-funded expert candidate - who was not buoyed financially with pork barelling of undelivered (40-year-old undelivered new hospital promises) from major parties.
Interesting to note that Uranquinty was the only centre outside of Wagga polling to win the vote for Dr Joe McGirr (his wife is also a doctor) who magically managed the stressful Wagga Base Hospital emergency service for many years.
N.B. One can travel from Uranquinty in an emergency dash to two hospitals in Wagga, via only one roundabout. Yet from east of Wagga, one easily stresses from obstructions in four-to-five sets of traffic lights and two roundabouts. But for now, and in the foreseeable future, there are many reasons to completely forget about fast emergency medical travel from north Wagga, via the one-lane Gobba Bridge.