RUNNING THE NUMBERS ON ELECTIONS
With election corflutes being erected across Griffith, it is clear election season is upon us.
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And what an election season it looks like for Griffith.
December is slated as the council election. March is rumoured as the federal election.
Helen Dalton has previously stated she will contest the federal election, which will require a further state Byelection for her to run (whether she wins the seat of Farrer or not).
Then if Helen Dalton does run for the federal election, local government councillors are notoriously for vacating their council positions to have a tilt at state politics.
So if one of our councillors have a run at state government, Griffith residents will forced into yet another council byelection.
By my count, Griffith residents may have four elections to vote at by the end of April 2022.
I'd ask any council candidates who have aspirations to run for the potential 2022 State Government byelection or 2023 state government general election or a federal election to rescind their candidature to save ratepayers the cost of an expensive local government byelection.
Greg Adamson, Griffith
MANY ISSUES ARE UNRESOLVED
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian delayed NSW local government elections because she is terrified of losing her supporting councillors who hand out for her at election time.
They were elected for four years not five or more This is unconstitutional.
Queensland successfully held their local government elections on the due date in September 2020.
There has also been other elections held in NSW and ACT including the Monaro byelection.
There are urgent unresolved issues at Griffith City Council including have 12 councillors which is too many.
Peter Knox, Griffith
SUPPORT FOR VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING MISPLACED
Helen Dalton's support for the voluntary assisted dying (VAD) bill currently being debated in the New South Wales Parliament is regrettable.
VAD is clearly a euphemism for euthanasia having the same effect.
It is opposed by doctors' professional bodies, by major specialists in aged care and by indigenous community leaders, notably Noel Pearson.
Our elderly citizens have borne the heavy burden of COVID with the risk to their health overlaid with isolation from family and friends.
In this environment VAD poses an ever-present threat; the elderly and sick questioning the availability of adequate medical care, whilst many experience feelings of being burdensome to family and their care providers.
The justification offered by the bill's advocates that the legal conditions are stringent, or that the regime being authorized will be conservative, are not the point.
What matters is the core intention of the law and the ethical threshold being crossed. Two classes of social citizens are created; where there are lives, we honor and those we believe would be better off dead.
This is borne out in Victoria where only 12 people were predicted to die from euthanasia in the first year, yet there were 272 eligible applications and 124 deaths - the youngest being 36.
Meanwhile numbers continue to grow.
Should the opportunity arise Helen Dalton should reconsider and not take this road, voting with the effect of debasing our culture and moral order.
Peter Murray, Wodonga
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?
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