Letters to the Editor, May 21, 2020: Tassie beer disappears on the mainland

A reader outlines his struggles in trying to find a Tasmanian beer on the mainland. Plus, little gain from expensive high schools, trade woes and more in your Letters to the Editor.

Hard to find a Tassie beer in the nation’s capital. Picture: iStock

In your Letters to the Editor today: Forlorn search for Tassie beer, little gain from expensive high schools and trade woes.

HARD TO FIND OUR TOP TASSIE BEER

GROWING up as a Tasmanian, it’s hardly surprising that great Tasmanian beers have been a favourite all my life. Having lived on the mainland since the early 1970s I have, until recent years, continued to enjoy these quality products, but not any more. Cascade beers have progressively disappeared from mainland outlets. There is no longer even a distributor able to provide Cascade to retailers in Canberra.

It is still possible to find, occasionally, some Boags beers and, solely, from Cascade their light beer. Contacting CUB, Cascade’s owner, was fruitless. The brand doesn’t even appear on CUB’s Our Products page. The only reference is on the “Our Heritage” page where it takes pride of place as CUB’s beginnings in 1832. When I called CUB, I was advised it is not available outside Tasmania. On asking why, I was told “various factors” and on pressing the matter, “some retailers might not want to carry it.” That’s hardly the case when I’m aware of at least three outlets who have complained they can’t get it.

Why is CUB seemingly burying this quality product? Is it because it’s better than some of their other products and the competition hurts, or is it because despite their own range of other ‘boutique’ products, they are happy to let economies of scale kill this fine Tasmanian product, also the oldest continuously produced label in Australia. This is happening stealthily and it’s time to call out what CUB is doing.

J.P.D. Hodgman, Deakin, ACT

Reverse VC call

THE Federal Government must reverse its decision on a VC for Teddy Sheean. How can Senator Reynolds justify this decision by denying evidence from a tribunal that acted on substantial research and witness statements to establish a VC should be awarded. Sheean, a man of great courage, protected his shipmates by giving his life, yet once again a simple acknowledgment has been turned into a political football. One should never forget that governments have the right to award medals to anyone, eg, Tony Abbott awarded Australia’s highest award to Prince Philip a few years back. So Scomo, pull out your pen and sign off for one of our own.

Leon Williams, Howrah

DECISION TO DENY “TEDDY” SHEEAN A VC WAS WRONG

TALKING POINT: IF THIS ISN’T WORTH A VC, WHAT IS?

Dale Marsh’s painting of Teddy Sheean, who lashed himself to his gun and fired until the HMAS Armadale sank, giving fellow sailors time to get away. Picture: Australian War Memorial

Open up to travel

TASMANIA must reconsider restrictions on interstate travel. The constitutional right of free travel between states can only be restricted in exceptional cases of great need. Currently, the capacity of all states to meet healthcare needs in case of an influx of coronavirus cases is more than ample. Australia is not attempting to eradicate the virus and eradication is not a feasible goal. Tasmania should not attempt this at the price of the wellbeing, freedoms and livelihoods of thousands of Tasmanians. Tasmania’s only chance of mitigating the economic damage wrought by the shutdowns is to open interstate travel immediately. We need to access domestic tourism and foster economic activity nationally, as our constitution provides. With every week that goes by, more jobs will be lost and lives affected.

Misty Brozgul, New Town

Buy local but sell us off

TASMANIANS are being implored to buy local and support local business and industry, yet our state government has never been more keen to sell Tasmania to overseas investors and developers. Now is the time to review the need for quick-buck economic fixes that employ international or interstate contractors to build investment opportunities that profit foreign companies/owners.

I implore the Government to put its money where its mouth is and support a slower but more sustainable growth for Tasmanian workers, producers, industries, researchers, developers and investors.

Elisabeth Rees, South Hobart

Start team training now

IF and when we have an AFL team from Tasmania, where is our team if the powers that be want one in the AFL in 2023. They should be selected now and have full training to bring them up to the standards required. Most of the previous Tasmanian stars did not shine until they went through the rigorous training offered by the VFL and AFL.

Unite Tassie football by getting back to three designated areas as before. Have bums on seats in our local football then start picking prospective recruits. Then train, train, train so they can sustain four quarters of rigorous football and are ready to accept the ball game as a full time job. This requires dedication in training, playing and private management.

L.A. Bell, Howrah

Pick a Tassie AFL team now and start training. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Welfare mistake

I WONDER if the Morrison Government acknowledges its mistake by now? Doubling the welfare payments to those whose situation has not changed was a silly move. They should be assisting those who have jobs, either casual or otherwise, because these are the people whose situation has changed.

Instead we have a situation which has increased alcohol and drug consumption, and the attendant social problems of violence in the home and child protection concerns. You just have to look at the official statistics to verify this. This kneejerk reaction to the economic downturn has been quite poorly managed.

Rod Force, Sandy Bay

EXPENSIVE HIGH SCHOOLS FOR LITTLE GAIN

THE State Government policy of extending all high schools to grade 11 and 12 is expensive, ill conceived and ineffective (“Stretched to the limit,” Mercury , May 18).

While school retention is the rationale, the range and depth of subjects offered in an extension high school cannot compare to the subject range of colleges. The policy is diluting scarce resources for minimal gain. Secondary colleges are extremely cost effective, concentrating resources in one place, offering a wide range of subjects, experienced teachers, age appropriate activities.

Students from different schools interact in a stimulating educational and social environment, widening their horizons as they mature. Friendships develop. Students are supported in their studies, and they have fun. The isolation of the coronavirus lockdown has brought home to us all that humans are social animals who learn best interacting and stimulated by other people.

A class of five in an extension high schools is an expensive joke at the expense of the people of Tasmania.

Elizabeth Osborne, North Hobart

HOT TOPIC: TRADE WOES

Give Tasmanians a holiday too

I AM beginning to feel used. Fishing and tourism industries are imploring Tasmanians to support them in these difficult times. This is a sentiment I earnestly support but there has to be a bit of give and take. For years the closest most of us got to a crayfish was drooling over a glossy advertisement directed to an empyrean world way beyond our own. There are now generations of Tasmanians who have never tasted a crayfish let alone abalone.

Nor have we been able to afford holidays in our state for well over a decade. I once managed to fly to Naxos in the Greek islands, stay for a week in delightful accommodation and fly home for less than the cost of six nights in an average stay in my home state. Added to this, unfettered growth of Airbnb and the catastrophic impact on rents has been a festering issue with seemingly little compassion by the sector or government.

I will certainly heed the call and offer what support I can to fishers and innkeepers but once this is over, I think we can expect something in return. Perhaps a quota of seafood set aside for locals, a discount for accommodation and a firm cap on visitor accommodation. Gandhi expressed these sentiments far more aptly, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

Ian Broinowski, Battery Point

Crayfish have been out of reach for most Tasmanians for many years. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS

China plays an old game

YOU think the ban on barley imports is connected to Australia’s stand on an inquiry into COVID-19? Think again. Singapore’s founding PM Lee Kuan Yew warned in 1980 Australia was in danger of becoming the “white trash” of Asia. Between the incompetence and personal interest of our political class and business acumen of the Chinese Communist Party, I’d say he got it dead right. Much post-war investment came from democratically aligned countries operating under similar rules of the game. What we are witnessing is very different and federal, state and local governments through ignorance, incompetence or personal interest stand by.

Straight from a medieval marketplace handbook of trading and takeover, you buy up big when you are dealing with fools. You become their largest customer and create dependency on your business. Then you turn off the tap and offer a lame excuse like “times are tough” or “your barley is subsidised so we are putting an 80 per cent tariff on it”. The next step is you or your Canadian, European or other proxy buys the enterprise on the cheap. The nation is riddled with farms, businesses and institutions being sold for a song to China. And what are our politicians doing about it? They are giving you the palms up treatment folks, “it’s not our fault!”

Peter Alexis, Taroona

Aussie-made and great

ONCE we had a manufacturing industry. Aussie made, you name it, we made it. Clothing, footwear, cars, biscuits, jams, engines, furniture, appliances, socks, sheets. Today we’re lucky if there’d be one factory within a bull’s roar of each other when once there were hundreds. Many brands we love (think Cadbury) are owned by overseas corporate interests. Thousands of jobs employed the masses, feeding families and making our country great. For 30 years Mum helped rear five kids by working in a factory sewing sheets then training hundreds of women to do the same. By the turn of the century her beloved workplace was no more, a victim of free trade and overseas sweatshops. A Taswegian can’t even afford once abundant delicacies such as crayfish, abalone, scallops, even flathead. Beef and lamb the same.

Steve Bailey, Glenorchy

Biting hand that feeds

CHINA with 10 per cent of the world’s arable land has a snowball’s chance in hell of feeding its people, so to bite the hand that feeds them is arrogant at best and disastrous at worst. Australia stands to lose short-term profits in barley but stands to lose more if we lose respect in the world community. COVID-19 caught us, and the world, off guard, but we are taking steps to improve our industrial and financial security. We only need to stay the course and not bow to China’s bullying.

Miles Pitman, Dover

Australia must stand firm in the face of trade threats from China.

QUICK VIEWS

Tourism white elephant

I SUSPECT the Tasmanian Government is quietly thankful the proposed cable car on kunanyi/Mt Wellington is not in operation. It would be quite embarrassing having such a prominent white elephant sitting there unused for an unknown period of time. Without substantial tourist patronage there would be no hope of this private business operating profitably unless supported by the taxpayer.

Mike Bazan, Acton Park

Governments at fault, not China

IT’S not China’s fault it owns so much Australian agricultural land, has bought so many of our businesses and that we rely on it so much economically. It’s our many governments’ faults for letting it do so. While the Government points a finger at China, there are three pointing back at us.

Russell Langfield, Kimberley

Morrison’s values

WHILE attacking China, Scott Morrison says, “What we will never trade away is our values”. What values are they Mr Morrison? You mean keeping our casualised workforce with no job security, no sick leave and no holiday pay, tax cuts to the wealthy while those are struggling to pay rent and feed families? Those values are of Donald Trump and are not mine.

Ike Naqvi, Tinderbox

Uniform on borders

TASMANIAN Premier Peter Gutwein has shown true political leadership thus far in protecting Tasmania’s border against COVID-19. But given we are a nation, surely uniformity between states in terms of reopening borders must be consistent for all economic reasons (“Premier to wait on borders”, Mercury , May 20).

Chris Davey, Lindisfarne

Whale worry

HOW in the name of courage and being focused can a young man in a tinny be facing a fine for releasing an ensnared whale from a fisheries net in Queensland waters. Shame on the authorities.

Stewart Edwards, Mount Stuart

Mundey fought for workers

REGARDING the passing of comrade Jack Mundey, the organiser for the Builders Labourers Federation and protagonist for the working class fought for conditions in the construction industry that are now taken for granted. The site shed was the closest tree, the toilet was a bomb drop and work was done in the rain. Thanks Jack! BLF and proud.

Phil Georgeff, Dover

No crowded trains

SO passengers on trains in some mainland states are causing problems with not social distancing and overcrowding. You won’t have that problem in Tasmania.

Brad Rogers, Lindisfarne

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