Your views: on BASS selloff, a mother’s plea and more
Today, readers comment on moves to privatise the Festival Centre’s ticket office, the health system and desperate youth, gas energy and planning.
Commenting on the story: Job fears under Govt plan to ‘sell-off’ BASS ticket office
Stand up for the arts in SA, Mr Marshall. You are the Minister for the Arts after all. Let’s not make something else ‘faceless’ and more difficult for older people who are strong supporters of the arts. – Janice Bailey
Hands off, government – where were you when COVID shut down so much? BASS does a wonderful job and being able to meet face to face rather than online is such a help for more senior members of the public.
I have often dropped in to buy tickets or bought them when attending other functions. Stop privatisation. Governments need to provide services for their people – this is one of them. – Deb Moulton
In 1987 I became office manager and part of my duties was telecommunications for the whole complex. I organised the first instillation of the BASS system.
BASS worked well, and still is. I know some of the people still working there. Steven Marshall must be stopped on another privatisation venture. He and the federal government have not supported the arts and I am extremely angry at their whole approach. – Christine Neal
You might like
Privatise BASS? There cannot be much more left for governments of either persuasions to privatise.
This is neo-liberal economics at its worst, 20 people to lose their jobs. Also, why privatise something that actually makes money?
All being done under the commercial-in-confidence mantle which means that citizens (voters) are kept in the dark. Notably absent from this effort is the mantra that “the private sector can do it better” – that mantra is just not correct and inevitably the cost goes up. – Geoff Sauer
Commenting on the story: ‘We don’t know what to do’: Mother’s desperate plea for son
I really feel for this mum and child and can attest to her dilemma, having experienced the inadequacies of SA mental health services for youth with special needs first hand.
Anxiety and depression often coexist with autism and when my daughter developed extreme anxiety as a teenager there was just nowhere to go with it. If had she not had special needs, she would have been seen at CAMHS. However, they rejected my pleas saying ‘ we don’t have the expertise for children like your daughter’. This poor mum is not imagining this. – Name supplied
Stay informed, daily
Commenting on the story: Fed Govt deal with SA keeps gas in energy mix
Crazy, how can you reduce carbon and at same time increase fossil fuel use? This is merely a deal between two sections of the Liberal Party to back each other up.
The move into hydrogen and other renewables is sensible, but let us get away from fossil fuels. This is a huge ploy by Morrison’s mates in the gas industry and won’t help us to recover from the Covid slump. Disgusting. – Steve Rowe
Commenting on the story: What Adelaide’s new planning laws will mean for you
Your article would benefit from an exploration of how individuals and groups can have an impact on future development.
The Environment Minister’s Green Adelaide vision will inevitably be impacted upon by planning and development issues as competition for land increases as a result of population growth, urban infill and infrastructure evolution.
On the one hand, developers and private individual land holders will want to increase the footprint of buildings and infrastructure for their own benefit, while communities will want to preserve, enhance and extend open space and the natural environment in line with the Green Adelaide vision.
These tensions exist against the background of climate change and the associated impacts of severe weather events, sea level rise and stressed biodiversity.
An expert academic could provide an analysis of how environmental and heritage protection campaigns can be successfully prosecuted against the financial weight of developers and wealthy landowners.
How can we be confident that the planning reforms will lead to a healthier, safer and cohesive community against the trend of unsustainable building design (black rooves, poor building alignment, reliance on air conditioning, impermeable surfaces, increasing storm water loads, replacement of native vegetation and habitat with manicured exotic species etc).
How can an ordinary citizen influence the foundations of our future? Democracy, anyone? – Stephen Fuller
