Responding to SA anti-abortion lobbyist in top three national social media spenders

The revelations around the massive spend on social media by anti-abortion activist Joanna Howe raise important questions around political advertising and the ethical restraints that should apply to any public ‘debate’ on a sensitive issue such as pregnancy termination. Professor (Legal) Howe canvassed a ‘fun game’ based on the serious, but mischievously contrived parliamentary debate around the attempted distortion of the existing pregnancy termination legislation promoted by her and Hon Sarah Game in the Legislative Council.

This failed attempt to restrict the availability of termination in late pregnancy in women with serious physical and mental disorders was predicated on the introduction of a proposed unrealistic and impractical indication based on and posing a ‘threat to the life’ of a pregnant woman. This vague indication has no medical basis and would have been impossible to identify and define. The outcome of this fundamental flaw in the proposed legal amendment is best exemplified in a young woman in late pregnancy with a serious mental condition, which has culminated in suicidal ideation. It would be legally and clinically impossible to determine that a termination would be necessary to save this woman’s life. The only way this indication could be determined and validated would be if and when this woman committed suicide.

Surely this tragic outcome encompassing the death of both the mother and her fetus would not be countenanced by even the most rabid anti-abortionist. – Warren Jones

Responding to Opinion: ‘Everyone’s too busy protecting their own arses’ over Jetty Road works

Well, I’m in complete agreement with your writer’s comments regarding Jetty Rd, Glenelg; there is just one correction. I would like to make.

He quotes Jacinda Ardern in the same class as Nelson Mandela. This may be the opinion of many people who don’t live in New Zealand, but please know that she is now quite despised over there and was a complete disaster for the New Zealand economy. – Roy Trotman

I can only concur. I am appalled by the mess that has plagued Jetty Road – and the hard-pressed business owners  –  for well over a year.

I used to go for regular long exercise walks up and down Jetty Road, and around the nearby marina, a couple of times a week, before stopping at a local cafe for a late lunch. Any pleasure I once derived from my walks was completely absent on my last visit on October 28, 2025, while my previous outing before that was on August 26. While the mess at the beach end of Jetty Road drags on, I can see little point in returning until well into 2026.

I don’t begrudge the council’s desire to upgrade Jetty Road, but the timing was appalling. That the current ‘improvements’ are not scheduled to be completed until the end of January is an egregious example of poor planning by the City of Holdfast Bay, whose councillors should be ashamed and embarrassed to show their faces around what they like to tout as Adelaide’s ‘premier seaside suburb’. – Jim Lesses

Responding to Uni vice chancellors grilled over ‘unprecedented’ merger

A well-balanced article that indicates what a remarkable achievement by vice chancellors Høj and Lloyd to merge these two institutions so seamlessly.

The article, though, lost some balance by even mentioning that the new female vice chancellor’s salary was subjected to accusations of gender discrimination. This matter should not even get a mention, as it is clearly about experience discrimination, not about gender.

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It took a tribunal to get an SA 9-year-old funding from NDIS. What about everyone else?

Two highly qualified vice chancellors with 30 years of combined excellence in the roles would naturally be paid more than a relative newcomer to the role. – Eric Granger

Responding to SA seniors fear new rules make staying at home pricier

The prices stated there are far, far higher than what the support workers actually get paid. Most would not be getting more than $25 an hour maximum. Even adding in administration costs, there must be providers who are getting a considerable profit.

This is definitely not about making it cheaper and easier to live at home. This is about older people going without. – Catriona Gunn

Responding to Thousands of signatures petitioning for Hahndorf truck inquiry call

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It took a tribunal to get an SA 9-year-old funding from NDIS. What about everyone else?

It’s great to see the issue of access around Hahndorf being looked at holistically, with the potential of a parliamentary committee probing this issue further.

As well as the need to resolve vehicle congestion, there is plenty of potential for more active travel (e.g. cycling/walking paths) linking Hahndorf to neighbouring towns. Also, there is a broader need to ensure public transport is working at optimum levels in and around Hahndorf.

Since the bus timetable changes in August 2024, every hour between 9am and 3pm on weekdays, buses travelling from the City to Mt Barker and from Lobethal to Mt Barker (and vice versa) travel within a minute or two of each other for some 11km, through Hahndorf Main Street and on to Mt Barker. This adds to congestion and is a waste of valuable and limited public transport funding. Such wasteful duplication could be spent elsewhere on providing improved bus services in the Hills.

It is truly unbelievable that such wastage was approved by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport. I alerted both the previous and current Transport Ministers to this inefficiency and wastage, however, there has been no change – let’s hope a parliamentary committee will provide the scrutiny this issue needs. – Joel Taggart

Responding to DEM MOB music marks new $33m APY Lands school opening

Congrats. I took a group of secondary kids from Mimili to a workshop at Umuwa Trade Training Centre in 2024, and this type of activity was a welcome relief from the SACE curriculum they were trying to achieve during ordinary school hours. Well done – going in the right direction, with music programme, Two-way science and rangers. You’ve got to be interested to learn. – Runar Bjaaland 

Responding to Legendary radio broadcaster dies after cancer battle

I used to like him in Year 10 at school – fifteen! He was funny too, compassionate. – Scott Murison

He was a good bloke, fearless in pursuing truth, good handle on issues. Sad loss. – Colin Gaetjens

Responding to Smithson: SA’s Liberal president ‘on a mission of her own’ on net zero

I don’t have much faith in a party that, as yet, seems not to have a candidate for our seat of Light, only a few months from the election. Policies are useless if you don’t have the mechanism to deliver them. – Peter Annear

 I don’t know Mike. Why not respectfully call out Tarzia not appearing at the 7am timeslot for what most of us see it as? Seems the Premier thought his Opposition number would be there. Your articles are insightful, and you are well-connected, but sometimes you are a bit kind to them.

You do nice work and enjoy your writing. – Tony Wyld

Since Alex Antic’s branch stacking, the moderates in the Liberal Party State Council have become redundant.

The same will happen to the Liberal Party as a whole because they keep looking back, and have regressive policies that young people of today just don’t want. – Herman Pouwels

Responding to SA ill-prepared for ecological disaster: Damning federal algal bloom report

Just like the Covid times. Left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing; all Premiers made their own rules in each State. One wonders in a real catastrophe how we would cope. We have no real leaders. – Frann Grigg

Just to fact-check a statement in this article: Premier Malinauskas says in this article that no one could have predicted this disastrous algal bloom.

Not true, Peter.

In 2023, the Great Southern Reef Foundation wrote to Labor Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek twice, foreshadowing this event and requesting funding and support for mitigation strategies and research.

Tanya ignored the letters.

Voila! Bang. Algal bloom disaster – I see it daily on Port Noarlunga beach. Shame, Peter – need to get your head out of roads and golf courses. – Maria Vouis

How easy it is to be wise after the event. I seem to remember the federal minister was not really interested in coming to SA to ‘have a look’.

Nothing like this has happened before. I find it offensive that selected people can make statements about something that hasn’t affected them.

Scientists have been working to find a solution, but the bottom line must surely be that nobody knew what was going to happen.

I hope these learned people can put their minds to ‘stopping climate change’. – Anne Smith

So, how does anyone prepare for this type of outbreak? – Ian Porteous

What a weak response from the Premier. Invoking the old climate change chestnut. How about a bit of leadership, get ahead of the curve, show some insight. No one blames you for the bloom. The community simply wants you to think on your feet and think ahead. All you can do is slip into spin and damage control mode. A modern-day Playford?

Spare me, please. – John McKinnon

Responding to First-time finalist crowned South Australia’s Agricultural Town of the Year

Congratulations to Lameroo as South Australia’s Agricultural Town of the Year!

This is a “memory lane” note.

I spent a bit of time in Lameroo in July, 2005, as I drove between visits with cousins in Echuca and Lockington, Victoria, en route to a ten-week Australian adventure with friends from Adelaide and Mount Gambier, SA.

The photo of the piglets at the McPiggery farm reminded me of times as a child in Ontario, Canada. My Dad raised Yorkshire pigs. It was “my job” when the piglets needed to have their little black teeth removed, to run around the pen and catch each one of them, poor little critters, for this minor operation.

A daily read of InDaily online news keeps me up to date with one of my favourite parts of the world. Thank you so much! – Betty-Anne Hamilton

Responding to The Stats Guy: How expensive do you want housing to be?

I would like to point out that there is a big-ish omission from both your lists. That is the enormous federal and state windfall from the huge number and high prices of rentals, because rents are taxed twice at marginal rates.

This is in itself a sufficient reason for every Australian government to do nothing except make housing more unaffordable and keep wages low, which has been done for 25 years with a corresponding increase in poverty. Until rents become tax-deductible, nothing will change in our corrupted society, and I am not saying that because it is in my interest. – Gillian Stroud