Not a good look
HAVING been told that, paraphrased, the QVMAG has no plans to rationalise material in its collections, news about the historic Miss Flinders is perplexing to say the least.
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If an "industry safety requirement" looks anything like "the trees are diseased" in a bureaucratic world view it might not be coincidental.
Earlier in 2019 the institution had a quiet clean-out that one would think contravened the trust invested in the QVMAG, but no feathers were ruffled in that process - not a one concerningly.
Australia's Infrastructure Department has entrusted the city's councillors, the QVMAG trustees, with the custody of this cultural artefact and it looks very much like the hired help is acting alone to rid themselves of the obligations that come with trust. It's not a good look.
That this might be linked to the audit, it's especially worrying. If we consider what might be discovered that has never been catalogued, the QVMAG's increasing lack of accountability and the wall of secrecy thrown up around its operations is a worry.
What else is there to come? The hired help is apparently on the hunt for opportunities to rationalise QVMAG while the councillors/trustees are looking the other way, or are at the beach, wherever? It hardly bears thinking about.
Ray Norman, Launceston.
A better argument
IN RESPONSE to Gordon Thurlow (The Examiner, December 30). When the internal combustion engine made its first appearance there were few decent roads and even fewer petrol stations.
In short they were far less reliable than the good old horse. Your constant harping on the unreliability of renewables strikes a similar vein. We need all forms of energy right now to maintain supply - but renewables are not going away anytime soon.
Maybe it's time you traded in your horse for a better argument.
Tony Newport, Hillwood.
Australia's fires
THERE IS one way to extinguish a fire which does not leave pollution - water.
There is a continuous supply available provided by monsoonal rains causing Lake Argyle to overflow. Infrastructure in towns and cities have a network of underground water mains including fire plugs for hose connections to assist in putting out fires.
A mega infrastructure network of water mains from the lake copying a towns water supply system would be a positive safety insurance scheme for opening up vast areas of Australia's outback.
A crisis often calls for extreme ideas to make sure the crisis is not continually repeated especially where lives are lost.
Words such as catastrophe, devastation, destruction, war zone are being used, boots on the ground, policies, journalistic, and political "speak" are just words that do not provide action.
Australia a sun-burnt country, leave the sun out of it.
Hugh Boyd, Prospectvale.
