Commenting on the story: Not enough SA talent as Transport boss defends Sydney-based “million-dollar club”

It’s really very sad to live in a state in the charge of a Government which is so disrespectful towards its citizenry; which, in branding SA, talks the talk, but is very far from walking the walk.

If there is an exodus of bright younger people from here, it’s small wonder. To be considered for employment in South Australia past being a navvy for the Government’s road building, the first thing you have to do is leave.

Shame on this government for its attitude towards its own. – Cathy Chua

Paying a million dollars gets the best person for the job? Maybe the best person is the one that has the best interests in the job at hand, rather than the money they receive.

How many times recently have we seen the big bucks go to the most inward appointee?

I also know of a software development company that lost a contract to a big software player merely because they were asking for too little money. – David Tuff

What a joke! Here in Sydney we are currently enjoying the very expensive joke of new ferries discovered to be infected with asbestos and too tall for the river bridges under which they are supposed to travel.

That follows two costly jokes with new trains – one lot too long to negotiate the cuttings through the Blue Mountains and the other lot too wide for a tunnel. Beware, South Australia! – Diana Simmonds

Commenting on the story: SA reinstates Vic border “buffer”, changes gathering and travel restrictions 

As a former resident of South Australia and with property and other interests still there, I find it quite an anomaly that residents of Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory can fly into South Australia, via Canberra airport without having to quarantine, whilst residents of the ACT, who have been COVID free for longer than any other jurisdiction within Australia are required (if allowed in?) to quarantine for two weeks. – Dennis Godfrey

Commenting on the story: Pirie St Hyatt set for approval despite heritage concerns

I completely agree with the comments by Alexander Wilkinson (Your views 25/8) regarding the proposal for a Hyatt Hotel in Pirie Street, especially as there are two previous designs for a hotel on that site that both featured the facade of the bank building as part of the redevelopment.

Something must surely be possible to refuse an application on heritage grounds?

There is a similar challenge in the development application on the Southern Cross Arcade redevelopment proposal, which involves the demolition of the art deco Sands and MacDougall building.

The proposal is for a bulky 15-storey building of 40,000 square metres covering the whole site from King William Street to James Place which in more typical developments would be equivalent to a 30- 35 storey tower.

Going higher could easily save the heritage building and address the issue of the bulk of the site to a responsible one. It would also make this a landmark building for the city. – Hans van Bavel

Commenting on the story: Lion Dairy’s China sale tipped down drain

Why isn’t some of the Australian superannuation money used to buy this company?  

It seems that our superannuation funds just want to collect dividends from overseas companies who purchase Australian companies – not do things for our country. – Bill Hecker 

Thank God we have competent Ministers such as Frydenberg  and not faceless bureaucrats in the FIRB who are still motivated by some form of purest economic ideology that invariably involves selling out the country to hostile interests. – Matthew Buck

Commenting on the story: Call to extend boosted Centrelink pandemic payments during economic woes

Since the JobSeeker rate was raised at the beginning of Covid, emergency relief services have noticed a curious thing: the number of families and individuals coming to us in crisis has dropped significantly. 

Calls for financial counselling and money management assistance have also dropped. Turns out that the problem wasn’t that these people were poor money managers – turns out they just didn’t have enough money to survive.

So what have they spent the additional money on? Fresh vegetables and meat, utility bills, car registration and repairs, new shoes for the children.  The sorts of things that we would expect everyone living in a wealthy western country like Australia would be able to provide for their families.

Dropping the JobSeeker rate back down to $57 a day puts these families back into poverty at the very time that so many more people are joining them on the unemployment queue, and job vacancies have plummeted. Businesses are struggling with hundreds of job applications for every vacancy.

Australia has done so well limiting the pandemic because we are a community that looks after each other. Our public health system and our financial safety nets have given people with symptoms options to get tested and self-isolate without becoming destitute.

Deloitte and KPMG have both modelled the boost to the economy that raising JobSeeker would deliver – 12,000+ new jobs! This is a great opportunity for the Federal Government to give the economy a kickstart and keep the benefits within the Australian community, and help people get off JobSeeker.

Let’s back evidence over ideology and put our taxpayer dollars where they are demonstrated to work. – Louise Miller Frost, CEO St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) Inc 

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