A Compilation of Newspaper Letters. Part 2

Letters to the Editor of the Cairns Post in Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Skillshare worry
I'm gravely concerned about the reduction in funding and the possible abolition of Skillshare.
There's no rationale in the Government's spending cuts. The Coalition represents the rich and privileged ruling class, born with silver spoons in their mouths and given kick-starts in life.
They wouldn't know the value of money and don't have the slightest idea as to how to manage money. It's, therefore, the utmost hypocrisy that they condemn people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale for not working.
Only the poor, deprived, working class have an incentive to work because they need to get on in life.
Skillshare provides an opportunity. A reduction in funding will deny many disadvantaged people a change to get ahead. Richard Kubicki, Manunda.
The Cairns Post, Sat 19 July '96.

Publish list of tax crooks as well as dole cheats
I refer to the tightening of rules for unemployment benefits. Australia has done that so often that we now have the strictest jobless-testing requirements of the OECD countries. There is to be a dole diary - a record to be kept by the unemployed of all their job hunting efforts, with at least eight entries a fortnight. There will also be a telephone hotline for employers to dob in dole recipients who refuse job offers, or are making insufficient effort.
Does it apply to girls who refuse jobs with escort agencies? What if she takes the job but her employer sacks her because she refused sex with a client? What if the employer dobs her in because she refused sex with him? What if the same applied to a boy? The telephone hotline would be acceptable if those employers also had their tax returns audited.
There should also be a telephone hotline for employees to dob in employers who they suspect are cheating on their taxes.
As the government wants to publish the names and addresses of dole cheats, the names and addresses of tax cheats should also be published. Richard Kubicki, Manunda.
The Cairns Post, Mon 22 July '96.