Marist Brothers Darlinghurst
Opinions-3
Old idea
worth recycling
Little Bay
resident Peter Fagan says complaints about the drink container recycling
facility at Randwick Golf Club are “selfish and shortsighted” (Container
machine returns benefits, Southern Courier/26/6/2018).
He cites a
reduction in street litter and points out the financial returns help
those who are doing it tough. These are laudable aims. But essentially
the recycling scheme is yet one more wacky idea from the NSW State
Government that is costing the consumer millions of dollars.
During the first
three months of “operation recycle” – which began in December last year
– the consumer was slugged an extra $110m by retailers to pay for the
scheme by charging an extra 20c a bottle or can. You pay an extra 20c to
get 10c back. They’re recycling our money back into their pockets. How
wacky is that?
Other wacky ideas
under Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s watch include the selling -off of the
Land titles Registry for $2.6 billion to pay for the planned $2billion
stadium demolition; the light rail to Kingsford where
passengers will have to disembark and catch the bus to Chifley, and the
sacking of 5,550 TAFE teachers after axing 27 TAFE colleges.
Twenty-one of the colleges sold-off are in country areas and all this as
part of the government’s Smart and Skilled Program.
Not so smart when
you consider they now need to recruit 253 TAFE teachers to cater for the
unprecedented construction boom in Western Sydney and the sudden
realization that we have an alarming shortage of TAFE trained tradies.
If Gladys
Berejiklian is so proud of her recycling program, she should recycle
some of the old ideas that worked, for example one-stop, affordable
access to a TAFE vocational education program that benefits the entire
community.
Now there’s a
can-do idea for you.
Tony Morrissey,
Chifley.