Sky Muster ‘improves’ rural communication
As NBN has found a way to deliver more data to Sky Muster users at no extra cost, from October Sky Muster users will be able to buy plans of 100 gigabytes a month of peak data and 150 gigabytes of off-peak data for around $120.
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This is a huge improvement. It’s worth remembering that under Labor, users were to receive 35 gigabytes a month.
The second satellite is now carrying users (Labor wanted it to orbit earth as a backup only) and Sky Muster had 90 per cent less outages in April than it did last October.
The remaining outages tend to be contained to only one of Sky Muster’s 102 beams and last less than five minutes.
The Coalition inherited Sky Muster from Labor, and things didn’t start perfectly, but we’re now getting the best out of it.
Fiona Nash, Minister for Regional Communications
Redefining marriage opens can of worms
Can you change reality by re-defining words? From ancient times, marriage has been one man plus one woman. All re-defining can achieve is to take us from a definition that makes sense to one that is non-sense.
Redefining marriage as the union of “any two people regardless of gender” will inevitably lead to further redefinitions straying further and further from traditional family structure.
Like bisexual people, wanting a male spouse plus a female spouse, demanding that the word “two” be replaced by “three”?
Ultimately, once we’ve all been coerced into accepting gender-fluid theory as fact, we’ll have to allow people any number of spouses of multiple genders.
At present, same-sex couples can be recognised as next-of-kin etc. The rest of society has already bent over backwards to avoid unjust treatment.
Arnold Jago, Nichols Point
Tax grab on trust funds
I applaud Bill Shorten for outlining his policy objectives so early in the electoral cycle but that has given us a glimpse at just how destructive they would be to rural communities.
His ill-advised tax-grab aimed at trusts is an example of failing to understand the complex ebbs and flows of money that sustain rural communities.
It’s not just farmers who rely on trusts to smooth their income flow between good and bad years; it is also many rural small businesses that rely on income from primary producers.
Farmers and graziers don’t invest in new infrastructure when they are earning no money and many small businesses that sell and maintain this infrastructure rely on trusts to manage their income yearly.
The ALP has effectively labelled these workers as wealthy tax dodgers. Southeast NSW rural communities will be worse off if Bill Shorten is given the keys to The Lodge.
Nigel Catchlove, Manton
Shirking constitutional responsibilities
Thank you (not), Turnbull, for disenfranchising me. I'm out of the country without a fixed address when the postal plebiscite occurs. Voting is not compulsory, so results will not represent the view of Australians.
Too many mobile people will have no way to receiving a ballot; electronic voting is also not allowed. The results won’t be binding. To date, parliament hasn't indicated the question on the ballot. A waste of resources.
Our Constitution asserts: “The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal Parliament, which shall consist of the Queen, a Senate, and a House of Representatives”.
“The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to...marriage.”
If parliamentarians continue to shirk their responsibilities, they should be removed from office.