We are seeking to remove all advertisements from television, radio and billboards created by the group Emily's Voice. These ads are designed to persuade people not to support legalising and clarifying abortion laws in Tasmania. The television ad has just commenced and it appears that they wish to shame women into choosing to keep their unborn child. Which is not right. It is a highly complex and personal decision. This campaign needs to be stopped before it goes any further.

Nations around the world are investing into efficient and effective public transport to move people and address congestion and improve livability. Finally we have seen a change at the Commonwealth Government level under this Labor Government which has set up Infrastructure Australia to make informed decisions on infrastructure priorities. As a result we have seen an increase in funding for Public Transport in our cities. As a nation we can not afford to go back to 50's policies and try to build our way out of congestion by building more roads. Not everyone uses PT but everybody will benefit if we have an efficient Public Transport system in our cities and suburbs. Let's make this an election issue and give a message to Tony Abbott. In contrast even Malcom Turnbull sees the benefits of PT for the future of our nation.

On a couple of occasions I have walked on remote beaches and come across a deflated helium balloon with string attached to it . Literally millions of balloons get sent into the skies as gestures of different types each year. This means there must be millions and millions of deflated balloons with string attached to them littering the ocean floors and countrysides throughout Australia and the rest of the planet. They are a hazard to our wildlife as they can get tangled in the string or swallow the balloons and they are also a shameful example of human pollution of our planet. It is also a fact that helium supplies are finite and we should not be filling balloons with it and sending it into the atmosphere to be wasted when supplies are getting low.

The "How to Vote" card system is an archaic, costly, environmentally wasteful and generally unproductive. Having engaged in this farcical process, I am convinced that the benefits espoused by proponents are largely mythical and the procedure is simply a thinly-veiled attempt to engender the same gladiatorial dynamics at the grass-roots level as the parties attempt to create at the institutional level. There is no need for it as the information contained on the cards could just as easily be placed in each polling booth.

Universities have raked in a total of about $20 million in 2012 (and probably the same in 2013) from external students for services not provided to them. The lack of recognition of the existence of online and external students in the HE Acts has led to no restraints on the amounts that universities can force external students to pay for services essentially provided only on campus. Also with the rise in online education (and MOOCs), it is vital that online provision is fully recognised in the legislation so that quality and fair pricing is ensured for these fast growing products. See http://www.aoesa.org for a submission made to the Dept of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Please help our children get the education they deserve. Our children deserve better than second in line to private schools. Our children deserve greater resources and funding like public schools in other States. Our children deserve the Gonski review being implemented. The children at Knox Gardens Primary School and every other school within your electorate, and the parents of those children who you represent, need your help.

The Daly and Edit Rivers are significant rivers in the top-end. They are relatively untouched by farming and mining, and are a strong tourism drawcard. the current proposal is to pump millions of litres of cadmium affected acid water - with a PH of 1 - directly into the river during the wet season. This waste will be pumped untreated directly into the river travel hundred of kilometres before it reaches the ocean. This waste needs to be - at the very least - treated and heavy metals removed - before any option can be considered.

An increase in compulsory FIFO and DIDO working conditions in many mines has a marked effect on mining workers, their families and local communities. These include: high population increases, without the accompanying funding to support local workers in health and criminal justice areas; high rents which cannot be afforded by local teachers and other service workers; family unfriendly 12 hour shift work; increases in crime and other antisocial behaviour from workers with no social connection to their local community; increasing unemployment in support and service workers and small business. If mining companies genuinely committed to acting responsibly and governments set appropriate boundaries for the development and conditions of mining leases, then all stakeholders could benefit. These would inlcude: less social disorder due to greater resident workforces; less turn-over in an industry affected by skills shortages; less travel time for workers; better health and relationship outcomes for families; more investment in local infrastructure and social services; healthier local small businesses; and more incentives for regional living which is a key policy objective for both state and federal governments.

I can't explain it better than Ross Gittins did recently in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Work, Life and Family Survey is: "a survey of how people use their time, requiring a random sample of households to keep diaries of the way their time was spent for a short period. GDP measures only the value of work that's been paid for in the marketplace. It ignores all the unpaid work performed in the home, including caring for kids, and the work of volunteers. Time-use surveys fill that gap. How much time are women spending in paid and unpaid work? How is women's participation in the paid workforce changing over time as they become better educated? How much paid work is being done by people of retirement age? To what extent is paid work encroaching on our weekends? How is the burden of housework being shared between husbands and wives in two-income families? One of the most popular maxims of the wealth creators is: you can't manage what you don't measure. Directly or indirectly, most of the Bureau of Statistics' efforts are directed at measuring GDP. It's so important it's measured four times a year. Our time use hasn't been measured since 2006. The cancellation of this year's survey means it won't be measured again until 2019."

Residents are losing their community and being disturbed by noise due to the use of residential homes as tourist holiday homes.

Justine Ferrari's article in 'The Australian' on December 12, 2012 described how our primary school students have scored the lowest of any English-speaking nation in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). According to her article, "In the first international reading test of Australian primary schools, about 25 per cent of the nation's Year 4 students failed to meet the minimum standard in reading for their age, rising to more than 30 per cent in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Of the 48 countries tested, Australia ranked 27th, comparable with Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania, and significantly behind the leaders Hong Kong, Russia and Finland, as well as the US and England" She also outlined the fact that "a test of maths and science among Year 4 and Year 8 students showed Australian students' skills had stagnated over the past 16 years, while some countries, notably in Asia, had greatly improved.Between 29 per cent and 37 per cent of Year 4 and Year 8 students failed to meet the minimum standard for their grade in maths and science, rising to more than 50 per cent of Year 8 students in Tasmania and the Territory." While Federal Minister for Education, Peter Garrett, saw this as something of a "wake-up call", we still have no real concrete plan in action to improve our education system as a whole and improve the whole primary education experience for our children.

Consultation is underway until 15 March on the detailed proposal for voluntary assisted dying legislation in Tasmania put forward by the Premier, Lara Giddings, and the Leader of the Greens, Nick McKim. The proposal is based on the important value of compassion for those dying with prolonged suffering that cannot be relieved adequately by current options, and the important principle of respect for people's right to make choices about the end of their lives according to their own beliefs and values. The proposal is backed up by extensive quality evidence and by soundly based and well-reasoned arguments that demonstrate their approach is safe and responsible. It is also consistent with the views of the vast majority of the Tasmanian and broader Australian population. Detailed consultation papers and information on how to express your support can be accessed at www.premier.tas.gov.au or mps.tas.greens.au.