Letters To The Editor
Echo Praise
What a heart-warming issue of the Echo, and a great start to a generous and compassionate 2004! Northern Rivers people are making such effective contributions to the common good - to our community, to strangers and to the environment.
There's the Sanctuary project on the front page, showing us how well we can support refugees in our community. As well, there's fund-raising for Camp Quality, donations to mental health, people recycling Christmas cards for the environment, people helping impoverished children to read in South Africa, activities for Koori kids, volunteer driving teachers for young Kooris and so on - there's not enough space in this letter to mention all the generosity and goodwill just in one small edition of your paper.
It gives me hope that 2004 will see the whole nation turning towards kindness.
My personal wish for more kindness in 2004 is for the asylum-seekers in our Immigration Detention Centres - most of them genuine refugees who have not been recognised by Australia's absolutely appalling refugee assessment process. (Our assessment process has been criticised by the UN and all major humanitarian groups around the world).
About 1,000 asylum seekers, including approx. 188 children are still in detention - in this country, on Nauru, and on Manus Island, PNG, where there is one man (24 years-old) who has been held alone for two years.
But I guess it's the Government that needs to turn to kindness on this issue. The Australian people already have.
The Rural Australians for Refugees database has eighteen thousand people on it. These kind people write to detainees, phone them, lobby for them and work tirelessly on case reviews and submissions, together with lawyers. And that's just one of the many refugee support organisations around the country, with new groups forming all the time!
At Baxter IDC, Port Augusta, which I visited in November, the sheer scope and scale of the day-to-day support being provided by visitors to the centre was wonderful to see. According to ACM staff, visitor numbers exceeded 4,000 in the month of October alone! Besides the local advocates, who work tirelessly at providing on-the-ground support, there were many people who had travelled long distances to reach the centre, including an 82-year old woman from the QLD Sunshine Coast!
In this election year, be politically aware and active. We are needed to lobby our local members and the election candidates, to leaflet for them, and to ensure the right MP gets their place in parliament. Remember, it's "We who shall determine who governs this country, and in which way they govern." (With no apology to John Howard)!
Meanwhile, a big 'thank you' from Rural Australians for Refugees for all your kindness. I thank all the lawyers who gave their time for free. I thank all people in Australia who have written to someone inside a detention centre. I thank all people who have made a phone call, sent a gift, made a donation, or who are right now, using their annual holidays to make a visit. I thank the growing number of journalists who are writing fair and accurate reports. I especially thank the small number of Federal politicians who maintained their support for internationally agreed human rights standards, no matter what the party line told them to think and to say.
To help, come along to our meetings at 5.30pm on the first Thursday of every month, or contact Lynda on 6688 8198 or email Lynda.j.smith@bigpond.com.
Bobbi Allan
Lismore Area Rural Australians for Refugees
PS - Sick of hearing about this issue? We can fix this in 2004! There are several excellent alternatives to mandatory and open-ended detention, proposed by the human rights commission and the Refugee Council of Australia. More recently, Justice for Asylum Seekers, an alliance of 25 national church and community organisations, has proposed a comprehensive alternative to detention - and each alternative is cheaper for us taxpayers. Let's do it!
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Big benefits
Thomas George's column (Echo 8/1) advised readers that applications for funding of various projects by the Casino Community Benefit Fund (CCBF) are now available.
Unfortunately many readers would not have realised that this money comes not from 'our' Casino but from the 2% of Sydney casino gaming revenue that is earmarked for both gambling treatment and flow-on programs and also for 'other community projects and services which may be of benefit to the community generally'.
In 1995, I was successful in gaining $2200 to provide a portable Soundfield Amplification System to assist the 30% of young children with mild hearing loss caused by otitis media. The SAS has since been available for loan to pre-schools and public schools on the Far North Coast and has resulted in the installation of 60 permanent SAS in classrooms in our area.
While I remain deeply concerned at the effects of gambling on the social fabric of our society, I am pleased that so many children have improved educational prospects by being able to hear the teacher and I recommend that others with worthwhile community projects also access the CCBF. Applications are available from Thomas George's office or at www.dgr.nsw.gov.au.
Jenny Dowell
Goonellabah
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A rare gem
With Ref. to 'Troppo thanks' (Echo 8/1).
What a rare gem you are Vicki Findlay! And what a delight to find someone who has something positive to say about our party rather than the constant griping about "noise" or some such other whinge about anyone who has some fun these days.
I was at the party and have to say that it was probably the best I've ever attended, and believe me, that's quite a few.
Congratulations to our own local group, The Tropical Fruits, who put together this immense effort. A triumph of competent organisation.
As you pointed out Vicki, the benefits to the Lismore economy must have been huge. I know for a fact that all motels and other accommodation in the area were booked out.
Now in Lismore we have a few other so-called events, which are heavily promoted/subsidised by our Council and Lismore Unlimited, which barely manage to raise a few hundred souls, and certainly not book out our town's accommodation resources.
You'd think that these two groups would have a long, hard look at a long-running event which does so much for Lismore cash registers, and (with absolutely no help or assistance from them), brings such huge numbers into the area.
They all have to sleep somewhere, eat, drink, take taxis, buy petrol and shop till they drop in our diverse range of stores. Do the maths, council guys!
Glad you and your family enjoyed the fireworks Vicki. They were sensational weren't they? Yes, another local guy. What a find!
I had a friend who was in Brisbane the night before and he said that our fireworks display put the Bris-Vegas ones to shame!
Thank you for your hopes that "we'll" be back next year. I'm sure we will... and probably again with no help from our curiously lethargic Council.
Vicki, why don't you put on your very funkiest party gear, get yourself a ticket and come have the time of your life? You'll find the guys and gals at the Fruit's Party some of the friendliest and accepting people, outside of your good self. I for one would love a dance with you!
Barry Parker
Wyrallah
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Lake debate
Ross Greenwood (Echo 8/1) was right when he talks of half-truths and misleading information being stated regarding the Lismore Lake, but unfortunately his letter adds to it. The opening of the Lismore Lake is not an event I remember from my youth, however, I'm sure it was opened with as much fanfare as the opening of the Goondiwindi Shire lake he discusses. (Lets hope they've got their management practices in order).
But lets get the facts straight. The Lismore Lake was closed from public use for one reason only, and that was due to severe blue-green algae blooms. Not some sort of slick greenie environmental conspiracy that he seems to allude to.
When the lake was closed it was monitored regularly, with the blue-green algae remaining high and at times extreme during the summer months, ensuring that human activity was kept from it. Over the period of time the Council, the community, all of us have basically ignored the lake allowing it to fend for itself. During this time nature took its own course and altered the balance of the lake allowing aquatic and marine bird life to thrive on what was essentially an undisturbed wetland area.
Now there are some sections of the community who would like the lake back for water recreation. This is fine in itself, however a good (or better) councillor would ensure that all the issues involved in retrieving the lake from its current condition to allow this to occur are appropriately considered before making any decisions.
To allow human participation on the lake the blue-green algae must be initially removed or significantly reduced, and then maintained at below regulatory levels. Council's reports state that to satisfactorily complete this the lake requires the nutrient rice sediment (which is also high in copper levels) to be removed by either draining the lake and digging it out or by dredging it. Once this is completed an aeration process will be required to be utilised to attempt to control the algae level, and a continued monitoring program established.
Some of the issues to consider if remediation works were to be completed would be: Economic: Whichever way the initial works would be carried out, it will be expensive. Original Council estimates sometime back for the sediment removal were in the vicinity of $250,000 - this was not considering environmental issues. Copper sulphate was used in the past as a method of attempting to control the algae growth - I assume this is the reason for the high copper levels in the sediment. This also brings in an unknown as it is uncertain what can be done with the sediment, which may require taking it to an appropriate registered facility adding even further to the cost. Aeration equipment will also be required to be purchased, however this has not been costed in Council's reports. The ongoing cost will also be expensive as the aeration process will require continuous machinery operation, and the monitoring will also be continuous.
Environmental: It could be said that removal of the algae would be a good environmental outcome, however, to drain or dredge the lake would be an environmental disaster. A huge amount of marine life and aquatic vegetation would be destroyed. Of particular note would be the habitat of threatened species, which I believe is an illegal act. With continued human use it would be an unknown whether the bird life would ever return to anywhere near the present.
Social: The lake would be available for use for those who participate in a particular water sport; however for those who utilised the lake and its surrounds for its nature and serenity, their facility would be taken from them.
Before decisions are made, the full extent of the implications should be analysed in more detail, but on initial look, it appears that to return the lake to a condition for human use is expensive (with ongoing expenses), an environmental nightmare, with one user group being replaced by another. I know that others will put forward arguments such as the lake was made for aquatic recreation and tourism benefits etc., however, each of these arguments has an equally strong counter-case.
Do the financial and environmental costs to the whole of the community warrant such a change? Considering the aspects I have discussed, I feel it would be very hard to justify particularly as it is totally unknown as to whether the algae levels can be controlled at all.
Barry Garland
Richmond Hill
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Alladin's lamp
It is interesting to observe the response one can provoke at the slightest utterance of the word refugee. Out will scuttle the self appointed guardians of our moral health, all armed with sob stories, eager to pontificate and lecture us about our inhumanity.
In recent weeks we have had letters from Lynda Smith, Cherie Imlah and Kerry Tolson and quite honestly I haven't seen anything so amusing as when a pack of galahs landed on a bull-ant's nest.
Kerry Tolson (24/12) talks about the Manus Island Detention Centre where one detainee named "Alladin" is locked up. Maybe if Alladin had given authorities his real name and passport, or sought migration through the proper channels, he would not be in the predicament that he is now. Perhaps Alladin could try rubbing his magic lamp to obtain freedom.
The dewy-eyed do-gooders might be pleased to know that whoever wins government at the next election our detention centres will still be here. The parties that oppose detention centres such as the Democrats have a support base of about one per cent at present, and the Greens usually attract the proportion of the population that enjoy protesting, but fear work, deodorant and soapy water (ie about four per cent of the population).
When Kerry clocks up her frequent flyer points visiting places such as East Timor, Guatemala and Cambodia do you take your passport with you Kerry or do you just pay a people smuggler to get you there? Similarly, when people travel/migrate to our country we expect them to have passports/documentation and go through the proper channels.
I used to believe that you people were just out of step with the majority but your letters suggest that you are actually out of touch with reality. I suspect you people live in fantasy world where you follow the yellow brick road past the candy stripes, money trees, flying pink elephants and unicorns... you know when you are there when you see the big rainbow. In your ideal fantasy world there will be people dancing around in circles, holding hands with daisy chains in their hair. The Easter Bunny, Porky Pig and Alladin (complete with Magic Lamp), will all frolic freely in this place with no borders where no passports are required. No one will work, instead people will meditate, light candles for world peace and the dulcet tones of Kum-Bay-Ah will echo through you Potemkin villages.
I suspect the place you people are actually after is called Utopia, which unfortunately is not in the Northern Rivers region, in fact, it is not even in Australia. However I'm sure if you showed most people a map of the world they could point out where you should be.
Tom Murdoch
Lismore
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Over the moon
George Dubya is planning another invasion. This time it's the moon. He is 'keen' to establish a permanent moon base within the next decade. How soon will it be before we see the 'Golden Arches' on the full moon - and does anyone really care?
Phil Toynton
Lismore
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Dunoon history
I am researching a branch of my family with connections to Dunoon and wondered if your readers may be able to help. My great, great, great, great grandfather James McPherson was born at Dunoon on December 10, 1819. His parents were Duncan McPherson and Janet Baxter. I believe he had at least one sibling, a brother Duncan, born in 1816. James McPherson married Margaret Wallace at Kanimbla on December 12, 1842, and they had eight children, including my great grandfather John McPherson, who lived at Hartley, Tambaroora and Lithgow among other places. I am particularly interested in finding out more about James McPherson and his father Duncan McPherson, who may have been an army officer, and was wondering if there are any descendants of the family still living in the Dunoon area. My postal address is 2 St James Court, Skipton, North Yorkshire, England and my email address is dennis@donjon1.demon.co.uk.
Dennis Johnstone
England
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Wait a minute
I am an accident-prone 38 year-old female with three sons aged 18, 17 & nine years. Throughout the past 18 years I have visited hospital emergency rooms on numerous occasions for many different reasons. Never have I had a problem and the only time I've had to wait was due to other people being closer to death than my children or me. A worthy wait I've always thought.
But the time has come for me to speak up. Recently, obvious changes have occurred and waiting times are now longer and seemingly due to lack of staff rather than life saving emergencies.
It is time for us to remember exactly who we are and within that, acknowledge each other. We are human beings, nothing more.
It is time for us to come together and communicate our common wants, needs, desires and goals.
I for one want an envied medical system (like we once had in Medicare). I for one want excellent schools for all who need and/want education and I absolutely want great aged care for all who are, or shall one day be, in need of such.
These three are the fundamentals of society. If one or more break down then society becomes confused and confusion leads to fear, fear leads to weakness hence control is given away.
Our Government currently controls these areas of our lives. Our Government is controlled by us, the people, if this is a true democracy. Somewhere between them and us we have allowed the basis for Australian life to be given away.
Australians (and in that I am very proud of our multi-cultural status that helped build this country into being known as a great land) are workers who have strived for free medical, free education and what should be included, great aged care for all citizens.
Why in today's society of wealth and knowledge such as ours is it necessary for any hospital to reach a Code Red situation let alone all of the public hospitals in the Sydney Metropolitan area?
This is a disgrace! As a voter, a person who has needed and used hospital emergency care, I am ashamed.
The only reason our Medicare system broke down was because our Government allowed it too. In that, a collective group of voters have sat around and also allowed this to happen. I want our wonderful doctors, nurses etc. to know that I am not one of them. I am not happy that your place of work has become subject to overseas interests. (Medicare only started collapsing after Andrew Peacock came back from the USA after being sent there to teach them how the great system worked).
It is up to us! If we want free medical with excellent conditions and equipment and doctors, technicians to use them, then we have to stand up and say so.
Here's one vote to whoever's willing to put Medicare back on track, doctors back with confidence and nurses time to sleep and see their families. If they had time to sleep and see their families, conditions wouldn't be so bad and demands would be less necessary.
Common sense runs a successful country, not common fear.
Vicki M Harvey
Lismore (no medical training)
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It doesn't ad up
The classified advertisement placed in last week's Echo by a Mr Terry Goater made allegations about health services in NSW which are, to the best of my knowledge, baseless and untrue. I wish to disassociate both myself and Northern Rivers Area Health Service from any claims or assertions made by the advertiser.
Chris Crawford,
CEO, Northern Rivers Area Health Service
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A class apart
The Israeli Airline, El Al, has had an Air Marshal program for two decades with a 100% success rate. Their agents are stationed anonymously in all sections of El Al aircraft and in some cases are part of the cabin crew.
However, the State of Israel does not have a Rambo Federal Justice Minister, like us, who has ludicrously demanded that our Aussie gun slingers are all to be seated in business class.
When asked why, Senator Ellison reportedly said it was "to keep the economy class passengers away from the flight crew."
Now you know why our model resembles the infamous ASIO raid on the Sheraton. Disaster and chaos are surely guaranteed.
Many professionals personally agree with the British Pilots Association, who refuse to fly with any armed person aboard their aircraft. But of course here, our precious little petal, PM Johnny Shrub, has to slavishly follow our Goddamn Yankee Masters.
John X Berlin
Maclean
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Waters ways
WATER Inc's principle interest is adequate public access to Ballina's waterways. This includes preventing high buildings dominating and overshadowing the Richmond River waterfront in the CBD, in keeping with well-documented community opinion.
Ballina Council does not comply with statutory overshadowing regulations and is not compelled by regulations to pursue its present building height policy. It appears that the only way that council is likely to change its present policy is if a fundamental change is voted for at the imminent council elections. WATER Inc understands that the only current councillors prepared to reconsider council's present policy are Councillors Howes and Rich.
WATER Inc has contested the allowable height limit for buildings in Ballina's CBD with council for several years. An explanation is warranted.
Height limitations are set by the legally binding Ballina Local Environmental Plan 1987 (LEP). Relevant extracts from the LEP are:
Subclause 17 (2). Except as provided by subclauses (3) and (4), a person shall not, on any land to which this plan applies, erect a building taller than 6.4 metres in height unless the council is satisfied that the building will not - (d) exceed two storeys.
Subclause 17 (4). A person may, with the consent of council, erect a building on land in the central building district of Ballina shown hatched green on the map only if the building does not exceed 16 metres in height.
The words "A person may, with the permission of council" of Subclause 17 (4) have a totally different meaning to the words "a person shall not" of Subclause 17 (2). They mean that Council may choose to approve or to not approve a building height over 6.4 metres, up to a 16-metre limit, in the CBD. No specific mention is made in Subclause 17 (4) of any latitude for the two storey limit of Subclause 17 (2). Therefore, latitude in this respect is, most likely, not intended.
WATER Inc believes that the intent of Subclause 17 (4) is to give council flexibility in its consideration of the height of special function (eg civic) buildings in the CBD, which may require increased storey heights, and to maintain the two-storey limit. This opinion is supported by the recommendations of an environmental study on tall buildings of 1983, undertaken to give guidance for the drafting of the LEP, which involved considerable public consultation. WATER Inc has obtained a solicitor's letter that agrees with this opinion.
Council chooses to administer LEP Clause17 such that a developer is given the absolute right to construct any type of building anywhere in the CBD (including the river waterfront) to a height of 16 metres, with as many storeys as can be accommodated. At WATER Inc's prompting, council has sought a barrister's opinion to defend its actions. Effectively, this states that council's actions are legally defendable but it does not address if they are morally justifiable or if other actions are permissible.
Readers are invited to reach their own conclusions.
Bert Carter
Secretary, WATER Inc
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