Letters to the Editor

Memorial Baths rebuild

I have to congratulate Councillor Irwin for finally agreeing with the six pack that a CDB location may be the ideal location for an aquatic facility. Her recent round the world trip must have increased her awareness on this issue.

Contrary to her letter (Echo, June 14) I like many others was under the impression that a University location was the only one favoured by her and three other Councillors. Unfortunately Councillor Irwin the Memorial Baths site is the only CBD location available, unless you would locate it on the Diadem Ballina Streets location, which had up to four to five metres of flood in the 1974 flood and planning problems, as it is adjacent to residential properties.

One other news item Councillor Irwin would have missed while on her world trip was the financial problems being experienced by the new indoor heated pool recently constructed in Taree. This is proof of what I have said many times that in a sub tropical location in an area with low income per capita, heated indoor pools do not pay for themselves.

Families simply cannot afford the $3 to $4 admission charges.

The six Councillors that favour the Memorial Baths site have always indicated it would welcome a joint venture with the University at that site. The argument is somewhat academic now as with the possible acceleration of the flood levee construction Council may have to settle for a staged construction using the RSL land to build an outdoor, possibly heated, 25 metres warm up pool with leisure water and expanded parkland.

Of course this option will have to be decided by a Council Workshop, which has yet to be held.

Cr Bob Gates
Mayor of Lismore

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Religious Urges

In the course of the current debate about a sex shop in Lismore, I suppose it was inevitable that sooner or later someone would trot out the argument that when the people start having too much fun with sex it will bring about the end of civilisation as we know it.

This is clearly the view of Frank Lucas (Echo, June 14) who revives the hoary old furphy that the fall of the Roman Empire was due to its moral decline. There may be many arguments against having a sex shop, but this is not one of them. Anyone with the most elementary acquaintance with ancient history knows that the Roman Empire was at its most lascivious and depraved at the height of its power and glory, and that its decline dates in fact from its Christianisation under Constantine several centuries later.

Since Frank tells us that he derives his historical insight on these matters from a Spanish architect, perhaps it is also worth remarking that the decline and fall of the Spanish empire began at a time when it was one of the most church-controlled states in human history.

Peter Bowler
Ballina

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Green Alternative

Stan Gibbs (Echo, June 14) displays all the proud loyalty necessary for any political party but the record shows that voters got it wrong when after the 1998 election the Federal Senate saw only one "Greens" representative, and a record total of nine Australian Democrat senators.

This only encouraged Meg Lees to embrace the major party tactic of ignoring the grass-roots of her party, which she did to introduce the GST.

Despite the anti-GST leadership of Natasha Stott-Despoja there is no guarantee that the major party "head office" dictatorship of the Australian Democrats has changed.

Voters can and should ensure a balance back towards the grassroots by electing the outstanding Kerry Nettle as the first NSW Senator for the Greens.

They will be doing themselves and the nation a great service.

James Hill
Lismore

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Ball Thanks

As the co-ordinator of the 2001 Mix and Match Ball, I would just like to say a big "thank You" to all who joined the fun on May 23 at the Lismore RSL Club and to the four major sponsors, The Northern Rivers Echo, Southern Cross Credit Union, NBN Television, and Triple Z FM.

The feedback received on the night and afterwards has been positive, and everyone I've spoken to had a great night, with some achieving greater success than others.

To ensure we keep on the right track, we are inviting feedback from all attendees of the ball, and furthermore if there were any success stories we would love to hear from you. Our contact details are:

Lismore Red Cross
Northern Regional Centre
130 Keen St
Lismore NSW 2480
pgibson@nsw.redcross.org.au

The night assisted us by raising vital funds that will be spent in our local community, and helping us make the difference to the most vulnerable and needy through our services. Once again... Thank You.

Phil Gibson
Regional Fundraising Co-ordinator
Australian Red Cross

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News to Me

I know how the word 'news' was derived. It's from messengers bringing stories from all around: North, East, West and South.

However, as a resident of Lismore for some 40 years, I am at a loss to know where West Lismore is?

Is it somewhere between North and South Lismore? Could someone fill me in please.

Peter Riordan
Lismore

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Son of a Gun

Our number one son, Wayne Finch has been a crane driver on the Melbourne wharves for the past 12 months. However, from the age of 15 on leaving school in Kyogle he was a merchant seaman for 35 years. In his time at sea he travelled nine times around the world visiting foreign countries and God knows how many times he spent circumnavigating around Australia calling in every port where ships may go.

He travelled without "blinkers" on and learnt about other people's problems in life. How the rich grow richer; the poor, poorer.

Wayne married Jennifer Graham in Kyogle. Two daughters Lisa and Kirryn attended Kyogle Public School. Two other children, Emma and Matthew were born at Kyogle and then the family moved to Victoria as Wayne was shipping out of the port of Melbourne. He has lived for the past 17 years at Blind Bight in the electorate of Flinders. His family has since grown to include three grandkids, Daniel, Janie and Jeremy.

Wayne has always been a strong active union member, helping to get better conditions for not only Australian Seamen but also for all the exploited foreign seamen from Third World countries who sail on the 'Flag of Convenience' ships better known as, 'Coffin' ships, 'Ships of Shame'.

Many Australians, come election day, will remember the present sitting member for the seat of Flinders, Mr Peter Reith, as the man behind the fight to destroy all unions, not only the MUA. The Mr Peter Reith and his telephone card scandal.

If Wayne wins the seat of Flinders in the coming election, terrific, if he doesn't then at least he can say to his grandkids, "I had a go to end the career of a nasty man."

Frank B Finch
Kyogle

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No Option

Henry Ford proclaimed "You can have any colour car you want as long as it's black". Is Ballina Council applying the same philosophy in it's Third Village investigations? About 20 years ago Commissioner Simpson told us we should look at building a Third Village on the Alstonville Plateau when the Ballina Shire planning rule books were being drafted. But things change and what we were going to do 20 years ago may not now be the best option.

Recently the Mayor used his casting vote to extend the Third Village studies, which have been taking place over past years at great expense to you, the ratepayers. But aren't mayors supposed to use their casting vote to retain the status quo, which in this instance would have been to preserve the Alstonville Plateau as prime food producing farmland without another village.

It seems it is not a question of whether the community actually wants a Third Village, but where will it be built, ie bureaucratic steamrollering which forged ahead after the mayor threw yours truly off the Third Village Committee. Steamrollering with a community reference group loaded with people with vested interests - landowners, real estate agents, builders - and one future village option area containing 300 acres owned by a Council Worker and landholdings of a former mayor, a councillor and business associates.

Currently on public exhibition is a plan with several sites identified in colour, and a questionnaire asking which is your preferred site for the another village? No questions asking "Do you think there should be a third village on the plateau, or not?", "Should more rate money be sunk into this project, when it has already cost well into six figures?", "Should the water catchment area for the recently decommissioned Duck Creek reservoir (Ballina's water supply source for the past 60 years) have houses built all over it?" or "Is it a good idea for such a large area to be serviced with town water out of Rocky Creek Dam, and what happens if that supply becomes contaminated?"

With foot and mouth disease still a cloud over meat production, a river which was so polluted it had to be closed for months, and a government hell bent on re-afforesting Australia for carbon credits, why would anyone in their right mind take away the best food producing farmland with the greatest depth of topsoil and best growing climate, and build houses all over it?

Is the Third Village planning exercise a big furphy? Is it an orchestrated case of "think pink" as over $600,000 of federal road money has already been shunted into Rous Road, a new reservoir is being constructed at Meerschaum Vale and the new Wardell sewerage treatment works at Coolgardie is just down the road ready to pump treated effluent from another 5,000 people into the recovering Richmond River.

Nuts, fruit and vegetables may be all we have left to eat if Australia's meat and fish production fails. I urge you to make a submission to this proposal on public exhibition with a copy to your councillors.

Margaret Howes
Lennox Head

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A Cunning Plan

Now that the Bean Counters have had time to properly assess the "last" proposed Coalition Federal Budget, except for having more fiddles in it than the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, there seems to be general agreement that spending programs announced a lack of any long-term vision.

I disagree with this perception, with this $27 billion allocated for spending on the defence forces over the next 10 years. This to me shows a great deal of vision, especially when viewed in context of the changes to guidelines made last year as to when the military forces can be called upon to quell civil disturbances within Australia.

The next march by anti-globalisation protesters, unionists or other minority groups that gets out of hand, can be subdued by the nation's highly-trained, well-equipped defence forces. At the same time reducing these people's propensity to disrupt the lives of other members of the community when they feel a need to do so.

Just imagine what the community could have gained if this money was spent on the neglected areas of health, education, research, etc instead of going towards funding the activities of the multi-national armaments industry, but that is another industry which is beyond this government's capacity to conceive and implement.

Terry Harvey
Goonellabah

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Other Moralities

Threats against our morals (Keith Bale and Frank Lucus, Echo, June 14) exist, but I would suggest not in a sex shop.

It is quite alarming that the guardians of our morals are generally silent, when it comes to the depiction of violence, which tellingly has a relatively high acceptance in mainstream culture. It could have been easily argued that sexual repression and its repercussions have led to a violence-orientated society.

While violent films and TV shows have received some scrutiny, the most offensive violent show - the news - deserves special attention. Considering its main function is entertainment rather than information, is it remotely ethical to inaccurately convey to impressionable children the messages that a) virtually everything happening in the world is negative, b) violence, conflict and other dysfunctional activities are intrinsically important, reflected in the amount of airtime they receive? On this issue the "moral majority" appears to be especially quiet.

What does traditional morality make of the adult affliction characterised by an addiction to negativity and entrenched cynicism? What about the steady erosion of ethical awareness caused by mass desensitisation and negative overload?

The institutionalised lying which we now come to expect from the political arena is reflected in the new phrase "non-core promise". Is there a vestigial form of morality that urges the withdrawal of ballot box support from parties because their leaders have repeatedly lied to the public? Is it really moral to make "Will it make me better off?" the sole basis for a voting decision?

There is another "hands-on" kind of morality which involves moving out the passive observer/negativity addict/cynic role, recognising that while there is a chance our children will inherit an uninhabitable planet, the issue of whether Lismore has a sex shop pales into comparitable insignificance.

Two of the most perverted crimes being committed each day are apathy and indifference. The alternatives are straightforward and practical, and involve virtually no extra expense. They include buying local organic food, rolling over superannuation into an ethically-screened fund, cutting out waste at its source and personal actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With the continuing proliferation of moral decisions being made on our behalf, the silent majority if such a thing exists, may soon need to find its voice, or it risks having its silence read as acquiescence.

Martin Oliver
Lismore

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No Fears

I agree with Toni Begley (Echo, June 14). It is apparently difficult for some people to grasp the implications of having been completely dispossessed of you land by a race of people who have only relatively recently shown any interest or respect in your culture and the problems you have experienced since your land has been colonised.

J Baker (Echo, June 7) speaks of "the removal of half caste children from their degrading way of life which they were subject to at the time", as if the removal of sad children always led to a better quality of life.

Perhaps he should familiarise himself with the ample evidence that such children were both psychologically abused in both foster homes and institutions. It is easy to walk around blindfolded whilst you pick out bits and pieces from history to suit your own narrow perspective.

Just imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and find that Australia is no longer "ours". How would we feel if Martians suddenly arrived here on June 21 (well, with Mars being so close to Earth and all), put us to work and gave us daily rations of Martian pancakes and some sort of Martian pills to which we became promptly addicted.

Even worse, what if we had to drive around in boring old cars with mobile phones while they flew around in cute little multicoloured saucers communicating by telepathy.

We wouldn't like it much, would we, and so I look forward to the next prime minister of this country apologising properly for the past and to hell with the consequences.

Like Toni, I agree that something humane needs to be done to alleviate the grief and anger that indigenous people justifiably feel. Instead of fearing litigation, why not try to learn more about their culture, whilst offering them our support and respect. We might be surprised at the results.

Jenni Oliver
Lismore

Arts Heart

The Lismore City Councils proposed social development plan to redevelop the Old Lismore High School Site in Keen Street, Lismore is worthy of applause. The concept of bringing a CBD space back to the community is a step forward. It has the economic viability back to downtown Lismore by simply having more consumers in the vicinity. It provides a centralised meeting place for a wide range of people and will preserve a building of heritage value. The site is designated as an Arts/ Community Centre, hence the name "Art In the Heart", and this is very much in keeping with the present usage as the Conservatorium of Music.

I believe the youth of Lismore need a youth centre in this space. Council recognises young people need a space and this has been informed by social planning benchmark recommendations. The location of a youth centre on this site with art, cultural activities, and youth worker support would present as a positive focus for young people. Youth need a space that is safe, supported, close to public transport and with activities.

Young people would be supported in developing the skills to access employment in the arts and music industries. It is not a widely recognised fact that a growing area of income generation for the area lies in the art field. Young people are an important and often overlooked part of our community. Lets give our kids an opportunity.

Julie Leete
Lismore

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Youth Week Thanks

We would like to thank you for assisting us to put on a successful Youth Week in Lismore this year.

It was a wonderful week and we are extremely pleased to have worked with you to ensure that Youth Week was fun, raised issues of concern for young people, gave young people voice and showcased youth talent.

Your efforts in providing positive media coverage of Youth Week and associated youth issues were very much appreciated.

We now have a number of young people interested in becoming involved in the Youth Council and we look forward to working on the youth space proposal for the Old Lismore High School site and start planning for next year's Youth Week!

We hope that we can continue to work with you to create a more youth friendly Lismore.

Colleen Dowd
Youth Development Officer
Lismore City Council
&
Heather Longshaw
on behalf of
Lismore Multicultural Youth Council

For Richer and Poorer

Shareholders move their money from business to business in search of maximum returns at the expense of more job losses, seminars are run to teach the well-off how to minimise their tax, while welfare recipients are the fall out of all this wealth creation as their jobs disappear.

The gap between the rich and poor is getting bigger.

In Australia the top 10 per cent of households hold 50 per cent of all household wealth while the bottom 50 per cent hold 3 per cent of all household wealth.

A lot of this inequality is because of the diminishing number of jobs leaving families with no employed person while other families have more employed then they need.

Imagine how our local communities could be transformed if the job distribution was more equitable, if those that were holding down a paid job because they needed to feel valued and not because they needed the money took up voluntary work instead and released the paid job for someone who was on unemployment benefits.

The charitable organisations in our community would benefit from the extra helpers, the families of unemployed would benefit by having a job instead of welfare and our community would benefit by being more equitable. That would be a win-win-win situation.

P Gosper
Lismore

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Feelgood Con Job

Oh, how original of Toni Begley (Echo, June 14) to wonder which part of sorry I don't understand. Get real, that phrase has been worked to death.

I have no problem with the concept of responsibility, I don't accept that I have any reason to be sorry to anyone. I accept full responsibility for all my actions and shortcomings.

I do have a concern that Aboriginal people accept no responsibility for their own shortcomings and they are encouraged by people like you to do so.

For the past 30 years we have been subjected to left wing propaganda by law lecturers, political writers, teachers, historians, all branches of the media, telling us what a dreadful lot our ancestors were the way they treated the Aboriginal people. It is an insult to the memory of our ancestors.

The Australian people have been subjected to the greatest confidence trick of all time with the propaganda of "sorry" and "reconciliation" campaign. It has been encouraged by Sir John Deane, Sir Gustav Nossal, Sir Ronald Wilson and many others. I estimate the majority of our ancestors probably never came into contact with the Aboriginal people, therefore what have we to be sorry about. We were never united, so how can we be reconciled.

Read your history Ms Begley and you will learn that for the first 100 years the white settlers and Aborigines were in a constant state of hostilities, with massacres committed by whites and blacks. Well fancy that. I'll bet you have never to date heard one Aboriginal spokesperson say sorry for all the murders, rapes, violent crimes committed against our early settlers by Aborigines, as if they never occurred.

When you only hear one side of any debate you are not in a position to make an impartial judgment. How do you explain that for 2-3 per cent of the population Aboriginal people comprise 80 per cent of the prison population? Why don't you ask Aboriginal women what they think of their present situation, regarding assaults, alcoholism and family breakdowns. Please tell me how this situation is a result of policies of earlier white generations?

I am concerned however that it is going to cost the taxpayer at least $4 billion for a con job by the lefties and the feelgooders.

I have a great concern that of the $25 billion the government has given to ATSIC none of the money goes to the people who really need it. I have nothing to lose by the government seeking to fund genuine Aboriginal claims in a proper legal court. But I ask you to consider this proposition; How many half-caste children with single mothers would have survived if the government had not rescued them and placed them into care? In my opinion it was the greatest humane act of the government of the day. Now answer this question; Why only pay Aborigines for saving their lives by placing them into care? Just as many white children were removed from their parents and they do not seek compensation.

In case you are not aware of the fact, just as many Aboriginal children are placed into care today as they were in previous times. Are we also to compensate these children in a few years time? Have you ever read the Federal Governments submission in relation to the so called 'Stolen Generation'? Have you read the evidence in relation to the three stolen generation legal cases brought by Lorna Cubillo, Peter Gunner, and Joy Williams? All these cases were dismissed by the courts. I fail to see the connection regarding control, I have no control over any person except myself. There is nothing sly about my politicing, the regular readers of The Echo know I am a former member of the ALP. Don't get hung up over a name.

What's in a name? A rose by any other name will smell as pleasant.

J Baker
Evans Head

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Correction

Last week's letter from the president of the Far North Coast Law Society should have been credited to Sahm Ryder, not Sharn Wolff. Apologies to both people.