Issue 737

Letters To The Editor

Is there an Explanation for Hatred?

I am saddened by the recent events in America and my hope is that in the coming weeks, the media debate will become a little more balanced. I think there is a great difference between an informed opinion (ie one that takes into account the whole picture and looks at both side of the equation) and a simple emotional reaction.

Perhaps we allow ourselves to be carried away by the obvious horror of recent events, we such first ask what prompted such a desperate act.

The world has witnessed a out-pouring of sympathy and humanity for the innocent victims in New York and Washington, (as well there should be). However the same concerns don't seem to extend to the innocent victims in Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere! This fact raises some interesting questions.

Are the attacks on America completely without rhyme or reason, or are they a response to other events?

Does terror reside solely on the side of the third world?

What impact have the sanctions in Iraq had on the personal lifestyle of Saddam Hussein?

And what stories might the inhabitants of Belgrade, Bagdad, Hanoi or even Hiroshima have to recount about terror raining from the sky?

If you believe, as I do, that what we put out into this world comes back to us in kind, then the question arises of what America has done as a nation to prompt such an atrocity? What actions undertaken by their government have elicited such a terrible response against the innocent inhabitants of New York and Washington?

Perhaps the answer is such questions lies in a broader understanding of a familiar term that too few of us have sought to grasp. It's called Karma

RJ Poole
Lismore

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Minister's Silence

In The Echo (Sept 13) Aniko Cripps Clark takes Bob English to task on several matters. I wish to pick up the point regarding the apparent use by Ian Causley of his MP's allowance (taxpayers money) for political mail out.

I have taken up this particular matter with Senator Abetz, Minister for State on July 3, to seek advice on the use of allowance in such a manner.

I also wrote to Daryl Williams MP, Attorney General, on the same matter. Whilst the Attorney General's Department has advised that they have referred it to Senator Abetz (he looks into such matters) no acknowledgement or advice has been received from Senator Abetz.

Is Senator Abetz's silence defeaning? Is a misuse of taxpayers money occuring?

Don Hains
Ballina

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Rubbish Ratbags

What a pity some people, who are enjoying having lunch etc, at Lismore Lake in the region of the rowing club, leave the place in such a disgusting mess, hopefully for someone else to clean up.

If they have their car with them, (very few would not) surely they can put bottles, containers, etc in a plastic bag and take it home or to a bin. Some people have no civic pride. It saddens me to see it.

Diane Weir
Lismore

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Middle East Peace

Last weeks explosive attack on America is the result of built up extremist opposition to the Western nations' support for the Jewish invasion and occupation of Palestine, plus the continued presence of America on Muslim "holy ground". With almost of the worlds population of Muslim faith, this "jihad" (holy war) has the potential to become the "war to end all wars".

The first step solution must surely lie in wholehearted Western support in finding peace between Israel and its neighbours. The future of the human race is at stake.

Paul dos Remedios
Lismore Heights

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No More War

Does the Bush mindset of 'the first war of the 21st century' mean we have a repeat of the last century, the killing century? Talk of the 'first war' suggests that we should expect more wars.

So, the arms race continues and innocents suffer. As a second generation AIF member, my own and my father's experience has taught me to believe that war is wasteful and futile, I would like to see my descendants and those of others live a full peaceful life.

The terrible carnage, the tragedy, of the recent events in New York and Washington reminds us of what has gone before and what we no longer want.

Isn't it about time we condemned the arms race, resolved to end war and diverted destructive resources to peaceful purposes? This could be one way of approaching other connected problems such as the refugee and boat people.

Arthur Pike
Mt Nardi

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Licence to Plunder

I feel sorry for former Ansett employees who were diddled by their employer and stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in squandered entitlements, at the same time as Air NZ, Ansett's owner, was paying senior executives handsome performance bonuses.

But I am considerably less than amused by the Howard government's response, ie. a $10 levy on air tickets to raise funds to pay out workers.

This, and recent similar cases, is sending all the wrong messages to employers. Every employer can now assume that s/he can squander workers' entitlements in a cavalier and reckless manner in the expectation that the Australian public will pick up the tab. Such a short-sighted "vote winning" approach is a licence to irresponsibly plunder schemes designed to protect worker entitlements without fear of accountability or penalty.

Heaven may know where it will all end. I don't. But this much I do know: we're all political suckers unless we protest vigorously.

Tom Henderson
Urunga

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One World

Everyone on the planet has news of this by now. We are all threatened as nations.

The world asks itself 'What do we really do in the long term?' It seems too simple to say it even.

Terrorism threatens the ideologies of nations, their very beliefs and the freedoms those ideologies are supposed to represent. This disaster has shown that the masses of the world abhor this, condemn it, and are frightened witless as well.

To stop this ever occurring again the world should look at itself as just that, the world, not a group of nations. Let us join true hands in real peace and drop all our borders, accept that each of us are free to express our religions without fear of persecution, yet also realise that we must never impose those beliefs upon others. Religions that are based on love are the only acceptable ones, no matter which god. And no religion based on love would ever, ever sanctify these acts that have taken lives from every nation in this way. Without nations we can live where we please and know that we all share the same freedoms and safety. No armies means better domestic police services for local crimes and trouble all over the world, no borders means that resources could be shifted where they are needed, based on availability and not the state of the governments of the region at the time.

No China, no America, just millions of people with a common goal of improving the sum total of humanity regardless of race, creed or religion. No Russia, no Bosnia, just millions of people co-operating to solve their common problems. No Israel, no Palestine, just a land respected and protected by all, together, out of respect for its place in the formation of human history, cared for by both Jewish and Muslim with dignity and love.

And the thought, which is new and strange for me, yet has a sense of true wonder. No Australia, just a sunburnt land of rugged beauty, rolling beaches and some of the friendliest people around, living on a place called Earth, calling themselves human beings for the first time in history and meaning it.

Derek Langley
Lismore

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Muslim Concerns

In the mid-1950s, when working in Baghdad, I was informed that Islam will have returned to world religious supremacy with in the next 50 years, thus returning to pre-Christian status.

It is only over the past, comparatively few years that Mosques have appeared in many non-Islamic countries. In an even shorter period of time, we have seen people from Muslim countries deciding, en masse, that they wanted to move to non-Muslim countries. Where the money comes from to enable them to travel half way round the world to get to their preferred destination, be it U.K, Canada, Europe or Australia, is another matter.

Most Christian beliefs are quite harmless, however unbelievable, but there is nothing harmless in the Muslim belief that they will go to heaven if they give their lives in holy war, as 4 to 6 Muslims did in each of the four hijacked aircraft on Sept. 11.

A senior Muslim Cleric emphatically denied on TV that those hijackers were of the Muslim faith. Maybe he forgot that they are the only major religious group in the world that hold such dangerous beliefs.

Mr Beazley's remark on TV that terrorists were well-dressed, highly intelligent individuals, could well be correct in some cases. The ones who have arrived in this country came with refugees and were dressed like genuine refugees.

Some have possibly been identified as non-genuine refugees by the Immigration investigators, only to be let loose in the country, the department having been overruled by lawyers, the Judiciary and do-gooders. Mr Howard's comment that a Sept 11-style attack could happen here, is quite correct and I doubt that we will have to wait all that long to find out.

Norman Cochrane
Ruthven

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Stop the Cycle

Is there any limit to the amount of false accusations regarding asylum seekers. The latest outrageous scaremongering by Tom Cooper (Echo, Sept 13) is quite mind-boggling in its sheer stupidity, considering you can virtually decide on the spur of the moment (with a valid passport) to fly to Australia from hundreds of countries worldwide that have had foot and mouth disease or even deadly strains of highly contagious flu viruses.

Should we stop people from Commonwealth countries in Africa from coming here because they've had to deal with the Ebola Virus? Of course not. Racism spreads from adults to kids, it is a worldwide, problem and Coopers remarks are part of it.

We need an intelligent debate for and against the refugee problem (the whole problem). We certainly don't need racist remarks about refugees being infected or being child molesters, rapists are other disgusting stuff. Kids take is rubbish to heart.

The culmination of racism has now been played out like never before. But I would like to ask this: Is the horrendous carnage in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh worse than the state sanctioned terror on innocent Palestinians by Israel helicopter gunships supplied by the United States? Maybe it is, but only in its size and immediacy.

We watched a US politician state that they should, if Afghanistan doesn't release Osama bin Laden, bomb that country regardless of collateral damage. He said, "They got ours, we'll get theirs".

So will violence caused by hatred and racism ever stop or at least be diminished.

Let's ask Tom Cooper, local man on the soapbox - albeit a slippery one I reckon.

Frosty Grego
Evans Head

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Craft Thanks

Many thanks to the 160-plus people who attended the Craft Display at Maranoa Alstonville on Saturday, September 15, where a substantial amount was raised for the proposed new Nursing Home. The day was a huge success with lots of very favourable comments from the visitors.

The Lucky door Prize was won by Janet Seufert of Goonellabah, and the Guessing Competition was won by June de Heer of Alstonville with a close estimate of 3210, while the actual number was 3240.

Patsy Waters
Goonellabah

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Boat People Point

With regard to the arguments printed in your paper about the Tampa crisis, criticising the Prime Minister and government for their inhumane action in not allowing the Norwegian ship to land them on Australian soil they all miss the point that it would set a precedent in which any ship of any nation could do the same in the future.

Boatloads of people could be picked up and bought to our shores and there would be nothing we could do about it. If the actions of the government help to deter claim jumpers from coming here uninvited perhaps we could get more people to come legally

Mrs E. Holm
Goonellabah

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Forgive Them Father

Recent events in America and with Ansett have provided a time for reflection. It may be a good idea for us all to pause and think, why did the NZ Labour Party turn against us?

Our young lads all want to dress like Americans, ie baseball caps back to front and T-shirts emblazoned with NY or Yankees are a must, and yet not one of our American impersonators attended the special church service held in Lismore on Sunday to honour our American friends.

As we approach Christmas and consider the difference between Christians and Muslims, I ask myself "what is Christmas?"

We will all attend services at Christmas and sing carols in honour of Jesus birthday. Last year we all sang "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas", "Jingle Bells", and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and all to let Jesus know we were thinking about him. What nonsense.

One child asked "what is meant by God the three in one?" and the mother replied "Oh that is God, Jesus and father Christmas". Is it any wonder the Japanese were selling father Christmas on the cross dolls.

If so-called Christians are going to compare themselves with other religions it may help them to get it right, and decide if Jesus, father Christmas, or have I got some serious thinking to do? I would hate to see any of our boys die in war and not know what for.

Bob English
Rous

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Refugees

Before we commit to the moral shame and opprobrium advocated by the bleeding heart cafe latte brigade of Ross Macdonald, Frosty Grego and Margo Kingston (Echo, Sept 6), lets get a few facts right.

Australia has resettled more than more than half a million refugees since the second world war and today, only Canada accepts more refugees per capita than Australia.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees preferred solution is integrating these people into the country of first asylum closest to the refugees home ie. PNG, East Timor, and Indonesia.

The Tampa picked up the asylum seekers in international waters and had an obligation to take them to the nearest feasible port of disembarkation ie. Merak in Indonesia, The Captain then broke Australia law by bringing them into Christmas Island waters.

Both Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson have criticised Australia for doing what the US and most European countries do without reproach. It is interesting to note that during the Tampa standoff Cypriot police turned away a boatload of 35 illegal immigrants (including children). They received no international condemnation and not a squeak of protest from our local moral elites Macdonald, Grego et al.

Ethnically homogenous Norway (the country Australia opposes over whaling) accepts far less refugees than we do and has no right to impose it's cultural arrogance on Australia.

Why does the UN sit on its hands about the Taliban government in Afghanistan, yet become so vocal about a country like Australia, when there are so many flagrant human rights violators in this world?

The 'just-this-once' pubic outcry from the cafe latte set was soft headed and shows an inability to comprehend the bigger picture. In the month preceding the Tampa crisis 1,700 boat people had arrived on our shores which meant our detention centres were close to exceeding their capacity.

Government sources claimed as many as 1,500 asylum seekers were ready to head for Christmas Island from Serang Providence in the west and to Ashmore reef from around Surabaya in the east. They delayed their departure to see how the situation unfolded and with the Nauru solution, they may not come, or they may look elsewhere, only time will tell.

As reported in The Courier Mail there have been 1000 cases of illegal immigrants carrying infectious diseases such as Typhoid (eradicated in Australia decades ago), Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and C, Malaria, Meningococcal meningitis found in the past 18 months.

The refugees are hardly people that have fled penniless with just the clothes on their backs as the cafe latte brigade would have you to believe. Even without mandatory searches $600,000 is held in trust by the Immigration Department for detainees, some carrying suitcases of up to $50,000 each.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are supposedly among the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan is thought to produce 75% of the world's opium trade. Maybe some of these people are criminals and that is why they discard their passports when captured.

Somewhere in the world there are refugees living in squalid refuge camps waiting for immigration positions to become available in Australia.

As Steve Pratt has said these people don't have the money to pay the people smugglers and are just being pushed further back into the queue. So Ross, by accepting these boat people, not only does it line the pockets of the people smugglers, it makes money the determining factor. Those who can pay and go through illegal channels to our shores get to stay, whereas those that can't pay and go through our proper channels stay at the back of the queue. Do you believe this is a fair system, Ross?

What John Howard and the majority of Australians object to is people going outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees where they bypass an internationally credible system which is fair to all potential refugees, not just the rich ones. A democratically elected government has a duty to represent the wishes of the people. With support for the Governments position ranging from 77-90%, for once the Government has listened to the wishes of the people.

The Tampa incident and the Nauru solution was good because it sent a clear message to the people smugglers. Successful refugees are going to be accepted by Norway, NZ and other countries as opposed to us accepting them all. Also our detention centres are nearly full anyway so new ones had to be built. I certainly don't object to them being built or processed offshore.

David Estreich
Lismore

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No yes men

The recent Parliamentary debate on a multi-part resolution responding to last weeks terrorists attacks on New York and Washington demonstrates how servile to the United States, our major political parties continue to be.

If I were the Member for Page debating the motion in the House, I would have told the Commonwealth Parliament that the people of Page do not want a new world war and did not want their leaders to rush to give blanket support to any military action (at all!) that might be taken by the United States Government.

Rather than declaring war ourselves on an unknown enemy and pledging unconditional support, I would have called on the Australian Government, as a close ally of the US, to urge caution and counsel against a military response that could escalate into a global war.

In my view our Australian political leaders ought to be telling US President Bush that democracy demands due process of law to deal with the attackers not vengeful retaliation. They should be saying that further mass violence will only dishonour democracy and play into the terrorists‚ hands, risking further reprisals.

The debate in the Commonwealth Parliament was an ideal place for these messages to be expressed publicly, but regrettably Mr Howard and Mr Beazley acted like 'yes men' and continued to 'go all the way with the USA'.

So that's where I come in. If I were the new MP for Page, I would be there in the House of Reps putting these views forward. I would be arguing rationally for a sensible, measured motion, condemning the attacks but urging a just and measured response that builds support for democracy and the rule of law and contributes to greater international stability.

In The Greens view, Australia must develop a far more mature and independent relationship with the USA than the current sycophancy practised by major parties. We must make our own assessments of risks and realise that, as host of several key US military commend bases, our unqualified support for the US risks of our country becoming an early and strategic target in any prolonged international warfare.

In just on two months time, the people of Page can choose another (or the same) 'yes man' to go to Canberra and parrot the party line, or they can elect me as a person of conscience who will use the parliamentary procedures to put a powerful alternative view based on justice, compassion and a sober assessment of Australia's national interest. Electing me as MP would put Page back on the political map in a new and powerful way.

Let's start a new Page. A Green Page.

John Corkill
Lismore
Greens candidate for Page

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Airport Worries

The other day I phoned Ballina Council and was put on hold. Suddenly the telephone radio burst into song " We love you for 100,00 reasons, we love you just because you're you"! After receiving such an incredible boost to my ego by this very convincing message, I felt it appropriate to continue the saga of my own perception of council's airport activities.

Not only have we got absolutely no security at all at Ballina airport, but we have had a severe wild pig problem, with big black razorback pigs rooting at the north east end of the runway right beside the aircraft touchdown point. Added to this, the groundsman is under orders to turn the place into downtown Beirut by shooting waterbirds on the runway every time puddles of rain appear.

Prior to 1998 Ballina Council let the contract for the cleaning of its airport and the management of its kiosk as a combined tender. The successful tenderer went out and employed a couple of people to clean the airport building and also invest over $4,000 in a floor scrubber to ensure it would be absolutely spic and span.

In 1998 when this contract ended, our Strategic Chief thought it fit to split these activities into two separate tenders, with the result that the previous kiosk operator lost the cleaning contract, two local people were laid off and the $4,000 was sold for a bargain basement price. That's life That's Council.

The airport cleaning tender was let to an interstate company, who finished up in court, and now both cleaning and kiosk contract are up for renewal. So how viable is our airport kiosk after the crash of Ansett, Kendell and Hazelton airlines? I let you be the judge.

Surely it would be more appropriate to combine both tenders, and extend the contract period so it becomes a worthwhile investment.

There is one thing I did notice. Behind the check in counter in a blue and white sign on the authority of the general manager notifying that you cannot board a aircraft with a prohibited weapon unless you have a letter from the appropriate civil servant in Canberra. I wonder how many terrorists bother to apply for the letter.

Margaret Howes
Lennox Head

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