What’s happening to us?
WE have in Australia over a million children living in poverty and yet every year we continue to pour millions into overseas aid. My question is why?
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The federal government wasted $122 million on a plebiscite simply because it didn't want to risk an electoral backlash if put to a government vote. Imagine the beneficial effects that capital could have had on Australia's impoverished children.
It’s about time the Australian federal government started to consider those under financial stress within its own borders. Such as pensioners living on the bread line and the unemployed that manage to survive on a pittance.
There is a question that must be posed: "What is happening to our magnificent country?" I watched the TV in dismay the other day as our illustrious Prime Minister pleaded with the corporations to leave some gas in Australia and not to grab it all for themselves. Can the reader really grasp this appalling situation? Australia has now sold so much gas to overseas corporations that there could be gas shortages for Australian citizens and industries.
It worries me that Australia is rapidly becoming a corpocracy.
I personally believe that both major parties stink. The gravy train needs some new passengers consisting of free-thinking intelligent visionaries that are not just slaves to politically outdated ideologies.
- Nick Ryder, Booragul
Nature doing her best
IT’S been said if the ice melts on Greenland, oceans can rise 6 to 7 metres (that's a lot of ice). Yes, the ice has been melting. However, what they have also discovered but would rather not mention is the lifting of the weight of ice, which normally compresses the land mass, has allowed Greenland to rise up further out of the ocean.
It means Greenland is now displacing less ocean water than the ice melt contributes - a simple displacement exercise -theoretically lowering sea levels.
Mother Nature doing her best, as usual, since the beginning of time, and all without spending money on research grants, reverse global warming procedures and expenses, or human assistance.
Why do some think that spending money, lots of money, is the cure to fix all, even when there is nothing to fix.
- Carl Stevenson, Dora Creek
Rathmines vandalism
I HAVE been away and perhaps missed the controversy about the ban on camper vans at Rathmines Park. Surely there must have been a controversy?
By banning grey nomads in camper vans from the park, Lake Macquarie City Council has made it safe for idiots and hoons to burn down the very nice and expensive children's playground. Why would the council do that when non-metropolitan councils all over Australia are putting up welcome signs for camper vans?
Not a single local business that I have spoken to supports the ban. The local club obviously does not support it. None of the locals that I know supports it.
Where is the community organisation that is going to run against our councillors at the next election? I want to sign up.
- Ivan Pagett, Fishing Point
Wyee’s paper subdivision
REGARDING your story (“Wyee’s ‘shantytown’”, Lakes Mail, September 28), Wyee West was subdivided in 1914 under the laws of the day. The whole of Wyee had dirt roads, no water, and no sewerage. So why is Wyee West still so different or difficult to fix?
They paid for kerbing and guttering, and for town water connection, and they still have no sewer. I am sure that no developer paid for that subdivision.
How much has Lake Macquarie City Council spent of our money on reports and studies? This has been going on for 35 years that I know of.
- Christine James, Cooranbong