This week, letter writers discuss the impact of renewables, wildlife corridors, ratepayer-funded cruelty and more.
Lite Bill
We’ve had ‘Electricity Bill’. Now it seems we have ‘Lite Bill’ (CW 29 June). His apparent unconditional and uncritical support for Israel disregards the plight of a people who have also lived in the area for millennia. No mention of encroaching Jewish settlements. No discussion of the disproportionate military response to Palestinian resistance (or as Bill might call it, terrorism) to this encroachment on land they’ve lived on for centuries. His lauding of Jewish democracy appears at odds with recent developments, chief among them Netanyahu’s attempt to disempower the court of the land to review and put a brake on his government’s decisions. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens, including army reservists, have turned out in protest for months. Where’s this heading Bill? On AUKUS, Bill’s uncritical view staggers. $400 billion today. I suppose it could come in cheaper. Bill loves the nuclear option but where are we going to put the seriously radioactive waste from these creatures? We can’t agree where to dump our slightly tainted gloves. We then flit to CW 20 July where he suggests Albo should take a leaf out of Xi Ping’s energy policy. Bill is fond of calling on Xi as an example we should follow, but isn’t it at Xi and what he stands for that these subs are pointed? Let’s save the rest of Bill’s opinion piece of 20 July for a future review.
- Algis Kusta, Deakin
Impacts of renewables
There has been much debate regarding renewables and the land they are taking up. Farmers are not allowed to cultivate the ground within 500m, to create dust, or to have a metal fence near the power lines, cutting their field in half. Trees have to be cleared as they can be a fire hazard.
Nick Cater, Senior Fellow at the Menzies Research Centre, advised that at Chullumbin, Queensland, great swathes of tropical forest will have to be cut down to accommodate 86 mega pylons, trees that would take carbon out of the atmosphere. Nearby, he discovered several dozen 20m turbine blades that had been decommissioned from a previous site and left in the forest for eight years, decomposing and leaving toxins to drain into the soil. Is this going to happen every time towers are decommissioned? The new blades are 86m – substantially bigger.
Then there is cost. Cater states that construction on steep and inaccessible sites is a major operation. This one requires more than 100km of new roads five to seven metres wide, carved through native forests. It requires dynamite and rock drilling to construct roads with a shallow gradient so that 86-metre-long turbine blades can be hauled up the hillside by two trucks.
The forest is home to vulnerable native species, including the Greater Glider and the Magnificent Brood Frog. It is also the hunting ground for the Red Goshawk, one of Australia’s rarest raptors. Their flight paths make them vulnerable to turbine strikes.
- Vi Evans, Macgregor
Wildlife corridors save money
The letter ‘Culling is the lesser of two evils’ (CW 20 July) demonstrates why we need to save Canberra’s kangaroo “folk”.
What people who oppose the “cull” have always known is that killing Canberra’s urban kangaroos is all about mass developer sprawl. As far back as 2004, Googong’s population of kangaroos was decimated to make way for the suburb of Googong; in 2007 Canberra’s kangaroos were slaughtered to make way for the suburb of Lawson. In Red Hill, the killing of Canberra’s kangaroos is to make way for a 152-unit development around the Federal Golf Course.
It is impossible to reconcile the Government’s position for killing kangaroos with the facts. Their alleged science was exposed as nonsense during the 2009, 2013 and 2014 ACAT hearings, and in numerous well-researched submissions made during “public consultations” on the 2010 and 2017 Kangaroo Management Plans. The CSIRO Plant Industries Report in 2014 confirms the expert opinion expressed at those hearings: It is the number and variety of plants and animals, not mass of vegetation that gives all species the best chance to live and thrive.
Instead of wasting public money on killing kangaroos, the Chief Minister and Environment Minister are ignoring the humane and viable alternative. That is to build a series of wildlife corridors to connect Canberra’s Nature Reserve system and allow wildlife and people to move around the city safely without being hit by speeding vehicles. Currently the ACT Labor/Green Coalition’s poor road infrastructure is pushing the cost of vehicle repair back to Canberrans. Wildlife corridors will save Canberrans money.
- Robyn Soxsmith, Kambah
Ratepayer-funded cruelty
Recently, Minister Vassarotti appeared before the Select Committee on Estimates, where Liberal Mark Parton posed questions regarding the treatment of kangaroos during the annual kangaroo cull. The Minister’s performance was pitiful. She deferred answering questions to the conservator and refused to take any responsibility for the ongoing killing of kangaroos.
The Minister claims that the cull is humane, respectful and accords with the National Code of Practice for the shooting of kangaroos and wallabies. Her claim is disingenuous. The Minister is aware of instances in the 2022 cull where two fully furred joeys were found decapitated. This is in breach of the Code. One joey was discarded in a bush, the other on the side of the road. This is not a respectful end to an animal’s life.
The Minister admitted joeys may be hit on the head with a mallet as part of normal culling practice. The majority of culls are not supervised, as claimed by the Minister. There is no vet present to protect the welfare of the animals. A vet/supervisor may attend on one or two occasions only.
Minister Vassarotti is abdicating responsibility to protect the safety of kangaroos to the shooters, turning a blind eye to ratepayer-funded cruelty.
- Rebecca Marks, Palmerston
Honeymoon period over
Just as the climate and Novak Djokovic’s standing as a tennis superstar are inexorably changing, so is the extended honeymoon period for the Albanese government which now appears to be all but over, with two recent polls showing a sharp decline in its popularity and effectiveness, as allegedly voters now believe that the PM is not paying enough attention to addressing the cost of living, healthcare, housing, immigration and the Voice referendum issues. He is instead preferencing constantly travelling around the world big noting himself as a “world leader”. It would now appear as though ScoMo is not the only one “not holding the hose, mate”, and that ‘Airbus Albo’ has now become the second member of this elite club among Australian former and current PMs.
– Mario Stivala, Belconnen
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