Hi All
My belief is that Bob Brown is an absolute champion and an honest and
passionate speaker for the environment and social justice. Australia could
use a few more like him. Nobody should fall for this government's "wedge
politics" with the Telstra deal. There's plenty of dollars for alternative
energy research (Howard has just announced that dollars are being pulled
from Solar research and another 50 million more of our tax dollars is going
into more ways to burn coal in this country for energy!) and there's plenty
in the pot for the environment. This is just more "divide and conquer"
policy from a cynical government.
Our telecommunications industry should not be up for sale for the
satisfaction of Canberra ideologues and greedy corporate types who wish to
get their hands on more bucks. To make those who support better (or any)
environmental policy and greater expenditure in this area feel guilt if they
don't support this odious arrangement is immoral. The rights of the true
owners of Telstra (all of us), its workers and consumers should not be up
for sale with this pathetic carrot of "crocodile tear" concern for the
environment which a government that will not even sign the Kyoto Protocol
wishes to place before us. This government has had years with the
legislative clout and plenty of dollars to turn the environmental nightmare
in this country around and instead has compounded the problems and sold out
both nature and the future generations of this country with their policies,
pandering after big business and politically expidient support for greedy
environmental wreckers of every stripe.
What the environment needs is educated policy and attendant legislation to
stop the madness of pollution, overpopulation, deforestation and
innapropriate land use in this country. Among others, this includes
education and properly apportioned expenditure on the real issues such as
alternative energy, re-forestation, returning environmental flows to our
rivers and fighting the feral and exotic pest problems in this country. The
big parties are not one jot interested in the environment unless it serves
their political ends. Bob Brown is our last remaining hope in these areas.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm pretty passionate about this stuff. Now....off
the soapbox and back to the forest to hang out with the birds....
Regards - Ricki
Written and spoken by Ricki Coughlan for the birds, plants, animals and
concerned humans of Australia.
|
