LETTERS
Letters - 300 words maximum and including full name, address and contact number - can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au
Greenhouse gases lead to ‘catastrophe’ Jenny Warfe (“Talk about tourism,” Letters 31/10/17) is quite correct quoting Newton’s Third Law “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. I am of the educated opinion that planet Earth is already “unloading the overload”. Look at the unprecedented regularity and ferocity of this year’s hurricanes in the Caribbean. They are formed over a large expanse of water that has reached a consistent temperature of 24 degrees Celsius or greater. The Caribbean’s coral reefs are bleaching, as are the reefs of the Great Barrier Reef north of Mackay. Coral bleaching happens when water temperature (in Australia) reaches a consistent 37 degrees Celsius, at which time the normally symbiotic relationship between the polyps and the algae contained within the polyps becomes toxic, so the polyps eject the algae (which supplies 90 per cent of the polyps’ nutritional needs, so without the algae, the polyps eventually starve to death). The world’s coral reefs contain at least 705 of all species of marine life and are vital to the health and productivity of tropical seas. I saw coral bleaching off Cape Tribulation 16 years ago. On Heron Island marine biologists are performing experiments on living coral, subjecting them to various temperatures, and acidity (using CO2) Why would they be doing this if it was of no concern? The burning of fossil fuels reduces air quality, produces carcinogens and causes climate change, but also causes ocean acidification. As sea temperatures rise, the water expands, causing sea level rise. Sceptics don’t seem to understand there will be catastrophic consequences if humans continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The Earth’s warming has not flat lined, it has accelerated faster than scientists predicted and there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than before the industrial revolution. Ian Bollard, Hastings
Groyne to save beach The community engagement session at Mt Martha Lifesaving Club Saturday 25 November was well attended and finished on a positive note with the following motion carried unanimously: “That the [Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning] seek funding to model and cost the groyne solution to maintain minimum sand on Mt Martha North Beach, as soon as possible.” Over the years our beach has been on the receiving end of much survey and analysis and the latest coastal processes study (by Water Technology on behalf of the department), adds yet more to the store of knowledge, shedding some more light on the reasons for its current state and options to address them. However, despite all this past and current attention there has been no action taken to date to address the beach’s continuing decline to provide it with any degree of permanency. This study provides yet again the justification for action and means of addressing the beach’s shortcomings. In football parlance, we have had a lot of the ball but it doesn’t show on the scoreboard. We desperately need funding not only to stabilise the cliff but to retain sand on the beach without action being taken to curb our sand loss we won’t have a beach. We firmly believe that the most effective management option for our beach is a short groyne in combination with sand renourishment. Alan Farquhar, chairman, Mt Martha North Beach Group
Tourism’s ‘hordes’ It looks like I’m right again (“Tourism needs a balance- study” The News 28/11/17). For very many years I’ve been saying that tourists take over in summer, denying us residents our own amenities and bringing congestion, chaos, crime and costs, with “benefits” that are worthless to us. Perhaps some councillors from Paris or China could do a study tour here to observe how a council could be so inept and irresponsible as to allow a huge and expanding residential area with lots of young families, and oldies, who need amenities, to be overrun by hordes of tourists (eight million a year) ruining their towns. Think of the carbon emissions. Meantime, I for one will continue to shop elsewhere - summer and winter. Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington
Detention attention This past week Australians were aghast at the treatment of the refugee men on Manus Island. On Saturday 25 November the Southern Peninsula Grandmothers against the Detention of Refugee Children held a one-hour demonstration in Hastings. Sixteen people signed a petition which we have sent to [Immigration Minister Peter] Dutton. Various attitudes were expressed, but numerous people we spoke with expressed their concern about the treatment of refugees in offshore detention, particularly Manus. Members of the Australian public are now very concerned about the situation of refugees in offshore detention. Talking to others, writing or phoning federal politicians and [Flinders MP] Greg Hunt are all positive actions to show our concern. Silence is acquiescence to the horrific situations our government has created and is responsible for. Our protests also include those refugees on Nauru –men, women children - who continue to live without freedom, safety or hope. Information is hard to get due to tight controls, but there are some reports which reflect a similar abusive environment we have seen on Manus. The physical and mental cost to those in detention long term is immeasurable, and has been well docu-
Don Burke, front page of a daily newspaper, “I’m not a nice man”? I rated gardening shows alongside cooking shows so not a fan. Still, having watched the ABC’s witch hunt of Donald (and The Age) I’m yet to be convinced as to exactly what he did physically wrong some 20 or more years back before political correctness, other than obviously lewd sexual comments and a tendency (seemingly) to be oversexed and (perhaps) a serial harasser? Not that I ever trusted him, which is immaterial, as I often distrust television personalities (and some actors) by instinct. Degrees of nonsense? As a public servant at the auditor-general’s office, I recall one young lady accusing me of a lewd comment. I probably said something like “I love your short skirt”. She reported me and six months later I discovered she was having an affair with one of the married bosses. Which one? Correct: the one she reported me to. Another time (Department of Navy) a sissy looking boss reported me for “answering the counter in a suggestive manner”? (I had no power, so suitably remorseful). With journalist Tracey Spicer on the job and the Media Entertainments and Arts Alliance I’m thinking it will not only be Don Burke shaking in his underpants. Five hundred women involving 65 men? Still, it took Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull off the front page, a minor blessing. Cliff Ellen, Rye
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mented. The Australian government continues to financially support offshore detention centres at great cost, using our taxes, and refuses to take responsibility. Offers from New Zealand to resettle some refugees have been refused by the government and the US has been very slow to take the total number of refugees it promised over a year ago to resettle. Australians have a right to know when and how this government is planning to end offshore detention and respond to the immediate needs of those in detention on Manus Island. Ann Renkin, Shoreham
5 December 2017
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