STOP!
It's official, the director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has announced it is probable that 50% of the GBR's coral has bleached and died in the last year.
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Perhaps the reef system should be renamed the Late Great Barrier Reef, if the current rate of destruction continues to its end.The major cause of coral bleaching is warming sea temperatures, and the major causes of sea temperature rise are: increasing nutrient runoff from coastal agriculture, dinoflagellate blooms which poison corals following massive forest fires, and the mining and burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
All of these destructive effects are the work of homo sapiens: us. Some of the damage is done unintentionally, nutrient runoff for example, some is done as the result of irresponsible and often illegal deforestation, and some is directly attributable to corporate greed, sometimes promoted and sponsored by government cooperation.
A current example of this is, of course, the Adani coal mining permit granted by the Commonwealth Government of Australia, the government we elected less than a year ago. Not only has the permit been granted, but the government has offered Adani a one billion dollar taxpayer-funded, low-interest loan, to finance a 400+ km railway to take the coal to the Abbott Point coal port, to then be shipped, via the GBR, to India.
The open cut mines in the Galilee Basin will be permitted by the Queensland government to use up to 12 million litres of ground water per day to wash the coal. Go ahead, no charge, it's on us!
I for one have come not only to distrust the major political parties, but to hate their total disregard of their moral responsibility for the future of our country, for the short term electoral gains that mean more to them than anything else.
They delude themselves, though; the loss of employment and business activity in the tourism industry is likely to be far greater than the relatively small "jobs 'n growth" benefits from the Adani project.
I could go on, but will finish by asking all Bellingen people who care about the world facing our descendants to join the massive protest campaign against our government's support of the Adani coal mine project.
People power CAN win this battle, and must.
Jeremy Barrett, Bellingen
WHY MINISTER DUTTON SHOULD RESIGN
I am now of an age that I recall men of my family telling the (younger) me of their experiences while serving in both of WW1 and WW2.
The words "Lest We Forget" were often used. In particular, one damaged uncle used them about the first election for which I was eligible to vote. He warned me that Adolf Hitler was elected, so I had better be careful with my vote ... that the forms of democracy are not enough to preclude evil men.
I was reminded again of that uncle, when I heard of the latest spit against the ABC. Apparently Minister Dutton applauds action against Ms Abdel-Magied, and stated that more people should be removed from our only trustworthy news source. The applause at the lady's removal is petty, but the call to weaken the ABC is foul or cunning rhetoric, worthy of any would-be autocrat.
I have no reason to believe that I would agree with many of Ms Abdel-Magied's views, but I am quite sure that I would agree with one short statement, and that my late uncles and grandfathers, always respectful of the original "ANZAC" comradeship, would have considered this short statement quite apt today. I repeat:
"Lest We Forget … (Manus, Nauru, Palestine, Syria...)"
All four places were known to ex-servicemen in my family, albeit for slightly different reasons, both in peace and war.
They would be horrified at the uses to which Manus and Nauru are being put. They didn't fight to allow successive governments to be sadists. Indeed, we should not forget why they thought they should fight, ( although, of course, the politicians who sent them into war had less simple reasons). One reason in the beginning was to "defend freedom and justice" from tyranny. That was a rallying cry in both big wars.
Lest we forget, indeed.
If Minister Dutton really believed in freedom and justice, he would support the only media source which has any hope of being truthful, unbiased, and open.
If he had any conscience at all, he would by now have undone the sadistic incarceration practises of his and previous governments, sacked the private company guards, and taken responsibility for kindness towards those seeking asylum.
His reported statements on air are either petty, or deliberate attempts at damage.
I am no psychologist, but in my opinion, if the first, he is immature: if the second, he is no democrat. Whichever the case, it seems wise he should leave his ministerial post.