A Withdrawal, And A Retreat To Higher Moral Ground

The Age

Wednesday April 23, 2008

CANBERRA'S Australian of the year, Lin Hatfield-Dodds, is to be applauded for her decision to withdraw from the Olympic torch relay. She voices what a growing number of Australians are feeling.

Her gesture pinpoints the dilemma faced by countless Australians who have cherished the Olympic Games and have lived with an unshakeable faith that sport at its highest level should be above politics. However, the uncomfortable truth has been gathering momentum and has crystallised, at least for me, in the Tibet protests at the Beijing torch relay.

The International Olympic Committee must embody universal human rights and the Games must express, in sport at the highest level, one of humankind's purest forms of physical and mental activity: support for global human rights. Until the Olympic Games movement can guarantee this, and it does not at the moment, the Olympics are in serious danger of becoming just another global sports spectacular, dominated by money, drugs scandals and national medals-tally egos.

No doubt Lin Hatfield-Dodds will enjoy the Beijing Games, as will Australian sporting fans. However, she will do so in the knowledge that she has her priorities right.

John Bell, Lyneham, ACT

Media need to get out more

NINETEEN years ago, I arrived in Australia as a student at the University of NSW, from Xiamen University in China. I have continued in my professional career in this country. I have noticed the Western media has become concerned with the Beijing Olympic Games, the torch relay and the Tibetan issue. I am upset and concerned at the negative media attention.

The Olympics is an event that unites the world under the banner of one world and one dream. It is hard to understand why some of the Western media are opposed to the good wishes. They seems to be using the Olympics to highlight a political issue that is not directly related to the Games. The recent concern over Darfur has been replaced with Tibet.

I think the Western media must put greater effort into understanding Chinese culture and visit China, even Tibet, to contact real people. I believe this would reduce misleading, biased or sensational reporting of events occurring in China.

If the media did this, they would improve their reputation in China. I think greater understanding will make the world a more harmonious place.

Zuliang Chen, Mawson Lakes, SA

Let's set a fine example

THE Chinese authorities, and the IOC, have managed to transform the Olympic torch relay from a celebration of unity and goodwill into a demonstration of division and intolerance. What should have been a chance for aspiring athletes and sports fans to gather and appreciate the spectacle of this event has largely been squandered. Unfortunately protesters overseas have only exacerbated this. Protesting oppression with violence is not a good look.

I hope that Australia can be an example to the rest of the liberal world, and to China, of the immense power that peaceful, if stubborn, demonstration can bring. I urge those planning to protest in Canberra to relish the privilege of our right to demonstrate with passionate voices and restrained fists. Prove to the Chinese that force is not the way to stifle free expression and show the Australian authorities that this is not a police state and we will not be treated as one.

Ben Coleman, South Yarra

A long, slow climb up from rock bottom

IT SEEMS that nothing has changed in the eight years since my medical discharge from the air force due to post-traumatic stress disorder ("Mentally ill troops tell of bullying and neglect", The Age, 21/4).

I initially sought medical attention away from defence force personnel. Once others learnt of my condition, I became ostracised and the butt of jokes.

My marriage ended and my ex-wife would not let me have contact with my two children.

For eight months, I was placed on sick leave. I sat at home or in pubs, waiting for the powers that be in Canberra to decide my future. Days became a blur, due to depression and boredom. Alcohol and abuse of prescribed medicine became the norm, gambling a daily habit.

Loss of my driver's licence followed; anything that could get me money was pawned. Time was spent in hospital after suicide attempts.

When my discharge finally came through, most of my super payout was gone, due to gambling, debts and child support arrears payments.

It is in the past five years that I have become sober, gained dignity and control of my life. That would have not been possible without the assistance of doctors, health professionals, staff and volunteers at Austin Repatriation Hospital, Heidelberg.

Name withheld

A matter of numbers

WHEN you see articles like "Concerns on immigration continue to linger" (The Age, 22/4) written in the populate-or-perish mentality of the 1950s, you realise we have not fundamentally changed. We have not embraced the genuine environmental concerns of the 21st century. Al Gore pointed out that population was a contributor to global warming, but we in Australia think we are immune from that.

The article also seems to ignore the practical problem of trying to house new migrants when vacancy rates in private rental accommodation in most capital cities are at historically low levels. We have a housing problem because supply is too low and demand is too high. Reducing net migration to zero would provide instant relief.

If we want to do something for our children, a population target of 20 million by 2020 and changes to our measures of success would do much for the liveability of our cities and the environment.

This would represent a seismic shift in our growth-at-any-cost mentality. Yes, we passed 20 million a few years ago. No one mentioned that at the 2020 Summit.

Mark Axton, Somers

Not about racism

WHY is it that when reporting on immigration your paper always seems to assume that anyone who thinks our immigration levels are too high is motivated by racism? Surely, with water and food shortages and a so-called housing shortage, it might be reasonable to postulate that there are too many of us here. If we are overpopulated, as our water supply would tend to suggest, then why isn't it reasonable to want to return to a sustainable level of population? What's racist about that?

Graham Parton, Stanley

Hot under the collar

IT IS mind-boggling that on the same day as an article about worsening climate change ("Climate change getting worse: Gore", The Age, 22/4), The Age counters the scientific evidence presented with another article celebrating the "gas and oil bonanza" that Australia now has legal rights to extract and burn ("National bonanza sitting on shelf"). In case The Age and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson are unaware, the extraction of this "gas and oil bonanza" will lead to "climate change getting (even) worse".

Ferguson's "energy security" and Kevin Rudd's economic security are clearly a higher priority than ensuring climate security and environmental prosperity for our children. It is a shame that this Government thinks that we can put off environmental action until 2020, when 2010 may, in fact, be too late.

Paul Fogarty, Altona

Don't ruin it for us all

REPUBLIC Australia? Who wants even a hint of what goes on in the US for more than one year in every four, with the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars and so much emotional energy?

Who now chooses our effective head of state? The government of Australia. Who is that head of state? An Australian.

What control does the Queen have over Australia? None. Who feels subservient to the British? See a psychiatrist. Just don't ruin what we have.

John Weymouth, Ringwood East

Even the Queen wants a republic

THE idea touted by some that Australia should delay its wish to become a republic until the Queen dies is insulting, not only to our senior citizens but also to the Queen.

Australians in their 80s and 90s have been waiting all their lives to see the day we become truly independent, and I'm sure the Queen would be happy to participate in the handover ceremony. Remember, it was reliably reported that she expected Australia to become a republic 10 years ago and was relaxed about it, unlike the hysterical Australian monarchists.

Jeanne Hart, Maryborough

En garde, Mr Flint

EVER loyal to our absentee monarchy, David Flint warns us that he will fight an Australian replacing the Queen.

He better get his suit of armour and jousting stick, because it looks like it's Sir David the fearless against all comers.

But why stop there. Alexander Downer says the 2020 Summit's plan for an Australian republic has no mandate. I know that Downer's eyes were shut tight on election night, so I guess he can be forgiven for missing the voters' choice of the Rudd Government and its policy for an Australian republic. That's a mandate for an Australian to replace the Queen, Alex.

If you want to fight about it, I'll meet you on the ramparts of Kryal Castle. I'll be the one dressed as Ned Kelly.

Karl Munzel, Boronia

Where evil triumphs

ZIMBABWEANS have voted to remove Robert Mugabe from power. Yet they are still held captive by this megalomaniac dictator, who refuses to listen to the voice of the people.

The man responsible for the massacre of the Ndebele and those who oppose him is supported by the Chinese, who pay for his exploits and human rights abuses in exchange for the natural resources of Zimbabwe.

Yet the world remains silent. The United Nations makes mewling noises, while Western countries speak in platitudes and the leaders of the Organisation for African Unity show a complete lack of interest in the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.

The trade union movement in South Africa took a stand, refusing to unload Chinese weapons headed for Mugabe. Hopefully the courage and humanity shown by these workers will encourage others to take a similar stand and thus prevent the further suffering of the Zimbabwean people. As Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Elise Margow, Caulfield South

There's waste, and there's good waste

MIKE Ritchie, president of the NSW branch of the Waste Management Association, argues that governments need to show greater leadership to address climate change at the waste management level (Opinion, 18/4).

He presumes that readers understand the benefits to farmers of compost use: 30% average irrigation savings, yield and soil structure improvement, reduced need for fertilisers . . . and the big one: climate change abatement through "sinking" carbon in soil.

To derive the full benefits, farmers need a quality product, made from clean, source-separated organic material. The AWTs ("advanced waste technologies"), of which Mike Ritchie speaks so highly, recover "organic content" from mixed waste. Doing that is one thing; making a product suitable for the land is another.

Most AWTs marketed in Australia need large amounts of organic material to be commercially and technically viable. The more organics they get, the more money the industry makes. Thus it encourages councils to use dual-bin systems, with organics mixed in with general garbage.

AWTs are a necessary but inferior solution to clean source separation: delivered via use of multiple council bins. Even Mr Ritchie recently conceded that the cleaner the source (of organic content), the better the outcome.

Gerry Gillespie, president, Zero Waste, Quenbeyan, NSW

Plastic, not fantastic

WHILE I agree with Larissa Dubecki (Opinion, 23/4) regarding the (over)use of plastic bags, I find it difficult to assign the blame totally to politicians.

We are all to blame. As a "checkout chick", I see the whole scenario every day: "I need a bag for this newspaper because I am walking and I cannot carry it." "I need a bag for this packet of lollies because it will be too difficult to carry." We are all guilty of using plastic bags unnecessarily. Let us stop it now

Sally Gregory, Surrey Hills

Checking it out

THE only time I have used one of those automatic supermarket checkouts, it was confusing, with notes and coins going in different slots on opposite sides of the machine, silent and unforgiving, forcing me to use a plastic bag for a chocolate bar before I was allowed to pay for it.

Now I go through a checkout with a real person. I get a smile, conversation, something that can handle cash, and I don't have to use plastic bags. Automatic may be good for the supermarkets, but it isn't good for me.

Matthew Gilbert, Hampton Park

© 2008 The Age

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