Carbon problems
As Dr Richard Denniss of The Australia Institute points out, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is increasingly looking like the answer to a question that nobody asked, namely, “what would be the best way to introduce a complex and expensive national scheme that sounds like a solution to climate change without really changing anything?”
It is, however, encouraging for those that are following the Government versus Opposition politics related to proposed CPRS that the Liberals are now proposing to measure voluntary action (eg the Bega Solar Farm).
In other words, they are proposing that individual contributions to reducing carbon emissions will be counted.
The question remains: why won’t the ALP?
Jack Miller
Bermagui
Hospital website
It has been almost twelve months since the Save Pambula Hospital website was launched.
The year-old website offers broad, in-depth awareness of a critical community issue.
In that time the site has received over 17,000 hits from Australian, and internationally readers.
Many have emailed messages of support through the site.
By far the highest proportion of Australian readers are from NSW but all other Australian states and territories are well represented.
The site contains a history of the current issue surrounding Pambula Hospital.
One page focuses on the nature of difficulties faced by all residents of the Bega Valley and beyond, both north and west of the valley and south into Victoria.
These residents rely on public health services provided by the NSW Health Department through both Bega and Pambula Hospitals.
Audio, video, still photographs and text all illustrate the work being done by an army of health conscious volunteers.
Together they have willingly striven throughout 2009 to achieve a fair go from the NSW Government for the whole population of the Far South Coast and the thousands of visitors who flock to the area each year.
A dedicated page represents Greater Southern Area Health Services.
A research page provides links to 30 published stories that each point directly to reasons why decisions taken by NSW Health Ministers over the past 24 months have failed.
Additionally it lists 100 samples of local, interstate and international scholarly papers, each arguing the case against rural hospital downgrading and closure.
Each of these articles can be Googled.
Far from attending to local issues only, the site presents information on inadequacies in the provision of health services experienced by rural communities in all corners of Australia.
Closer to home, links are available to over seventy NSW newspaper articles that describe difficulties, similar to our own, being faced by rural communities across our State.
A “Recent Headlines” page highlights current actions and reactions as they relate to emerging local events.
This page relies heavily on news told by Merimbula News Weekly, Eden Magnet, Bega District News, ABC News and other online sources.
One poignant page relates the story of Jane Hope, a fictitious character who represents hundreds of young mothers as she pleads for a safe journey through her pregnancy and childbirth.
The site is refined daily and additions are made continuously.
To gain a broad, in-depth awareness of the critical community issue surrounding Pambula Hospital readers of this newspaper are urged to browse this site at www.savepambulahospital.com
Gra ham Pettigrove
Pambula
Clea n up and save
The recent tragic Victorian bushfires, highlighted the fact that a significant amount of the damage to property and the loss of human and animal life could have been reduced or in some cases prevented altogether, if the amount of waste forest product, ie fallen or dead trees had been removed prior to the fires.
While travelling around the Bega Valley Shire, I am amazed by the huge amount of forestry waste material that is visible along the roadsides.
I feel that if this material is allowed to accumulate more than it presently is, we could possibly have a serious disaster similar to the one which occurred in Victoria.
But I would like to propose what I think would be a win-win situation for the council and ratepayers of our shire.
Currently our shire pays a huge amount of our rates in electricity bills, presently in excess of $650,000 per year for all of the shire’s facilities, and with continued use this will result in our rates continually going up.
But this situation could be changed in a short period of time resulting in a savings in excess of the present electricity bills by the shire by doing the following:
• Establish a biomass electricity generation plant in close proximity to the shire’s equipment storage depot, which happens to be near Country Energy’s sub-station, on Maher Street in Bega.
The investment in such a plant would pay for itself within three years and from then on the shire could be making a profit.
• Establish an employment and training program to provide meaningful employment to the many teenagers currently unemployed within the shire.
These young employees would be trained to safely collect and transport the waste forestry material, under the auspices of Forests NSW, to the biomass generator where it would be used to produce electricity.
If the amount of electricity produced is greater than the shire’s requirement then the excess could be used to reduce the shire’s future electricity bills, or maybe even be sold back to Country Energy.
• Utilise the shire’s existing plant equipment, ie trucks and lifting equipment to collect and transport this material to the generator’s location and qualify the trainees on the use and safe operations of the equipment involved.
• Encourage ratepayers to clear their properties of waste materials where possible, and to notify the shire to arrange for the pick up of materials for delivery to the generator for the production of electricity.
This would reduce the risk of the shire encountering legal lawsuits due to incorrect decisions not to allow ratepayers to remove trees from their properties.
It’s far cheaper to remove a dead tree than it is to try and replace a loss human life
If any one has any questions regarding this proposal please do not hesitate to contact me.
Alonzo Llewellyn
Wolumla
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