Midwifery issues
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Thank you for exploring the complicated current political midwifery issues in last week’s story Midwives to rally.
Women to rally may have been more appropriate title as the rally has been primarily organised by birthing women and consumer groups.
The midwifery professional issues are very complex and are only relevant to midwives working in private practice.
To balance the story on the legislation would require interviewing the midwives providing local maternity services, their dedication to implementing the new models of care prescribed in the legislation is exemplary and should be recognised.
To clarify some issues in the article I would also like to point out that there has never been “100 or more home births a year in the Valley”.
My suggestion of the figure 100 was a “guestimate” based on an article I wrote about Nienke Haantjens, a long time former home birth midwife in the Valley, who attended over 60 births in her career in the 90s.
The point I was making was....that home birth is and always has been alive and well in the Bega Valley.
Albeit with a small amount of women, dare I say a minority?
Since the article was published I have received many enquiries from people wanting to help, women wanting home births and people wanting lifts to the rally.
To the people that want to help I suggest accessing the maternity coalition website maternitycoalition. org.au to find political email addresses, template letters and information.
Then write or email our local member Andrew Constance. and Nicola Roxon the Minister for Health.
The rally is on at 11.30am Monday, September 7 on the lawns outside Parliament House.
For those wanting home births, I am sorry I have temporarily retired and encourage you to seek the help of Maike Quellenberg who is the local independent midwife attending home births.
That is of course if you are not planning to birth after July 2010 when it may become illegal.
If you are, come to the rally and let the minister know that you would still like the choice of a private midwife at your home birth.
For our daughters and their daughters.
Cindy Turner
Tanja
Reply to Paul Scherek
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your letter to the editor (BDN21/8) raising issues concerning the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) Bill.
It is absolutely critical for the future of farming in this country that we tackle the climate change problem.
This was one of my main motivations for going into politics and with so many of my family and community working so hard to survive these drier conditions on their farms I am determined to do all I can to see this legislation passed.
The electorate made it very clear to me in 2007 that this was an issue they wanted me to do something about, stunningly symbolised by the success of the Clean Energy for Eternity movement, and so I have taken it as a clear mandate to get on with the job of cutting our carbon emissions.
By putting in place the CPRS we will give our business community certainty and get the ball rolling on a low carbon market dynamic.
With the Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation now passed we will see over $19 Billion worth of investment unleashed in the renewable energy sector.
It is regional and rural Australia that stands to gain most from this investment, as we will be the home of the solar, wind, geo-thermal, wave and other technologies that will be needed to meet the target of 20 per cent generation of electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Already there are hundreds of millions of dollars pouring into Eden-Monaro related to the wind farm projects near Bungendore and Nimmitabel. Other companies dealing in sunrise technologies such as solar thermal like Lloyd Energy in Cooma, efficient solar cells like Dyesol and hopefully soon Spark Solar in Queanbeyan, will all get a huge boost from the RET law.
Our local solar panel installers like Pyramid Power and Solartec will continue to grow, prosper and employ more people.
We are also likely to see wave energy generation in the Port of Eden at some point as it offers ideal conditions for this technology.
Concern about the possible impact on farmers of the CPRS is legitimate but a few points should be stressed here.
Farming will not be part of the CPRS in terms of the debit aspect of the scheme.
The question of whether farming should be brought into the scheme on the debit side will not be determined before 2013 after extensive consultation with the industry.
Rest assured I will not support inclusion of this sector in the CPRS if it threatens the viability of our farmers.
In the meantime farmers stand to gain enormously from being included in the scheme on the credit side.
This will enable a diversification strategy for farmers that could see them through variations in market and weather conditions by using a part or the whole of their land for forestation or renewable energy use.
Our farmers in Eden-Monaro are already struggling, thanks to the effects of climate change, with most of the electorate under Exceptional Circumstances status.
I am not about to turn my back on them by voting against the CPRS Bill. All in our community who truly have the interests of rural and regional Australia at heart should get behind this scheme and send a clear message to the Coalition that they should also come on board.
Mike Kelly
Member for Eden-Monaro
Forest fires
With reference to the article BDN 28/8. The Gulaga fire, a Forests NSW control burn, in SE NSW was left unextinguished for four weeks prior to its escape on Thursday, August 27 into Gulaga National Park.
This National Park has endangered remnant rainforest vegetation and many sacred sites significant to the local Yuin traditional owners.
This fire has put these irreplaceable values at serious risk.
The plume of smoke must be creating serious discomfort for those with respiratory ailments.
Why was a control burn lit in August when current scientific fire management wisdom is that burns should not be undertaken in early spring, especially when this part of NSW is drought affected and when the long-range weather forecasts predict continuing dry and hot conditions into summer?
Why did Forests NSW permit this fire to burn for four weeks?
Why did Forests NSW permit this fire “under their control” to escape into a sensitive National Park, putting settlements and private lands around Gulaga Mountain under threat?
Only this week do we see statements from the Rural Fire Service urging landowners to avoid fire, and stating “never leave a fire unattended … serious fines and/or imprisonment apply for allowing a fire to escape and damage property and the environment”.
When will the State of NSW treat Government officers equally under the same rules as the ordinary citizens of this State?
ForestsNSW will soon intensively log critical koala habitat in Mumbulla and Murrah State Forests, adjacent to Biamanga National Park.
I wonder if the Minister would assure the community that their post-logging burns will not escape either into the National Park, or into the surrounding private lands?
The NSW Government should establish an independent public inquiry into the management practices of Forests NSW, and the extent to which they need to modify their fire strategies under a changing climate - before we have more Gulaga fires this season.
John Hibberd
Wapengo