Big Bash a hit
Congratulations to all of the participants, sponsors and organisers of the Bendigo Bank Big Bash held on December 21.
In particular, Justin Roscoe of the Tathra Cricket Club and Dave Allen of the Bega-Angledale Cricket Club should be singled out for their efforts.
Dave has pursued the promotion of cricket to the wider community with great energy over the last few months and the match and junior coaching clinic conducted by Greg Matthews would not have taken place without his drive.
The game featured a wide cross-section from the Far South Coast clubs and was a great showcase for the entertainment that local cricket can provide.
Hopefully it will become a regular feature of the local sporting scene.
Stephen Groch
President, Far South Coast Cricket Association
Heartfelt thanks
This letter is by way of thanks to the dedicated and caring staff of the Bega District Hospital.
We are very fortunate to have these exceptional people working in our area.
After a short illness my mother recently passed away in the hospital.
The professionalism, along with the care and compassion shown to my mother and our family by all nursing staff and doctors, in particular those in the High Dependency Unit, was amazing.
Their support in such a difficult time was very much appreciated and our heartfelt thanks go to all those who cared for her.
Helene Ypma and family of Mary van Mourik
Bega
Old-fashioned thinking
I'm a 31-year-old male working in aged care,
I have been doing so for almost six years.
Before this I was full-time carer to an elderly female family member with terminal cancer.
Today I happened to ring a local aged care facility here in Bega, to see how I could apply for some casual work with them.
I was surprised and felt quiet discriminated against when this particular female staff member said, quiet bluntly, “we do not employ males. Our female residents do not like male carers.”
I thought this was quiet sexist, we are not living back in the 1940s and ‘50s and secondly, don't their male residents have a choice whether they want female or male staff carers?
This “Female Only” aged care facility needs to give males a go.
I’m just as good a worker as any of their female staff members, I’m sure.
Trent Aaron
Bega
Council concerns
When I left Bega in1993 I worked in government procurement for 10 years.
I witnessed first-hand:
* unbelievable waste;
* questionable relationships between staff and suppliers;
* resume building by senior staff using public money; and
* one-upmanship at government conferences, again using public money.
While I appreciate the value of sound infrastructure, all of these concerns are hanging over the Bega council.
John Cafe
Bega
Climate reality
Are ratepayers aware that 'greenhouse action plans' of councils are linked to the 1997 Kyoto protocol?
Are there hidden costs?
My letter (BDN, 2/10) explained the UN Kyoto Protocol agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions expires on December 31 next.
I suggested any extension of it is an “in your dreams” thing, as is the curbing of CO2 emissions.
CO2 comprises less than 0.04 per cent of air. It can only exist as a colourless gas in our atmosphere.
It mixes with other gases and spreads almost uniformly affecting all parts of the planet regardless of country of origin - making it a global consideration.
Critically, CO2 is essential to life on earth.
All plants need it to grow and all animals rely on plants in the food chain to survive.
The cutting of CO2 emissions to prevent catastrophic global warming is the claimed foundation for international climate environment policy.
The Gillard Government swears by it for Australians.
Ottmar Edenhofer, a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines this policy more precisely.
“We have to free ourselves from the illusion that international climate is environment policy…it is about how we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth”.
From 1997, the UN has held annual meetings to extend the agreement without much success.
The 18th recently took place in Doha, and on time, the drivers of this illusory policy release scream about the catastrophes about to happen unless the emissions are reduced.
Developed nations have discovered that cutting their emissions by relying more and more on highly variable and very expensive renewable wind power contributes to a very challenging economic problem in “redistributing their wealth” to developing nations.
Conversely, the populations of the not so developed nations of China, India and Africa are not so keen on wind power, having the greatest need to use the affordable means (coal) by which humans can satisfy their needs for “long life, good health, prosperity, technological progress, adequate food supplies, internet services, freedom of movement, protection from environmental threats, and so on.”
This as stated by Professor John Christy on numerous times after living in Africa – “without energy, life is brutal and short.”
Over 1200 new coal plants are in planning across 59 countries.
Australia will be selling its coal to for these and those already operating.
This is the reality.
Neville Hughes
Surf Beach
Live export cruelty
Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Rob Gillam wants “the everyday man” to know more about the live export industry.
If so, he should explain how millions of animals are jam-packed onto ships and sent across the equator to Asia or the Middle East, often in sweltering temperatures.
The ships are so crowded that many animals die from disease or when they can’t reach food or water.
Animals who survive this gruelling journey may be tied by all four legs and shoved into car boots or the backs of trucks.
At the slaughterhouse (sometimes just a hut), they often have their throats slit while they're still conscious.
If Australia supposedly has such high animal welfare standards, then why are we still shipping live animals overseas to slaughter?
Gillam can’t justify such cruelty by saying that Australians profit from it any more than he could justify abuses such as drug trafficking, sweatshops, or kiddie porn by reminding us that people make money from those activities.
Animals will continue to suffer as long as live export remains legal.
Des Bellamy
Special projects coordinator
PETA Australia
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