Green propaganda
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Bega District News editor Ben Smyth appears to be prepared to use the newspaper to advance the Green cause, which in regional Australia has done nothing but destroy local communities.
The story “Vulnerable koalas compelling viewing” (BDN, 24/8) has glaring factual errors that make me and hundreds of other people in the local timber industry wonder if Mr Smyth even watched the show.
We expected the Four Corners report to take an unsubstantiated swipe at logging operations, because that’s what sensationalist media has done for years, but to their credit, they stuck to the facts.
Not one suggestion or shred of evidence that logging negatively impacts on koala population.
Yet Mr Smyth’s second paragraph says the program highlighted “the plight of koalas due to logging, mining and development”.
One out of three, Mr Smyth.
Mining didn’t get a mention either and you would do well to get these things right before you add to the false hysteria propagated by the radical anti-logging activists in the Bega Valley Shire.
Even anti-logging zealot Harriet Swift concedes that there was not enough evidence of koala activity in Tanja to support their claim they actually exist there.
Hopefully this means credible programs such as Four Corners are starting to see through the Green lies.
Where is the evidence there are koalas in Tanja?
Where is the report from the Office of Environment and Heritage, which was supposedly examining the scats found to see if they were actually consistent with the species of tree they were found under?
Why is the Bega District News taking the word of people who have the sole agenda of shutting down the timber industry over actual fact?
Timber Communities Australia, which represents the grassroots people in our industry, asks that you print a retraction and admit you did not watch the program before writing your article.
Noel Hall
President Timber Communities Australia South East NSW
Editor’s note: Thank you for your comments Mr Hall. I’ll admit my phrasing in the second paragraph of the article in question was incorrect and I apologise for the confusion. When I wrote there had been concerns over the plight of koalas due to logging, mining and development, it should have read that those concerns were in response to the Four Corners program, not that they were included in the program. I stand by the remainder of my article, which is pieced together from my interview with Ms Swift and a media statement from Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon. Ms Swift did not concede there wasn’t enough evidence to support the claim koalas exist at Tanja - only that there wasn’t enough visible activity for a television audience.
Getting things right
In reply to Jo Dodd's attempt at humour about my last koala letter, the Forestry Commission harvests only 10 per cent of the total forest estate and actively culls feral animals.
By accident or by design they might just be getting things right.
On the other hand, koalas recently relocated to a national park in Queensland were decimated by feral dogs until there was an active intervention.
Declaring a national park and managing a national park are not the same thing.
Also, tracking collars are a far more accurate way to track native animals than musing over their droppings.
If you live next to the forest and you resent the Forestry Commission as a neighbour that's your problem.
Stop holding the rest of the community to ransom with these emotionally charged claims and hearsay.
John Cafe
Bega
Bad sports
On a recent trip to your great town we had the pleasure of going to see the Aussie rules grand final between Batemans Bay and Tathra.
We had a great day, but were disappointed in some of the Bay players’ bad sportsmanship.
This sort of behaviour has no place in sport and should not be accepted or tolerated by the coaching staff.
Congrats to Tathra on your hat-trick.
Ron and Maz Connonr
Cobram, Victoria
Killer on the loose
There is a killer loose around my garden.
I have netted my acre of land to prevent dogs from entering although they should not be on the street without their owners.
Unfortunately my fence will not stop cats and my garden is a haven for birds.
I became aware of this cat a few weeks ago.
A trail of grey and white feathers led through the block.
They had belonged to a white-faced heron.
Later I found the headless body of a wattle bird and recently only a pile of feathers and legs were all that remained of a kookaburra.
This cat is big and desperately hungry.
It is not killing for fun.
It is killing to survive.
How many other wild creatures has it consumed to serve its appetite?
I have caught sight of this cat only briefly.
It is white with coloured patches and is very elusive.
I love animals including cats and I previously owned a very much loved one in Canberra.
This cat here is a feral.
It appears to have been abandoned by its owner(s) – perhaps because it ate too much?
Was the owner not able to afford to feed it?
Or was it a cute kitten for the grandkids to play with until it grew out of its “cuteness”?
Owners of cats should take note of the article in your paper by Holli Thomas (BDN, 17/8).
It is full of good advice for cat owners.
I personally think irresponsible owners of cats who let them out, especially at night, should not be allowed to own them.
To me, it is criminal that this previously owned, but apparently abandoned cat is put in the position of fending for itself by killing the beautiful creatures that I, by planting flowering bushes and trees, have invited into my garden.
I shall of course try to defend my feathered friends.
Janet Hurle
Bemboka
Devastating
The announcement by Tanya Plibersek pertaining to the scrapping of the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme is a devastating blow to those elderly and young alike, who are suffering from any one of a number of chronic illnesses.
This decision is purely driven by an ideological need to tear down all worthwhile reforms that were introduced by the Howard government.
We all know what happened when Howard's border protection policy was torn up.
Because I am suffering from type 2 diabetes I was able to have extensive dental work done through Medicare, which cost about $7000 - dental work that otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford.
Minister Plibersek says she is scrapping Tony Abbott's program because it is being rorted.
The only way this scheme can be rorted is if GPs furnish a referral to dentists based on a false diagnosis.
I don't think there would be too many doctors out there prepared to do this.
The CDDS is to be replaced by an unfunded Green Scheme mainly aimed at children to the tune of only $1000 over a period of two years.
While it is important we provide preventative health care for children this should not be done at the cost of leaving elderly people who require urgent treatment with no alternative but to put up with a mouth full of rotten teeth.
Tony Abbott should trump this latest political ploy simply by announcing an incoming Coalition government would provide complete dental care to all on a means tested basis paid for by increasing the Medicare levy.
Tom Griffin
Pambula