Open letter to candidate
Thank you, Andrew Broad, for the letters you send me outlining all the great things you and your party are doing for us.
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But there is one serious omission. You do not seem to have mentioned climate change or global warming. Further, you wrote in the Stawell Times-News that you were concentrating on the economy.
Global warming is the greatest threat the world faces. The best economy in the world is useless if you cannot live there any more. Rising sea temperatures have bleached and killed about one third of the Great Barrier Reef. (The Age, June 4-5). The previous 12 months have set new high marks for heat. (The Age, May 30). With increased temperature we face increasingly severe storms.
The climate scientists warn us that the temperature must not rise above two degrees. The coral reefs barely survive at the small increase in temperature already experienced, so will our food plants and animals survive effectively in the future elevated temperatures? If not the world’s population faces starvation.
Mr Broad, your government’s response has been to:
- cancel the effective carbon tax;
- replace it with an expensive ineffective direct action;
- close the Tasmanian Cape Grim monitoring station where the carbon dioxide rose through 400 parts per million for the first time, and the rate of rise is increasing;
- sack most of the CSIRO climate scientists;
- subsidise the fossil fuel industry and
- approve new coal mines and coal seam gas extraction.
Unless you and your government act urgently, we may not be able to live here in the future.
John Anselmi, Stawell
Thank our lucky stars
The name Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian-Catholic lady, has become well known in many countries, including Australia.
Petitions on her behalf have been signed by over one million people and the pope has mentioned her on a number of occasions in his broadcasts, pleading for her release. Her crime? She was found guilty of “blasphemy” in that she “insulted” the prophet Mohammed. She had engaged in a discussion with her fellow workers about the relative merits of Jesus and Mohammed.
A few days later a crowd attacked her, she was arrested, charged and eventually sentenced to death by hanging. Her arrest took place on June 19, 2009, so this coming Sunday will be a very sad day for her, because it marks the commencement of her eighth year in a tiny isolation cell.
During those years she has rarely seen her teenage daughters and has not had the joy of seeing them grow into adulthood. Her husband and daughters have found it necessary to frequently change their place of residence because of death threats and must wear disguises when they venture out. She herself has received threats on her life in the prison, and must cook her own food to prevent poisoning because the local imam and others have offered a large reward to anyone who can kill her.
An appeal against her sentence was to be heard by the Pakistan Supreme Court on March 26, but it never went ahead – undoubtedly because no judge wants to take on her case and put his/her life at risk should it be necessary to set her free. (Two prominent politicians, one a Muslim and one a Christian have already been assassinated for their efforts in trying to defend her.)
Her lawyer is a very courageous Muslim who knows that he is putting his life in danger by defending her, but he is prepared to take this chance, and he believes that she would be set free because the case against her is very weak and has a number of inconsistencies.
So let us, in our country with all its wonderful freedoms, never forget those who are not as well off as we are.
Len Martin, Pomonal
