Anti-Nile demo
Re: Action Updates (GLW no. 31)
Well, even the Sydney Morning Herald said there were 500 anti-Nile demonstrators. Channel 9 said the police were "brutal".
Neither of these reports were accurate.
There were approximately 600 anti-Nile demonstrators (not all of whom were gay abortionists belonging to the International Socialist Organisation); and the police were bestial.
Your laconic reference to the whole incident bespeaks a reluctance to reveal your true feelings. Would you have liked to say more, but couldn't (given the ISO's logo appeared on the posters)? Would you have liked to say less, but dared not (given that everybody knew that conflict, violence and a very real affirmation of the right of everyone to choose had taken place)?
GLW is a respected, even valued, resource. Please don't let sectarian jealousy mar its record. Surely the anti-Nile Campaign is worthy of a popular frontist approach.
David Roberts
(Neither gay, nor Satanist, nor ISO — merely bashed)
Potts Point NSW
[A glance through any issue of GLW will discover "laconic" descriptions of quite a few demonstrations and other events. This is not a political stance but a reflection of the fact that only so much will fit into 24 pages. — Editor.]
Pollute and perish
It is recession time and the high priests of the "dig up, cut down, pollute and drive to extinction" cults are screaming "blue murder" at those who do not link Australia's economic fortunes to the rape of this country's few remaining natural treasures. If we continue and accelerate the speed of destruction, Australia in the 21st century will struggle to pay for the enormous damage in terms of massive desertification, salination, soil erosion, uses of pesticides, pollution of the oceans, reefs and rivers to mention just a few of the problems. And, of course, extinction is forever. Economic stability hinges on greater efficiency in various quarters of industry and it depends on whether we can utilise alternative energy sources and stop the dreadful waste in the existing energy schemes. Should we on the other hand continue the present policy we will not only overpopulate and perish but pollute and perish.
Michael Rose-Schwab
Rapid Creek NT
Logging and soil erosion
Logging and roading proposals in Chaelundi forest would endanger 23 species of endangered or protected animals according to David Brazil (GL October 2).
Well, I'm all against that, but logging does even worse things, as I saw on my recent visit to the Philippines where denuded mountains and hills caused flooding during rains. Erosion of soil threatens permanent denudation.
The soil covers the coral reefs, 25% of fish in Filipino waters come from the reefs.
Villages are flooded, crops ruined.
After the rains, rivers are dry or sluggish and polluted, rice cannot be irrigated, people are very short of water.
Desertification is threatened. I was told it would take about 10 years in Mindanao unless something was done!
Mindanao, once called "The Land of Promise", is the second biggest island of the Philippines. It is not the only island extensively logged.
Emlyn Jones
Erskineville NSW
Taxation
There are some things that are quite clear about taxation.
Firstly, our present system has become a hopelessly complex mess and is in urgent need of reform.
Secondly, whatever form it takes in the future, it is the end-user, the consumer, who finally pays because all the taxes are included in the retail price.
Thirdly, the consumption tax cannot succeed in its present form, that is, a flat rate tax — in fact, some exemptions have already been proposed.
Fourthly, the policy of the present Government of taxing everything and anything that lives, dies or moves is just as reprehensible as the flat rate consumption tax. The Democrats, and some greens, even want to tax land — it can't get away.
So what is the solution?
One possibility is a consumption tax that replaces other taxes including income tax, one that is selective and variable with little or no tax on essentials.
We need a taxation system that discourages energy use, and that means higher electricity and gas charges, a system that penalises air pollution, and that means higher petrol prices, and a system that discourages the use of substances such as tobacco and alcohol.
Taxing only the sale of goods eliminates tax rorts, as we know them, and eliminates negative gearing as there would be no deductible expenses.
Practically anything is better that what we have, or are being offered by the Federal coalition.
C.M. Friels
Alawa NT