Letters, May 31, 2023

Constitution claims

I REFER to Roslyn Ross and her letter published in the May 17 edition of The Courier pertaining to her understanding of the function and purpose of the Australian Constitution which, she claims incorrectly, ‘is meant to represent every Australian equally’.

This misconception must be addressed.

The Constitution of 1901 established the composition of the Australian Parliament, how it worked and what powers it had.

It also outlined how the Federal and state parliaments shared power, the roles of both the executive government and the High Court of Australia.

Importantly, it specified how laws are made and power distributed.

Contrary to the claim made by your correspondent, the Australian Constitution, unlike the constitutions of some other countries, does not contain a list of the rights of citizens.

It is also important for Australians to be aware of the fact that the 1967 Referendum to change the Constitution for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be counted as part of the population enabling the Commonwealth to make laws for these people, was passed by a resounding 90.77% of voters and with every single State and Territory returning a favorable result for the ‘yes’ vote.

It must be admitted, however, that the contents of your correspondent’s letter underlines, in all probability, the misconceptions throughout the community regarding The Voice.

The result of the 1967 Referendum emphasised the extent of the goodwill throughout the community for the First Nation people.

The Federal Government would be well advised to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ prior to presenting Australians with an inadequately considered referendum which, in addition to probably failing, will possibly damage this goodwill.

Robert Armstrong

Mt Barker

Welcome response

I’M writing to you to give a shout out for two local businesses: The Littlehampton Clay Brickworks and Direct Mix Concrete, also in Littlehampton. 

I live within 100 metres of both these businesses and, within the past year, I’ve had cause to get in touch with both of them regarding the reversing beep on their loaders.

They both would start at 6am and go until 4pm or 5pm and, once you start hearing this very intrusive sound, you can’t un-hear it ... all day long!

As I retired last year, I am enjoying being at home and in the garden and this sound was there constantly. 

I emailed both companies about my problem with the beep and asked them if they would kindly consider a solution (this was about six months apart), and was blown away by their incredibly helpful and considerate responses.

Both companies welcomed community feedback and addressed the issue as soon as they could.

One within a few days by swapping their hired loader for one with a reversing buzzer, and the other within two weeks as they contacted the loader dealer, who then replaced the beep with a buzzer when doing the routine service.

Now I enjoy listening to the birdsong in my neighborhood rather than the beep beep.

And I am so grateful for both these companies for being pro-active in their consideration of local residents. 

June Ross

Littlehampton

Conscience vote

SO our First People want a Voice to Parliament.

We arrived 225 years ago and claimed this country for ourselves, without asking your permission.

We have, since 1949, allowed you to be citizens in our country.

And in my lifetime (I am 65), given you the right to be counted in the census as existing in our country.

The right to vote in our country.

The right to our country’s social welfare.

We even stopped taking your children away (eventually).

Today we even celebrate your sports people with hearty rounds of booing.

But no, that’s not good enough!

You want a Voice to Parliament, so instead of Canberra bureaucrats and politicians telling you what you need, you want to publicly and openly tell them what you need.

And enshrine that in our Constitution to ensure it can never be taken away at a whim.

If you guys were truly assimilated, you would do what any business would do.

Hire a lobbyist, (I would recommend Alexander Downer’s Bespoke Approach lobby firm), and make donations to the political parties.

All of this can be done behind closed doors, in the secret third house of Parliament (yes, lobbyists are the secret third house, with donations attached).

On a serious note.

Why has Peter Dutton taken the Liberal Party on this path of opposing the Voice?

Surely he could have allowed all members to follow their conscience.

Andrew Castrique

Nairne

Shooting hypocrisy 

I HAVE been sickened by the incredibly cowardly and perverted sport of shooting helpless ducks and leaving most of them to die excruciating deaths from hideous injuries for more than 50 years.

Such people belong behind bars, not running loose in society.

Hunting is a barbaric and outdated “sport”.

I am appalled that it is still not treated as the crime that it is.

Apart from the disgusting cruelty to helpless animals, it is a danger to decent people who should not have their freedom curtailed to hide from these barbarians.

It also sickens me to hear the constant wailing about our declining wildlife and the demonisation of so called “feral” animals, such as cats and foxes, while this absurd contradiction is still legal.

Janet Allan

Mallala

Wrong target

ONE person abseils beneath the Morphett Street bridge to bring awareness to climate change and species annihilation and it takes the SA Government less than a day to pass laws aimed to stop demonstrations it does not agree with.

The multi-nationals causing this need to bring awareness to the public, because their polluting and destructive activities in our environment appear, to me, to be encouraged by the lack of laws to curb their calamitous activities.

What sort of future do we want for our children?

Lorraine Rogers

Meadows

Inadequate protection

EVEN the casual observer must be aware of the disquiet across the community with the loss of tree canopy cover in the suburbs.

Some blame local government, but the council officers, charged with implementing planning policy, are limited by the State’s inadequate tree protection laws.

Conservation SA publications compare SA’s tree protection laws with other jurisdictions and find them lacking. Submissions made to the Government’s Planning System Implementation Review and, more recently, to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Urban forest, reiterate the shortcomings in our laws.

Online information provided by  the urban forest research, education and advocacy,  non-profit group, Treenet, details the many reasons we must increase tree canopy across cities and towns: for the health and wellbeing of communities and their environments and for our financial security.

Treenet and Conservation SA’s resources told us what was needed to fix the issues with tree protection laws before the review and inquiry were called.

What extra was learned through these expensive and time-consuming processes?

Will their outcome be simply another inquiry, or will we see positive change?

Brian Measday

Myrtle Bank

Hahndorf issues

MY congratulations go to Harold Gallasch (a fellow Hahndorfian) for his letter “Bypass battle” (The Courier, May 10). His letter states very clearly what the people of Hahndorf want from any main street changes and these are not the fancy footpaths and sculptured kerbing that has apparently been suggested.

I read with horror of the planned changes in a recent Courier, including the changes which will inevitably narrow the (already narrow) traffic lanes.

Our present problems include large vehicles jostling for position in the traffic streams.

And this is not limited to semi-trailers.

Although, admittedly, they are a major element of the gridlock situations which occur, we also have caravans and their large towing vehicles, horse floats and buses in the mix.

The buses are, of course, a necessary but constant element.

Only this weekend I witnessed a total blockage of the street by a bus which could not even approach his curbside parking bay due to a car parked in the (marked) bus zone.

The result was that the bus had no choice but to stop in the traffic lane, while he loaded/unloaded passengers. Ironically he blocked in the offending car which was attempting to exit the no stopping area.

As Harold clearly states, what we want in the first instance is a bypass for the traffic which has no interest in traversing the Hahndorf Main Street but currently has no choice, the stock and timber transporters being the main issue.

This has been an issue for the 40 plus years I have lived in the town – and I assume it was an issue before I arrived because traffic flow was a problem even then. My view is based on the almost impossibility of using the Main Street at the weekend as a civilian.

As a CFS member of over 40 years I have been delayed many times in attending the station and then witnessing the painfully slow progress which the truck subsequently makes even with the benefit of lights and sirens.

I know of at least two incidents where the offending driver was actually reported to SAPOL for obstructing an emergency vehicle.

And ambulances are in a similar situation, in their case the outcome could be fatal.

Some drivers will not give way to emergency vehicles but often in Hahndorf they have no option, they simply have no way to give way.

Peter Trapp

Hahndorf

Protest contradiction

YOU have to wonder about the mental state of the Extinction Rebellion protester who makes a commercial for Ampol one day, then disrupts traffic in the name of climate the next.

Besides, why are these pathetic individuals “bringing attention” to something that’s already constantly in the headlines.

But what was really astounding is to see many people at the protest following the introduction of new civil disobedience laws.

It seems they conflate the right to protest with vandalism or causing obstruction.

Apparently, it is justified to put their point across, but I wonder what they would say if their property was damaged, or their lives put at risk by others with an opposing view.

Will everyone have the right to damage property or threaten livelihoods of those they disagree with?

Where does it end?

Remember the Aesop fables saying, “be very careful what you wish for, lest it come true.”

K. Stachovic

Meadows

Climate diversion

OUR Government is using protests as a lightning rod to divert public attention from the more critical issue of their climate action failure, in my opinion.

They are the ones “intentionally and recklessly” doing harm by opening new oil and gas projects.

The United Nations secretary said doing this is “moral and economic madness”.

Protesters have their minds and hearts in the right place, the ecological place, the humane place.

They are standing up in defiance of government for everyone – citizens, politicians, fossil fuel corporations and the financial institutions that support them.

No one is immune from escalating climate impacts on our home, planet earth.

Tom Koutsantonis MP telling the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration conference in Adelaide last week that our representative democratic Government is “at their service” is an egregious and unconscionable offence against South Australians.

The spirit of resistance will not be vanquished by proposed repressive anti-protest laws.

Eco-anxiety and eco-grief are real emotions.

An ecology ravaged by mega fires, droughts and floods suffers long term harm, sometimes irreversible harm, to many plant and animal species right down to micro-organisms and their habitats.

The demand on emergency services in the wake of traffic disruption and Santos building defacement caused by protesters, regrettable although it is, is minuscule in comparison to emergency services’ urgency to save people in danger of losing their lives and properties in Australia’s recent climate calamities.

A respectful relationship with the natural world, protecting it from fossil fuel-burning destruction is a sacred dimension of human life and must be cherished and protected at all cost.

Simone Hunter

Hove

History erased

LAST week I was very sad and upset to see the beautiful little 1900s historical cottage at 14 Hampden Road, Mt Barker, being demolished.

It’s very puzzling why it wasn’t heritage listed.

We have lost so much, so how many more historical buildings will be lost in the name of progress and development?

Gloria Lang

Mt Barker

No vote

THANK you Courier for giving fair publication to yes and no opinions on the Voice to Parliament. I have decided, after much deliberation, to vote no.

FairAustralia gave me some good insight into why a yes vote would be very bad for all of us, probably worse than the effect BREXIT had on the UK.  

But mostly my decision is because as a nation governed by Federal and state governments and councils we are dysfunctional enough.

Adding another layer for First Nations people is going to make it much worse.

Michael Phillips

Bridgewater

Community support

I WISH to thank the young mum and her little man who supported my husband when he fell at the Barker Hotel.

Can she please give her little man a big hug and tell him the man who fell is okay?

A big thanks to the Barker staff and family who assisted my husband into the car. He is now okay. Thanks.

Marg Weddell

Mt Barker