Sue Brooks' Blog

Sue Brooks August 18th, 2009

The burning issue. Can I reassure readers, that my comments about fires and the impact of ‘burning off’ quoted in the Fraser Coast Chronicle yesterday, were made in relation to natural areas not urban areas. Many Whitsunday Islands and National Parks ie World Heritage Fraser Island, are burned where there is no risk to human life and property. I do acknowledge that some burning is necessary to provide fire breaks and reduce the threat of fire around urban development. I have seen photographs however that clearly demonstrate that the level of undergrowth and litter is greater in areas that have been regularly burned than in areas left alone. Aboriginal people were very clever and used fire as a tool to improve their lives. There is much debate about the impact that this burning has had on our natural environment over time. I’m just not convinced that regularly burning huge tracts of natural habitat is ‘good for it’.

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Sue Brooks August 3rd, 2009

Is it possible to donate to an individual or political party and not cast a seed of doubt about what is expected in return? I personally do not think so. Our political system is heavily geared towards a donation culture. It continues to amaze me that politicians from all levels of government, can accept donations and honestly believe that doing so does not find them obligated in any way to the donor. If donations are to remain an aspect of our political system, and I believe that they shouldn’t, then donations should be anonymous. Any other means of providing financial or other support to a particular candidate or political party, in my opinion, smacks of potential conflicts of interest.

Why is it acceptable that mums and dads want to be able to support the party of their choice by donating a small amount of money but an organisation donating bucket loads of cash is not welcomed? In other words to be consistent we need to either set up a system where donations can be done anonymously or, my preferred solution, make elections a set process with a limited advertising budget funded by the tax payer. If all candidates were regulated so that they all received equal advertising space and/or time, wouldn’t the electorate be much more able to make a choice based on qualities other than how wealthy the candidate or political party is?

Lastly I abhor corruption, dishonesty and lies. I think that all layers of Government in this country are very heavily developer and big business influenced. It seems that the ‘bigger is better’ and ‘greed is good’ culture is alive and well in Australia. Many, many small business owners are content to quietly and without fuss, do a hard days work for a decent annual income but big business and developers often want more and more and more. More business and more development. Not to benefit the community but to make more profit for a select few! It is time we acknowledged that growth is not necessary to develop a healthy economically rich and culturally diverse country, and that pandering to a select few is not actually what the majority of residents want from our political leaders. From personal experience the most intense lobbying that I receive, is from developer related interests.

Over to you…

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Sue Brooks June 14th, 2009

Yet another story about people being stabbed in unprovoked attacks and a debate about Tasers. It makes me think that our approach to crime is becoming ineffective. Our society only has two options for people who misbehave being either a financial penalty (fine) or denying personal freedom by locking people away in jail. Maybe it is time to question how successful these strategies are.

Many people who break the laws of this land seem to me, as reported via the media, to ‘get off lightly’. I am sad that the man who possibly murdered his new wife while scuba diving has not faced a trial. If  ‘the time’ no longer fits ‘the crime’ then how do we manage?

I am constantly asked by residents that we should ‘get tough’ on wrong doers. Make more and more laws to punish more and more people but what isn’t discussed is the appropriate punishment for wrong doing. In some countries physical violence is still the accepted means of punishment. Does this system work better than ours? Has social humiliation as used to happen in smaller communities ceased to be effective? Are wrong doers actually publicly humiliated anymore?

What do we do when the jails are full, the people who are fined don’t pay up and crime rates continue to rise? Personally I want the debate. I want us to ask what do we do with those who assault our neighbours or who wreck our property? A slap on the wrist certainly isn’t an effective deterrant.

I’m also sick and tired of the excuse about poor family upbringing. Often used to support the wrong doer. Many people have come from poor family backgrounds but they don’t go on to choose a life of crime. Saying that a poor upbringing is justification for someones bad behaviour is not my idea of a good excuse. Violent bad behaviour just cannot be tolerated but what are we going to do to stop it?

PS Tasers are a good thing. Police just have to be careful that they don’t use them when not justified. I long for the old days when the local cop could give the young naughty kids a good kick up the bum and teach them a lesson. I wonder how many of these kids grew up either scarred or bad?

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Sue Brooks June 8th, 2009

On Friday morning I had the great pleasure of presenting the Mayoral Environment Awards. Successful recipients included the Fraser Coast Anglican College for the schools award and the Environmentalist of the year award went to Vicki Neville. Vicki campaigns tirelessly to protect our humpback whales and her efforts have resulted in International recognition of our whales and the importance of watching them rather than hunting them. All participants are to be congratulated on their work and the effort put into their nominations. They were all deserving of a prize.

On Sunday however I participated in the World Environment Day and Reconciliation Week celebrations at Dayman Park.  The theme of the day was

PROTECT OUR DUGONG YUWANG’KAN

Traditional Torres Strait Islander storytelling about a Dugong’s epic journey was one of the highlights of the day and there were many displays by conservation groups, free face painting, and live entertainment. But the highlight was provided by volunteers, ably led by Jorge Pujol, who helped create a 50 metre long Dugong mother and calf using 4,000 candles. When the candles were lit at sunset the sight was stunning. I ended my speech with these words.

“Today we celebrate these beautiful dugongs. I think they are very cute and beautiful and not ugly at all! In this time of plenty with abundant human food available at every supermarket, corner store and fast food shop, I ask that everyone, every single person, each and every one of us that lives or visits the Fraser Coast, refrain from hurting these harmless cows of the sea. Every single one of us can make that commitment that we will protect our Fraser Coast dugongs. The entire world has recognised the important natural environment that we have here by way of a World Heritage listing, a Ramsar listing and now a successful Biosphere nomination. If the whole world can recognise the importance of protecting this, our very own backyard, then let us all, every one of us from original custodians to our most recent settler, care for and protect our beautiful, harmless dugongs!”

I believe that these creatures should be protected from all hunting by everyone in our region. Although traditional hunting by aboriginal people is still permitted, it is apparent that there is no need to hunt dugong (or sea turtle) in our present time. I look forward to the day when all endangered species are protected and nutured so that our childrens children inherit a world where dugongs still peacefully forage.

For a comprehensive article about the dugong visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugong

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