Spot the diff
IF a person with radical leanings detonates an explosive device which causes structural damage, human trauma, injuries and death, he/she is considered a terrorist.
If a person deliberately starts a bushfire which causes structural damage including loss of homes, human trauma, injuries and sometimes loss of lives, they are referred to as arsonists.
Spot the difference? I can’t. These fools are as much terrorists as those who carry out horrific bombings and other inhumane acts. These arson attacks devastate our precious bushland, kills countless ground creatures and birds which no doubt suffer a terrible and painful death, involve teams of firefighters and their support vehicles and a fleet of water bombing aircraft.
On top of all this is massive disruption to the traffic flow resulting in motorists stuck in snail-pace traffic for hours. This has to stop. The financial cost to the community must be enormous.
What do we do about it? Well, for a start, any person of adult age convicted, should go straight to gaol, no ifs, no buts, no sob stories, straight into the slammer. As for minors, I would imagine the departments involved would have programs in place to deal with them.
To be fair, I would say only a small number of young people would be involved in this activity. But I do believe if parents sat down their kids and calmly discussed this issue, pointing out the damage caused, the trauma and pain of families losing their homes and the enormous cost to the community, maybe we may start to see a reduction in these arson attacks.
R Sallur
Corn Way, Bibra Lake

Burns me up
ANOTHER incinerator junket trip (Herald, March 21, 2015)?
I am outraged to read that Melville and Cockburn ratepayers will be paying to send delegates around the world to look at more waste to energy incinerators.
The previous state government-organised junket trip was only last year and the premier went the year before that. How many is enough?
The Barnett government is bullying councils to support its expensive dirty waste-to-energy incinerator agenda against the best interests of the community, environment and our children’s health.
WA needs a sustainable zero waste strategy, not dirty energy technologies that emit more greenhouse gases than coal and gas, poison our air with dioxins, heavy metals and nanoparticles and destroy many more long-term jobs that come with composting and recycling.
Residual waste can be treated without incineration but the focus really should be on reducing our waste through better education and better recycling and composting infrastructure.
While some south metro communities face private bin audits, we still do not have public place recycling bins meaning this vast volume of public waste will be used to keep the toxic burners viable.
I wonder if delegates will get to meet affected host communities living close to incinerators? Or speak with the European Union which is moving to decommission incinerators in favour of safe, renewable energy technologies like solar and wind as it moves towards a sustainable circular economy? Our state government is selling our children’s future by pursuing this dirty energy industry, however local governments have the power to stop them. But will they?
Jane Bremmer

A privilege
EACH and every reader who has had the privilege of owning a pet will relate to Chop-Chop (Herald, March 14, 2015).
Over my 60 years I still carry in my heart the wonderful memories of all my pets and their special places in the serenity of my garden. They will be forever in our hearts.
Pets teach us about unconditional love. Although extremely sad, the letter the Herald published on its front page is also very uplifting. It is a reminder there still remains among us, those who care for own pets.
One hears too often of horrific tales regarding cruelty and neglect. Sadly, animal shelters are bursting at the seams with abandoned pets, all with the capacity to give such joy and love like Chop-Chop, and my own.
Whenever I had the sorrow of losing one of my beloved pets, the pain was eased by turning it into something positive and giving another from a shelter a home. Whilst never replacing those lost, they all become precious to us.
I can truly relate to the loss of beloved Chop-Chop. Perhaps those reading your letter will also turn it into something positive, making a place in their lives for the many wonderful pets in need. God Bless.
Krista Price
Hetherington Dr, Bull Creek

Call me
THE article “Waste travel” (Herald, March 21, 2015) mentions the names of three Melville city councillors, two of whom the reporter has obviously had dialogue with.
I ask you again, if you are going to mention my name in your articles at least have the courtesy of making contact with me. If you had done so, I would have given you the reason why I called for the motion to be put.
Had a representative for the Herald been at the meeting you would have known the item referred to in your article had already had considerable discussion, including a long list of questions.
Both Crs Taylor-Rees and Pazolli had spoken and asked a series of questions on the matter. There were no further speakers against the motion and I saw no reason to hear further debate.
If you had been at the meeting you would also have known the answer to the question you say you waited four days for. The itinerary question was asked in the meeting and the answer was given “a final itinerary has still to be confirmed”.
I would have thought it would be wise to consult the Oxford dictionary yourself if you were going to accept someone’s interpretation of the text. It defines the word “junket” as being “an extravagant trip or celebration, in particular one enjoyed by government officials at public expense”. The word was ruled by the mayor to be inappropriate in the context of its use as it was clearly not referring to a celebration, no proof had been submitted that it was extravagant, and some of the costs may be covered by the individuals involved in the travel.
The councillor involved could have just as easily called it a “study tour” and no negative connotation would have been implied.
After all, isn’t it the job of councillors to make unbiased decisions, without emotion? Decisions that will meet the long-term objectives of the city and in so doing, provide a better place for us all to share in the future?
I wonder if you can print this without editorial comment. Give me a call before you use my name. At least try to get some balance of views.
Cr Mark Reynolds.
University Ward, City of Melville

Bonkers
WELL done Herald for your very devious “fake advert” in last week’s paper (“Water focus in new Freo green plan”). Before I’d realised I was reading your fake ad I thought Fremantle council had finally gone so completely bonkers it was time to call in the strait-jackets.
Re-injecting water from the showers at the Fremantle leisure centre into the Leederville aquifer is such a ridiculous proposal it does not even require countering. It’s the equivalent of sending a sailing ship full of ice cubes to Antarctica to counter global warming.
Ignoring the cost of developing a water injector bore, ignoring the intermittent dribble of water available from the leisure centre compared with the constant flow rate required to keep the bore and pumps at capacity, ignoring the cost of treating the grey water such that it can effectively be reinjected, and ignoring the cost and energy associated with the pumps required to inject the water, one of the biggest parks in Fremantle is immediately adjacent to the leisure centre.
If serious, why not just pass the grey water across the fence rather than via the Leederville aquifer, perhaps topped up with rainwater from the leisure centre’s extensive roof? The Herald has truly been hilarious this week.
As for wasting ratepayer funds on aerial photography, perhaps the council could consider using Google Earth, or if it feels the need to get technical perhaps review available Landsat data. You can clearly see the “hot spot” referred to in the article after a two-minute search online. What a laugh!
Finally, is this council seriously taking credit for faring so well with the provision of “green space”? It is probably about time it stopped patting itself on the back for something it did 80 to 100 years ago. Nice one Herald, you really had me going this time. I am happy for you to give the prize of a free dinner for two to Cr Rachel Pemberton, as it’s the least you can do after my having such a chuckle at her expense.
M Lee
Carnac St, Fremantle

What a waste
I DON’T get it—why are a bunch of councillors and staff from various councils going on an overseas junket to Europe and Asia to attend a waste-to-energy conference (Herald, March 21, 2015)?
The last time this occurred was in 2014 I think, when an entourage of around 20 made its way to Japan to learn about “waste management”. The only waste involved was a huge waste of taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ money.
Out of the lucky six selected from the City of Melville, only one—apparently—is a consulting engineer!
Two of the councillors, Schuster and Robartson, went on an overseas junket around 20 years ago—the result of which was the creation of the disastrously inefficient monster that is the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council!
If, as is mooted, the state government takes over waste management from local councils, why is local government undertaking these expensive junkets?
Effie Nicholson
Booragoon
The Ed says: Ms Nicholson is a former Melville city councillor.

You are me
When next you see someone who is “old”
Whether it be on the train, the number 99 or the Cat bus
I ask you to think of him or her as one of us
The only difference is they have had more birthday parties than you
Try blowing out 61-plus candles, that’s more than a few
A history lesson for those who don’t know
They may have worn, frayed cut-off jeans
The boy’s hair may have been long
And the girls wore skirts just long enough so their knickers didn’t show
Yes, dear youth
The “fashion” has been around before
Like you, they may have jumped fences at gigs
It was considered a challenge rather than breaking the law
So I beg you, when next you see someone who is “old”
Whatever you perceive “old “ to be
Say G’day or give them a high-five
With a bit of luck, that person may well be me
Lee Lovmark
South Fremantle