Hobson’s and hubris
COLIN BARNETT (I am finding it increasingly difficult to “speak his name”) says “I don’t think it’s very good politics to go out there using ratepayers’ money to run campaigns against the state government on unrelated issues”.
Well, guess what: I am a Fremantle resident and ratepayer and I look to my elected representatives to state my case on related issues such as the sale of the Fremantle Port and that proposed road.
I actually don’t fancy either and I am happy for my elected representatives to advise the state government of this. I cannot believe the continuing arrogance of this premier, who lectures and threatens those in his charge.
If he was living in civil society, this would be called bullying and he would possibly (please, please) be fired. Of course no doubt he thinks he can do anything now since his tenure will soon come to an end and he can put his feet up in his newly air-conditioned home; then some board or another as he forgets the damage he has done.
Hobson’s choice for all of us—what have we done to deserve this hubris?
Mattie Turnbull
Daly St, South Fremantle

We want an island for all
THIS is the Rottnest Island Authority’s response to the Thinking Allowed by Eric Moxham, convenor of the Rottnest Society (“Q&A reveals threat for Rotto”, June 13, 2015).
The RIA has a legislative requirement to protect both tourism and environmental assets. It is mindful that Rottnest is valued by Western Australians as a scenic natural environment and sanctuary for people seeking to relax and enjoy nature-based activities.
Preserving the island’s natural and heritage environment remains integral to the RIA’s ongoing vision.
There is no move to alter legislation affecting the A-class reserve status of the island. However, there is a need to evolve and innovate to ensure the ever-changing demands and needs of all visitors, current and future, are met where possible.
The RIA’s decision to consider the development of a marina complex is supported through independent market research, public comment during development of the boating management strategy and feasibility studies conducted by external industry specialists.
With boat ownership predicted to grow faster than the rate of population growth in the Perth metro region, the RIA is expected to be under increasing pressure to address changes in demand from boat owners. A marina would be able to accommodate a greater number of vessels in a smaller overall area with less spatial and environmental impact than the existing system of swing moorings.
Market research conducted in 2013 illustrated a high level of support within the boating community, with 67 per cent in favour of a marina. Additional advantages include an increase in the amount and availability of moorings, improvement of access onto the island and greater protection of boats while they are moored.
Any proposed marina development will be subject to environmental impact assessments, strict development planning controls, and implementation will be contingent on considerable private investment.
The RIA in consultation with interested developers will continue to apply rigorous analysis in terms of the economic viability of a marina and public expectations.
One of the objectives of the RIA is to continue to make Rottnest affordable for the broadest range of Western Australians, which by definition means providing a range of different accommodation levels and encouraging private investment in the island’s infrastructure.
To not do this would mean the only option for the RIA to cover ever-increasing costs on Rottnest would be to dramatically increase the tariff charged for the current fixed inventory of accommodation, effectively pricing it out of the reach of the average Western Australian.
Paolo Amaranti
CEO, Rottnest Island Authority

Greece a slippery slope
NOW that Europe has isolated Greece from its economic union, I wonder if the billionaire backers of ISIS are eyeballing Greece as a foothold into western Europe. The birthplace of democracy is being abandoned by economic rationalists like a lamb to the slaughter. Humanity has been struck a political blow in Europe with ramifications I dread to imagine.
Joy Collins
Curedale St, Beaconsfield

Meddle with the mortals
DEAR housemate,
It is time for us to stop pretending we are mortals. We are gods capable of destroying worlds, inflicting plagues, fashioning peoples from earth and spirits from wind.
We may smite those whom displeasure us carelessly, casually without feeling. People will learn to call you Athena and you will bestow gifts on your lovers to create heroes whom may fly to the sun, dance across oceans, and wield mighty swords capable of splintering city gates.
We shall meddle in the lives of mortals to play out our petty conflicts and billions will seek to appease us with prayer and offerings each night and morning.
Do you comprehend the gravity of our conflict? These humans whom you walk amongst, whom you pretend to love, consider them before provoking my wrath. Know that the next time you make false accusation, I will make the clouds fill with anger, lightning will rain down on your cities and innocents will die by the thousand.
Young mothers will grow despondent with your heroes whom will be powerless against malaria and crickets.
Do not leave the dishes unwashed over the weekend again.
Apollo
C/o Attfield St, Fremantle

Missing the point
THE Herald published a rejoinder by Scott Petrill of North Carolina (Letters, June 27, 2015) to my June 20 letter (“Good ole boys Down Under”).
Use of the term “black Confederate soldiers” in Mr Petrill’s rejoinder implies significant numbers of African-American men served in the Confederate States Army (CSA), which, as shown by CSA and other historical records, is not the case. The following is from the Harvard Gazette, September 1, 2011 (writer Corydon Ireland): The idea of “black Confederates” appeals to present-day neo-Confederates, who are eager …  to defend the principles of the Confederate States of America. They say the Civil War was about states’ rights, and they wish to minimize the role of slavery in a vanished and romantic antebellum South. ….  But most historians of the past 50 years hold that the root cause of the Civil War was slavery. They bristle at the idea of black Confederates, which they say robs the war of [its true significance] as the crucible of black emancipation.
CE Dortch
Howard St, Fremantle

ABC failing local content
AM I just becoming a whinger? Particularly at night I am getting quite annoyed at the ABC radio broadcasts.
I would like to hear from others before I complain officially to the ABC. The Q&A program last week on ABC TV shows its corporate slackness of control.
It is our national media and advertises as “your local radio” which is another let down. The programs are, at times, entire repeats of earlier interviews, snippets and podcasts from distant ABC stations such as Radio National or News Radio.
It seldom has any local content except when fire and emergency (repeated ad-finitum) instructions, rather than warnings, are rudely and sharply thrust into the words of presenters or programs every half-hour, for days sometimes.
Some noteworthy presenters do play a musical piece prior to news because that news fanfare waits for no-one. Well done for them. This interruptive rudeness is not good for our general manners, sadly clinging on in these days.
Michael Staines
Christine Cres, Coogee

Out of sight out of mind?
MAYOR Russell Aubrey’s plan to plant an urban forest in Melville (Herald, June 6, 2015) and to develop vegetation and nature corridors to preserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change are admirable aims.
However for many years Mr Aubrey has been a vocal supporter of the construction of Roe 8 (now part of the Perth Freight Link), which will destroy 97 hectares of banksia woodland, an important biodiversity corridors in Cockburn, as well as lead to the collapse of the only wetland system of its kind left on the Swan Coastal Plain.
The World Health Organization has found that wetlands are significant mitigators of climate change and should be preserved.
According to Mr Aubrey, it is perfectly fine to destroy bushland and wetlands in Cockburn and divert polluting diesel trucks into Bibra Lake, Coolbellup and Hamilton Hill.
Mr Aubrey, climate change does not follow council boundaries and requires a concerted effort by all councils and governments to pursue transport solutions which reduce pollution and preserve urban green spaces.
It is not okay to foist the truck-generated noise and pollution you don’t want into another council area, and to plant urban forests in Melville, whilst advocating their destruction in Cockburn.
Nandi Chinna
Ommanney St, Hamilton Hill

Cop it silent
WEAK and disadvantaged, cop it sweet and stay silent (Herald, June 27, 2015).
Cutting funding to financial counsellors shows how little social conscience the Barnett government has for those doing it tough. These fiscal counsellors are one of the last lines of defence in the battle to prevent evictions and possible homelessness for many disadvantaged families.
They provide the tools to help people get out of trouble while the government sits by or in fact provides the spade to dig a deeper hole financially speaking. There’s an old adage—a stitch in time saves nine. The benefits these counsellors provide may be hard to quantify, just like getting your brakes serviced on your car_both are worth doing before a crash happens.
Michael Whitworth
Caribbean Dve, Safety Bay

Scents of women
OH dear, now you’ve got me going­—I can feel another grump coming on.
Not for nothing did I grow up in Tonbridge, five miles from “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”.
I am beset by unwanted smells. Sheep-ship—OK, nasty but that comes and goes. But why are the gardening gloves I just bought drenched in “perfume”?
It doesn’t wash out. Garments I buy at the op shop make my eyes water, drenched again. Loo paper (who wants a scented bum?), washing powder smell on clothes, an over-dose of aftershave: these are killers in a lift or small crowded room.
And as for women whose sloshed-on perfume clashes with their armpit purifier and their washing powder-scented clothes—phew. Whatever happened to natural fresh air?
Winnie Dwyer
Hubble St, East Fremantle

Let’s avoid being New LA
RECENTLY I travelled to Los Angeles and witnessed the problems associated with a city built in a desert and affected by drought, poor planning, over-population, violence and the ghettoes of non-decentralisation.
In the past in LA little money was spent on rail or public transport, instead successive governments spent funds on freeways.
And today, as the 405 freeway cuts its way through this mega city with 12 lanes of traffic traveling at 80 mph-plus, it still gets backed up to a standstill, for hour after hour and mile after mile, this problem affects most freeways in the city.
Only recently has the city’s government realised its faults and invested in affordable public transport—but sadly it’s too little too late and the freeways remain basically a big car park sometimes.
While I was there I spoke to a young man, also visiting, about this situation and the similarities it had to my home town of Perth. This gent was from Oslo, Norway.
Norway is a small scandinavian country with extreme terrain and climate, but largely it’s just a frozen archipelago.
Norwegians—all five million of them—experience a high standard of living and a prosperous existence thanks to good, long-term planning and governance.
Most are highly educated and have secure employment. They have a retirement fund the highest in Europe per capita and the highest capital reserves per capita in the world, great social services with free health care and free education.
How have they achieved this social nirvana? Well, it’s not by becoming a big country with a big population. It’s also not by continual economic growth. Norway produces and exports one thing—primary products, largely just oil and gas, much like Australia.
Only, in Norway it is managed correctly. Exports are monitored and controlled and capped. Billionaire individuals or private multinational companies do not own mines or hold leases on large stretches of land, the state owns and runs the mining for the people and all profits are put back into society for the benefit of all. Ninety-nine per cent of domestic energy comes from almost free hydroelectric power, everything in homes is safely and cleanly electrically powered. Many Tesla cars drive the roads of Norway because they are cheap to purchase and free to recharge.

Strangely sad
It seems strangely sad to me that I live in the windiest and sunniest city on the windiest and sunniest continent and after 20 years of economic boom, both my state and the federal governments are broke, with record levels of debt and no plan to solve the problem.
The solution is simple. All mining of primary resources is flat-taxed at 30 per cent with no deductibles. This money is deposited into a future fund and a portion is spent on social services. The  tax is annually increased until all private and multinational owners are forced out of the local market.
Mining and primary production of goods is then only continued to sustain domestic Australia and a floor price is set and a capped and controlled amount of primary goods is exported. With federal future fund finance the state governments would collaborate to set up a baseload solar electric grid nationwide, augmented by tidal and wind power.
Sustainable population growth via immigration would be capped and the need to import workers for sudden spikes in employment, based on the boom bust scenarios of the global market place would evaporate. House prices would stabilise because of moderate population growth and a high standard of living would be afforded to every Australian at a reasonably achievable price.
Poor decision-making processes, vested interests and greed will always factor in the way politicians spend Australia’s income from taxation and exports but possibly an independent/ bipartisan board of directors would be set up to control exports and the future fund spending which would largely elevate the short-term, short-sighted corruption problems the community faces with our current political system.
Mark Thompson
Bicton

Conveying a fresh idea
LIKE most people in the area I am concerned about the increasing impact of truck movements through East Fremantle and Fremantle that will result from the proposed Perth Freight Link.
As an alternative I suggest installing a conveyor system to move containers between the port and a new trans-shipment site along Stock Road near the intersection of the proposed Roe Highway extension.
Trucks and trains could be serviced from this site, keeping much of the heavy vehicle traffic out of the residential areas.
Kevin Wellisch
Irwin St, East Fremantle