Letters

The Age

Friday December 31, 2004

A time to weep, pray and help

I HOPE many Australians respond to Tim Costello's article, "A call to all Australians" (Opinion, 29/12) and give as I plan to do to help those who have suffered such personal tragedy.

The grief must be unbearable for those who have lost loved ones. Mr Costello mentions acts of God that may be how some people explain natural disasters. I imagine that people of all faiths affected will at some time be crying out in their heart to whomever they pray.

In such a distressing time when words seem to fail and action is needed, I also pray that people at the right time would examine their relationship with God. There is a God who can comfort those who mourn.

One of the shortest verses in the Bible is "Jesus wept", which occurred in the context of a personal tragedy. -- Andrew Coventry, Greensborough

God: uncaring or non-existent?

KENNETH Nguyen (Opinion, 30/12) is right. The tsunami shows that God is not omnipotent and benevolent.

Many believers will probably settle for asserting that God has limited powers, and does His best. But why assume that? Why not assume, instead, that God is malevolent, with any good that occurs resulting from luck and human endeavours?

We don't need the idea of God to understand the world. Indeed, problems arise when we try to comprehend the notion of God. Where is He? What form does He take? How is His existence compatible with the laws of science?

A few people claim to have been contacted by God but people have made implausible and unverifiable claims about many things.

Even if God exists, why should human behaviour change as a result? It's time to forget about God and simply help the tsunami survivors. -- Brent Howard, Rydalmere, NSW

God's message is still good

THANK you for the thoughtful opinion piece, "Is God to blame for this?" (30/12), on the tsunami disaster in Asia. I was genuinely encouraged that Kenneth Nguyen did not use it as a platform for rehashing the atheistic "problem of evil" in the usual way.

That a good and powerful God allows evil is, I believe, an insoluble problem for us. That is not the same as saying that it is an insoluble problem for God, who knows all and understands all, and more than this, has acted to rescue.

The hope we cling to is that God didn't remain distant from suffering, but sent his only Son to die on the cross, thus dealing a death blow to all evil - a death blow whose full force is yet to be felt, but which will certainly come. For this reason, the message of Christmas is a message that continues to comfort. -- The Reverend Gordon Cheng, Kingsford, NSW

Fireworks send an untimely message

RIGHT now, when so many thousands of bodies are still being washed up, and so many of our neighbours are in great mourning, how can Australian cities bear to rejoice with fireworks just because the date changes from December 31 to January 1?

In these tragic circumstances, let us show compassionate restraint in our New Year celebrations.

Let us cancel or defer the fireworks. If that saves money, let it be donated to the relief efforts. -- Marianne Baillieu, Williamstown

Giving aid better than making war

WITH the scale of the terrible tsunami disaster unravelling before our horrified eyes, surely there is a great opportunity for Western governments to contribute massive aid to the regions affected.

It seems that we have limitless resources to support war but our governments appear somewhat less inclined to respond equally to such disasters. For once, please direct our military might to ease the plight of our neighbours in their hour of need. Only good can come of it. -- David Corrigan, East Coburg

Warning system needs back-up

AUSTRALIA and other nations such as the United States and Japan may have good intentions to develop a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean but unless the countries bordering the Indian Ocean create sustainable communications to advise coastal centres it will be a waste of time, money and effort.

One only needs to study the recent event to witness the disaster that was avoidable had good communications been available. -- Robert S. Buick, Mountain Creek, Qld

Satellites: couldn't they have warned?

IT'S GOOD to see our Foreign Minister so concerned at the lack of communication between the US intelligence agencies and the region. We are led to believe that the US spy satellites are watching the whole of South-East Asia for terrorist activity. Satellite photos have a definition of a matter of metres.

Surely they would have seen the direction of the tsunami and been able to give adequate warning to the region? Or was this another example like September 11 of recording the intelligence and not acting on it? -- Dr Colin Hughes, Glen Forrest, WA

Move back from risky coasts

COASTAL settlements swamped by the tsunami should not be reconstructed but moved to higher ground. Such areas could also be affected by the rising sea levels expected as a result of global warming. The cost of repairs in these circumstances are likely to be higher than that of rebuilding on safer ground.

In the past, many coastal towns and ports have been inundated and rebuilt time and time again - an investment in infrastructure that became obsolete just a generation later. It's better to plan for a less vulnerable future. -- Michael Bell, Gordonville, NSW

A bigger toll

THE tsunami has been the greatest tragedy for a long time, taking about 60,000 lives on present estimates. We have no control over nature. An earthquake can occur unpredictably anywhere. Fortunately in Australia we are fairly free of destructive earthquakes.

However, we are not free of loss of life on a large scale. There are at least 80,000 abortions in Australia every year, which rarely hit the headlines. -- Greg Byrne, Rowville

Let these Sri Lankans stay

A PRACTICAL response to the victims of the tsunami devastation in our region would be to grant humanitarian entry visas to about 500 Sri Lankan asylum seekers now in our community and still in immigration detention.

They will work, pay taxes and send direct aid to their extended family indefinitely. Humanitarian. Compassionate. Cost effective. -- Frederika Steen, Chapel Hill, Qld

Detention costs even more

I SHARE Ernest Della's concern about the cost to the Australian taxpayer of accommodation for Mrs Bakhtiyari and her baby son (29/2). I assume he is referring to their temporary imprisonment in a motel following the birth.

I hope he is also concerned about the millions of dollars paid each year to a foreign private prison company to lock up for years hundreds of asylumseekers who have been neither accused, nor convicted, of any crime.

It would be far less costly for them to be given hostel or community accommodation, a successful arrangement made for Vietnamese and Cambodian people who sought refuge here in the 1980s.

Indeed, there are individuals and groups willing to provide accommodation, education and medical care, at no cost to the taxpayer.

And is he aware that not all of those very costly appeals against court decisions are made by the "so-called asylum seekers"?

I have personal knowledge of at least one case (and there must be many more) in which the then minister for immigration appealed against a favourable decision made by the Federal Court; the person concerned was eventually found to be a refugee. That must have cost us a packet too. -- Jean Jordan, Eltham

No need to fear nanotechnology

IN "Mega fear over something nano" (Opinion, 29/12), Dr Gregory Scrinis opens discussion of nanotechnology on an unnecessarily grim and fearful note.

Nanotechnology is not an industry-sponsored technology of global domination.

It is a term that applies to the miniaturisation of all types of technology, perhaps benefiting medicine and agriculture and any area in which miniaturisation can be of use.

Any technology can be made to sound dangerous and terrifying. It is no more surprising that "nanoparticles" can be "breathed in . . . pass through the skin, through the lungs, into the bloodstream" (given that they are the size of molecules), than that cars emit toxic vapours and can sever limbs in ordinary use.

We need open discussion about nanotechnology's potential for help as well as harm. Raising fears that feed on ignorance and stir up prejudice against potentially beneficial technological advances is not a helpful way to proceed . -- Matthew Baker, research school of chemistry, Australian National University

Nothing to lose but their teeth

MUCH of country Victoria has suffered another year of rampant tooth decay. Yet a booklet recently distributed by Victoria's Department of Human Services supports the fluoridation of public water supplies, listing its many benefits and dispelling fallacious fears of harmful side-effects.

Water fluoridation helps to protect teeth against decay in people of all ages and is the most effective way to give everyone access to the benefits. Unfortunately for many country Victorians, there seems to be a lack of communication between the Government and some of the boards that manage regional water supplies.

As the Government appoints the board members, it should bring recalcitrant or fearful water authorities into line with those, for example, covering metropolitan Melbourne, Bendigo, Shepparton, Bacchus Marsh and Maffra, which add fluoride to their water supplies. -- Graham Keith, Warrnambool

Buses are no substitute

VICTORIA'S new transport head, Jim Betts, says that although trams and trains are important to Melbourne, "buses are the city's future".

I wholeheartedly agree that a great deal needs to be done to upgrade Melbourne's often sparse and sporadic bus services - especially in outer areas. However, this should be in addition to, rather than as a substitute for, major investment in fixed rail public transport services.

If buses are seen as Melbourne's future, there is a real danger that buses rather than train line extensions will be used to serve Melbourne's new growth corridors. Also, the money that might otherwise have been spent on tram, light rail and rail extensions will be spent on freeways, which will then be rebranded as "multi-purpose transport corridors". -- Ken Duxbury, East Kew

Interstate view: we can't drive

ONCE again Victoria has the dubious honour of leading Australia with the highest road toll over the holiday period. Victoria has some of the best roads in the country and still its motorists continue to die at the wheel.

Sadly the Bracks Government seems to believe that a myopic focus on speed is the answer to reducing this waste of life, and the collection of fines along the way is a bonus.

Too many Victorian drivers are preoccupied with watching their speed, and not watching the road. By the time they are aware of an impending accident it's probably too late.

And from my experience driving throughout Victoria, and watching Victorians in my home state, many are terribly incompetent drivers.

I don't know what the licensing rules are in Victoria but from what I have seen I suggest a re-testing of every Victorian motorist. It will not only be safer for them, but safer for the rest of the road users wherever a Victorian driver is on the road. -- Victor Marshall, Erskineville, NSW

Man of stature

MEMO to the carping and mean-spirited Gerard Henderson (28/12): with or without letters after his name, Julian Burnside stands tall as a great and compassionate human being.

For his tireless efforts to alleviate the plight of the desperate and the dispossessed, Julian Burnside, QC, deserves the accolade of Australian of the Year. -- Jill Mazzotta, Balaclava

© 2004 The Age

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