Achi news desk-
Teresa Russell writes: It boggles my mind that Walker Corporation, or any prospective developer of an internationally important wetland protected under the Ramsar Convention, has not been told by any environment minister or government in Australia in the last decade that they cannot build developments on wetlands.
Imagine the meetings in Walker where the business case was presented which proposed to continue to fight, argue, lobby and give to a decade of Australian governments until it finds someone weak enough to ignore our robust international agreement to protect the wetland there is the environmental case for it. for development there is an open and closed “no way”. It was before the phrase “state capture” entered our lexicon. What a vision!
If Plibersek comes back with anything less than “no way”, the Labor government will be exposed as weak, captured by private enterprise and unelectable. The community deserves so much more from its elected officials, while the voiceless interstate migratory shorebirds we have agreed to protect will disappear from the planet. Abysmal.
David Francis writes: The ABC documentary was called about eight months ago Flight: The Story of Migratory Shorebirds. The unfortunate Eastern curlew migrates over a large part of the world, and many of its feeding and breeding grounds are polluted, built over or subject to introduced predators. It was unsettling to watch as you watch the animals starve or pass out from exhaustion. Now, the Labor Party is seriously thinking about driving the final nail into the coffin.
You can see why. Australia’s millionaires and billionaires need somewhere to live who want to change so, and what better than a bulldozer to a Ramsar wetland? It is a kick in the groin for environmentalists who have abandoned the party for the Greens, and a sign to the rich that the Labor Party is on their side. Think of all the endangered donations that could come from Walker Corp if the project doesn’t go ahead. Think of all the good publicity in the Oz and the Fin if it does.
After all, (think like a politician) what does Labor have to lose? Votes? Who’s going to worry about that; the curlier could take years to disappear, and anyway, who’s going to publicize its demise, except for the occasional twitcher, the occasional Greenie rag, and Cricketwho doesn’t have a huge audience?
Politics is not just the art of being seen to be doing something when you are trying to do nothing or trying to do the opposite. The art of remaining sociopathic in the face of mercy, kindness and understanding, and persuading the voters that being sociopathic is also in their best interest.
Catherine Rossiter writes: I can’t believe Tanya Plibersek needed to take more than half an hour to make this decision. Of course, the answer should be NO WAY.
No development should be allowed to undermine Australia’s commitment to the Ramsar Convention, and if Tanya Plibersek approves it I will never trust or vote Labor again.
Peter Barry writes: Kevin Rudd is a very suitable ambassador for the United States. He is intelligent, quick-witted and imprudent. He is well equipped to deal sensibly with Joe Biden and combatively with Donald Trump in Australia’s interests. He can wrap matters up in a manic package of polysyllabic words that frighten and confuse in equal measure, ideal for a modern diplomat. He’s a ratfucker par excellence.
Steven Brennan writes: It’s chilling to think that Trump could be president again – and I think our ambassador won’t be the least of our worries.
I don’t believe Rudd would want to stay on with a maniac as president. But in the first place the Scottish government should leave it there to get a good idea of what is happening on the ground in the early days of the administration.
Like Cricket states, the failure of AUKUS would be a bonus.
Julia Bovard writes: Can someone really tell me what heinous crime Julian Assange has been charged with? The US government has made a rather radical submission to the British High Court claiming that it had conspired to acquire and use classified information. He has been detained for years in the UK under a number of different reasons and has spent a significant number of years in prison.
The Americans insist that he should serve at least life behind bars. I am vengeance, says the Lord. The CIA appears to be doing God’s will, as if buying medieval indulgences. In the meantime Assange has become very ill and is said to be at death’s door. To an outsider, this looks like the US is playing petty politics.
Leona Wallis writes: I am disappointed and outraged that the United States continues to call for the extradition of Julian Assange. In my opinion the US is a “bully state” that is only interested in exact revenge without taking into account the price Assange has already paid.
In one of the last acts in office, president Barack Obama pardoned Chelsea Manning, who was jailed on similar charges. President Biden should do the same so Julian Assange can get on with his life.
