More to the post office story
Your article regarding “Delivery Issues at Bermagui Post Office” was not quite accurate on a few important points.
After many months of negotiations with Australia Post over this matter it became apparent that the problem was not being dealt with.
As more and more people became aware of the fact that their mail was being mismanaged and the complainants became persistent Australia Post promised a resolution.
The independent resolution from the postmaster was to “ban” anyone who continued to complain - an all too common response to “whistleblowing”.
This government agency did not respond quickly or adequetly and attempted on many occasions to blame the complainants rather than going to the source of the problem ie: the postmaster.
It is unacceptable to be told by a person in this position “I am not responsible for delivering your mail.”
Australia post media manager Mel Ward quoted in your article "It is difficult for a new Postmaster to have local knowledge of where everybody lives"
The locals that pay for PO boxes have to give a residential address to receive this service. These addresses are correlated with the PO boxes.
This is the basis of the service for outlying farms and properties beyond delivery range. The previous postmaster and many before him had no trouble with this system.
Having sent “test mail”, it now seems there has been an improvement.
But this will not help the young person who lost their driving licence over non delivery of renewal papers, nor the family whose Christmas presents were sent back to England.
Nor will it redeem the payments to reconnect phones cut off for non-payment of bills. There are many similar stories.
The policy of many legal, banking, police and other agencies of not delivering to a PO box makes this simple service vital.
It should be noted that it is a crime under Commonwealth Law to “mismanage, mishandle or interfere with mail”.
Australia Post has stated that “the lifting of the bans is a Police matter” while the police have said it is an “Australia Post matter”.
Those affected have been greatly inconvenienced and are due both an apology and of course the lifting of the ridiculous “bans”.
The position of postmaster in a small country town is important and requires some community spirit, thoroughness and good manners.
The right person for the job is of utmost importance.
Suzanne Foulkes
Bermagui
No life without CO2
THERE would be no life on earth without carbon dioxide (CO2). But, put that aside in order to reveal the futility of emissions targets and Council’s draft “Greenhouse Action Plan”.
Both major political parties have commitments to reduce CO2 emissions by 5 per cent compared with 2000 levels by 2020.
Based on Government figures, the Federal Opposition has shown that despite the carbon tax, Australia’s domestic emissions will be 8 per cent higher in 2020 than now, not 5 per cent lower.
To achieve the 5 per cent cut Australian businesses will buy $3.5 billion worth of credits from foreign carbon traders.
The bubble of the hysteria of the catastrophic global warming claims before 2005 has burst due to the common sense of the community, the increasing influence of ethical science, the effluxion of time, but above all, in Australia now, the overwhelming concern of people, taxpayers and voters, confirmed by consistent polling since 2005, is the “growing alarm about the economic impact of climate action, as the world economy lurches from crisis to crisis”.
Despite the huge expenditures on scientific grants to promote the catastrophic theory by the Australian Government, but with none to ascertain its validity, the world has spent over $100 billion in attempting to verify the claims of catastrophic global warming disaster, “without finding compelling empirical evidence for a measurable, let alone worrisome, human impact on global temperature”.
Moreover, the recent ‘Rio + 20 Earth Summit’ outcome confirms there will be no coordinated world action to deal with global emissions.
Also, new fossil-fuel discoveries, especially in the USA and Canada, will power the world for centuries.
Meanwhile, Council’s draft “Greenhouse Action Plan” ignores the new knowledge, preferring to promote the message of hysteria.
Neville Hughes
Surf Beach
We can do something to reduce carbon pollution
DENYING that this climate change has little to do with us polluting could just be another excuse.
After those in the know jetted off to another talk fest in Mexico, where an interest in doing something has been shelved again, I get the feeling that they agreed that the time was not yet right.
Would it be better to wait until we are all ready to pay whatever it costs to turn back the time to give our children a place to live in they deserve?
It would serve business very well, but would it help us?
Perhaps it is our desire making our children believe that we didn't want to harm anyone, it was just a mistake not to act on the signs which we have plenty of by now.
We are starting already to pay the price without accepting that it may be a step in the right direction.
If our children were not important enough to change our ways, may be the loss of our opulent lifestyle will make us wake up.
Why can't we see that the increase in energy prices could not really be a bad thing, because it is making us use less of it and therefore pollute less.
We could exercise to keep warm, go to bed early, dress warmer and so on.
We decided to use a small bedroom to watch TV and feel warmer than in the open plan living area with a quarter of the heating cost.
When I grew up after the war we were all sitting in the kitchen which was already heated by the cooking stove, while the rest of the house was cold.
Today everyone gets their own space in the house, heated of course.
Another benefit would be that we then keep each other company and enjoy it. That could make us feel even warmer!
K. Krueger
Central Tilba
Council representation
WHILE it is good that pedestrian access to North Narooma from the bridge is being discussed (Clr L Brown’s letter last week), it is all simply fluff to talk as if progress has been made because no funding has been put aside by the council or state government to do the work.
In fact, if funding is made available, we won’t see anything done for at least two years.
In the last decade, we have been conditioned to regard statements like this as evidence of activity.
Similar examples are the happy photos of our local councillor standing over work to repair a collapsing sea wall and being expected to regard this as we once would have viewed new infrastructure.
We are expected to be overwhelmed by the refurbishment of a park with an inflated price tag, when four other parks are closed because of lack of funding, to accept that our footpaths and gutters are no longer cleaned regularly and that the litter left is the new norm.
We are told that we are to fund the construction of arterial roads in Batemans Bay from local development charges.
If we need a new shark net (because of poor maintenance) we’re to fund it ourselves and we are to regard the provision of basic services such as beach lifeguards as a luxury we can ill-afford.
The Dalmeny Cycleway, even with free local labour, is incomplete after 30 years of broken promises.
If you thought this lack of activity was saving money you’d be wrong. Council wage costs are still growing, rapidly exceeding the CPI.
The problem stems from a lack of leadership and the belief of our elected representatives that they are there to represent the council instead of the views of the people of Narooma, as they should have always been doing.
Narooma has only seen real progress briefly in the last quarter century or so and that was when, under the stewardship of the late Clr David Banson, the town’s extensive foreshore enhancement work was initiated and carried out.
This was achieved by simply shaming the leadership of our council into action. He proved that the money was there if there was the political will to do it.
We deserve better than this from the Eurobodalla Shire.
Neil Burnside
Narooma
Teachers much appreciated
I WOULD like to acknowledge and thank the staff at Narooma High School.
During the recent holidays, with trial HSC exams rapidly approaching, some teachers have conducted extra classes and tutorials at school, for their Year 12 students; while others have been available by email to assist with marking and feedback.
Their support and dedication is much appreciated.
A. Robertson
Dalmeny
More women on council
IT is with some amusement that I read our illustrious Mayor's comments regarding the need for more female candidates in the local government elections.
I would agree that nine males out of nine Councillors does not represent the true demographic make-up of the Eurobodalla.
More representative would be four or even five women in Council!
If Fergus Thomson, and other team leaders, are truly serious about more women in local government, may I suggest that they field a female candidate in the number two position on their ticket.
This would, in Fergus' and other prominant male candidates' case, (Mr Pollock et al), almost certainly ensure the election of women onto Council.
It is to be noted that Fergus' team has never fielded a woman candidate in this position in previous elections!
How about it Fergus? You managed to get Keith Dance elected several times as your number two, are you man enough to put a woman at number two on your ticket or is this more of the usual claptrap.
Do as I say and not as I do?
Nick Summers
Independent
CEFE - Greenland is melting away
THE Greenland ice sheet is poised for another record melt this year, and is approaching a “tipping point” into a new and more dangerous melt regime in which the summer melt area covers the entire land mass, according to new findings from polar researchers.
The ice sheet is the focus of scientific research because its fate has huge implications for global sea levels, which are already rising as ice sheets melt and the ocean warms, exposing coastal locations to greater damage from storm surge-related flooding.
Greenland's ice has been melting faster than many scientists expected just a decade ago, spurred by warming sea and land temperatures.
New findings show that the reflectivity of the Greenland ice sheet, particularly the high-elevation areas where snow typically accumulates year-round, have reached a record low since records began in 2000. This indicates that the ice sheet is absorbing more energy than normal, potentially leading to another record melt year – just two years after the 2010 record melt season.
“In this condition, the ice sheet will continue to absorb more solar energy in a self-reinforcing feedback loop that amplifies the effect of warming,” wrote Ohio State polar researcher Jason Box. Greenland is the world's largest island, and it holds 680,000 cubic miles of ice. If all of this ice were to melt – which, luckily won't happen anytime soon – the oceans would rise by more than 20 feet.
In a new study, Box and a team of researchers describe the decline in ice sheet reflectivity and the reasons behind it, noting that if current trends continue, the area of ice that melts during the summer season is likely to expand to cover all of Greenland for the first time in the observational record, rather than just the lower elevations at the edges of the continent, as is the case today.
Freshly fallen snow reflects up to 84 per cent of incoming sunlight, but during the warm season the reflectivity declines as the ice grains within the snowpack change shape and size. In addition, once snow cover melts completely it often reveals underlying ice that has been darkened by dust and other particles, whose surface absorbs more solar energy, promoting heating.
“It appears that we’re about to cross a threshold in summer . . . you might even call it a tipping point as we go into a net energy absorption” of the higher elevations, Box said. “Then we’ll see the melt area expanding abruptly and potentially covering the entire ice sheet in summer for the first time in observations.”
“The frequency with which Greenland record melt years are being established is exceptional, and certainly supports the notion that the Arctic climate is warming, and moving away from an equilibrium climate state,” Colgan said.
(Segments of this article are taken from one originally published by Climate Central)
Matthew Nott
www.cleanenergyforeternity.net.au
Mayoral column – Plan approved
IT was pleasing last Thursday to finally hear that Minister Brad Hazard had signed the Shire’s LEP.
The process is now underway for it to be gazetted and become operative. And in line with that process, chairman Ian Armstrong has had an opportunity to review the list of applicants to sit on the Rural Lands Strategy Steering Committee. He will soon send a list of the recommended candidates to Council for endorsement.
Rex Airlines are about to celebrate 10 years of service to regional NSW and we are fortunate to have been part of their network at Moruya Airport.
The service that Rex and other regional airlines before them have provided is greatly appreciated across our community and important for both economic and social reasons.
Eurobodalla’s business people and residents needing specialist health care are fortunate to have the option of a day trip to Sydney.
Many times I’ve enjoyed watching family reunions at Moruya Airport as children come home to enjoy a family holiday with their parents and grandparents or join friends for a visit.
Our tourism industry has been able to establish itself as a conference destination to fill beds in the off peak times because of the access offered by the regional air service provided by Rex.
Given that roads are the only other means of commuting to Eurobodalla, it is vital to our community that the airline continues to deliver flights to and from Moruya.
The postal vote for the decision to have just one Local Government peak body represent councils in NSW is currently being circulated to elected representatives.
There is a high degree of confidence that the YES vote will succeed. I have been on Council for 8 years and during that time we have been working tirelessly to achieve this result.
I am aware that for many years it was seen as an impossible dream that municipal and country councils could work together. Thankfully, we now seem to be on the verge of proving that wrong.
Yvonne and I attended the funeral and celebration of the life of Les Ziegler on Monday, a well-known Moruya identity.
Les was a very keen supporter of the Moruya Surf Life Saving Club and was recognised as a Life Member many years ago.
He was one of only a few that can claim they supported the George Bass Surfboat Marathon for all of its 30 years.
Les and his wife Merle were probably better known for operating the privately run marine rescue radio system that supported the fisherman using the Moruya River and fishing out at sea. I am sure many fishermen owe their safety to Les and Merle.
Clr Fergus Thomson
Mayor
