Work towards a healthy future

IF I worked for one of the fish farms to support my family and was getting my information about the sustainability of the industry from my employer, I would probably have a different perspective on fish farming in Tasmania. I have the privilege of being able to look at the issues through different eyes. My main wish is for a healthy future for us all. In my mind, this requires us all to care for our environment, as well as caring for each other and ensuring everyone has a roof over their heads and food on the table. Whilst I want my kids and grandchildren to be able to support themselves, I want them to understand the meaning of “do no harm” and to be able to choose work that makes things better, rather than unwittingly making them worse. I don’t want them to feel cornered into a future-eating job.

I feel very angry when our government encourages community division by framing all our industries as “jobs versus the environment’. It’s a clever strategy but ignores the impacts many industries inflict on our environment and it splits our communities. I believe our government should be providing big-picture leadership that helps restore our damaged ecosystems, legislating to prevent further damage and supporting initiatives that work towards a healthy future.

Distilling controversy

GREG French, Rob Sloane and others have eloquently summed up that the controversy about the Lake Malbena proposal distils down to the new intrusion into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area by helicopters. The only thing I could add is to emphasise the limited understanding of politicians and tourism people when it comes to these special areas. After carrying a pack for hours to your favourite lake, to sit down and reflect on the peace and solitude and then to have it shattered by a helicopter flying overhead would be devastating.

For those who have not enjoyed the wilderness experience, let me put it this way. If you are of religious persuasion and are sitting reflectively in your church pew and a drone was let loose in the church, how would you feel? I believe that is a realistic comparison. teachers but they can’t because they don’t know where their funding will come from. Investment in early education is one of the smartest investments we can make. Under Labor’s new National Preschool and Kindy Program every three and four-yearold will have access to the quality early education they need for the best start in life. Under a Shorten Labor Government more than 13,000 Tasmanian children will have greater access to early education, and from 2021, every three-year-old in Tasmania will be able to access 15 hours of subsidised early childhood education.

Gender crisis

I NEVER thought I would say this but for once I agree with Jacqui Lambie. The push to have gender removed from birth certificates is ridiculous and vote-chasing. When a baby is born, it is probably years before there is any hint of gender crisis. The baby is male or female and should be identified as such. In this day and age of trendy names it could happen that without gender noted on the certificate, the name could identify the baby as maybe male, maybe female. Another case of political correctness gone mad.

Reducing discrimination

THE gender reforms being proposed were initiated by Transforming Tasmania and have our full support. This includes allowing parents the choice to have gender appear on their child’s birth certificate if they wish, as well as allowing adults to remove gender from their own birth certificates. This will help reduce the discrimination that occurs because gender identity doesn’t match what is recorded on official documents. It will remove unnecessary government interference from the lives of transgender and gender-diverse people. There has been a lot of misinformation about the reforms, but the most persistent myth is that these reforms require more consultation. The Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission conducted extensive consultation in 2016. Any further consultation would be an unnecessary and harmful delay that impacts most on vulnerable young people. Last year’s postal survey returned a resounding Yes vote in Tasmania, despite fearmongering by the No case which was, in large part, about transgender issues. We believe the Yes vote is a mandate for removing the last vestiges of discrimination against transgender and gender-diverse people without further delay.

Footbridge planning

FOR something that has been years in the planning it is a pretty poor effort from contractors Fulton Hogan not to be able to finish the memorial footbridge linking the Cenotaph to the World War I soldiers’ memorial walk on the Queen’s Domain in time for such a significant occasion as the 100th anniversary of the First World War’s Armistice. This was a once-in-alifetime opportunity to recognise such a symbolic event that had the hope of worldwide peace. The fact the contractors didn’t build some contingency time into the construction timeline is essentially bad planning. A long time to wait for the next centenary.