Letters
Reconciliation and respect AS a white Australian, I felt so ashamed to read Julian Tomlinson’s piece on Uluru (CP 9/11). Fact checks: 1. The ban wasn’t made by “Aboriginal activists” but the Aboriginal elders from the area.
2. “Laws” they are referring to is traditional lore that has been passed down for thousands of years, which govern how to respect the land, not recently made up laws “excluding whites”.
3. They are not discriminating against white people, no one of any background will be allowed to climb it.
4. The place was not respected with regular incidences of people littering, defecating, taking inappropriate photos etc.
5. Most places of cultural significance are not allowed to be climbed.
If we truly want reconciliation we all need to start practising understanding and respect. Elise Chatterton, Cairns North
Opinion is disrespectful
CAIRNS Post, you have a duty to the public to not publish content that is racist, inflammatory and downright disrespectful.
You have utterly failed in this task by publishing Julian Tomlinson’s opinion piece.
Opinion articles are not an excuse to publish utter drivel and shirk responsibility. It is absolutely shameful that you would choose to share something that so obviously disrespects Australia’s first people.
Get with the program, it is never OK to be racist, even if it is an “opinion”.
Up your journalistic integrity and get yourself into current century. Bess Murphy, Malanda Editor’s note: The Cairns Post respects people’s rights to debate and share opinions and does not shy away from sensitive issues.
Failing on human rights I AM sad that the Australia that I grew up in and was proud of as a country of fairness, equality and generosity has been shown to be a sham.
The current humanitarian refugee crisis on Manus has shown this.
A country which is such a bully that it will not allow some relief for those who New Zealand has offered to take in, shows what an un-Christian country we really are.
NZ is the country which is showing the traits Australians thought this country exhibited.
This mean, nasty spirit which is alive and well in Australia, is one which I think many Australians are embarrassed about.
Politicians who say that to allow refugees to go to NZ because it will give people smugglers some succour is crazy. Who would even try? Even the most desperate wouldn’t. If you survive the leaking boat, it means years and years in detention and even after establishing your bona fides, you are still imprisoned somewhere for no crime under dreadful conditions.
If the feeling among most Australians that we maltreat vulnerable people; that is fine it is a free country.
But don’t even try to hold Australia to the world as this generous, liberal democracy. That really is a joke.
Instead let’s thank NZ for the kind offer and let them take the refugees.
Australia can’t look any worse on human rights in the world arena. Susan Williams, Machans Beach