War lost on the battlefield

I agree and sympathise with Bill Westhead in his argument that the Australian community let down the Vietnam veterans by its lack of appreciation and gratitude for their effort and sacrifice in the unpopular Vietnam War (Gaz 20/08.)

However I disagree that the war was not lost on the battlefield, but was lost in the living rooms, streets, universities and schools of the USA and Australia due to the anti-war movement.

In my view the war was most definitely lost on the battlefield. The American army was the most powerful in the world; was well-fed and superbly armed with the most sophisticated and unlimited armaments.

It was supported by a world-class air force and navy. The US faced an ill-equipped, poorly fed, mainly peasant guerrilla force with limited firepower or sophisticated weaponry, but with a strong determination to persevere. It was camouflaged flak jackets versus black pyjamas!

Some US and allied soldiers resorted to murdering their own officers and innocent men, women and children.

Over 500 peasants were murdered by US troops at My Lai. The Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army were just as guilty of wanton murder of innocents.

The anti-war movement had good cause to oppose the war, and should not be held responsible for its mismanagement or outcome. Robert Dunlop, Warragul increase by 2 billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050. All these people will need food, shelter and water.

This is a frightening thought. We are not able to live in peace with each other now, with people being displaced all over the world due to wars or economic hardships.

Nor is there enough food being produced to feed the current world population satisfactorily, with oceans being overfished and rainforests denuded.

An estimated 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest is lost each year, which is roughly equal to 27 soccer fields every minute (World Wildlife Fund/WWF & United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization/FAO).

Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate change.

I’m not at all surprised we’re not making any headway with fighting climate change. In order to feed and shelter the world’s growing population we’ll continue to plunder the oceans and denude more rainforests (the lungs of the earth) to make way for agricultural land to grow crops and cattle.

And don’t forget the amount of energy that is needed to keep heaters/coolers/transport/and communication devices going for every inhabitant of this planet.

Am I missing something? Is it possible to really drastically reduce carbon emissions in this scenario, or are we kidding ourselves with feeble Band-Aid solutions?

Elisabeth Smoorenburg, Yarragon drawn council’s attention to lack of recognition of the LGBTQ community. And again we have council putting labels on members of our community and excluding others.

I want the best candidates elected at our next elections - I don’t care how they describe themselves.

Gender is only one descriptor of a multitude of ways we identify as members of our community.

The report in the Gazette 20/8 quotes the mayor “there were many amazing women in Gippsland” – does this mean only amazing women should nominate?

Will council sponsor an information session for every member of our community who would like to attend such a forum? And there are other questions: The information session was also for Bass Coast, East Gippsland, Latrobe, South Gippsland and Wellington Council areas - did these councils contribute to the cost?

Did the Victorian Local Governance Association who promoted the function contribute to the cost?

Did council meet the cost of any speakers at the function?

What were the costs for food and refreshments, hall hire waived and staff cost?

How many participants attended from each of the councils in the region?

When did council resolve to host the function and did it consider how it excluded so many members of our community?

Why is council a member of the Victorian Local Governance Association when not a single councillor is listed as a representative? Does council have a waste watch committee? I suspect we will not get answers and as at August 23 there is nothing on the council website as to what occurred on the day of the workshop.

By the way, I wonder which councillors and the ceo promoting more females in council would suggest giving up their place at the council table. Don McLean, Warragul