China building up military and we must be on guard
THE most important question few must ask about China is this – why is China building the biggest army, navy and air force?
No one is invading them, no one is even wanting to.
No one is threatening their way of life, but they are threatening the entire world.
Why are we not taking a lesson from history?
For centuries, every country that wanted to go to war, take another country, flex their muscles to achieve dominance over another country has built an enormous defence force.
There are soldiers and people still alive today who fought in World War II.
They will tell you that the world stood silent while Germany and Japan built an empire that took the whole world years to defeat at the cost of millions of lives.
The politicians of the time stood idle. The people of the world were unaware or did not want to know. They mistakenly thought the politicians who are charged to protect them, would do so.
Yet it was a massive failure.
China has got rich because our western world does not make anything anymore.
We watched our jobs disappear; our economy shut down.
We watched China give us so many cheap things, we got addicted to the stuff they made. We made them rich.
In turn they are building the biggest economy and army the world has ever seen and what are we doing? We are doing nothing that matters.
We are shut down in a Covid world that China built.
We are buckling under debt and destruction and we are doing nothing.
We think we are safe while China has just signed up Papua New Guinea to a massive Belt and Road project.
We cannot function without trade with China.
We are selling them our resources
and food producing land and still the public does nothing. Just like before World War II.
We have a few brave politicians shouting out about this but still this has not dented the media, nor the public.
If you pull up at the traffic lights early one morning and look at the hundreds of cars there, not only are the parts in them from China, but the people in them would not even care about what I have written in this letter.
They have a grand final, they have a mortgage, if they are lucky and responsible, they will have a job they are trying to keep, to pay the eight richest men on the planet to keep getting richer.
The reality is that communism and socialism are far distant memories and some line in a history book, no one is giving the march of these vile political systems much thought. Yet they are present, powerful and happening in our society right now.
Sections of the media are riddled with this, our parliament is riddled with this, our universities are riddled with this.
We need to remember, never give away your rights and freedoms, because your grandchildren will die getting them back.
DEBRA GIBSON, Pinnacles.
JUST GET VACCINATED
WITH more political intervention into our lives, dictating the terms of our way of life, we understand the rise of globalisation and external forces that impact our rights.
Those who protest will be left behind.
Mask and vaccination mandates are already being forced upon the willing, as well as being a bone of contention for the unwilling. Many businesses already demand customers and workers be fully vaccinated.
Those who don’t play the game may be left out, or lose their rights to move freely in our communities, according to the authorities.
But can they control the recalcitrants who oppose any unwelcome restrictions?
In Sydney, it has been proven, unvaccinated construction workers
and tradies were unwittingly the most likely to spread the virus. Many workers think that by defying the orders, they can control their lives.
It is a myth. Politicians, already losing the battle, are determined to restrict the movement and lives of unvaccinated Australians.
Opening up to the majority at 70-80 per cent vaccination rates, those who comply will travel freely. This doesn't deter those who are determined to oppose any force; who continue to ensure the virus will be spread in our communities.
It is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
It is a simple task to be vaccinated and join the fight against closing down our nation and our lives.
Dragging the chain may mean ever tighter restrictions, while every opportunity to open wide the door to our freedom is being sabotaged by the selfish and the upstarts.
ELOISE ROWE,
Tannum Sands.
PUSHBACK ON VAD LAW
OPPONENTS of voluntary assisted dying seem to be continuing their fight even after the recent solid cross-party “yes” vote in the Queensland parliament for the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 (Letters, “Increased risk” 21/9).
This is a reminder to everyone that those who seek to deny better end-of-life choices to others by imposing their own narrow-minded views will continue their efforts in the hope of repealing the law at some stage in the future.
While 61 MPS voted in favour of the VAD Bill and 30 opposed it, we must be vigilant in protecting it from those who would not think twice about repealing it if and when they ever secure sufficient votes in parliament.
The flimsy arguments mounted by many of the 30 anti-vad MPS show opponents will also not let the facts or evidence get in their way.
I take this opportunity to thank all 61 MPS who voted in support of the Bill. They have truly made a huge difference for the better for so many Queenslanders.
The Member for Thuringowa, Aaron Harper, deserves thanks for the way he conducted two Health Committee inquiries, first into endof-life issues including VAD and a second inquiry into the VAD Bill itself. Without his stewardship we would not have a VAD law.
Not only must we ensure the new law is implemented well, and be on guard for any attempts to repeal it, we must also be prepared to argue for any practical and sensible refinements we think are needed when it is reviewed in three years.
So while we mark this historic win, we should all recommit ourselves to our cause and continue to work for those terminally ill Queenslanders who should have the right to choose voluntary assisted dying if and when they determine for themselves that they need it.
DAVID MUIR, Chairman, The Clem Jones Trust Brisbane.