Ashamed to be Australian?
Change Australia!

From an article by Duncan Macfarlane in The Australian, 2003/05/30

He said untruth was evident in the children overboard affair when the federal Government falsely claimed in the lead-up to the November 2001 election that asylum-seekers had thrown their children into the water from their boats.

He spoke of "the denial of the fundamental responsibility of a democratic government to seek to safeguard the human rights of all its citizens, including the unpopular and the alleged wrongdoer in the case of two Australians indefinitely caged without legal charge or process at Guantanamo Bay jail."

Alluding to the federal Government's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Sir William said young Australians must "make good our failure as a nation to do enough to help safeguard the world environment for future generations".

He said the Government must do more to reduce income inequality. "There is the challenge to face up to the completely unacceptable yet growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in this the land of the so-called fair go for all," Sir William said. "The plight of the disadvanataged, even in affluent Australia, is an overwhelming problem which no one of us who has a voice to speak, or the means to help, can in conscience ignore."

Change Australia

What can you do to help change Australia for the better; so that you will not have to be ashamed of your country?

I believe a big part of the problem is that Australians (and Americans) don't, or can't, put themselves in the position of the people who we are oppressing. If we can make Australians see the situation from, for example, an Iraqi's point of view, that is a step toward fixing the problem.

Express your opinion, you can write to newspapers. Most people will either understand your feelings and simpathise with you, or will totally miss your point, but there may be a few who will start to think about it because of your letter.

My role-models are the students of one of the Melbourne universities, I think it was Monash. When they first started protesting against the Vietnam war back in the nineteen sixties I thought that they were close to being traitors. I gradually came around to their opinion. Someone has to be first, even if others think that person is a nut at the beginning.

Whatever you do, don't vote for one political candidate because you think that he/she is not quite so bad as the main party alternative. And party loyalty is a big part of the reason that we, and the USA, have the terrible governments that we are lumbered with. Look into all the candidates. Learn what the parties stand for. Perhaps join a political party, you can work to improve them from the inside. Find a candidate who you can respect. Vote smart. If all else fails, nominate as a candidate yourself (I have done so), or even start your own party.

Perhaps organising a few friends to put together some placards and demonstrate in front of your local MP's office might be more your style? The main thing is to do something! Apathy is as much the enemy as are bad politicians.

Produce an Internet page about your local politician

You could improve on my example. Contact me at the email address at the top of this page if you would like me to help.

Australian Greens Senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle were the only parliamentarians with the courage to stand up and criticise President Gorge W. Bush during his 23 October 2003 address to the joint sitting of both houses of the Australian Parliament.

On a much more local scale, Lorraine Saunders of Crystal Brook made a speach (see the box below) accepting the Crystal Brook Citizen of the Year Award.

I knew that Lorraine prefers to walk or ride a bicycle rather than drive whenever she can. I didn't know, nor did she mention in her speach, that she and her husband, Geoff, have 30 solar photovoltaic panels (1920 Watts) on their roof and have solar water heating. They are committed to minimising their environmental footprint. I thought that there were only two people who had any solar photovoltaic panels in my small town, but now I wonder how many others I do not know about. How many people buy 'green electricity' in Crystal Brook? I would love to know.

If a quarter of Australian parliamentarians had the ethical standards of Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle, if ten times as many Australians were as responsible as the Saunders, this country would be a far better place.

Lorraine Saunders acceptance speach as Crystal Brook Citizen of the Year, January 2007 I would like to express my gratitude to the person or people who nominated me and the group who chose that nomination to be worthy of recognition. I would also like to sincerely thank all the people who have rung, dropped notes or stopped me in the street to offer congratulations. It has been very flattering and appreciated greatly. In most things that I do or am involved in, I really do feel as though my time, efforts and contributions are valued by those involved (or by the parents of those involved) so recognition by the wider community really is not something I was looking for. I get fabulous cards from my little Day Care people with interesting pictures and a lot of effort put into the writing. I get lovely gifts at the end of the hockey season, presented by ever-more skilful little players and Guides and leaders have always acknowledged my contribution of time and energy. What I am saying is, I have my rewards for what I do and the bottom line is that I don't do anything I don't enjoy. (You should see my house sometimes!!) I feel as though I have contributed to this community over the last 30 years and this community has contributed to my life and that of my family in ways that could never be expressed in words. When we first came here, Geoff joined the Apex club and one of the earliest functions we attended was a progressive tea. In an attempt to get my bearings, I asked someone who lived over the fence from the home we were at. The response came "Oh, they're not local. They are..." Out of curiosity I asked how long they had been here. "Twenty-five years" was the reply. I thought to myself "How can you ever belong if you're not local after all that time". Hopefully our children are considered locals and I like to think of myself as a Brookie, because I do care about this community as a whole and the people as individuals. When I was first told that I was to be given this recognition I was quite excited, and thought "Wow! A soap box in a park, a microphone and a captive audience!" Then I thought that perhaps it would not be appropriate to get on my "soapbox" on Australia Day. Home Top Index Then I had a rethink and decided it was the absolutely perfect time to attempt to make an impact for Australia, so that's what I intend doeing now. There are lots of things I would like to see happen here because most people really have a genuine concern for what is going on, for each other and such a pride in their town, state and country. I would like to think that on Australia Day we could all be aware of the need for our country to try and rectify some of the damage we have created over the last 200 years. It would be great if many people here took up the challenge to grow and plant trees. "Trees For Life" are always looking for growers and with the planting of hundreds of trees each year, a tiny amount of vegetation may be able to be replaced for all the thousands of acres of clearing done in our state. We could all recycle so, so much more than we do at present. Most of us probably take our cans and bottles in to Pirie for the 5c deposit, but at the same depot you can take all your tuna tins, dog cans, spaghetti and baked bean tins. You don't get any money for doing this but the metal is recycled and not put into landfill. All plastic milk containers can be taken there also. I would like to see a plastic collection depot here in the Brook for things like milk containers, yoghurt pots, icecream and margarine containers, so that these could be taken to the plastic recyclers in Pirie in bulk. It seems hard to understand why the Gladstone Senior Citizens are the only ones in this area concerned enough about the tones of paper going into landfill, to provide a paper collection service. These elderly chaps did do a pick-up in the Brook for a while but are no longer doing this. Why isn't this an option for our community? Gayle has just shifted to Naracoorte and Pete to Esperance and their communities have recycle bins for every household for the collection of glass, paper, plastic and metal. In New Zealand 47% of all councils have a Zero Waste policy aiming at reusing, recycling or eliminating the production of waste material. We could do better than we do at present. In Australia, we have the highest ratio of greenhouse gas production per head of population of any developed nation. This is not a statistic to be proud of. As individuals, we could all reduce the amount of power we use and the petrol we put into or cars - we could get out the push bikes, walking shoes, turn off lights, air conditioners, computers, T.V.s. We could take passengers in our cars if we know of others going to the same place or event as ourselves. Home Top Index I am curious to know why the Clements Gap wind farm project seems to have lost momentum. This would be a fabulous asset to the health of the planet, which experts are tipping will have a temperature rise of 2-3 degrees within 50 years if we continue with our current level of polluting. If this becomes a reality it will mean tropical conditions could move down as far as Sydney, which is about the same latitude as us, altering habitat, weather conditions, health and lifestyle. The announcement that uranium will be sold to newly developing countries really concerns me because of the amount of radioactive waste that will need to be catered for. I can see a lot of pressure being put on Australia to take back the rubbish it is encouraging other people to create and I feel sure that we will end up with nuclear waste dumps in our state, containing material which will remain radio-active for up to 200 000 years. Not something to look forward to, but something that WE are allowing to happen and which will impact on generation of people because of our, and our government's obsession with money. A quote from Benjamin Hoff pits it in a nutshell, "The natural world is alright, voters across the country seem to be saying, as long as its preservation doesn't interfere with the process of destroying it to earn money". So many people are quietly concerned about pollution and climate change but don't really do anything because they don't know where to start or think that they can't make any difference. My nephew was a civil engineer in NSW, now in Tasmania and one interesting discussion over the Christmas break illustrates just what can be achieved by individuals working together. One particular council he knew of was going to renovate or expand its water treatment set-up to cope with growing demands. Before they committed to any major works, each household was issued with a strainer for the kitchen sink. The use of these simple, inexpensive devices cut the solids going into the waste water so dramatically that no alteration was needed to their treatment plants. I would like to think that the members of this beautiful little community could really be leaders in living more lightly on the planet, and could set an example for other communities to follow. There are many very passionate, dedicated people in Crystal Brook who could help make a difference in the world by setting programmes in motion that will make a very serious impact on our current poor performance. Home Top Index Working with little people every day is a huge honour, privilege and responsibility for me because I know that I am able to influence what they learn and how they approach life. One example of this was shown in the results of a hockey survey we did a year or two ago. One question asked was why your child chose to play hockey and the response from 5 or 6 parents was "because Lorraine brainwashed them at Day Care". That's not entirely true, but they were certainly exposed to and were familiar with the equipment and concept. It is my hope that environmentally and community-wise, the children that I have contact with will develop a passion for improving the place in which they live; will have an appreciation of the magnificence of the natural world and a respect and wonder for the amazing plants and animals which inhabit it. You have chosen me as Citizen of the Year for 2007 because of the contribution you deem I have made in the past. I would like to think that I have more to offer this community in the years to come as there are many things we can all do to make this area, our country and the world a better, safer, less polluted place for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. I would just like to finish with this little treasure. I was given some time ago, a card by some year 1 or 2 boys who were doing computing practice and on it they wrote "Dear Lorraine you are great. But you could be better". How humbling, but true of us all.

STATEMENT FOR THE MEDIA BY A CONCERNED GROUP OF FORMER SERVICE CHIEFS AND AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMATS

TIME FOR HONEST, CONSIDERED AND BALANCED FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICIES

This is fundamental to effective parliamentary democracy. Australians must be able to believe they are being told the truth by our leaders, especially in situations as grave as committing our forces to war.

We are concerned that Australia was committed to join the invasion of Iraq on the basis of false assumptions and the deception of the Australian people.

Saddam's dictatorial administration has ended, but removing him was not the reason given to the Australian people for going to war. The Prime Minister said in March 2003 that our policy was "the disarmament of Iraq, not the removal of Saddam Hussein". He added a few days before the invasion that if Saddam got rid of his weapons of mass destruction he could remain in power.

It is a matter for regret that the action to combat terrorism after 11 September 2001, launched in Afghanistan, and widely supported, was diverted to the widely opposed invasion of Iraq. The outcome has been destructive, especially for Iraq. The international system has been subjected to enormous stress that still continues.

It is of concern to us that the international prestige of the United States and its Presidency has fallen precipitously over the last two years. Because of our Government's unquestioning support for the Bush Administration's policy, Australia has also been adversely affected. Terrorist activity, instead of being contained, has increased. Australia has not become safer by invading and occupying Iraq and now has a higher profile as a terrorist target.

We do not wish to see Australia's alliance with the United States endangered. We understand that it can never be an alliance of complete equals because of the disparity in power, but to suggest that an ally is not free to choose if or when it will go to war is to misread the ANZUS Treaty. Within that context, Australian governments should seek to ensure that it is a genuine partnership and not just a rubber stamp for policies decided in Washington. Australian leaders must produce more carefully balanced policies and present them in more sophisticated ways. These should apply to our alliance with the United States, our engagement with the neighbouring nations of Asia and the South West Pacific, and our role in multilateral diplomacy, especially at the United Nations.

Above all, it is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to mislead the Australian people. If we cannot trust the word of our Government, Australia cannot expect it to be trusted by others. Without that trust, the democratic structure of our society will be undermined and with it our standing and influence in the world.

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Departmental Heads and Diplomatic Representatives

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