Deafening silence from neglectful care-givers
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday November 18, 2009
Perhaps it was long overdue, but the apology by the Government of Australia, and soon Britain, is to be applauded ("Tears for victims, cheers for their courage", November 17). However, as I watched some of the heartbreaking television interviews, it occurred to me that the apology seemed one-sided.The primary care-givers and those institutions charged with these children's care (mostly religious groups of various persuasions) seem to have gone missing.Stephen Trevarrow Surry HillsIt was with outrage that I watched the "sorry" speech to the forgotten Australians in Canberra.Where were the Jensens and Pells and all their cronies? These religions profited by the misery and degradation of others. They should be forced to pay damages.Bruce Ryan WooloowareThankfully, the only negative remarks I have read or heard about the apology to the "forgotten Australians" was the letter from Barbara Dufty (November 17).While I defend absolutely the right of Ms Dufty to put forward her views, her letter highlights her obvious ignorance of the plight and suffering of the victims and the magnitude of the wrongsdone, and trivialises thetraumas endured.National apologies cannot be given to every sufferer, but in the case of the forgotten Australians it is churlish to think that anything less would suffice.Stewart Smith St IvesBarbara Dufty seems to think that if we show compassion to some, it diminishes the compassion shown to others. I am also amazed that she can speak of being bullied or sexually abused as though it were no big thing.Julie Hayes AustinmerWe have seen the Government apologise to Aboriginal people over their shocking treatment. We have seen the Government apologise to the forced child migrants.I have no doubt that when refugees who came by boat have gained the language and confidence to explain how their treatment has affected them, the Government will eventually apologise for the evil of indeterminate mandatory detention, the injustice of excision, the imprisoning of children, the mental torture of temporary protection visas and, perhaps worst of all, the bribery of Indonesia to collude in preventing refugees reaching our shores.People will ask how we could have been so cruel and unfeeling. Rather than apologise in the future, why don't we stop doing wrong now?Kevin Griffith EnmorePruning results will be at local shopsGood on you, Nathan Rees. If they bring you down, you'll have my respect for having had a go at removing the bastards who hijacked the Labor Party and turned it into their plaything.I look forward to a future when the minister for health is the person most skilled at getting hospitals to treat people; when the minister for education puts the schooling of children first; and when getting a ministerial job is based on ability, rather thanyour alliance with a member of the party's (now backbench) laughing stock.Tim Beniuk Mount Saint ThomasMr Rees's reshuffle reminds me that finding the right tool for the job is hard when those you have are all blunt.Graham Newling Summer HillTripodi out. Good. Next - the metro.Richard Ratajczak Forest LodgeWe will need to watch carefully the progress of one proposed bill to see whether it is business as usual in the NSW Labor Government or not. That's the one reported on Saturday which, in the guise of creating more competition, would kill small retailing in the state, and probably do a pretty good job on farming as well ("Tripodi plan hits smaller retailers", November 14-15) .One of the big retailers panting to be let in is Wal Mart, which imports $US2 billion worth of products and produce into the United States every year. It was reported that the bill was being sponsored by Joe Tripodi and Kristina Keneally. Watch that space.John Newton GlebeBeauty that mancould not spoilJon Jenkins's assertion (Letters, November 16) that the Blue Mountains and Kosciuszko national parks are "centred around man-made dams" is absurd. These areas were magnificent long before dams were built. They are heritage listed despite the dams within them, not because of them.Both parks have magnificent areas, but both also have despoiled areas, many of which are associated with the construction and operation of the dams. The operation of dams within both areas has also caused habitat loss in areas outside the park boundaries, sometimes hundreds of kilometres downstream.I am reminded of someone who, after the controversy over the flooding of Lake Pedder, told me how magnificent the enlarged lake looked. Of course, he had never seen the original lake, and thus had no comparison. Nor did he care for the species that were lost in its flooding.Vic Hughes MacGregor (ACT)Political advice is part of the problemDraft advice prepared by a senior public servant told the Government the Tillegra Dam was in the wrong place and would not be needed for 30 years ("A dam or a smokescreen", November 17). It also revealed the blurring of the important distinction between policy and political advice.The briefing note included this observation: "Newcastle is a marginal seat after the last election and many of the people I talk to would vote for an independent who opposed the dam. I can't see what political benefit there is to the Government in the dam." Marginal seat impacts and political benefit one way or another should not feature in professional policy advice.NSW lacks a body to set, lead and encourage professional and ethical standards for the public service, and to protect public servants who act properly in accordance with those standards. The results are self-evident.Peter Timmins Potts PointWhen in church,stick to the script I am sure millions of Australians would agree with Dorothy McRae-McMahon that Joe Hockey'sgod seems much more palatable than Phillip Jensen's (Letters, November 16).Mr Hockey is free to express his views on faith and Jesus. But where they differ from the Jesus that is found in the Bible, Mr Jensen is right to point this out.Disagreeing with Mr Hockey does not imply disrespect, and Mr Jensen commends him for raising issues of faith. However, it is the job of the Christian minister to faithfully teach the message of the Bible and help others to shape their views according to its revelation - not to affirm that all views are right.Mr Jensen rightly points out that Christianity stands or falls on the person of Jesus and his sin-bearing death. Ms McRae-McMahon says truth "will always be beyond human knowledge". This is why in my own spiritual explorations I left her denomination and joined Mr Jensen's.Deborah Kellahan Castle CoveMorris Graham (Letters, November 17) appears to hold a view all too common among my fellow atheists, that if a theist (Christian or otherwise) does not conform to his preconceived notions they must not be true theists after all, never mind how many reverends say otherwise.Can non-believers not simply say: "Well, I don't believe your deity exists, but I can get behind his ideas of love and brotherhood"? With so much religious intolerance, must we invent imagined intolerance on top of that?William Grieve Lawson
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald