I AM a Huon Valley resident. On Monday I will have a lovely tea and cake party exactly 100 metres from Premier Paul Lennon’s office building in Hobart (the Murray St end of Parliament lawn).
Yesterday (Thursday), I was arrested for trespass inside the Premier’s building as I attempted to speak to the Premier about the connection between asthma and regeneration burns.
I was accompanied by my 12 year old daughter Sophie who told police: “Me and my little sister get asthma and are affected by these burns, and seeing as grown ups will not stick up for us, I am here to stick up for us myself”.
I was later released and bailed to appear at the Hobart Court of Petty Sessions in May, under the condition that I must not go within 100 metres of the Premier’s building before then. Breaking those conditions would result in immediate arrest and being remanded in custody for a possible five weeks till the court appearance.
The tea party will be a sort of gentle send off as I cut the 100 metre radius ribbon and walk through, thereby breaking those conditions in an attempt to try and highlight the issue further, and secure a healthier future for not just my own daughters, but for all Tasmanians.
One in five Tasmanians have asthma, and one in ten adults. The State Government is on one hand telling us about the problems of burning wood, see article; http://www.deh.gov.au/atmosphere/airquality/publications/woodsmoke.html whilst on the other it sanctions wholesale air pollution from regeneration burns. Once a company is issued with a fire permit, it is automatically exempt from all air quality regulations, no matter how large the fire.
Our valleys are once again filled with dangerous wood smoke
One of Tasmania’s leading respiritory specialists, James Markos, signed off the following article in Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=15636 It says that “Air pollution from wood smoke places additional pressure on the Foundation (Asthma) and Tasmania’s healthcare system”.
Disability Online (a Victorian information service), tells us that “There is no safe level of woodsmoke”.
http://www.disability.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Wood_fires_and_breathing_problems?OpenDocument
Aurora, the Tasmanian government’s own energy provider says much the same thing at; http://www.auroraenergy.com.au/environment/airquality/aq_healthrisks.html
Community health continues to take a back seat, as our valleys are once again filled with dangerous wood smoke, as it will be on and off for the next two months.
Sophie and her little sister Ruby are both on Forestry Tasmania’s asthma alert list (Ruby has been hospitalised many times with her condition and uses a nebuliser at the moment). This list is to give people a warning of the next day’s burns in their area, so that they can be extra vigilant. Twice last year she was not warned, and out of the three days burning that affected her home this year, three times she has not been warned.
This shows that the whole issue is off the government’s radar. It is now left for all concerned people to help where they can in raising awareness of this issue”.
I will go off to be remanded in custody for standing up on an issue that should have been sorted by Government years ago.
