Dave
And … there’s more. And there’s …
A letter to the editors of UK newspapers …
THIS is my first letter to your publication and with your no doubt busy workload, I’ll keep this as brief as possible.
I write out of desperation for the dire situation we find foisted upon us.
I have lived in Tasmania since 2002, coming from Sydney, New South Wales, to escape the fury of this city of five million people.
Settled in Launceston in Northern Tasmania, I have been involved in an assessment process that the government has turned by stealth into an “approvals” process for a chlorine based Kraft pulp mill, one of the biggest on the planet, to be sited on the banks of the Tamar River on a block of land the size of Gibraltar.
Community debate stifled, their submissions ignored and the negative impacts of the mill discounted, this flawed paradigm has been pushed forward with millions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds, like a steamroller over all and sundry. Even our medical associations’ warnings have been ignored.
Our State Government even set up an organisation to promote this private venture; meanwhile our health and education systems are collapsing due to lack of funding.
A State Business Enterprise (Forestry Tasmania) actually lost $55 million dollars (₤ 25 million) last year by basically giving Tasmania’s iconic forests away to the woodchippers.
A few days ago around 400 family people illegally crossed an “exclusion” zone in public forest deep in the Florentine Valley, bordered on three sides by World Heritage Area, to see for themselves the savage rape that is perpetrated on our public forests.
Community marches against the mill proposal through our town have attracted crowds in excess of 10,000 people.
Launceston is a city with a population about half that of Bournemouth and crowds of this size gridlock the entire CBD, yet the only response from politicians is a labelling of all as the “Greenie anti everything brigade”.
Truth is most are just mums and dads and are workers from all walks of life including doctors, systems analysts, firemen, vignerons, farmers and even lawyers.
This diabolical concept needs to be scrapped and our ancient carbon dense forests need to be kept safe from the chainsaws.
Our native wildlife that is openly poisoned with 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) needs protection as do our vital waterways and catchments.
Please help us,
Sincerely,
Dave Groves
South Launceston TAS 7249.
