[Peakoil-announce] letter in yesterday's Age

[Jenny Goldie]

A moral vacuum 
September 21, 2010 
A moral vacuum
I'M OF German heritage. Both my parents grew up in Nazi Germany and were profoundly affected by World War II.

I have also watched both of them die before my eyes, my mother from cancer just a few weeks ago.

I know exactly what it is like to watch a loved family member and close friend die in pain. Given that my first birthday without her was just Sunday, my grief is still fresh. Many others who oppose euthanasia ''reform'' have similar experiences.

Anyone who thinks that democracy can be utilised to decide on the right to live has obviously not thought about how that power can be abused, nor that it is already abused in places where euthanasia laws have been relaxed. The problem is that the dead don't complain if they didn't want to die.

What is most frightening is that we have a prime minister who has no understanding of this, nor of the logic that democracy itself assumes the right to life as a given, so to vote on this issue is already an act that is logically inconsistent.

That we should even consider blundering towards an abhorrent moral vacuum like this again and attach the debate by inference to a good ''conscience'' borders on the most profound of evils.

Mark Rabich, Heathmont



A decision for adults
WHY do those who oppose choice in dying refer to conventions and then usually Nazis, but never the actual suffering and actual wishes of those who would be affected by this 21st century legislation?

Why do they always talk about the hypotheticals, rather than the facts, such as the successful implementation of physician-assisted dying legislation in places such as Oregon and Washington?

Dying with dignity is not an esoteric argument: it's about competent adults deciding on their own medical care. They shouldn't be forced to suffer by the comfortable armchair philosophers. Everyone should have rights over their own bodies, particularly this last right.

Janine Truter, The Basin



Minority is rising
IN REPLY to Barbara Weeber (Letters, 20/9), this is the very reason that euthanasia should not be legalised. Who decides how lucid an elderly or sick person is before they are given access to life-taking drugs? There have been and would be instances of depressed or senile relatives led to committing suicide with no protection from the law.

There would be pressure on hospitals and nursing homes to ''rationalise'' their budgets and decide who deserves to live and who must die for the common good. There is a radical group lobbying for change in legislation. We must not allow the minority to decide for the majority of Australians.

Helen Leach, Bendigo



Deprived of liberty
ALICE Woolven (Letters, 20/9) cites Article 3 of the UN Charter of Human Rights in her argument against euthanasia: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

In an ideal world, nobody would be deprived of their life against their wishes, but the death sentence continues in many UN member nations, including the United States. Imprisonment denies millions of their liberty, as do laws against euthanasia, which deprive desperate people of their right to end their life at a time of their own choosing.

John Arthur Goodwin, Mentone

A good guide is one who is accredited
AS A member of the Professional Tour Guide Association of Australia for 20 years, I am always pleased at the possibility of increased tourism, in this case from China (''Major airline targets Australia for massive Chinese tourist boom'', The Age, 20/9).

However, steps need to be taken to ensure that every tourist coming here has a memorable and accurate experience, not one tainted by what Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson calls rogue operators ripping off tourists on forced shopping tours.

Another problem that needs to be addressed urgently is the use by the Chinese and other nationalities of accompanying guides, who are inexperienced and generally unpaid.

Those who are unpaid rely on tips, commissions and kickbacks, making the task of rogue operators that much simpler. Because they lack local knowledge, more often than not the tour experience is inadequate and not what it should be.

The minister needs to look at accreditation - proof of experience and local knowledge among other things - for tour guides if he is fair dinkum about making Australia a destination to be remembered. We are one of the few countries that does not have accreditation and it is helping fuel unhappy experiences for people and countries we need to keep on impressing.

Helen Wilms, Prahran



Lost under the city
THE so-called regional rail link project is hugely overpriced compared with other similar projects (Kenneth Davidson, Comment, 20/9). Once again an over-specified project would blot up funding that could extend Melbourne's rail network, which has not been extended in 80 years.

Now the transport establishment seems to have decided, behind closed doors, that the north-south line under the CBD, Parkville and St Kilda Road is next cab off the rank of expensive but not particularly useful projects in terms of the overall utility of the suburban rail system, which still does not service many newer suburbs.

The nearly 2.5 kilometres between Flinders Street and the planned Domain underground stations would make much of the St Kilda Road office/residential precinct beyond walking distance from Domain station.

That means a tram journey awaits users after an extra underground journey, surely reducing the attractiveness of the underground service. For most, interchanging to a tram at Flinders Street Station, as now, would remain a more attractive option.

A major St Kilda Road tram or light rail upgrade would be much cheaper and more usable.

John McPherson, Collingwood



Old idea, new issues
THE fast train project needs a dose of reality. It will be hugely expensive to build because it will need grade separations for every road, continuous fences to avoid animals and advanced safety equipment, on top of the massive costs of land acquisition.

Passenger predictions are ''finger in the wind'' notions of business traffic, but typically that's only morning and evening peaks. Where will the hundreds of passengers be found at other hours of the day, especially when flying between Melbourne and Brisbane will still be faster?

The project assumes increased urban populations and that there will be no advance in electronic business communications such as video-conferencing. But both assumptions are uncertain.

It's a foolish attempt to solve an uncertain 2050 problem with today's technology.

John McLean, Croydon



Big business doesn't want to wear the cap
DOES not pragmatic self-interest lie behind the post-election enthusiasm for a carbon tax by BHP Billiton head Marius Kloppers (''Minister says business wants to dodge carbon price row'', The Age, 18/9)?

In the new paradigm, the tax route seems the least-cost option for big business.

The setting of a carbon tax and any variation in its size would be at the whim of the co-operative efforts, or lack thereof, of both houses of Parliament. So don't wait for the impost on business to be sufficiently large to do more than put a green veneer on polluting production habits.

Isn't Kloppers really trying to avoid the introduction of a cap-and-trade market mechanism, like Labor's now sadly critically endangered carbon pollution reduction scheme?

A cap would actually enforce a limit on businesses' greenhouse gas emissions. More worrying for the likes of Kloppers, a cap causes automatic and ongoing increases in the price of carbon, in response to economic growth driving up demand for the limited rights to emit.

Hopefully, the green movement is savvy enough to see through the cunning ways of big business.

Ilan Salbe, Lawson, NSW



Simply clueless
IF VICTORIAN Nationals leader Peter Ryan wants to save country towns, he needs to do more than advocate higher immigration (''Nationals chief in immigration push'', The Age, 20/9).

There need to be tax incentives and job opportunities for migrants to head for country towns, rather than stay in Melbourne. Maybe in the near future, when the price of oil pushes up the cost of food, many will head to the country to grow their own, providing there's enough water. But with climate change, who knows?

Do any of our leaders have a clue about the implications of climate change and of peak oil? I think not, otherwise they would not be advocating massive population increases for this country.

Jenny Goldie, Michelago, NSW