Dear editor,
Low to medium-income households and businesses, large and small, have been experiencing a well-publicised and financially crippling cost-of-living crisis, during a time of minimal wage growth and reduced business revenue, for a number of years now.
High electricity charges, increased mortgage repayments, growing rental costs, spiralling food and commodity prices, and ever-increasing fees are all clearly identifiable indicators that have had, and continue to have, a significant impact on the daily lives of many low to middle-income Australians.
During this period, much has been written and reported about our chronic situation, a range of assistance packages and support programs have been promised, politicians and social leaders have regularly expressed their deep sympathy and genuine concern for our predicament, and yet the situation continues to be endured and experienced.
‘Power CEO’s $6.7m pay day’ (The Advertiser, September 1) provides further evidence of how far out of touch some sections of our community are with the reality of how some of us are being affected daily by this cost-of-living crisis.
At the same time regular media reports highlighting our federal government’s $15.8 billion surplus, record profits for electricity and energy retailers, substantial profits for banks, exorbitant salaries and perks for CEOs of government and private entities and extravagant spending on questionable items, seem to continue unabated, without any semblance of recognition or acknowledgement that there is a clear disparity between ‘them and us’.
It is time for our leaders, both government and private enterprise, to have a reality check and take immediate action to redress this imbalance, rather than continuing to pay lip service to it.
Ian Macgowan, Ceduna
Cruise ships and algae
Dear editor,
Firstly, and very importantly, type into your search bar ‘images of cruise ships dumping effluent into ocean waters’.
This practice is happening every day and the required distance from the shoreline is only three nautical miles – that’s just the horizon you can see when you’re down on the beach.
Mixed in with the poop and urine from up to 4000 people and crew onboard is a massive amount of the chemicals that are used to clean up every day.
If you go to a sewerage treatment works you will see the same froth there.
SA is probably considered as a better place to empty holding tanks instead of off Port Phillip Bay or Sydney.
Each ship holds up to about one million litres. If there’s a small toxic algae outbreak that would probably disappear without doing any harm then it won’t affect the natural environment.
However, if these ships are dumping the nutrients that the algae is feeding off and has now become an unnatural disaster, then someone needs to expose the culprits.
What Sarah Hanson-Young is saying is that it’s because of fossil fuels heating the planet. Partly, possible but maybe not linked to the SA algae bloom.
I chose to write to this newspaper because of the connection to the coast and fishing industries.
I think most people are in the dark about the fact that these massive floating sewerage discharging ships have to empty their tanks regularly and because they are over the horizon and out of sight, then nobody is connecting them with the algae bloom.
They probably empty tanks at night.
I hope that you can see that there can be nothing good coming from the practice and the sheer number of cruise ships operating off the coast means the environment will pay a big price.
I think that it’s time that this practice was brought from out of sight and on to the front pages of a newspaper.
I hope after viewing the pictures online that it’s something that needs to be reported on, the public has a right to know what their seafood and prawns are feeding on.
Tony Tedd, Kempsey (NSW)
Reach out this Dementia Action Week
Dear editor,
Dementia doesn’t just impact the person living with the condition and their immediate carers – it also impacts their family, friends and wider social network.
With an estimated 433,300 Australians living with dementia and 1.7 million people involved in their care, chances are you know someone who is impacted by dementia.
People living with dementia tell us that friends and family often drop away, not knowing how to interact with them once they have a diagnosis.
That’s why this Dementia Action Week (September 15-21) we are challenging everyone in the community to reach out and reconnect to someone impacted by dementia because nobody can do it alone.
For some practical ideas about how to reconnect, visit dementia.org.au/dementiaactionweek
For support any time, please contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Merran Kelsall, Dementia Australia chairperson, and Ann Pietsch, Dementia Australia advisory committee chairperson
