Des Houghton: Which statue will activists want to topple next?

As a statue of Winston Churchill gets boarded up in London to protect it from attacks by radicals who want to tear it down, Des Houghton questions which local monuments may also be targeted.

WHEN I lived in London, I admired the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square. There he was. staring down defiantly, just as he inspired the nation to stare down the fascist ideology of Adolf Hitler.

The statue is a tourist attraction, and much more. So I was baffled to learn it was being boarded up to protect it from attacks by radicals who want to tear it down.

Boarding was placed around a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in London to protect it from activists during an anti-racism rally. Picture: Yui Mok/PA via AP

Ever since the statue of Bristol merchant Edward Colston was torn down and thrown into the harbour, because of his connections to slavery, the hunt is on for more statues to topple.

Statues of Captain Cook are not safe.

Anti-racism campaigners now want to tear down statues of Charles Dickens on the grounds he caricatured black people in his novels.

Where will this end?

Will the glorious statue of Wally Lewis at Lang Park be toppled because he once swore at a referee? I certainly hope not.

FARMERS PAY FOR GREEN BIAS

I WATCHED an interesting debate in state parliament this week that confirmed my suspicions that the Labor Party has no intention to cease its war against farmers.

I wonder whether the boffins in the Tower of Power know where milk comes from or the sugar they stir into their cappuccinos?

Labor hit sugar cane farmers and graziers again when it voted down a move by the LNP to allow parliament to vet decisions by unelected George St bureaucrats who can issue environmental edicts telling farmers 1000km away how to run their properties.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Tony Perrett said current laws were a “stitch-up” pitting farmers against the Government.

“The Reef Act is one of the most egregious examples of this Government’s desperation to be in lock step with the wishes of radical environmental activists,” he said.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Tony Perrett

Perret said farmers and primary producers were responsible custodians of the land and were deeply involved in protecting ecosystems and biodiversity. He said Labor was pandering to a green agenda. The Palaszczuk Government had rushed through legislation giving more power to bureaucrats. That breached fundamental legislative principles.

I agree.

“The parliament has no way to debate, amend or reject these provisions. A huge part of these laws is now in the hands of the unelected bureaucracy and the executive,” Perrett said.

“They have been removed from parliamentary scrutiny. Imposing methodologies and mapping instead of preserving them in subordinate legislation is a blatant example of this Government’s active disdain for the parliament and parliamentary scrutiny.

“It also highlights the Government’s overwhelming contempt for farmers and regional communities.”

Member for Gregory Lachlan Millar reminded the House of LNP efforts to protect the Reef.

It was the LNP that increased penalties for environmental harm of the Reef to $3.5 million.

It was the LNP that banned oil and gas exploration on the entire Great Barrier Reef and it was the Nationals that declared the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park that allowed World Heritage listing.

Millar told the House it was the Labor Party under Anna Bligh that planned to super-size the port of Abbot Point.

“In what would have been an act of environmental vandalism, Labor planned to dump 38 million cubic metres of dredge spoil on top of the Reef. Fortunately, the LNP was elected in time to fix Labor’s mess, scaling back the proposed port.’’

IN THE DARK OVER ETU POWER LINK

A RECENT press release from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Minister for Training and Skills Shannon Fentiman heralded a $17 million investment in a Renewable Energy Training facility.

Member for Burleigh Heads Michael Hart told parliament the project was run by Electrogroup, “which is owned by the ETU”. Why was that fact omitted from the press release, I wonder?