LETTER: Gavin Peterson was a great member of the community

I HAD the honour of knowing the late Gavin Peterson and felt privileged to be among the massive crowd attending his funeral service recently.

The late Gavin Peterson.

A special man

I HAD the honour of knowing the late Gavin Peterson and felt privileged to be among the massive crowd attending his funeral service recently.

Gavin's passing as a result of motor neurone disease took from us a man that left a mark on the local landscape - especially in his home town of Childers - through his farming involvement and community service.

Like the many hundreds of people who came along to support the family and to mourn the loss of a good man, I was captivated by the story of his life and his achievements.

His son Bruce, who farmed alongside Gavin for many years, produced a beautifully crafted and very eloquent portrayal in delivering the eulogy for his father.

Gavin was a very accomplished public speaker in his day and, with Bruce, it is obvious that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Gavin won his land, his future family farm, in a ballot when the government was opening up land in the Isis district.

Lucky number 33 came out and Gavin was a landowner.

In telling people how to get to his property Gavin would say "just keep driving until you think you've come to end of the earth - then drive a little further!”.

Farming was his passion and he was good at it.

He served on multiple industry boards and organisations before serving as a board director with the Isis Central Sugar Mill.

He went on to chair the board for five years.

Gavin maintained an interest in politics, friends, and his family and had a special love for Rotary and his home Rotary club in Childers.

Sitting at the funeral home and hearing the words and watching the pictures unfold about the life of this man and his contribution made me realise we have so many special people in this community.

People who don't seek the limelight but use their energy and God-given talents to make our communities more productive or simply better places in which to live.

I am certain the community has a deep empathy with Fay in the loss of her husband and for Bruce and his family as well as the extended family of close friends who were part of the life of a special man.

JACK DEMPSEY

Mayor

A greener, healthier future

I COULDN'T read Stephen Bennett's piece in Wednesday's Newsmail (December 21) and not respond.

I have worked with Stephen particularly on getting the Barolin Nature Reserve to fruition, but I was always aware at the same time Campbell Newman's tree clearing policy was responsible for devastating areas out of the general public's eye.

Comments he makes in his letter referring to "Labor's ideological attacks on the country's hard working men and women” on our farms is simply divisive, politically driven propaganda.

That Mr Bennett has the audacity to say to this elected government's own ministers, whom have clearly been given a mandate to govern, should stand up against their own policy regarding tree clearing is an insult.

Yet according to Mr Bennett they should stop "the proposed devastation that Labor's new tree clearing laws and vegetation management reforms will bring,” what the?

Queensland had the disgraceful title of being the planet's biggest tree clearer this year with 350,000 hectares of oxygen creating rain-producing trees gone forever.

This was allowed because a rogue Labor member, who was sacked from the party and became an independent member, actually voted with the LNP and Katter to keep Campbell Newman's tree clearing laws in place.

I wrote to that person castigating his hypocritical attitude over that.

Getting back to the environmental facts - when are people in this country going to wake up that that the air they breathe and the water they use is a shared resource?

Oxygen does not stop at your fence boundary, water does not belong to those with the most politicians in their pockets, the oceans are not there to be plundered and polluted until there is nothing left and everyone on this planet needs support for health needs, food requirements and everyday survival.

I know clever farmers and people on the land who can see the devastation their fellow farmers are doing.

They can see that uncontrolled agribusiness is polluting our air, food and water while doing all they can to promote the protection of creeks, rivers and environment.

Mr Bennett why don't you start pushing for a more organic and sustainable form of farming?

One that gives farmers the right to refuse CSG fracking on their land or in our aquifers.

One that gives organic farms protection against GM food contamination.

Why don't you actually give a damn about the long-term health of this planet and its people ahead of your political ambitions?

Come back from the dark side Stephen.

I know there is a good person inside that gives a damn about nature and its beauty.

MIKE JOHNSON

Bargara

Originally published as LETTER: Gavin Peterson was a great member of the community