Australia Day: 'Not all whities bad' says former alderman

Letter: In today's world I object to being labelled as a 'whitie' who needs to be put in my place just because I am white.

Celebrating diversity on Australia Day. Picture: Flickr

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Australia Day

DON'T forget there are many of us who just want to celebrate our day of being an Australian.

We want to appreciate what the country has become and our place in the world standing.

We are not that happy about the activists who claim they are representing us.

I grew up in large family who wanted to be friends with everybody.

I visited an auntie's farm where an Aboriginal couple lived in a tin shed in another part of the farm and I was not allowed to befriend them.

To this day I feel the injustice of that.

Australia Day is this Friday. Picture: Rhiannon Tuffield

Some years later I spent three weeks on a property where I was not allowed to have contact with a 'white' boy because he was a workman. Both episodes were snobbery at its worse.

I grew up in Brisbane and they were the days catholics and protestants hated each other.

Parents instilled bad thoughts about each group in their children's minds. And so our daily fun on the way to school past a convent was slinging ditties to insult each other.

No one bothered to get offended as they do now.

Australia Day is this Friday.

In today's world I object to being labelled as a 'whitie' who needs to be put in my place just because I am white.

I have tried to be friendly with white and black and my efforts have been appreciated by both I hope. I make conversation with everyone who looks at me - black or white.

Let hope the activists don't sway the nation and we can all get on with the important things to support each other. We 'whities' are not all bad and most of us have pulled our weight to make Australia what it is today.

Julia Lawrence O.A.M,

Gympie

Former Gympie City Council alderman Julie Lawrence. Picture: Greg Miller

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Slack Telstra service is UnAustralian

AS A result of an electrical storm on the evening of Saturday, January 13, our home landline went dead.

Telstra advised it would be fixed by 7pm on Friday, January 19, but no such luck.

Now more than a week later and despite two lengthy conversations with call centre staff on the other side of the world nothing has changed.

So far this experience is a repeat from January 2016.

It seems in 2018 Telstra thinks this is good customer service.

With the Australia Day long weekend fast approaching this is not only disgraceful but unAustralian.

Telstra - Shame Shame Shame.

I. Moore,

Tamaree

Action needed on electricity

CURRENT situation:

Electricity costs for irrigators have risen 130% over the past nine years.

Poorly structured tariffs are crippling the competitiveness of Queensland's irrigated agriculture.

Ergon's suite of network tariffs does not reflect the low cost of supplying electricity to irrigators.

Energy market reform is too slow, inflicting further cost pressures on Cane Growers and families.

Actions required:

Reduce electricity prices by 33% by taking actions such as writing down Ergon's regulated asset base by 50%.

Introduce a suite of tariffs for food and fibre production.

Establish an Agricultural Energy Council, involving all agricultural industry stakeholders in Queensland to advise State Cabinet.

Agriculture is often identified as one of the pillars of our economy and is critical food and fibre for all Queenslanders, plus a significant pool of valuable exports across the world. Without urgent and practical action on electricity prices, we risk turning this pillar of our economy into a stump.

Kerry Latter,

CEO Canegrowers

Originally published as Australia Day: 'Not all whities bad' says former alderman