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Readers Write: You tell us your views and your comments

By Readers Write - posted Monday, 4 October 2004

Latest feedback indicates to us that some in the community are still gnawing away at the vexed issue of politics and morality. But ….is there any more meat on the bone? …. Or was there ever any real meat on the bone?

Dr. Jennifer Mahrosay says the ones pontificating loudest are the biggest hypocrites of all. She writes:

“According to Graham Young in An electorate divided and entrenched: a tripartite dilemma for Australian politicians those likely to vote Green in the imminent federal election are most concerned about ‘the morality of government and our society’.

“Yet the environmentalists who set the Green Agenda in Australia tell arguably the biggest lies. These lies tend to be accepted by those with a more detailed knowledge of the issues - those who write the green policy documents - on the basis that they elicit sympathy for a just cause.

“A whopper features in the policy document jointly endorsed and launched in August by the Wilderness Society, Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation. Titled The Environmental Challenge: Saving our Forests, our Rivers our Climate (pdf file 500kb) the document outlines the policies that these environmental groups regard as the ultimate test of the environmental credentials of a political party.

“The document purports to define the situation in the Murray River thus: ‘The once mighty Murray River is dying. On current trends, Adelaide’s drinking water from the Murray River will be too salty to drink two days out of five by 2020’.

“Yet the official statistics from the Murray Darling Basin Commission for the key site of Morgan - a site just upstream from the offshoots for Adelaide’s water supply - show salt levels have in fact halved over the last 20 years. The situation is clearly one of improvement rather than deterioration...

“The three large Environmental Organizations have in fact used the term ‘current trends’ deceptively - in fact fraudulently. The prediction that the water would be too salty to drink in 2020 was a forecast from a computer model made in 1988 that has since proven incorrect."

Bob Patterson (Qld.) believes it’s up to our leaders to set an example on ethical behaviour and this is not being done - he points to “child-molesting clergy”, politicians displaying nepotism and CEOs taking “obscene” salaries. Nor are ethics being taught in schools. Future leaders, says Patterson, are happy for their elitist schools to take “un-needed” money from governments. “Any ethics in current society are just left over from the past…”

Maybe from 2004 years ago, according to Jeannine Baird (NSW) who seeks to remind Tim Costello - in verse - that Jesus “was a Leftie”…

“It’s time for an election.
It’s time for us to choose.
We’d like to have a leader who
Would walk in Jesus’ shoes.
But when I think about the loaves and fish
And the thousands that he fed,
I think if he were hear (sic) today,
They’d call Jesus “red”.

CHORUS:
Jesus is no right-wing man.
He’s left, he’s left, you see!
So into social justice
That He died for you and me.
Christian pollies, Christian voters
Asking “What Would Jesus Do?”
Open up your Bibles!
Read the Gospels! Then go to!

If you seek asylum,
If you’re a refugee,
Jesus says to you, “If you need rest,
Then come to me.”
Jesus loved “boat people”!
Some were his closest friends.
It’s people like our refugees
Lord Jesus would defend.

If you’re a Christian NIMBY, if you’re from the Bible belt,
The Hills may be alive,
But millions more deserve your help.
Come out of your McMansions,
See them through the eyes of Christ,
It’s the Peter from the Gospels
Who can point their way to life.

So this time on Election Day,
Don’t just vote for you.
Vote so Jesus’ justice
In this world can shine right through.
God’s sovereign! So don’t fear
High tax, high int’rest, terror strikes.
“Don’t worry” says Lord Jesus.
So you’re free to not vote right!”

Brian Manning, (NT), says it’s not up to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to sign us up for wars - it should be the decision of a joint sitting of Parliament.

The debate about whether Australia should be involved in the Iraq War has prompted David Mason to write about his experiences as a “chocko” during the Vietnam War - he joined up with the CMF as an alternative to call-up for National Service and would be interested in discussing this with others in similar circumstances. He writes….

“...[the] epithet, ‘Chocko’, referred to a term of abuse applied to World War 11 recruits who chose to limit their involvement to the direct defence of Australia, as part of the Australian Military Force, as opposed to the Australian Imperial Force, which served in the Middle East. Ironically, it was the Chockos who first went into action against the Japanese in New Guinea, after the defeat of the 8th AIF Division in Malaya, and before the Middle Eastern forces returned to Australia…

“While we have often been denigrated for taking the CMF option, the fact is, from the point of view of the conscripts in my position, we were effectively part of the Army’s formation, and were available for use by the government at any time. I feel that there needs to be some vindication of former CMF conscripts from a military standpoint, rather than dismissing us as draft dodgers who were either treacherous, cowardly, or criminal, or maybe all three for good measure”.

If you want to contact David about his experiences or yours send an email to submissions@onlineopinion.com.au and we will forward it on to him.