Letters

Here you will find published and unpublished Letters to the Editors of metropolitan and local papers. If you have sent a letter to a newspaper and would like to contribute it to this page please send to

contact@bluewedges.org.au

Dear Editor

How did we get through six years of enquiries about a dredging project

1. By having the debate at the level of port-size-envy parochialism, instead of within the context of a national transport strategy;

2. By having the outcome privately predetermined by the government and vested interests;

3. By having an opposition also in thrall to the vested interests, and thus prepared only to nitpick;

4. By allowing the government and opposition to tacitly collude in not raising the issue through two state elections;

5. By framing the enquiries as a way to overcome political obstacles to achieving the predetermined outcome, rather than as genuine reviews of the pros and cons of neglected alternatives;

6. By having a Port Corporation interested in the Bay only as a freeway for ships, and no countervailing Bay Authority representing all its uses and users;

7. By allowing the Port Corporation to do the EES's

8. By regarding the environment as an expendable externality, rather than as fundamental to our economic, social and physical wellbeing;

9. By failing to think long term

10. By ignoring, ridiculing and vilifying the minority of alert citizens who have struggled since 2002 to raise and argue the issues.

Colin Smith St. Kilda February 2008

– including two EES's and review panels and approvals by both state and federal ministers – only to have the real debate begin as work is due to start?– which thus became special pleading for the predetermined outcome rather than independent assessments of costs and benefits;– especially, about the implications of climate change and peak oil;

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Letters

Here you will find published and unpublished Letters to the Editors of metropolitan and local papers. If you have sent a letter to a newspaper and would like to contribute it to this page please send to

WRITE TO US! If you would like to do so, then please put LETTER TO BLUE WEDGES as the subject title. Send it to contact@bluewedges.org. Please include your name, address and phone number, as is the usual practice. A word limit of 200 words will apply, as will our right to edit, publish or withhold.