An Inner West Mum’s letter to Anthony Albanese

“Dear Mr Albanese, my name is Nicola, I’m a business owner and a mother, I live in Dulwich Hill.
I’m terribly worried, as are all of the local parents and other friends I speak to. We are terrified actually. We are so depressed about the situation it deeply affects our ability to carry on our everyday lives. And because of this we are furious at the silence and inaction of the government. We can’t believe the tone deaf comments we keep hearing coming out of parliament and from the politicians in the media. We can’t believe the silence on the immediate and urgent issues facing us. We can’t believe the abdication of responsibility. We are aghast that nothing is being done. The most immediate, the most pressing, the most important, the issue that is going to affect us and our children and their children, is the environment. The climate problems. THE AIR WE ARE BREATHING. The water running low and filled with ash. The droughts and fires. It is all linked, anyone with a nose on their face can see this but nobody is talking about it! Nobody in power is doing or saying anything of note. Scott Morrison is frankly despised by anyone I speak to, and by association so is everyone else in power. And this is because of the reasons I said above, people are terrified, they hear silence and see inaction and they feel helpless and angry. It seems very short-sighted on the part of the government to ignore so willfully these very real concerns.
I would have thought that even a capitalist system with a 3-year government term that lends itself to short-sighted decisions would realise that taking action on these immediate problems could only do themselves a favour! Angry, helpless, hopeless feeling people are not going to vote for you!
Instead what we have got is a government that insists on promoting foolhardy enterprises such as the Murray-Darling water management system and the Adani mine, rather than following the excellent example of our cousins in Germany and England who have successfully, or are in the process of, successfully transitioning over to clean energy *while* taking care of all the families and workers affected by this change in industry and income. On the other side of it we have funding cuts to fire services, and insulting aid offers such as 2-year loans for farmers, and no attempt to manage the agriculture and Forestry Industries in ways that synergise with our natural environment rather than raping and depleting it. The whole system is up the creek and nobody is taking a step back and going “hang on we need to make some big changes.” We the little people, down here in the everyday lives, we can see it. Why can’t you?
For decades the populace has felt squashed between a rock and a hard place not knowing whether to choose Liberal or Labour because both parties are so environmentally short-sighted and apparently willfully ignorant. I don’t know if parliament realises that most of us hate the government because of these. We wish for a leader with the vision and the far sightedness of Jacinda Ardern. Right now I think I’d even rather live in the UK for all their political Quagmire, at least they are forward-thinking enough to take affirmative action in turning their Society around from a resource gobbling monster into an earth friendly system.

Mr Albanese, please, this is what we need:

1. Land management that allows for fire prevention measures to be taken in line with indigenous practices
2. Agricultural practises that promote the health of the environment.
E.g. Not clearing things so drastically that everything dries out, the topsoil blows away, etcetera. So this includes practices that shares mixing livestock and plants in Fields in a more holistic system, again I think we need to speak to the indigenous people to learn more about how to do this an environmentally healthy way. But also it is plain that we need to stop planting water intensive crops such as rice and cotton. Promote crops such as hemp etc. Stop industrialized meat farming and improve conditions for the animals which will in turn benefit the environment.
Clearly some of these things are going to take a large turn-around of existing systems that have been in place for decades . that’s probably why people are afraid to do it. But it has to be done!
And very very relevant to this topic, is, for god sake please start looking after the farmers! People are committing suicide out there because they are getting no support or assistance from the government. This idea that you guys are going to give Farmers a loan for 2 years to help them get their farm back on track is an absolute joke. If I was a farmer I would have wanted drive off a cliff at that news. As a business owner, I know that that kind of assistance is no assistance at all. Please, you have to take care of these people, they are losing everything and it is not ok to sit back and let it happen.

(I’m not an agriculturalist or environmentalist, but I am educated and I have sense. If I can think of this, then people who really know about these things could do a much better job . But those people seem to be hamstrung by the agendas and the selfishness of the politicians. Funny how Jacinda Ardern does not seem to suffer the same ailment. Yeah, you do detect a note of bitterness. We are all bitter down here.)

3. Aggressively close down fossil fuel production. Aggressively replace all fossil fuels with clean energy. The British politicians have already torn us to shreds for our failure in this area and you guys and government should be utterly ashamed of this failure. Why, why the actual fuck nothing has been done in this area before now is a complete mystery.
This is a national embarrassment on the global stage.

4. Aggressively decrease plastic production, AND aggressively promote recycling and reusing. The amount of waste being produced is out of control, literally out of control. The fact that landfill is such a large industry is alarming and another blight on the environment. Countries in Scandinavia have gotten their production and recycling industries successfully managing this. Why can’t we? We are every bit as smart as the Scandinavians and we have more resources to draw upon so come on people get it happening.

5. While I’m at it I cannot sign off without mentioning that the attacks being handed out to regular ordinary Australians are outrageous at the moment. The funding cuts to Indigenous domestic violence victims, Medevac abolition, the funding cuts to the Arts as well as the government department being axed, the complete farce of the NDIS, the Newstart Fiasco, it is not to be borne, Mr Albanese. We do not live in a developing country, this is not a second world nation. Mind you the global shame of the way we have treated people on Manus island and in the refugee centres is beyond disgusting, it is equivalent to a war crime and politicians should be tried in a UN court for these crimes. How can these outrages be allowed?

Ordinary Australians are becoming more and more distressed at the apparent fascism of our government. Please show us that you are listening. Please show us that democracy can work.

Please, Mr Albanese, take action on at least my first four points and please raise the issues mentioned in my 5th Point with your relevant colleagues.
There is no time to lose now. The inaction and mismanagement of decades is punishing us all right now. This is urgent. URGENT.
Thank you for your time and I hope to hear back from you very soon. What would be better though, is simply to see the evidence of some of these changes in action.
Yours most fervently, Nicola”

If you would like to write to Anthony Albanese here is his email address: A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au

Other useful links and contacts:

1. Online contact form for Scott Morrison, PM: here.

2. Online contact form for Sussan Ley, Minister for Environment: here.

3.Email Minister.McKenzie@agriculture.gov.au

4. Online contact form for: David Littleproud, Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management: here.
Or email at: Minister.Littleproud@agriculture.gov.au

5. Email for Michael McCormack, Deputy PM and Nationals leader: email: michael.mccormack.mp@aph.gov.au

NSW STATE

6. Premier: https://www.nsw.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-premier/
Or email: willoughby@parliament.nsw.gov.au

7. Barilaro, Deputy Premier & Head of Nationals: contact@deputypremier.nsw.gov.au