Leadership is setting the example
My heart goes out to the survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church. Congratulations to you all for bringing the Royal Commission this far. In the knowledge that key senior witnesses will not be attending, it shows there is little goodwill in the church regarding these victims, as yet again they have been let down by the Catholic hierarchy. I guess we all knew from the get-go that The Cardinal and The Bishop would not appear, but we hoped.
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I can't begin to know how the survivors can deal with this, but I hope you can know how much better you are than these men who hide behind robes and regalia and all sorts of excuses. If the Church wont to "face the music" via its senior clergy, then the survivors must personally find the strength to rise above the Church's weakness.
The emotions they have had to deal with thus far are not easy ones: betrayal is well known in the field of humanity as one of the most difficult emotions to overcome, let alone all the others that go with it, and betrayed they have been, over and over, of the very worst kind. And still it goes on. If the Cardinal and the former bishop felt true compassion, they would put their survivors ahead of themselves. Similar to what a parent will do for their child. I have given up on Pell and Mulkearns and can only hope there are enough compassionate and honest priests to stand up and lead the Catholic Church to a better future.
To the survivors of the abuse what can one say? All the words have been said! However, please feel the love and support that is in your town for your courage and honesty throughout this ordeal. The Lord said, "Beware of false prophets", Matthew 7:15. How can a little child know who the "false prophets" are, when even adults have been fooled?
LORRAINE COLLISHAW, Newington
broader costs than those in the bill
Geoff Rundell and I have shared our points of view on the pricing of water and sewerage services as provided by Central Highlands Water. I'd like to broaden the discussion on the issue of charging for the provision of water to include the supply of water from the environment and the costs we impose on the environment as a result.
The environment does not charge for the water it provides - it comes from the sky, the waterways and the ground for free. What isn't free but is not charged for is the environmental cost imposed on the environment as a result of diverting water from the environment for human consumptive use; i.e.: the adverse effects imposed on aquatic and riparian (river bank) ecosystems, the adverse impact on estuaries and wetlands due to altered flow regimes and the loss of water for downstream users. Identifying 'environmental costs' and their being factored into pricing polices for the supply of water are matters that have been debated for decades between environmentalists, ecologists, water policy planners and water authorities.
As the environment does not vote, water has continued to be supplied 'for free' from the environment. This is not to say that local water authorities have not carried out extensive works to improve the conditions of local catchments, often degraded due to past land clearing, mining and agricultural activities. Notwithstanding these efforts, the Moorabool River, for example, is regarded as the most environmentally degraded river in Victoria, due to how much of its flow is diverted to Ballarat and Geelong.
If we as a community were serious about proper accounting for the cost of providing water to ourselves, the charges levied would likely be much higher than they are currently - may be even twice as high; at which level they would be, in my view, very good value, if leading to further improvements to the environmental conditions of our catchments and more efficient use of our 'free' water resources.
Hedley Thomson Canadian