We need to open our eyes to suffering offshore
I WONDER why it is that the plight of refugees and asylum seekers imprisoned indefinitely both offshore and within Australia is virtually ignored by your paper.
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It appears to be policy to keep their suffering as a deadly secret from Australians, aside from government policy to demonise and dehumanise them at every turn.
We have a federal government minister who tries to persuade Australians that asylum seekers are all potential terrorists, both illiterate and innumerate, who if they did manage to get to Australia, would take "Australian jobs". (How illiterate and innumerate people would manage to achieve this says a lot about the minister’s agenda.)
People here in the Central Tablelands are generous, kind-hearted and always ready to assist someone in vulnerable circumstances.
It is deeply insulting that they are presented as otherwise by the government and mainstream media, and that the inhumanity and mental torture meted out to asylum seekers is maintained as a state secret to the best of the government's ability.
A book of collected stories has been published, They Cannot Take The Sky, in which courageous young prisoners tell their stories of years of internment. It should be required reading to inform Australians of how other human beings are wilfully treated by this government.
I'm aware of "the deal" made between the government and President Obama regarding a way of getting refugees out of offshore detention. Now that Trump is president, "intense questioning" will no doubt result in few of them being accepted, given the preferences of President Trump.
Humanity trampled upon once again.
Elizabeth Chandler, Napoleon Reef
Looking for descendants of William Lee of Molong
I AM a direct descendant of William Lee (1794-1870), through his son James, and live in Molong, where his “Larras Lake” was the first grant in this district, in 1832, which is still owned by our family.
William is my great-great-grandfather and I would very much like to hear from any other of his descendants, with the possibility of meeting at Bathurst or Kelso.
I have often visited the Pioneer Cemetery at Kelso, and proudly take guests there to see some of our history.
I can be contacted on lml41@bigpond.com or 0459 160 177 (AH).
Leslie Lee
Don’t worry about the new Kelso roundabout
CONGRATULATIONS to all concerned regarding the Kelso highway upgrade. It is a fine example of modern civil infrastructure, completed in a timely manner under very trying circumstances.
Much has been written concerning the closure of the Lee Street rail crossing and how the roundabout will perform at Littlebourne Street.
The rail crossing was only ever an interim measure, and it achieved its objective of relieving traffic while the Littlebourne Street roundabout was being constructed.
Will this roundabout perform adequately? Of course it will. Even at peak AM and PM demands, the two sets of traffic lights either side of this intersection will regulate traffic, so that traffic travelling in any direction will have minimal delays. I dare say this roundabout will perform even better than the current Brilliant/Stewart roundabout.
Now that the eastern entrance to Bathurst is much improved, it is time that the authorities, ie council and Roads and Maritime Services, do something about the proliferation of the illegal temporary advertising signage that is regularly appearing on the roadside verge, particularly coming down the hill from Raglan and from the Bunnings traffic lights toward the river.
They are a blight on the landscape, and I am certain that they do not have any approval to be there.