Canberra Matters

CANBERRA MATTERS How hard does voting for greenery have to be?

ON World Environment Day, June 5, the Canberra Liberals committed to planting one million trees over the next decade if they form government following the October 17 ACT election.

On July 9 they followed up with an election commitment that all Canberra children will receive a tree on their first day of kindergarten.

The first announcement definitely caught out the Labor Party, gauging by the response from the Minister for Something Chris Steel, who came out with something silly about the Liberals’ promise not being costed (probably partly true).

Canberra’s green infrastructure has declined under the watch of this Labor/Greens government. Steel’s vacuous point scoring with nothing positive to add is a clear signal that he is happy with business as usual, that is, to continue to do very little. When it comes to each kinder child being handed a tree, did anyone in the Liberals’ think tank imagine the scene within the apartment

Canberra’s old and new suburbs have dead and dying trees and shrubbery. Along with new plantings, a future government must commit to immediately replacing the many sick and dead street trees.

living families or those in the new suburban stand-alone house that have little or no space for gardens?

Imagine the parents’ reactions when the little darling walks through the door with a potted eucalyptus. That second announcement was definitely a “worthy” sounding thought bubble that will come back to haunt the Liberals.

The Canberra Liberals will have to be far more serious about addressing the complexities of green infrastructure – not just look for opportunistic political points and headlines.

A million trees over 10 years is not a lot. Worse still is Labor’s new “Urban Forest Strategy” of planting 450,000 trees over 25 years – that’s aiming for a 30 per cent canopy cover by 2045.

Canberra’s old and new suburbs have dead and dying trees and shrubbery. Along with new plantings, a future government must commit to immediately replacing the many sick and dead street trees.

Many of the city’s open spaces are not maintained, making them targets for housing proposals from developers and Minister Yvette Berry’s dreaded social housing section (we plonk them anywhere).

If candidates want to be serious, commitments need to be made to fixing and maintaining the enormous number of run-down green spaces.

The zoning system continues to allow for developments with not enough spacing for planting trees and shrubs – resulting in a reduction of greenery across the established suburbs.

New suburban planning is a joke when considering the huge benefits of tree canopies and biodiversity.

Then there are town centres, such as Woden and Gungahlin, where high-rise developments have been unstoppable and the opportunities for green spaces reduced through the application of inadequate planning legislation and ad-hoc planning decisions.

I could go on for pages on so many elements of Canberra’s green infrastructure and biodiversity that Thirsty scene… trees in Dundas Court, Phillip.

Photo: Paul Costigan

have been neglected.

People wish for an ACT government that takes the urban environments seriously. We do not need flaky policy documents on greenery and sustainability such as those that appeared in 2019. They are an insult to the intelligence of the electorate and will achieve what they were always meant to do – very little!

It is good the Canberra Liberals are discovering the importance of trees and parks. However, voters don’t appreciate such matters being used to point score.

Time is running out for candidates going into the October election. It may be too late already, but all candidates need to demonstrate real commitments to green infrastructure, urban forests, parks and open spaces (including hands off West Basin) and the many other related greenery and biodiversity issues.

In Canberra of all places, it should not be so hard to vote for greenery.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

KINGSTON

6295 3984 www.annabelsbridal.com.au

A second opinion on hearing loss – you need professional advice, not a sales pitch

An elderly woman with hearing Recently I was told by two different loss came to my clinic for a second patients that they were quoted opinion, after she had recently $16,000 for a pair of hearing aids. been to a hearing aid sales person. This seems a ridiculous amount I found the cause of her hearing of money to pay and is most likely loss was simply the fact that she not appropriate for the majority of had build-up of wax in her ears, the people (or possibly anyone). salesperson had failed to inspect them. You might be surprised how 5. If you are a pensioner or partoften this happens! pensioner, or a DVA gold or white card holder, you should carefully Here are some things to consider if you want to use the do to avoid getting free-to-client government ripped off: “In an hearing aids or if you’d 1. A visit to the GP unregulated market like to top-up to a different hearing aid. may save you there is a lot of opportunity from being ‘sold’ something to take advantage of people. The free-to-client hearing aids are when your only Yes you have read correctly, appropriate for many problem is wax in your ears. there is no licensing of people people, however if you have great who sell hearing aids.” difficulty hearing 2. Look for background noise (for someone who is – Dr Vass example in restaurants) independent and then you might trial the can offer you unbiased top-up hearing aids, but only advice, not just give you a if you can afford them. There are sales pitch. a range of top up options and prices, if you are disappointed after a trial, you 3. There are a range of hearing aid should return them and trial the free-toprices. Finding the right hearing aid client hearing aids. might save you money and it will also give you the best chance of If you get the feeling the person success. you’re dealing with is just trying to sell you something, then take a step 4. Hearing aids can be expensive. back and get a second opinion.

Dr William Vass Suite14, John James Medical Centre, 175 Strickland Crescent, Deakin Phone: 02 6282 2717 • Email: williamvass@bigpond.com • Website: drvasshearing.com.au

OPINION / asylum seekers From Manus to a ‘hostage’ year in a hotel room

Seven years on and there are still asylum seekers taken by Australia to Manus Island and Nauru. KIRRILY JORDAN looks at how Australia turned compassion for refugees into another year of torture.

WHEN Aran* landed on Christmas Island in August 2013 he dreamt of a life of freedom in Australia, playing sport far away from the political regime that had threatened his survival.

He’d never heard of Kevin Rudd’s “19 July law” that would send all asylum seekers arriving by boat to offshore imprisonment in Manus Island or Nauru – and condemn him to indefinite detention until this day.

In a strange twist of fate it was exactly six years later, in August 2019, that he arrived in Australia for a second time. On Manus Island he had seen two of his closest friends die and sustained a serious injury that was causing chronic pain and flashbacks of trauma.

But he was now filled with hope. Under the “medevac” legislation that had come into force in May he was assessed as needing urgent medical care. Arriving back in Australia he imagined receiving the proper treatment that had never been available in PNG.

When it passed through parliament, medevac was widely celebrated as a win for compassion and decency. But today, as the remaining 600 people who were sent offshore enter their eighth year of detention, Aran looks back on that promise as a cruel joke. For almost 12 months he has been locked up inside the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne with around 70 other people sent from PNG and Nauru. Another 130 are held in hotels and detention centres elsewhere.

For Aran this is a new, cruel torture worse than Manus. “Manus was so hard and brings back hard memories, but at least we had fresh air. Now they sent us here. For the first four months we couldn’t even open the windows… Sometimes I just stay in my room three or four days with the curtains closed. We need to be able to go outside, talk to people. I feel like a hostage.”

Like many others who came under medevac, Aran claims that the medical care has been minimal.

“If you want to see a psychologist you can put in a request form. But all they do is give you pills for sleeping and pills for calming down,” he says.

“We are so sick of that, the same as Manus. I didn’t want to use that medication but I have no choice.”

It’s a similar story in other locations around Australia where medevac transferees are being detained.

In another city, Nico* has been held for more than 12 months in an immigration detention centre.

As soon as he arrived under medevac he requested an MRI and psychiatric appointment.

“I was told I had to wait like all Australians,” he said.

“When I said I’ve already been waiting six years the doctor laughed and said: ‘It’s not my problem’. After seven months I was able to get an MRI and they said its arthritis.”

Nico was able to see a physiotherapist, but those appointments have ceased during COVID-19. His neck feels no better, and he says his request for a pillow that does not cause more pain has been ignored for seven months.

Nico’s biggest problem, though, has been the worsening of his mental health. On his telling, he had to submit a complaint form before he was able to access a phone counsellor.

“But he says he can’t help me. He just says ‘Sorry, that’s a hard situation you’re in’,” said Nico.

Worse still is the way Nico says he is treated by guards.

“We get treated like criminals. For example, some of us asked to go to church. First they had to search us, the security guard touched our private parts and over our whole bodies, while another one was laughing. We were so upset,” he said.

“And then four security guards came with each person – one security holding our right arm, one holding our left arm, one a metre in front and one a metre behind. They stood there holding us the whole time… And then they searched us again on the way back in.”

The same treatment was given to Nico when he got his MRI.

“Going into the hospital all the people were looking and thinking: ‘Oh, he must be a criminal’. You don’t know what that feels like inside,” he said.

The prospects for people like Aran and Nico show no signs of improving. Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has suggested that, for many of them, it was now time to return to continued detention in PNG and Nauru.

Having attempted suicide a few weeks ago, Nico is now holding on for his wife and young son back home. Aran sees little hope: “I think if we get free we can get better step by step. But when I think about myself I think I will never be free. My only fault was that I came by boat. It’s like a mark on my forehead until I die.”

Aran, Nico and many others like them are buoyed by the knowledge that there are Australians who care. But as they enter their eighth year of detention their hopes for a compassionate Australia must seem like mirages – turning to dust as soon as they draw near.

*Names have been changed. Dr Kirrily Jordan is a political economist, visual artist and research fellow at the ANU. She has worked closely with refugees on Manus Island for several years and maintains contact with many of those still detained in Australia and PNG.

KIRRILY JORDAN

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