Dear Editor,

I have read almost every word in the July issue.  The Editorial about the Council dictatorship is brilliant.  Even those who may not have cared for the old regime and thought the old Council hopeless may agree that at least we had people to whom we could complain.  As with all democracy we get the representatives we elect and deserve.  Now we don’t even have democracy, and if it is true that the Nationals are going to run a secret ticket claiming that the candidates are “independent” we shall be no better off than we are now.  After all it was the National coalition who destroyed the three local Councils and our water company, and appointed one of their own at our expense.

On the back page is Heather McLaughlin’s letter about your great paper and I agree with every word.

Then Peter Epov has set the pages alight.  He and I have had our polite differences in the past but I share every idea he has written.  Much of it consists of thoughts I have had myself, but I have never seen them expressed so clearly before, and doubt that I could have done.  His account of the sale of our land to the Chinese is appallingly accurate, and frightening.  He rightly says that we may have the ability to feed the world.  Nothing could be more important than food when so many are starving, and will, the way things are going, lead to more and more immigration, and eventually war.  What Peter does not say is that with our farms in Chinese hands we shall be hard pressed to feed ourselves, since when trouble comes they will not feed us, but themselves.

He is right, too that Australian land and resources should belong properly to Australian people.  However, the greed of the rich and powerful takes no heed of that.  Are politicians and the rich to be deprived of some of their wealth by new laws that treat the Chinese and other foreigners the way their laws treat our efforts to buy land abroad.  Such laws here would reduce the value of the assets of the rich by excluding the richest buyers from the market.  Take an example: which politician would pass a law that prevented Gina Rinehart from selling her land and rights to the Chinese if she wished to do so?

Peter’s article proves that Karl Marks was right when he wrote that capitalism would destroy itself.  It would be wonderful if our politicians were as wise as Peter has been on this occasion.  Bearing in mind how we have fostered China, it makes you laugh at the way we used to spend billions to defend ourselves against Russia, refusing to trade with them, and many still do not want to.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Stanton