Kids don't vote
"Kids don't vote", immigration minister Amanda Vanstone was reported as saying when criticising a children's book on the plight of children in detention. But why shouldn't they? Students are now more interested in politics and their future and mature enough to vote. They're old enough to attend protest meetings on the illegal invasion of Iraq and old enough to have sex and get the baby bonus. Why shouldn't students have a right to express their opinions on keeping other kids behind razor wire in detention centres?
How come by the time they get to university the decision to raise HECS fees by 25% has already been made for them and they have no say? How come the private schools down the road get twice as much funding per student as government schools where kids came from poorer, often sole parent and working-class families?
If they're old enough to pay taxes then they are old enough to vote. Which party has the courage to give 16 to 18 year olds the option to vote?
Dr Colin Hughes
Glen Forrest, WA
GLBTIQ?
For years articles written about queer issues have used the acronym GLBT to cover gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender/transexuals. An "I" was added to the standard list a year or so ago to cover intersex people (people of ambiguous gender), which makes sense to me.
What confuses me is the most recent extension to "GLBTIQ", which I first encountered in Farida Igbal's article on homophobia (GLW #589). The "Q" obviously stands for "queer", but if a queer person is not gay, lesbian, bisexual, trangender/transexual or intersex, then what is left — a sexual preference for small furry animals, perhaps? If the word "queer" in the above acronym is to be taken as meaning any non-mainstream sexuality not covered by the "GLBTI", then I'm not sure I feel comfortable being in this company.
Perhaps the "Q" is there to appease those who would prefer to be catagorised by a simple word rather than an unpronouncable and ever-expanding acronym.
Alex Milne
Melbourne
Refugees
For the last five months my school has been home to a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan. His plight started in 2001 and his ordeal was a horrible one indeed. His boat was intercepted at Christmas Island and he was put into detention. A member of our school was generous enough to take this boy out of detention and house him as he was a minor. He was given a family, a home and an education here at my school — something he had not had for a long time.
For at least five months of his life he knew that he would be safe. The boy's refugee status just recently got rejected in the High Court of Australia and he will now be sent back to Afghanistan in the next 28 days.
Everyone at my school is devastated and we don't know what to do. We all signed a petition but we don't think it will be enough. All we ask is that they let him stay in Australia with his current family and with us at our school. To go back to a war-torn country with no parents or family would be truly devastating. Please, what can we do?
Emily Greco
Bunyip, Victoria
CityRail
On a normal morning, I turned up to my local train station, hoping, as NSW commuters do, mostly in vain, that my train would not be cancelled, or hideously late. It's no great secret that CityRail sucks, nor that it has gotten dramatically worse in the last six months. Those who have copped the worst of the collapse, however, are the rail workers copping the brunt of passengers' frustrations, while being increasingly screwed by their employer.
The regular staff at my local station, whom I know well enough to joke around with, had never yet complained, although they clearly appreciated a bit of support in the face of abusive passengers.
This morning, however, things changed. One of the friendliest of the workers had recently collapsed with a "brain problem", and been rushed to hospital where he remained in critical condition. Like other workers, he had been working 12-day shifts, and may have just done two back-to-back.
"We have so many people off sick", one clearly distressed worker told me. "We can't keep working like this. Everybody needs a weekend off, once a month at least."
Explaining earnestly that he didn't believe in strike action "for the sake of it", this worker told me that he had heard talk of "rolling strikes", and that I must support them because "if they achieve something, it is worth it".
Never before have station staff discussed union or work-related matters with me. That they did is a sign of how desperate many workers have become, and how fearful for their health and safety they are. They clearly blamed NSW Labor transport minister Mick Costa. "I am not political", the worker said, "but this Costa has stuffed everything up".
At last check, five days after the incident, the injured worker had stabilised, but was still in hospital.
Alison Dellit From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
Granville, NSW
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