YOUR SAY: Facebook, detention and 'fossilised thinking' up for debate

Maybe then people will subscribe to reliable news publications like The Border Mail and know that any news seen on Facebook is fake news. Currently it is hard to know the difference.

In future we can say, "Where did you hear that rubbish, Facebook I presume?".

IN OTHER NEWS:

I am a member of the Who is my Neighbour refugee support group of Corowa and we are very concerned for the long-suffering Biloela family.

A refugee Tamil family with two Australian-born daughters, they have been in the Christmas Island detention centre for nearly three years. This is costing the Australian tax payer the outrageous sum of $200 million a year just to keep them there. How in all conscience can this cost be justified, especially when the family won the hearts of the small central Queensland town of Biloela?

They were proving to be model citizens until they were snatched away by the Department of Home Affairs and sent into this senseless and cruel detention.

I understand the "precedence" argument but all we are asking is that the federal government treat this family with an abundance of compassion instead of self-righteously fulfilling the letter of the law. The absurdity is as breathtaking as its immorality and cruelty. The government needs to end this farcical saga by allowing the family to make a visa application and to go back to Biloela and end Australia`s sense of shame.

MORE COMMENT

I don't know who Bridget McKenzie, Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack think they are representing, but it is definitely not the farming community I know.

Far from protecting Australian farmers, their hopelessly out of touch statements on climate and energy are increasing multiple risks to agriculture. Their proposals threaten more frequent and longer bush fire episodes, droughts and other extreme weather events - the very conditions that are so destructive to agriculture. They also pose major financial risks. For example huge markets, such as Europe and the US, have already said they will apply extra carbon tariffs on imports from countries with poor climate policy. Another glaring example is that excluding agriculture from carbon markets would deny farmers opportunities to be paid for sequestering carbon in the soil.

I wonder if all this fossilised thinking is being influenced by fossil fuel donations? Surely the profits of a few vested interests would not be put ahead of our farmers, our environment, more jobs and a better future?

Well, farming friends and friends of farming, I think we are all getting the message about who we should not vote for at the next federal election.

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