Animals suffer
As the weather heats up (and it's not even summer yet) we need to remember our canine companions, who often suffer more than we do during high temperatures.
Most people know now not to leave dogs in hot cars, in which the temperature on a warm day can rise to 40 degrees in five minutes.
Yet still police and motorist organisations are rescuing hundreds of dogs every year from this agonising fate.
People are often unaware that parking in the shade and with your windows down does not make much difference to the temperature inside your car.
A less-known danger is faced by dogs who are tied up in yards without access to shade and water.
A dog in Logan was found dead last week from heat stress after being tethered in the sun.
Dogs should be kept inside in the cool but, if they must be left outside, the RSPCA has appealed to people to secure their gardens rather than use tethers, ensure there is always an area of shade as the sun shifts around the garden, and always to have two to three containers of water available, in case one gets knocked over.
If you see an animal in distress, please call the police or the RSPCA.
- D. Bellamy, PETA
Not safe to walk
It is fine for people to say "leave your car at home" but there is no safe walking footpaths and lighting to walk by or on.
I want to support this service but if I have no where to park my car then it would be easier for me to continue to travel to the Greenbank RSL daily to park my car safely.
- S. Hansen, North Maclean
Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie has been reported saying regulating the dairy industry would hurt our farmers, but it's actually the lack of regulation that has led to decline of the dairy industry.
All over the developed world, the dairy industry faces the bargaining power imbalance between small family-operated dairy farms and larger and financially stronger milk processors.
Countries with thriving dairy export industries are heavily regulated.
For example, California, the largest dairy state in the largest exporter of dairy products in the world, is heavily regulated. Its industry has a floor price for milk based on the end use, so there is a different floor price for fresh milk, milk that will be used for cheese, or skimmed milk powder. New Zealand's largest export is dairy, and it is heavily regulated, with a floor price set for milk every six months.
Now, McKenzie knows all about the regulation of milk, but persists with the fiction that no one wants a base price for milk, by milk region, that reflects the cost of production.
Last week, the Protecting Australian Dairy Bill was considered by the Senate. My private senator's Bill was narrowly lost in a vote of 30 for and 31 against, and now The Nationals are under pressure to explain why they did not support the Bill. That is also a question I would like answered.
McKenzie cannot explain to anyone how a floor price that reflects the cost of production will send dairy farmers to the wall, when in fact they are already being forced out of business by supermarkets and foreign-owned milk processes happy to profit from dairy farmers being paid less than the cost of production.
- P. Hanson, One Nation
