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I write to comment on the story on the Today Show on Tuesday 23 November concerning the Victorian dairy farmer wanting to cut down trees. Yet another example of a Nic McCallum environmental story/farmers battle the greenie bureaucrats, that appears at short intervals, always with the same script which is presumably stored on a computer somewhere, and which panders to the lowest common denominator in your audience. The last time I wrote to you was two years ago about lorikeets in an apple orchard. I am driven to write to you again in frustration and anger, in the hope of maybe having some small influence on the form of the script being used for these genre of stories. Let me point out some of the issues that might have been considered and the questions that might have been asked in such a story, issues and questions that should have occurred to someone among the researcher, reporter and producer of the segment, or the presenters or director of the show itself.
1. Your story presented briefly the information that these were very old trees, and looking at them they clearly were. Does Nic McCallum really believe that they can be replaced (either ecologically or in terms of the water table) with seedlings? 2. How much of this kind of open woodland with this tree species, with trees of this age is left along the Murray? I bet very little. Mr McCallum clearly believes that all trees are the same. 3. What effect would the loss of these trees have on bird, mammal, reptile and invertebrate life in the area? Trees of this size and age each support miniature ecosystems. How do these trees compare with the trees that the farmer was 'offering' to save? 4. What would be the effect of yet more irrigation in this area? I know long term irrigators along the Murray who have recognised the problems being caused and are seeking alternative approaches. Does Mr McCallum not know about salinity problems, the degeneration of the Murray, the loss of the red gums? Does he really think that more irrigation should be just allowed without question?
I will stop there. I am not suggesting that you cover all that in a short segment. But your people need to be aware of not responding to calls from angry farmers demanding that some part of the environment be destroyed on their behalf without finding out the facts. Next time find a researcher who knows about that habitat and what the problems are. Find someone who can put the suggested economic consequences in context. Most of the time I believe, if you did that you would find there wasn't a story, or, if there was, it would be presented from the opposite point of view.
You might at least try to avoid the proposition that if there is a perceived conflict between business and 'the environment' that there is no question but that the thing which goes is the environment. You might instead present the idea that damage to the environment must always be the last choice, if there is really no other alternative, and the damage must be minimised. What we have been doing is ignoring environmental damage as a cost. The Australian public subsidises its farmers to the same extent as the American public does its farmers, but whereas they are open about it, the subsidy here is hidden - it comes in the form of not paying the real costs of production which includes environmental protection. We are going to have to pay huge sums in the future to try to repair this damage and it may be impossible to repair it. We nowadays demand that factories don't save costs by allowing gases to spew into the air or effluent to run into the water. We demand that mines try to repair some damage. All such costs are added to the price of steel or coal or petrol. Why then when it is farming do we hear nothing about protecting the environment as one of the costs of doing farming business, to be included with all other costs and paid for by the consumer or in lesser profits for the farmer?
Does it matter? It's only entertainment after all. Yes it does. Your show and channel have enormous influence not just on the public but on politicians. Every time you set this stage of plucky farmers battling the greenies you are helping, directly or indirectly, to cause more of our country to be damaged. You have got to start becoming a force for conservation, not a force for destruction, we have precious little time to make a difference. Yours David Horton PS I am a farmer, among other things
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