gwalch

Likewise.. I agree with the reporter and other people on here with some of the comments. People are too quick to blame someone else, and put their hand out.. rather than see what they can do for themselves. We are becoming a very self centered nation. I've been an SES vol now for nearly 14 years... doing everything from Road Accident Rescue to storm damage. And during this time, I have noticed the public attitude change so much. Gone are the days of be prepared.. you just have to look at some of the bushfires we have had.. some people have no idea. They are just in their own little worlds. Even with all the hot air they produce... the govt did not make the cyclone happen. As mentioned earlier.. if you live in an area that is prone to such things.. you are told all about it and what to do. Govt's spend a fortune on programs to warm the public, etc.. but if you are too ignorant to take notice or advantage of it.. well I'm sorry.. don't take it out on other people.
I don't know how many times I have been abused by people I have repsonded too at some unGodly hour of the morning, because I took too long to get there.. or if it is a job we cannot undertake because of risk. My grandfather would be rolling in his grave at the attitude of some people.
Whilst I do feel sorry for the people at Innisfail.. it is a terrible thing. For goodness sack.. we are Aussies... some people need to learn how to act like it.

dognuts

i dont know the actual story from the locals side of it but but like any town i bet there where whinging free loaders there, the other 95% of the town were probabably helping each other out, rebuilding and making sure kids , single parents, the elderly or anyone else had a bed or blanket or food. You dont live up in onslow or mardi or anywhere else up north without the threat of cyclones, or live in the scrub and think there will never be a fire. the whingers where probably the 'seachange'city slickers that take the easy way out. and when does a journo evr speak the truth, do ya all get this worked up when the weather man says its gunna be fine and 27 and it rains, c'mon its the media, cant even believe i wrote this, what a waste , surely there is something more interesting to whinge about.

Odie

Well i agree with a couple of you that have posted on here i have lived in the Pilbara for about 16 years now and have seen hundreds of cyclones hit the area not just one. and anyone that wants to can do there research on this area and see we get hit with them all the time 7 so far this season including a major cat5 2 weeks ago that i was in onslow for (right where the eye crossed over and vance in 1999 that flatened not one town but three or four and did you see them whinging no and there were several lives lost in it. also anouther cyclone as where seven people were lost forever in onslow so there is alot worse that can happen then property damage as i know as well as thou7sands of others in this area know first hand what a devistaing cyclone can do.

On the other hand i still don't agree with the way this stupid woman has reported it it could have been portrayed a little different as how the Emergency Services do a bloody great job in such devistaing circumstances and how quick the government does get up and help (2 days as soon as they could they also have other comitment ssuch as running the rest of this country) i think we as a country should all have a good look at our selves and harden up go back to the old days where we were battlers and didn't rely on the other ways of the world look after number one ourselves AUSTRALIA....

So lets see how many people shot me down for this one.

P.S. Bloody great web site i only just joined and it is my first post..

kaz

i don't know if people from here would have been swearing at her and abusing her. just because in her 2nd article she metioned that it doesn't mean that they were from people here.
in the email i sent her i focused on the fact that she had neglected to mention the ones that had to deal with the hardship of losing their source of incomes, their homes and all of their material posessions. some of these people will be without incomes now for over a year.
with her saying that that she will miss the bananas and avocados.....that left her open for all comments. so sorry for the inconvenience of not having your fruit and vegetables while the poor bastards up there try and get on with their lives.
in her 2nd article it seems that all of the people emailing her or writing to her made some sort of inmpact because she actually admitted that not all of the residents were whingers. maybe she should have written that in the first place.
there are whingers everywhere and there always will be. no, it's not the aussie way to be so (to the extent of what the media suggested) but that's life. i thought the media were supposed to be investigative as well. maybe if she had of done some investigative work then she would have written some of the contents of the 2nd article in her first one.

kaz

oh.......and at the local fruit and veg store they have a sign on the bananas saying: WE SURVIVED CYCLONE HARRY, WE MAY NOT LOOK THE BEST BUT WE STILL TASTE GREAT.
not going to stop me from buying them, if anything i am more likely to buy them than another brand.

Feral Vixen

Welcome to the site Odie, Guess the Cat 5 you mentioned was Cyclone Glenda huh?? Sure kept life interesting for a while there.
I don't know the situatuion at innisfail, so i can't condem them for requiring the support of the goverment, but at the same time, many other towns and stations across Australia are hit by cyclones every season, and very few jump on the government for handouts. Maybe the situation at innisfail can be considered alot more serious than most, but hell, it's happened, the government did the best it could and few should complain bout the handouts they did get. I wonder if Katherines gonna recieve the same help with the floods
As for the newspaper reports, I think if she had tried a little more to show her reasonin for her point of view instead of bein outright aggravating, people may not have got so fired up about it. When i read the first one, i thought she was some clueless b$tch who selfishly didn't care, but in her second article, she brougt up the good point that Australians have become less hardened and self reliable. I hate to say that i agree with her

__________________
Daddy's little angel's gonna raise a little hell

Odie

Thanks Feral for the welcome. yeah it was Glenda but didn't want to bore anyone with the details. i hope everything was ok after her for where you are in the west pilbara and i agree with you that if she thought like a human instead of a journo (not dising all journos just those one that don't think before they write) then she probably would have got emails of the such that praised and congratulating her for saying what alot of us Aussies are thinking and that is that we need to be Aussies and not Yanks or the sort where they need someone to think for them instead of working it out for ourselfs.