Daniel Clarke, an Australian 11 year-old, appealed to the former prime minister of Australia (John Howard) for support for the endangered orang-utans of Borneo and Sumatra. During the 2007 election campaign, Howard promised $500,000 over four years if re-elected. Howard was not re-elected and the incoming Rudd government has not funded the project. Despite Australia experiencing a commodity boom, the environment minister, Peter Garrett, wrote to Daniel saying that no funding program is available (reported in The Age, May 31 2008). Gail and I wrote to the Age to express our disappointment and the letter was published on 2 June 2008.
We had mixed feelings reading about Daniel Clarke’s efforts to obtain federal government aid for the orang-tans (The Age, May 31). Firstly, admiration for Daniel. He is obviously an 11 year old with guts and determination. Secondly, disgust at Peter Garrett for his lack of recognition that it goes beyond aid and that it is in Australia’s interests to reduce the rainforest destruction. Borneo’s rainforests play an important role as the ‘lungs’ of the southern hemisphere, just as the Amazon does for the Northern Hemisphere. Disgust also at John Howard’s cynical use of a child for electioneering purposes. Shame on you both. Thirdly, we are disappointed that the money won’t go to this important cause. We have recently returned from Kalimantan and have seen for ourselves the excellent work being done by the Australian Orang-utan Project (AOP) and other NGO’s in their effort to save these magnificent animals and their precious habitat. As many Australians as possible should support Daniel’s fund raising and show him that not all life’s lessons are negative ones.
Gail Thomson and Charlie Nelson
Brunswick
The AOP website is http://www.orangutan.org.au
