Dec 03 GSD - Government fails to tackle the monkey problem with urgency
The Environment Minister’s response to the statement issued by the Opposition raising the very real and serious concern that there is in relation to the macaques fails to address the immediacy of the problem. The party has raised specific examples of serious incidents where peoples’ safety is being put at risk. We have raised, particularly, the concern that there is for children’s safety, citing the example of the monkey which jumped into a baby’s pram in order to snatch food. The reports keep coming in, most recently in relation to Mount Alvernia, which we are told is being habitually visited and invaded by a pack of monkeys. This, as can be imagined, is causing considerable distress to the elderly residents and visitors alike. As recently as a few days ago a monkey was found on the bed of an elderly resident whilst the bed was occupied by her.
Sadly and unfortunately the Minister with responsibility for this issue has focussed the attack on the GSD. This is the persistent Government spin which the electorate is fast tiring of and offers little in the way of solutions. To suggest, in attacking the GSD, that the Opposition, somehow, has a political stake in ensuring that a tragic incident occurs is political cynicism of the worst kind. It is very sad indeed that this is the best that the Minister can offer in response to the burning issue that is the intolerable and dangerous behaviour of the macaque population.
What is worse is that the Minister has resigned himself to accept that there will be a tragic event but consoles himself with blaming the GSD! The Opposition, in acting responsibly, has raised the issue both in and out of Parliament precisely because it wants the Government to take decisive action in order to avoid a tragic incident.
If a child or an elderly person is seriously hurt it will be the Government’s responsibility for having failed to address the problem with the urgency it requires. Clearing the Government’s collective conscious with the ‘blame the GSD’ political spin will not help the people affected.
The Government, and in particular, the Minister, is therefore urged to reconsider its current policy which is simply not delivering the urgent results the local human population needs. What is required is immediate action before it is too late.
