GIBRALTAR today Letters

Do you know of any Gibraltarians who live in Australia?

Plan to start Gibraltar Society

Dear Sir

I have lived in Sydney, Australia for 33 years now. My family name dates back to the mid 1700s when my great great grandfather arrived from Genoa to settle in Gibraltar so obviously I am a very proud "llanito".

I am keen to pursue my idea to start up a "Gibraltar Society " in Australia. The problem is I don't know where to find fellow Gibraltarians living over here. I have tried Immigration but they can't help as they don't keep records of migrants from Gibraltar and even if they did for Privacy reasons they couldn't tell me anyway.

Also some Gibraltarians may not have actually been born in Gibraltar i.e. post World War 2 babies of which I am one. I was born in Belfast in late 1945 and there were others that were born in between 1942 and 1945 that would have been born outside Gib so actual place of birth could be misleading.

I was wondering if it was possible for you to assist me by placing a notification of my intention on your web site specifically for Gibraltarians living in Australia on the premise that they might visit your web site.

I have located 2 fellow Gibraltarians so far in Sydney by chance and we have become good friends so I am keen to find a few more even if they are located outside my state of New South Wales so that through the Society I can keep the spirit of Gibraltar alive for them.

I will be retiring later this year and would have time on my hands to set up a proper Society where I would of course be promoting your web site. I use your web site on a regular basis to keep up to date with developments and hope that other Gibraltarians living in Australia might also be doing the same hence my request for your assistance.

My personal email contact details are:

craggio@bigpond.com.au 

My home address is:

80 Whitby Road
Kings Langley
Sydney NSW 2147

Look forward to hearing from you soon

Yours faithfully

Carlos Raggio
Senior Manager
Business Improvement Team
Global Transactional Banking

High prices for ex MOD homes

Dear Sir,

The recent Government announcement that over the next six weeks they will be publishing advertisements offering properties for sale in different housing schemes involving over 400 homes is welcomed. Any scheme that provides housing for those eligible to be on the housing waiting list is good news.

One of the schemes, namely the sale of 33 residential properties at Rosia Court has already been advertised, and although we welcome the re-sale restrictions to prevent speculation, and the introduction of other measures to make it more accessible for first time buyers, we are disappointed at the high prices of these properties.

These range from £145,000 to £108,000. We do not think that these prices are within the reach of the average first time buyers, and we urge Government to adhere to a more realistic principle of affordability and access of opportunity for the potential buyers of more limited financial means.

We are also concerned that no public announcement has yet been made regarding the construction of flats for rental. In their 2003 manifesto, the GSD, now in Government said they would construct some 150 flats for rental.

However no date has yet been given for the commencement of this project. Before the construction of these 150 flats can commence, the workers’ hostel at Devil’s Tower Road has to be re-sited, and the derelict Ready Mixed factory demolished.

We fear that unless Government moves very quickly indeed, they will be unable to deliver on this electoral commitment.

We must impress upon Government that there is a need to provide homes for those unable to purchase any property, even if these are low cost, a commodity which incidentally we have not seen for quite some time now.

We therefore urge Government to start the construction of the 150 flats for rental, and also to ensure that the housing units to be constructed at Waterport Road fall within the realistic category of low cost housing, and are within the reach of buyers with limited financial means.

Henry Pinna
for ACTION FOR HOUSING

First class service

Dear Editor,

May I through the medium of your newspaper, express my most sincere and profound gratitude to Dr Gupta of the Primary Care Centre, all the Doctors, nurses and support staff of Dudley Toomey Ward for the professional care and attention given to me and fellow patients during my recent stay at St Bernard's hospital.

May everyone endeavour to continue proactively to give a professional and first class service to all patients so that all Gibraltarians can be proud of our New Hospital and the people who work therein.

Yours, sincerely
Luis Montiel

Equalities

Dear Sir,

Human Rights group GGR welcomes the introduction of the Equality Bill by Minister Jacqui Smith in the House of Commons recently. It is intended for a single Equality Act to be brought in which will coordinate all aspects of discrimination and inequality under a single autho-rity to be known as the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

After years of separate Commissions on different aspects of discrimination in the UK, with at times conflicting terms of reference, it is only sensible in the interests of efficiency and equal treatment that a single authority should be set up dealing with parallel tracks and issues – whether disability, race, sex, sexual orientation or otherwise.

GGR very much hopes that Gibraltar’s much awaited Equal Opportunities Commission – due to be set up following requirements from the Equal Opportunities Ordinance last year – will follow a similar route.

It makes a great deal of sense to get this exercise right from the start. And if we involve NGOs in the early stages of consultation, there’s no doubt that we can benefit from the experience of the UK in this, whilst avoiding their errors.

It is also important to note that Equality Minister Jacqui Smith has committed HMG to expanding the terms of the Equality Act after the Elections so as to outlaw discrimination to sexual minorities in the area of goods and services – which means noone will be able to discriminate against a person just because of their sexuality when they go shopping, or visit a hotel or any other such service.

The Gibraltar Government would do well to adopt a similar amendment to our legislation.

It is doubtful that anyone in Gibraltar approves that our own law should condone someone being turned away from shops or services because of their disability, sexual orientation, age or any other reason and Government should seriously consider taking reparative action sooner rather than later!

GGR

Going berserk...

Dear Sir,

Talk about going berserk! Your Talking Point really went for me in his article on Monday 28th February, seeming even to question my loyalty to Gibraltar.

While Talking Point and I may disagree on the relative importance of the environment, I feel that accusing me of living in “cloud cuckoo land”, being “politically naïve” and at risk of “undermining the general interests of Gibraltar” is going a bit too far.

Just to clarify a few points:

I never organised a joint protest with Spanish environmentalists in Gibraltar; and I totally condemn the use of the environment for political ends in statements or actions by Spanish environmentalists or anyone else.

I am certainly not in the business of undermining Gibraltar’s interests. Talking Point may not be aware, but I have been fighting for Gibraltar’s cause for decades, from my student days when I got a pro-Gibraltar motion passed at a London University Student Union, through to my successful struggles to gain Gibraltar full representation in international bodies such as BirdLife International, the Iberian Council for the Defence of Nature, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and the Iberian Association of Botanic Gardens.

Disagree with me by all means, but please don’t accuse me of being disloyal to my home. That just isn’t me.

Yours faithfully,
John Cortes

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