Dear Mr Abbott

I have never attended a rally or been a particularly politically minded person. I vote when I have too, which in Australia is all the time because it is the law, whereas in the UK I got to choose if I wanted to vote. I guess like a lot of people there is no party that ticks all the boxes so I choose the party that ticks the boxes that lie closest to my values.

I didn't vote for Mr Abbott for a myriad of reasons and the longer he is in Office the more I feel vindicated for not voting for him.

In 1998 I visited Australia for the first time and instantly fell in love with the place. I knew that I would come and live here one day. At that point I didn't know how or when, just that I would. During my first visit I was treated to a trip to the Daintree. I had never seen anything so amazing or beautiful and I plan to go back one day. I did spend a good amount of my time being terrified of things that might bite me but other than this, it was and still is one of the most outstanding places that I have visited.

Of course our forests and parkland do so much more than provide places for us to enjoy. They support wild life and plant life, some of which is still being discovered. They provide oxygen to our planet and help to keep things stable. It has been stated that there may be cures to diseases still hidden within the many forests of the world, ours included.

And to date these beautiful and resourceful forests and parkland have been safe, preserved under Acts to ensure that they remain this way.

Until now.

Apparently Mr Abbott believes that we have too much forest and parkland and that we need it for development. Could it be, and this is only my opinion, that forests and parkland don't pay taxes or produce any income for the Abbott government? Not like building roads and houses and keeping paper mills in business.

A very wise man, which is just one of the reasons that I love him, told me that you never spend an asset. You get the asset to make money for you and then you can use that money to spend. Our forests and parkland are so much more than 'an asset' in the same way that my lungs are so much more than an asset. Creating short term solutions that destroys our forests and parkland for ever is hardly a smart thing to do. It seems greedy and small minded.

How disappointing that a guardian has turned against his ward.

Sarah