From the desk of ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI

THE morality of a nation is determined by the way it treats its animals, its children, and its old people. Sadly, Australia, and much of the world, fails too often. Our capacity for evil, and for cruelty to animals, is unfathomable. Reported incidents make for sombre reading.

Certainly, child abuse is not a new phenomenon. In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens wrote of the ease with which a child could be seduced into a life of crime. In Charles Kingsley’s didactic, moral/political/Christian fable, The Water Babies, Kingsley writes of the chimney-sweep, Tom, who escapes his torture by becoming a water creature. For 200-years it was one of the most dangerous jobs for children. Many died from suffocation; lung disease; and painful chimney-sweep scrotum cancer — fatal exposure to carcinogenic coal tar.

“Climbing boy”, George Brewster, died in 1875 after being forced to enter a chimney and becoming stuck. Aged 11, he was one of the last to die in Britain. His death was the catalyst for reform. The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury brought about legislation which permanently banned using child-labour chimney sweeps. The youngest person to be lauded with a Cambridge blue plaque, George Brewster is joined, among others, by Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, and Alan Turing.

Our inhumanity is disquieting. Recently, vision of a Sydney taxi driver repeatedly striking profoundly disabled passengers is cause for sober reflection. The perpetrator should be stripped of his granted Australian citizenship and returned to the country of his birth. We have no need of him in Australia.

Regrettably, cruelty to animals is universally widespread. In South Australia stringent legislation which will punish offenders, gravely. People caught abusing, neglecting or mistreating animals will face tough new penalties after new animal welfare laws were passed in State Parliament. Those found guilty of animal cruelty now face maximum fines of up-to $250,000, and/or 10 years jail, for the aggravated ill-treatment of an animal; up from $50,000 and/or four years in jail. A corporation can now be fined up to $1 million for mistreating animals, the most severe penalty in the Nation.

There must be zero tolerance for wilful animal abuse. More funding is required. It is incumbent on state parliaments to follow the example of South Australia. The punishment must fit the crime. Stop puppy farms. They are places of indescribable horror using dogs as money-making, breeding machines. We need to stop and punish those monsters who sell kittens from carparks and roadside encounters. We have to halt the inhumane slaughter of animals in some commercial abattoirs. My cat, Moggy, is 14. She was dumped and moved-in. She won Catslotto! We can, all, make a difference. Support animal protection groups. Be kind.

A dog is a person’s best friend! Stories of their capacity to recognise danger and save lives are indisputable. There is a PhD in the relationship between us and them. Bailey, and his 10-year-old girl-friend Ruby, came to me when they required rehoming. Life without them is unimaginable. Bailey is devoted. When I leave he sits at the window, watching and waiting. Ruby is a white, bundle-of-joy — a lap-dog who takes her job most seriously! Remember: “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than it loves itself.”

Roland is heard with Brett Macdonald — radio 3BA Monday at 10.45 a.m. Contact: [email protected]