source : the age
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Many questions
Some questions I think Pauline Hanson could be asked at her next press conference.
1. Of Australia’s many existing cultures which will be chosen as the culture of the proposed monocultural nation and how will it be chosen?
2. Which practices of that prioritised culture will Australians be required to observe?
3. How will the other existing cultures and their practices be eliminated for the nation to become monocultural?
Geoff Thompson, Coburg
Stopped making sense
The article ″One Nation leader’s ‘dystopian’ speech″ (19/6) reflects on the state of mind of One Nation’s leader Pauline Hanson. Hugh de Kretser, Australian Human Rights Commission president, says, ″Either it’s a case of wilful ignorance or simply an inability to grasp what she is talking about.″
Perhaps it’s both. In any case, we’ve had enough. The more airtime Hanson is offered, the less sense she makes.
Jen Martin, Northcote
No solutions offered
Pauline Hanson’s Press Club speech was interesting, and she is right about some of our contemporary ills, it is just that there seemed to be no tangible solutions offered in the way of policy or proposed action. Successful governments in the past have all been about articulation of solutions to problems we face and actions to address those problems. Unhappily all the other parties also fail this test.
James Ogilvie, Kew
Factor in popularity
Your correspondent (Letters, 19/6) says that he is ″old enough to have lived in a monocultural Australia″. I was born in the 1940s and I feel that Australia was a far more united and secure country in my formative years than it is today. Successive Labor and Liberal governments since then have presided over rapid declines in the economic welfare of ordinary Australians, who make up a very high percentage of our population. I wonder whether other long-lived Australians agree with my experience and analysis which may be a factor in the rise in Pauline Hanson’s popularity?
Adrian Hassett, Kew
Will time bring change?
I was browsing through my record collection and came across an album titled Looking Backwards To Tomorrow by noted Australian singer Jeannie Lewis. Couldn’t help but think of Pauline Hanson’s address to the National Press Club. (Alternatively, could be a campaign slogan for One Nation.)
David Smith, Cheltenham
Never a monoculture
To your correspondent (Letters, 19/6 ) Australia was never monocultural. Each mob had there own language and culture.
Dan Drummond, Leongatha
A promise kept
Donald Trump promised to end the war after unconditional surrender, and he seems to be keeping his promise.
Ralph Böhmer, St Kilda West
Take all of the state
I see Gina Rinehart spruiking Queensland islands. As the first trillionaire in history Elon Musk could most likely buy the whole state.
Francis Bainbridge, Fitzroy North
Sell her own land
Gina Rinehart should give away large, green, useful chunks of her property to foreigners before asking us to give away parts of ours – lead by example.
Ludi Servadei, Malvern East
Teachers’ pay inequality
How is it, and why is it, that teachers in Victorian schools are paid less than in any other state?
The photographs of the large numbers of red-clad teachers gathering together have become graphic representations of the foolishness of the state Labor government in its refusal to equalise their pay.
They emphasise the discontent felt everywhere in Victoria at present, giving malcontents reason to complain loud and long.
By regularising their pay and conditions to equal Australian teachers in other states, the government will be seen to be fair and evenhanded, and a large proportion of the population will become again the influencers who will support Labor management practices and vote them in again. The alternative does not bear thinking about, but is looking likely in the current atmosphere of anger and resentment.
Geraldine Colson, Mentone
Support the support
Victorian teachers and education support staff rejected the government’s offer because angry, tired and exhausted school staff are done with being undervalued. A pay rise matters, but it does not erase crushing workloads, overcrowded classrooms, unsafe behaviour, underfunded schools, or the disrespect shown to education support staff.
The article “The union is no longer acting for us teachers” (20/6) captured the mood perfectly. The no vote was not unreasonable. It was a warning. Teachers are sick of being told to be grateful for deals that still leave them drowning. Education Minister Ben Carroll holds one of the most important portfolios in Victoria. If he is being spoken about as one of Labor’s next big hopes, then public education is where he needs to prove it.
Education support staff are the backbone of schools, supporting the children with the greatest needs. Public education cannot keep running on goodwill, guilt and unpaid labour. This is not greed. This is exhaustion. This is enough.
Melanie Kuyl, Cobblebank
A complex problem
To anyone who thinks that teachers are only focused on pay in this deal and themselves, it is far more complex than that. Education support staff deserve better.
Workload pressures need to be properly addressed. In our log of claims we are also fighting for better funding for our students, especially those with additional needs. And, lastly, better facilities in public schools, which are getting worse not better – just see the article ″Schools in ‘poor’ state increasing″ (18/6).
Part of the rejection of this deal is about our commitment to support our mental health, our schools, our students and our school communities, not just our bank balances.
Tamara Brown, Croydon North
The wrong fight
Teachers, by rejecting the government payrise offer are fighting the wrong issue. What they should be fighting, is the obscene funding of private schools instead of the public system.
Rod Cripps, Parkdale
Letting workers go
As a retired manager who over my career has had to let a number of employees ″go″ I never found the constraints put on us by the IR laws of the land too restrictive as long as due process and the framework of natural justice was followed. In fact, once starting the performance management of under-performing staff, nine out of 10 times they fell on the sword and quit in any case.
My view is that any boss who thinks it is impossible to sack staff is probably incompetent. I would sack them if it were me.
Bob Williamson, Golden Point
The ugly bollards
I was dumbfounded to read the Melbourne Cricket Club master plan (″MCG plan raises fears of stealth privatisation″, 19/6) as I could not find any reference for the upgrading of the ugliest sight in Melbourne, that being the at-least decade-old temporary water-filled orange plastic bollards that circle the famous precinct and unfortunately greet us on every visit.
Ian Andrews, Kew
