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Barnaby Joyce’s recent contribution to the migration debate: ″you meet (migrants) when you’re trying to drive a car to work. That’s why you can’t get anywhere″ (″Hanson hits out at Burke on migration numbers″, 11/8) is a demonisation of migrants that is as offensive as his previous claim that ″people who look like they’ve recently arrived″ are knocking Australian-born residents out of home auctions. On The Bolt Report, he said that One Nation’s foreign ownership policy applied to permanent residents only to correct the record minutes later: ″No, we are not going to be kicking permanent residents out of their house.″ Joyce and Pauline Hanson want you to believe foreign ownership of residential property is out of control, but the reality is very different with less than 1 per cent of dwellings acquired by foreign persons in each of the past three years. The sooner Tony Burke releases his oversight of migration policy, the sooner Labor can debunk One Nation’s migration nonsense.
Neil Hudson, East Melbourne
Victoria doesn’t require circuses
The rulers of ancient Rome kept the people happy by providing them with bread and circuses. Our Victorian rulers provide us with plenty of circuses. Money has been thrown away on games recently played somewhere north of Hadrian’s Wall, $100 million or so is expended each year on a motorised chariot race and $395 million is to be lavished on something called a pit stop that is associated with that race and now another $10.7-15 million is to be tossed to American gladiators to play a football game with rules that are probably incomprehensible to most of us. Unfortunately our rulers show little interest in supplying us with bread in the form of essentials such as adequately funded hospitals, schools and judicial services and appropriate numbers of police. As to our roads, no prudent Roman would think of risking his chariot by driving on them. It will be fitting if (notwithstanding the recent palace revolution) our profligate rulers are thrown to the lions next election.
Arthur Roberts, Elwood
Opposition by name, and nature
The opposition wants a police investigation as to how a critical note from the Japanese government about Anthony Albanese and crown melons was leaked to the press. On one hand, the opposition are ecstatic about having the information to beat Albanese over the head, and on the other hand they want an investigation to work out how it became public in the first place. The opposition is always looking for a way to criticise the government, even if it is trivial in the extreme.
Alan Inchley, Frankston
Howard’s way is hard to define
What exactly does John Howard mean when he says this lot is miserable and rotten (″Liberals must ‘do the work’ to tackle One Nation: ex-PM″, 12/8)? If he used the principle of Logos and articulated in more accurate terms what he thinks the current government is doing incorrectly, his desperate plea for Liberal voters to stop defecting to One Nation might have validity. Just what does he mean when he says Angus Taylor and his party should be the best demonstration of themselves? I think they’re doing very well at that already.
Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson
Listen to the experts in their field
The degree of civility of a society can be reflected on how it treats its mentally infirm. Professor Pat McGorry’s desperate plea (Comment, 12/8) for the government to revitalise its initial good work after the 2018 royal commission into Victoria’s mental health system is timely for the new Labor premier to add to his list of genuine problems such as potholes in Victoria, rather than confected ones, to fix (″Business wins over Carroll on WFH″, 12/8). Politicians please listen and act on pleas and advice from professional experts rather than playing politics that will affect real lives of the infirm and their love ones in Victoria and Australia.
Yean Lim, Toorak
THE FORUM
A lovely thought
Sixty million dollars to expand their school? (″Scotch College in talks to buy Vision Australia HQ in $60m expansion″, 12/8) How lovely. A 2024 total income of more than $87 million? Fine.
Scotch College is obviously not a struggling school, so how about redirecting their $9 million from government sources to under-resourced or dilapidated public schools where it would help more students? Scotch College could bask in the knowledge that its charity had helped thousands.
I know, ″Tell her she’s dreaming″. But wouldn’t it be lovely?
Julie Moffat, St Leonards
Stop the largesse
News that Scotch College is about to spend $60 million on buying Vision Australia’s unused site says everything we need to know about education funding in Australia. While public schools fall into disrepair and class sizes grow, these massive private entities expand ever more with obscene amounts drawn from the public purse. When does this largesse stop?
Hans Pieterse, Narre Warren North
Funding makes no sense
When a private school can well afford $60 million to buy a property to expand, what is the reason for government funding from the public purse of $9 million? Surely the state school system has greater need for scarce resources than an elite school that few can afford to attend. Unfortunately the major parties are not interested in redressing this inequality.
It is a disgrace.
Geraldine Lakha, Balwyn North
Carving up the AFL
Curiously, the latest crisis within the AFL makes me think of food: If represented by a pie chart, the most significant slice would be ″damage control″, with relatively minor serves of transparency and accountability, and a popular dessert at AFL House would surely be fudge.
Bruce Watson, Belgrave
Suburban memories
Having lived most of my long life in Melbourne, and some of it in suburbs close to Elsternwick, I was keenly interested in the piece from the Life in the Burbs series on Elsternwick.
On many occasions I have driven into or through Elsternwick for shopping or business reasons, and in earlier days pushed my bicycle to visit friends.
I, too, could identify with its diversity. My mother’s family had lived in several Elsternwick locations and were conscious of the many impressive properties developed in the land boom of the late 1800s, some of which survived the subsequent land crash and are still there today, such as the spectacular Ripponlea estate.
Another less-favoured part of the suburb was brought to light by the author George Johnston who lived his early life there. His acclaimed novel My Brother Jack was based on growing up in Elsternwick and has been described as the best account of life in Melbourne between the two world wars, including the Great Depression and its effects on suburban life.
Peter Le Get, Heathmont
Other icons
As a resident of Elsternwick for many years before a seachange some years ago, it was interesting to read Phil Noble’s extensive view of the suburb (″Diversity keeps suburb grounded″, 11/8).
The fact that I still return there at least a few times every month shows how the attraction of Elsternwick Noble writes about is certainly still there. It was a bit disappointing, however, that Noble hadn’t highlighted three other iconic Elsternwick establishments: AVIV Cakes and Bagels, Blights Shoe Repairs (& discount tobacconist) with Wesley and Jane, and The Avenue (once Sunflower) Bookstore.
Bernard Daly, Flinders
What is the other?
Your correspondent (Letters, 11/8), confides that he once thought of himself as a doctor battling an epidemic in his role as a journal’s sub-editor struggling to repel grammatical and spelling errors.
There is no such consolation for me, as every night I am assailed by solecisms on television news services whose editors ought to know better.
Unlike your correspondent, no drinking of coffee or listening to jazz can comfort me, not even a draught of Keats or his ″beaker full of the warm South″ (Clare Valley shiraz), can placate me as I listen, night after night, on ABC and SBS evening news, to the announcer informing me that, in the war between Putin and the Ukraine, and the one between Trump and Iran, ″both sides are blaming the other″. When are they going to reveal the identity of this mysterious third party – ″the other″?
Dr Trevor Hay, Montmorency
Turning American
Thanks to your correspondent for their comments on the appalling state of what once was English in today’s Australia (Letters, 10/8). To this Americanisation, we can add the phrases , “kick the can down the road”, “off-ramp”, “double down” and other US inanities.
Ian Usman Lewis, Armidale, NSW
Keep it at arm’s length
Further to the discussion of the complication of simple English terms, (Letters, 10/8) what about the term ″reaching out″? When someone invites me to ″reach out″ to them, I always reply that my arms aren’t long enough but that I’m happy, if needed, to contact them.
Mary Walker, Richmond
Gambolling along
So many letters full of doom and gloom. Things are looking up. The potholes along my regular route now have bright yellow rings painted round them, while federally, according to an ABC news reader, Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor are meeting in a bipartisan approach to the issue of problem gambollers.
Deborah Morrison, Malvern East
Industry demands
Ehsan Noroozinejad (“Australia’s megaproject boom may deepen housing crux”, 11/8) articulates the demands that all forms of infrastructure construction make on the finite supply of workers and materials. He makes it clear that Australia is struggling to meet its housing construction targets due to the massive pipeline of projects across electricity transmission, transport, schools and sporting venues.
Noroozinejad makes good suggestions for co-ordinated planning, increased apprenticeships, more community housing, and other initiatives. Tellingly, he states that the infrastructure workforce shortfall ″could exceed 300,000 by mid-2027″. He warns that if the government cuts immigration, this shortfall will be worse.
Andrew Trembath, Blackburn
PM, be quiet
What Anthony Albanese needs to do about the Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi melon brouhaha is apologise to Takaichi privately, then be quiet on the matter. And tell his ministers to be quiet about it also.
Everyone who has seen the video (and who hasn’t now?) would see the innuendo. There is no amount of spin that makes this episode look anything but tawdry.
Danny Cole, California Gully
Fire season funding
The fires in Europe and Canada do not augur well for our coming summer. Let’s hope our fire services have all the funds they need to procure vehicles and equipment to give their staff the best chance against bushfires.
John Walsh, Watsonia
Safety comes first
I was a union rep at an underground mine in the 1970s. This was at a time when it was a common practice to pay miners extra money for working in bad ground. This was called danger money.
The union successfully fought to outlaw the practice as the incentive prioritised ongoing production over safety. The dilemma for AFL clubs and concussion is remarkably similar. Miners are fully aware of the risks in working underground. They do so willingly. Playing AFL will never be risk free.
Nonetheless, there is a line where safety must be the priority. That cannot be left just up to the individual when the circumstances indicate there is an elevated risk to a player’s safety.
Tony Newport, Hillwood
Poor health move
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy jnr have changed the recommendations for childhood measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations in the US on the thoroughly debunked notion that the vaccination is responsible for a rise in autism.
Medical experts and commentators have widely criticised this misinformation that will have serious consequences for the public and the health of children in the US, remember the Tylenol (paracetamol) in pregnancy announcement which caused widespread anxiety?
Trump is wildly enthusiastic about leaving a legacy and memorials to himself, the legacy of this announcement will be children’s illness.
Dr Geoffrey Haughton, Sandringham
An unequal society
The front page juxtaposition of ″Bags of vision″ and ‴Kids’ mental health unit shut, staff investigated″ (12/8) illustrates the inequitable funding of essential services in our society albeit the funding sources of each of these are different.
Many federal government funds are means-tested, why does this not apply to the funding of private schools? If Scotch can afford to pay $60 million to fund its expansion, similarly MLC funding its new aquatic centre, even if those only used private funds surely they do not need government subsidies when public schools are crying out for adequate to fund basic things like adequate staff, repairs etc.
These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg, the inequalities in our society just grow every year,
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn
AND ANOTHER THING
Roadworks
Potholed roads! There’s 5.7kilometres of bitumen around Albert Park lake in pristine condition.
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
Maybe we need to have a ″pothole insurance policy″.
Robyn Thornton, Hamilton
Local and state governments can fix the potholes and repair the roads simply by increasing taxes or by taking money from health and education. I vote for increased road-user charges.
Peter Hendrickson, East Melbourne
Furthermore
How long until Pauline Hanson uses the term “Fake News”?
Alan Williams, Port Melbourne
Scotch College’s plan to buy Vision Australia’s head office in Kooyong is 60 million reasons why the Australian taxpayer should not be subsidising wealthy elite private schools (″Scotch eyes Vision Australia HQ″, 12/8).
Phil Alexander, Eltham
The article ″Secret death tax in CGT changes″ (12/8) about changes to taxes on inheritance of shares is very concerning. Pressure needs to be put on government to change this legislation quickly.
Kay Moulton, Surrey Hills
An NFL game for $10 to $15 million is a bargain compared to $100 million for a F1 four-day car race (″A four-hour, weekday game with no parking hottest ticket in town″, 12/8).
Geoff Gowers, Merricks North
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying goes. Why study the ingredients offered by other candidates, when Josh Fraser has proven he can dish up success?
Merryn Boan, Brighton
Why were all the constituent components of Great Britain listed as separate countries of origin in the Census, but Wales was not?
Stephen Yolland, Doncaster (Proudly Australian – and Welsh)
When will they announce the census winner?
Alejandro A. Téllez Vargas, Frankston
