source : the age
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BYELECTION RESULT
One Nation’s victory on Saturday in the byelection for the West Australian lower-house seat of Secret Harbour, south of Perth, marks a major step in what I call the Trumpification of Australian politics — the process by which a party utilises opposition to immigration and, despite lacking the experience and competence to govern, gains power and undermines the institutions and values of liberal democracy.
We must now contemplate the possibility of a political tidal wave at forthcoming state elections — Victoria on November 28 and New South Wales on March 27 — and at the next federal election in 2028, with Pauline Hanson emerging as a real contender for the prime ministership.
In Secret Harbour, this disturbing result was enabled in part by the WA Liberal Party’s decision to preference One Nation ahead of Labor. That strategy is likely to backfire. Rather than strengthening the Liberals, it risks helping to establish One Nation as Labor’s principal opponent, further eroding the Liberal Party’s own electoral base.
Drastic action is needed if One Nation is to be prevented from capturing state and federal governments.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needs to institute some bold, eye-catching reforms that will rapidly improve life for most Australians.
And the Liberal Party needs to find ways to win back conservative and other voters who are now under Hanson’s spell.
Edmund Doogue, Crawley, WA
PM’s positivity won’t dent Hanson’s appeal
In the wake of One Nation’s stunning victory in WA, the prime minister’s reported ″pivot to positivity″ looks increasingly like a fool’s errand.
No amount of selling how positive the government’s policies are will work on an electorate who are convinced they stink.
Principal among these policies for One Nation voters is immigration, which the government seemingly cannot handle, being pulled by both business and the Labor Party’s left to maintain a virtual status quo – in other words, a mess.
Greg Gardiner, Brunswick
Albanese must change priorities, fast
With Labor’s huge majority, it would ordinarily be unthinkable for it to lose government at the next federal election. But in Western Australia, One Nation defeating Labor’s candidate, a Woodside lobbyist of all things, means that in 2028, Labor’s reign could be cut short.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can change his priorities and start governing for people not corporations, or he can ignore Secret Harbour’s loud and clear warning at his peril.
The nation is watching.
Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn
PM’s losing bet on GST stand
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising to leave the unfair distribution of GST to WA in place didn’t work. He gambled and sacrificed all the other states for a loss on Saturday when One Nation won the Secret Harbour byelection.
No wonder Albanese’s polling is looking so bad. You win some, you lose more.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn
Cutting immigration key to winning votes
Your correspondent (Letters, 30/8) says migrants are vilified and blamed for all our woes. A more apt description is that the federal government is allowing too much immigration, which is placing pressure on house prices and rents.
Voters are deserting the major parties because of this obvious issue, and One Nation has filled that vacuum.
Until Labor and the Liberals cut immigration to sustainable levels, the situation will continue to worsen.
The fact is houses cannot be built fast enough to accommodate the current rate of immigration.
Christo Krousoratis, Templestowe
THE FORUM
IDF participation
Penny Wong and the ALP may stand up and condemn the IDF and Israeli government over the death of Zomi Frankcom, yet we know that nothing will be done. Meanwhile our government allows a group of about 40 Israelis, including military veterans, to participate in the Sydney Marathon and to raise money for an Israeli charity.
Settler violence in the West Bank continues, homes are destroyed, Gaza is still being bombed, yet the UN and our government just come out with meaningless words.
Dean Virgin, Strathmore
The value of advice
The state government has announced it will abolish Infrastructure Victoria, with the feeble excuse that this is to “end duplication and find efficiencies”. That agency’s role is to provide independent advice to parliament on infrastructure priorities, to assist with cost-efficient forward planning.
As its CEO Dr Jonathan Spear has said, “Independence is what makes our advice worth having”.
Infrastructure Victoria does not cost money; it saves the state millions of dollars. Nothing that Premier Carroll has done so far changes the fact that for the past decade, Melbourne and Victoria have had no transport plan to guide road and public transport investments. Instead, we have had a collection of big project announcements.
One reason the Suburban Rail Loop is a financial and transport planning disaster is because there was no initial independent evaluation of it or viable options, before it was announced prior to an election. Infrastructure Victoria must be retained, and its advice sought far more often.
Rob Morgan, traffic engineer, Bulleen
Learn from past
With hindsight, the decisions to close the outer circle railway in the 1890s and the inner circle rail in 1981 were arguably misguided, given the then unforseen growth of Melbourne.
By 2050, Melbourne will need a first class rail network. The long-term potential of the inner and outer circle railways did not eventuate. The city cannot afford to not proceed with the SRL and the airport rail link.
Jim McLeod, Sale
Victoria’s bumpy ride
Regarding potholes (″What our drive along the Hume showed ...″30/8). We recently undertook a road trip westwards through South Australia and Western Australia. We found the roads in WA to be excellent and those in SA not far behind.
However, on our way home Victoria provided an immediate, stark comparison. Bumpy, narrower, quite dangerous roads strewn with potholes. It is a similar experience entering NSW with an immediate improvement in road conditions.
Stephen Dinham, Metung
Children before profit
“Commercial childcare operators are struggling to remain viable – and children and carers are paying the price″ (29/8).
I’m left wondering when governments will understand the folly of privatisation of services that should be run in the public interest rather than for a profit motive. Community-based childcare provided a terrific model for delivering high-quality childcare, and yet governments let it be taken over by a profit-driven sector.
This is not to say that all for-profit centres are bad – financial sustainability is essential in providing consistency of delivery – but rather that we should ensure that the primary motive for operating should be the welfare of the children. This is most likely when generating a profit is not part of the equation.
Jenny Macmillan, Clifton Hill
Female GP demands
Dr Ellie Goodsall’s piece (″There’s one key reason female GPs like me are quitting″, 28/8) is heartbreaking and a must-read for everyone, especially our politicians and those determining funding of general practice medicine. If you’re looking for someone who listens, cares and gives time, a female GP is the natural choice for women and many men.
The stripping back of mental health services has meant GPs are more in demand and it’s the female GPs filling the gaps and ″doing the profession’s invisible emotional labour″.
How long can they keep it up (for a fraction of the remuneration)?
Mary Stephen, Fitzroy
Time’s running down
The tragic events in Nepal and Tibet are harbingers of what’s to come in this rapidly warming world. For decades warnings of mountain glacier and lake collapse have gone unheeded. Millions live at extreme risk of cataclysm. Wildfires in Europe and North America, hellish temperatures in India and Pakistan, and Australia’s increasing vulnerability to catastrophic bushfires and floods present clear and present dangers to our way of life.
And yet, our major political parties continue to deny there’s a problem, or present hopeful solutions that are more than cancelled out by spending billions of our money supporting fossil fuels. At what point will Australians demand action, and vote for politicians who will meet this critical moment? It’s never too late to do better.
Guy Abrahams, Fairhaven
God’s plans
I understand why survivors of natural disasters thank God. But spare a thought for the loved ones of those who were not so lucky. Why was God’s plan for them so different?
Nick Carr, Richmond
What can we do?
I wonder how the biblical idea (Matthew 5.5) that “the meek shall inherit the Earth” stands up against the activities of despots around the globe.
Surely, many of the humbler humans would be appalled at what’s happening in the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern wars, and with the unbridled grab for climate-changing, fossil fuel energy sources such that Donald Trump has orchestrated in Venezuela. What can the consciously considerate, careful humans who constitute most of our population do?
Andrew Smith, Leongatha
Do try this at home
Many of your correspondents bemoan the dire situation in relation to the climate crisis, which is clearly visible in daily news stories. It sometimes feels overwhelming and leads to a sense of hopelessness.
However, on recent dog walks around my local neighbourhood, I have been reminded that the transition to cleaner technologies continues at pace. The electric bus goes past, as do many electric and hybrid vehicles. I even spot a large tradesman’s ute – fully electric. The recently installed chargers are in regular use and there is yet another installation of solar panels on a nearby home.
These observations would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. Now, they are common. While global crises need to be met with global responses, it is important to remember that smaller actions at the local level are important too. We can all play our part.
Judy Williams, Beaumaris
Lanes for everyone
As a long-term resident of Fitzroy and Clifton Hill, I have minimal sympathy for the company that has seemingly used a public right of way (ROW) to enhance its business income.
The bluestone ROWs of the inner-city built environment are largely heritage protected and form an integral and valued part of the inner-city history.
The ROWs are a public amenity frequently used by local residents, trades people, utility providers etc who require rear access to properties.
I hope the Supreme Court finds in favour of the City of Yarra and an enforceable order is made for the company to remove the concrete flooring and reinstate and/or repair any original bluestone removed or damaged.
Carol Jasen, Clifton Hill
Medicalised boredom
Cherie Gilmour’s delightful piece “A squishy is not a therapy tool, it’s just overpriced gunk” (30/8) has its scary side. Her seven-year-old daughter needed a “dumpling squishy” because “it helps me regulate”. I loved Gilmour’s comment that “when a dumpling squishy becomes a tool to ‘regulate’, even in the eyes of kids who don’t need it, we are medicalising boredom”.
Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Consumers R Us
Fidget toys for everyone are not just “medicalising boredom”. They are training our kids to consume in order to fix your mood. They are the opposite of self-regulation.
Lesley Walker, Northcote
ScoMo surprises
In 2018, Cathy Wilcox heard Scott Morrison say that “voting independent is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you would get”, upon which she drew a box of assorted “Coalition” chocolates, which included “leadership brittle”, “religious nut cluster”, “royal knighthood surprise” among many hilarious others.
This single, brilliant cartoon set a standard for Australian cartoonists who have emulated this method of social observation since. A well-deserved feather in her cap. Hopefully, she will bob up somewhere soon.
Julian Guy, Mount Eliza
Wilcox’s wry perspective
It is hard to put into words how much the cartoons by Cathy Wilcox will be missed. Over the years, the first thing that I do when I open The Age is to look for Cathy’s cartoon.
They sum up what a thousand words by other contributors cannot do. They offer readers a different perspective on life, wry, succinct and carry a sometimes sublime message on the frailties of the leaders in our society. A truly, wonderful member of The Age and , dare I say, part of our family over the years.
Bruce MacKenzie, South Kingsville
AND ANOTHER THING
How petty have Victorians become – scrapping a statute of Dan Andrews who guided us through the COVID-19 epidemic? There was no rule book. The government had to negotiate through an unknown minefield. Take politics out of it. Let the statue be erected.
Alan Symington, Mt Martha
So there will not be a statue for our former premier. The pigeons will be furious.
Tim Brow, Flemington
Bravo on cancelling the Dan Andrews statue. A more appropriate statue could depict an ″unknown youth″, in the vein of the unknown soldier, to represent those who died as a consequence of mental health and lockdowns.
Miranda Lewis, Camberwell
Americaland
Donald Trump is trying to change the name Lake Ontario to Lake America on his side of the Canadian/American border. It’s really no different to the French and the English. The French never call it “the English Channel”. It is La Manche (″the Sleeve”). Bonne chance, Monsieur Trump.
Sally Holt, Balwyn
Have you heard the latest? We’re to be called South Trumpland.
Paul Drakeford, Kew
Do your worst, Mr Trump; Lake Ontario still laps the shores of Canada. What you have is half-pint Lake America.
Vincent O’Donnell, Ascot Vale
I hereby proclaim that from this date on, the United States
of America will be known as Fairyland.
Roger Le Mesurier, Paris, France
AFL
I was there on Friday night and it looked like a final, smelt like a final, sounded like a final, and was a final. Go Pies.
Felix Patton, Mt Martha
Despite the closeness of the “extra” finals week, it only emphasised the fact that the bottom four sides of the top 10 aren’t capable of winning the premiership. The AFL will laud its success, but it is only a revenue raiser, and rewards mediocrity. Go back to a final six, and have an interstate competition mid-season to satisfy that need.
Rob Prowd, Box Hill South
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