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The furore around the minuscule levy on public transport tickets should lead the government to be transparent about the true cost of providing public transport in this state. Private companies providing the services are subsidised by significant taxpayer funds. Doncaster buses are half or three quarters empty in off peak times. It also seems that many people think the free tram zone covers the entire network, judging by the many who do not tap on. The government must be paying the operators to cover the shortfall between revenue from fares and both the cost of running the service and profit for those operators, but I have never seen those figures released. Remember also that children travel free on the system, seniors travel free on weekends, we had three months of free transport due to the Middle East war, and we currently have half-price public transport until the end of the year. A minuscule levy is insignificant in the public transport picture. Yes, we should have been told. But now that we know, it is a pity that the Premier Ben Carroll feels it should be scrapped.
Louise Kloot, Doncaster
It was a fraction of a cup of coffee
I don’t know why people were upset about the 1 per cent public transport fare levy. It was about 0.5 per cent of a cup of coffee. Look at the positives: We have a fantastic new and very convenient rail system removing thousands of vehicles from roads, thus helping the environment. We were given free transport for two months and half price for seven months. Nothing to complain about at all.
Suzanne Palmer-Holton, Seaford
Focus should be on motorists
Instead of hitting train travellers to fund vital public transport upgrades the government should be slugging car travellers. Any car with only one person in it travelling from say Doncaster to Melbourne on the Eastern freeway should have to pay $1 each way . The same should apply to any major freeway heading into Melbourne. Money collected should go towards upgrading public transport and roads across the state. NSW had a toll on the Harbor Bridge for many years to help defray the costs. Why not Victoria with its road and train upgrades? Melbourne is being choked by cars containing only one person. It’s time we hit the motorists choking our city.
Paul Chivers, Box Hill North
To build, you must borrow the funds
I’m sorry Chip Le Grand (Comment, 27/8) but how does anything get built or a house get bought? You borrow money and pay it off. Sometimes in the case of a house, over 30-plus years. State debt is necessary, just look at almost every state or country in the world. What is unacceptable is deceit. Jacinta Allan and her cronies keeping the levy that we all pay to ride the rails and buses, to fund the questionably necessary SRL, hidden from us, is unconscionable.
Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson
A good idea that governments should heed
So the Victorian Government put money aside from public transport fares to help pay for future public transport. Good idea. I’m surprised governments haven’t always done so.
Mark Freeman, Macleod
The levy will not break us
Your correspondent (Letters, 27/8) had it right – build it once, build it properly. The new underground stations are magnificent and will be easily able to absorb any amount of growth in Melbourne’s population; even a potential temporary increase in population in the manner of hosting Olympic Games and the like. This sort of infrastructure is for future prosperity. As far as hidden levies are concerned, 1 per cent equates to one cent from each dollar; hardly noticeable in the scheme of things. Precedents have been set in other sorts of levies (fire and Medicare). All are for the good and liveability of our country.
Julie Broomhall, Timboon
THE FORUM
Frank advice
For Victorian Labor “to ever find its way back to the ethos that kept the budget in balance and debt in check throughout the Bracks and Brumby era”, it would have to appoint and listen to public servants who are smart and brave enough to advise ministers frankly and fearlessly – keeping them grounded in financial reality (“Until it costs seats, Labor’s unfussed”, 27/8). Unfortunately there’s little time left for that before the November election. Maybe whoever governs after will take the hint. That’s how it was, before political advisers in ministers’ private officers on both sides of politics, took ascendancy over an objective, professional public service.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
Populate or perish
Projections about the population of Melbourne in 2101 are subject to a number of variables (″How a ‘halo of satellite cities’ could absorb half of Victoria’s swelling population″, 27/8). Not the least of which is that global stressors are likely to bring population growth globally under control well before then. According to this theory, on some projections, by 2101 the combined effect of climate change impacts and (ironically) growing affluence will see population plateau before the end of the century, followed by a slow and inexorable decline. Over the long term the challenge for the globe will be incentivising couples to have children. Indeed, in some households, parenthood has already been set aside due to the grim outlook.
Patrick Hockey, Clunes
Cluster precedents
We are all very concerned about alarming reports of clusters of youth suicide in the east of Melbourne in the past year (Editorial, 26/8). However, those calling for a urgent review will know that sadly there are precedents of these occurrences. In 2018, there was a coronial investigation into a cluster of suicides among South Asian women in Melbourne’s northern and broader Whittlesea region, which resulted in significant recommendations for the services system. And in Geelong a coronial examination resulted from a cluster of deaths of five young men under 18 in 2020.
Although it is understandable the community is anxious to try to prevent further tragic loss of life, a rigorous examination and analysis of the antecedents surrounding the current cluster of youth suicide by the coroner as soon as possible will give evidence-based direction.
Diana Yallop, Surrey Hills
Safeguard future
As an admiring member of the Ross Gittins Fan Club, I’m delighted to see writers endorsing his thoughtful critique of Labor’s current carbon credit scheme (Letters, 27/8). One correspondent asks when ″will the Albanese government strengthen the safeguard mechanism″. No one knows the answer to that, but what we do know is a review of this flagship scheme is getting under way and we’ve got a three-week window of opportunity to have our say. Submissions close on September 18. We need to let Labor know we’re passionate about our wonderful world and want to keep it clean and healthy for today’s kids and grandkids. That won’t happen unless polluters are required to reduce their carbon emissions. A properly reformed safeguard mechanism could do just that. For everyone’s sake, let’s tell the politicians so.
Tom Knowles, Parkville
The Trump effect
The medical experts were correct on what would happen with Donald Trump’s policy on vaccinations (″Measles kills unvaccinated duo as US outbreak spreads″, 27/8). These unnecessary deaths add to the damage done by the climate-denying, warmongering Trump administration.
John Hughes, Mentone
Carbon ripple-effects
Thank you Ross Gittins (″Labor’s carbon credit scheme fails to stack up″, 26/8). Labor continues to approve more gas and coal extraction, which will result in increased greenhouse gas emissions, which will increase the likelihood of more extensive and severe bushfires, which may well burn the area proposed for ″improved native forest management″ carbon offsets.
Chimerical ″improved native forest management carbon offsets″ appear to be the product of cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance.
Helen Moss, Croydon
Not a crackdown
Three weeks after the ALP cancelled an announcement about lowering migration, it seems lobbying by business and haggling within the ALP about migration may be over. An announcement is imminent. A ″crackdown″ looms.
Numerically it’s no crackdown. If the ALP succeed in lowering net overseas migration to 225,000 in 2027-28, that will be 0.8 per cent of the population. This is high in historical terms – across the 1980s and 1990s it averaged 0.6 per cent.
To the extent the new policy hinges on slowing visa processing, it’s nothing more than a postponement – an attempt to make Australia a less attractive alternative host, relative to other countries.
That the Albanese government has tied itself in knots this month over migration shows its dependence, and indeed the dependence of the business community, on migration to obtain economic growth.
Pauline Hanson spotted, in 2018, how reliant the Commonwealth’s budget was on population growth and therefore migration. Angus Taylor noted the same in April – that economic growth now marches in lock step with population growth.
The Albanese government ought to stop posing as competent economic managers. Their economic track record hinges on nothing more than monetising migration.
Alun Breward, Malvern East
Targets of protest
Of course your correspondent has the right to protest against Israel’s actions in its war in Gaza (Letters, 27/8), just as she has the right to protest against the many fascist and Islamist regimes around the world who commit mass murders and atrocities against their own and others they consider as enemies.
Henry Herzog, St Kilda East
Over the line
While I agree that a person has a right to protest (Letters, 27/8), I believe more strongly that society as a whole has a right to quiet enjoyment.
Where protest impedes that right to quiet enjoyment the protest needs to be moderated.
The recurring and regular protests claimed to be in support of Palestine of recent times overstepped the line and were responsible for removing society’s right to quiet enjoyment of its city.
If the Palestine protesters were real they should have taken themselves and their protest to Jerusalem as the Israeli government takes no heed of anything the Australian government says and pays no heed to protesters in Melbourne either.
Keith Hawkins, Point Lonsdale
Looking for AI benefits
Most voters have no idea what data centres do or how they might impact our society. Will they create jobs or cost jobs? Will they yield any tax dividend to help revive our crumbling public services?
Governments seem unable to answer these questions. Yet they appear to be approving them left, right and centre. Let’s hope the community gets a bit more benefit from them than they do from natural gas which, it seems, we give away to foreign multinationals who pay virtually no tax to Australia.
Tim Mahar, Fitzroy North
… and finding them
Your correspondent claims he asked AI whether huge data centres would create environmental problems but was reassured all would be OK (Letters, 27/8).
I don’t know which AI bot he used or the question he posed. But, when I asked ChatGPT, ″Will huge data centres create environmental problems?″ its summary reply was, ″Yes. Large data centres can create significant environmental pressures, although the scale depends on how they are designed and powered.″ It then lists electricity consumption, water use, heat generation, construction impacts and electronic waste as the main problem areas and discusses each in detail. The response also provided an appropriate counter-argument.
There is too much uninformed alarmism in regard to AI. Rather than gotcha queries, your correspondent might find it instructive to pose a question along these lines (he’ll be surprised): ″Briefly describe up to 10 major breakthroughs made using AI in solving complex scientific and medical problems.″
Peter Price, Southbank
A further question
Can AI detect social media toxic masculinity, suicidal ideation and nasty expletives and terminate those accounts?
Jeremy Mould, Richmond
Bowled over
What a lovely piece on the cricket match in 1882 at which Australia beat England on English home soil for the first time (An Age Ago, 27/8).
The cremation of the “body of English cricket” was published at a time of great anxiety about the legitimacy of cremation in Christian theology, but was being promoted to solve the problem of over-crowded graveyards and lack of land for new ones. This was great satire at the time.
John Massie, Middle Park (Yes, related to Hugh Massie opening batsman and top scorer, my great grandfather)
Many can make a whole
I wish that our Victorian road engineers could collect up all our horrible potholes, merge them into a continuous cylindrical void and hide the resultant monstrosity underground, preferably between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
Ross Coulthard, Glen Iris
AND ANOTHER THING
Trump
If Donald Trump wants to rename Lake Ontario, why settle for the rather tame “Lake America”? Go the whole hog and make it Loch Donald, complete with its very own monster. A winning combo of ego trip and gold-plated tourist attraction.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
I was taught to remember the Great Lakes using the mnemonic HOMES. If Donald Trump succeeds in changing the name of Lake Ontario as suggested, the mnemonic will change to a seemingly more fitting SHAME.
Gary Heard, Bullsbrook, WA
Lake Ontario to be renamed Lake America? Why not go the whole way and name it Lake Trump.
Adrian Sumner, Shepparton
Furthermore
Dolly Parton did more good for the world in 80 years than Donald Trump could possibly do if he lived to be 200.
Randall Bradshaw, Fitzroy
Dolly Parton (was) intelligent, talented, respected, admired, kind, generous and caring.
Robert Latimer, Bairnsdale
Car thefts could be reduced by manufacturers producing cars that require the driver to enter a four-digit PIN into the electronic dashboard before the engine would start.
Peter Williams, Alphington
Why can’t the ATO provide a more user-friendly service? Sure, it would mean employing and paying more staff and more better-trained staff. So what? How many millions does the ATO drag in each year?
John Walsh, Watsonia
I’d much rather watch Usain Bolt run than some robot ″thingy″ (Letters, 27/8).
Teresa McIntosh, Keysborough
Great idea to have robot soldiers fighting in Ukraine (Letters, 27/8). Unfortunately at present human soldiers are cheaper.
Jim Picot, Altona
Finally
Which surreal version of iconic, legendary, or quintessential has the most unique impact (Letters, 27/8)?
Neil Champion, Moonee Ponds
