Source : the age
Credit: Cathy Wilcox
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It’s a worry to read that there is a lot of abuse carried out from parents to our educators. Teachers and principals are not there to squabble with parents, they are there to educate children. Some parents seem to believe that teachers are also social workers, child minders and general life fixers.
If some parents keep going with this type of expectation there will be no teachers remaining to teach the children. It’s time to learn some respect for our educators. I don’t agree that COVID brought this about. I think it is indicative of the expectations of today’s society that you have to have things just as you want, and blow everyone else.
I do think though if these squabbles get out of hand a fine might tell those parents that they are out of order. Certainly this can’t go on. Our children and grandchildren are the future and without educators where will we all be? Also, children need to learn that not everything is perfect in life and they also need to have resilience.
Nola Cormick, Albert Park
The gradual erosion of a profession
Across Victoria, schools are quietly losing some of their most dedicated and capable teachers. These are not people walking away in frustration or failure — they are passionate educators stepping away after years of service, often reluctantly, and often with a heavy heart.
Yes, workload and wellbeing pressures play a role. But deeper changes are also at work. Teaching, once grounded in trust, creativity and community, is being reshaped by systems that increasingly resemble corporate models.
Teachers are now monitored more than mentored. Excursions are discouraged. Autonomy has diminished. Even basic decisions about classroom resources are often filtered through administrative processes.
Professional learning is applied rigidly, disadvantaging part-time teachers juggling family, health or disability. Many are left feeling less purposeful, not because of a lack of care, but because the system leaves them no room to do their work well.
Leaders are under pressure too. But where there was once a heart-to-heart, there is now a policy email and a reminder about the Employee Assistance hotline.
We are not just losing teachers. We are losing relationships, community, and a sense of belonging. And that is something worth pausing to reflect on.
Name withheld, former teacher, Wimmera
Perhaps, codes of conduct are the answer
At first glance, a fine seems a sensible preventative measure to deter parents from the kind of behaviour described in the article ″Parents should face $1000 fine for defaming teachers or principals online, says mediator″ (14/5).
However, a complementary solution could be that each school issues separate codes of conduct for principals, teachers, parents and children, setting out expectations of the acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and consequences when barriers are crossed.
As an international teacher trainer at tertiary level, wherever I have worked, I have always insisted on an explicit code of conduct which is made very clear at interview before a candidate is accepted onto a course. Whenever it seemed that a learner teacher was about to overstep a boundary or display unacceptable conduct, they would be taken aside, the signed code of conduct referred to and an amicable discussion would ensue before things got too heated.
The policy of nipping things in the bud before they had time to fester has worked well over the decades of training English teachers worldwide.
Judith Hudson, Elwood
THE FORUM
A female deputy?
Now that the Liberal Party has a female leader, perhaps the ALP could consider selecting a woman as deputy prime minister. There are numerous candidates with greater ability, and one would hope better judgment, than the present incumbent Richard Marles. Nikki Savva (″Told to wait, Marles blew things up″, 15/5), says Marles’ performance has been ″lacklustre″, and former Labor prime minister Paul Keating described him as a ″factional lightweight″. Surely a more competent replacement (preferably female) could be found.
Carole Hooper, Kew
Get a grip, PM
Anthony Albanese needs to get a grip on reality. Peter Dutton was the election gift that couldn’t stop giving to Labor. And now Albanese wants Australians to adopt ″progressive patriotism″ a la Donald Trump.
Apart from Dutton’s regular reversals of policies, his endorsement of President Trump put his campaign on the skids. The PM’s puffery needs to be reined in or he will start to believe his morning exercise should be a walk across Lake Burley Griffin before gracing parliament with his presence.
Des Files, Brunswick
One for progress
The prime minister’s patriotic progressiveness is a good idea. He is in a position to take the community with him in tackling a range of progressive issues. In doing so he needs to remember his national primary vote at the election was among the lowest in Labor history; a third of the community voted for a non-major party candidate.
A progressive transformation will occur if he engages constructively with Green and teal members of parliament, avoiding the hubris of thinking Labor can rule alone.
Peter Allan, Brunswick West
Renewables way forward
Sussan Ley says, “We need to reduce emissions in this country, and Australia needs to play its part.” This is nothing new: the Coalition has for a decade paid lip service to our environmental and international obligations.
Matt Canavan says net zero is “mortally wounded”, that renewables “not just harm our economic security, they also hurt our food and national security”. Rather than create, and further divide regional and urban Australia, could Canavan start acknowledging that both are doing their bit to decarbonise, via solar panels and, now (subsidised) batteries. The Coalition’s pro-nuclear idea lives, in the form of deputy leader Ted O’Brien and Nationals leader David Littleproud, whose commitment to nuclear presumably will not be shaken by the resounding defeat on May 3.
Most Australians support our shift to renewables and are now aware of the fatal flaws of the nuclear idea.
Fiona Colin, Malvern East
Ley needs a whip
It looks like Sussan Ley has her work cut out getting the Coalition back on track (“Nationals rail against renewables”, 15/5). Before they even start a review of their disastrous campaign and the platform from which it was launched, the Nationals have glued the no-net-zero plank to that rickety edifice. Climate change denial cost the Liberals heartland seats in 2022 and credibility in 2025. Those Liberals who voted for Taylor in the leadership vote will only be encouraged by the “advice” from their not-so-junior partner.
While Ley’s CV is quite impressive there’s one qualification missing: lion taming. She’s going to need a whip and a chair to bring the Coalition into the 21st century, and back into government. As they say down at the pub; good luck with that one.
John Mosig, Kew
Unsteady as she goes
It’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen in the Liberal Party. Sussan Ley will do all the hard work for the next two years only to be torn down by Angus Taylor and the right rump come election game time It will cost them another election.
Ray Cornelius, Moonee Ponds
Ley’s challenges
Sussan Ley’s elevation to Liberal leader is a moment of symbolic and strategic significance. As a woman of migrant background with a middle-class history, her rise breaks the party’s traditional mould and perhaps signals its will to evolve.
But Ley’s challenge goes beyond identity. After years of ideological hardline politics under Peter Dutton, Australians especially women, youth, and those from middle and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, demand substance, not symbolism. If the Liberals’ pivot to the centre is genuine, Ley must lead with inclusion, policy reform, and pragmatic solutions, not platitudes.
Her life story spanning continents, professions, and class barriers offers a refreshing contrast to the usual career politician narrative. It may help the party connect with a broader electorate.
The Liberal Party now finds itself on unfamiliar terrain, closer to Labor’s traditional base. Whether this move reflects opportunism or genuine transformation remains to be seen.
As The Age editorial (14/5) rightly pointed out, a strong opposition is vital to democracy. But it must also be credible. The question isn’t just whether Ley can lead, it’s whether she can rebuild trust.
History gives her the platform. Only leadership will define the legacy.
Ali Keshtkar, Melbourne
Farming hypocrisy
The Nationals may well rail against renewables but will no doubt expect the farmers they supposedly represent to receive financial assistance when their farms are adversely affected by climate change. The word hypocrisy comes to mind.
Phil Alexander, Eltham
E-bike hazards
The article “Man dies after collision with e-bike” (14/5) was no surprise to me. I’ve been an e-bike owner for eight years and average about 2500 kilometres a year, favouring our wonderful trails along the rivers and creeks of suburban Melbourne. My bike has the maximum legal motor capacity of 250 watts which cuts out above 25 km/h, yet I regularly see other e-bikes going at speeds that are simply not possible with a legal motor, and often they are not even pedalling. The culprits are usually teens, probably with little idea of road rules. Yet in my past eight years of riding, I have never come across a uniformed police officer on the trails as a deterrent to this dangerous behaviour.
Graeme Daniels, Balwyn North
Madness must stop
I am horrified by the policy of starvation in Palestine. This is not a military necessity, but an act of collective punishment.
After 3000 years of horror – including exile from their indigenous land and from every other host country – I believe in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish homeland. But that right does not extend to the devastation of an entire civilian population who have tended the land for centuries.
The scale and cruelty of this assault – the burying of families, the razing of homes, the starvation of children – defies justification. Even Donald Trump appears to be tiring of Benjamin Netanyahu and his cohorts.
That this horror has also triggered a rise in antisemitism is tragic, though sadly predictable. Bad actors always seize moments of moral outrage to channel hatred, especially online.
But moral clarity is nevertheless demanded. Neither Hamas nor the right wing Israeli government seems to care a whit for civilian life. This madness must end. It is a disgrace to the memory of people like my grandfather, who survived Dachau and Treblinka.
Simon Tedeschi, Newtown, NSW
No to manhandling
I completely agree with your correspondents’ criticism of umpires not enforcing the “push-in-the-back” rule (Letters, 15/5). The modern game is fast and furious, showcasing the players’ exceptional skills and quick reflexes. But the manhandling that is allowed between ruckmen at throw-ins and bounces and when players are flying for marks detracts from the game’s appeal.
“A player attempting a mark cannot be pushed, bumped, or interfered with in a way that prevents them from taking the mark. This includes any action that would impede their ability to catch the ball by interfering with their arms.” The rule is clear and its current incorrect interpretation has taken away a lot of the spectacular highlights that set our game apart from other football codes.
Peter Thomson, Brunswick
Stop the sledging
Mathew Stokes describes how Willie Rioli had been driven to make his off-field taunt to an opposition player (″Some barbs may seem benign, but should be off limits″, 14/5). Why does the AFL tolerate sledging or taunting. It is unsportsmanlike and frankly rude at best, and can be offensive as Stokes describes. It shouldn’t be tolerated in any workplace. The constant niggling of opponents, verbally or physically makes the game unattractive. It’s one reason why I find AFL hard to watch.
John Massie, Middle Park
Driven to distraction
A huge electronic billboard in Knoxfield is showing a message about distracted drivers and accidents. It takes so long to read I almost ran into the car in front.
Ian Malcolm, Scoresby
Credit: Matt Golding
AND ANOTHER THING
Politics
It seems incongruous that a group which claims religious exemption from voting is involved in voter calls and distributing preference cards for a particular party. Is it a religion? Or a business?
David Cook, Soldiers Hill
There needs to be an urgent investigation into what the Plymouth Brethren were hoping to get from the Liberal Party in return for all their election help. Beggars belief that it was done for nothing.
Grant Nichol, Ringwood North
The prime minister’s program on ″how humanity can move forward″ is laudable, but not achievable unless we have a liveable planet. Maybe doing something big about climate change might be added to his list.
Robert Yates, Rosanna
Progressive patriotism? A jingoistic oxymoron if I ever heard one. It’s almost better than military intelligence and deafening silence.
Myra Fisher, Brighton East
Matt Canavan claiming to have “mortally wounded″ Labor’s net zero policy is oddly reminiscent of Monty Python’s delusional Black Knight insisting “it’s only a flesh wound″ while lying on the ground with his arms and legs severed.
Bernd Rieve, Brighton
It’s a pity that Donald Trump did not take a short detour to visit Gaza. He would have seen first hand the almost total destruction and devastation primarily brought about by his arms supply to Israel.
Corrado Tavella, Rosslyn Park, SA
There’s no such thing as a free deluxe 747.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
Quoting both the opposition leader and her deputy, the Liberals have no policies: ″Nothing is in and nothing is out.″
David Jones, Essendon
Finally
It is disgusting that City of Yarra has been forced to remove the Captain Cook memorial from Fitzroy Gardens due to vandalism. Capitulation to a moronic minority.
Reg Murray, Glen Iris
