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Illustration: Ron Tandberg
Councils on Melbourne's fringe continue to propose short-sighted planning laws allowing further subdivision of prime agricultural land. In the Romsey area alone, proposals have been made to reduce lot sizes to a tiny two hectares across hundreds of hectares on the town's north side. This will take highly productive land out of production for centuries, just as the effects of climate change increase and the volcanic soils in these cool climate zones will be needed more than ever. Already, many mini-hobby farms are not well managed, pose a fire risk, add considerably to the cost of new infrastructure requirements and destroy the liveability and aesthetics of pristine landscapes. Councils must plan for the long term. Constant changes to planning laws for short-term gain only expand the bank balances of existing landowners and provide short-term relief to local councils' bank balance through increased rates.
Neil Barker, Romsey
People told one thing, investors another
What is our community of Mirboo North to believe? Mantle Mining has coal exploration licences over our prime agricultural land. In a public meeting, Mantle's managing director gave a number of commitments, including a promise to not mine for coal in the Mirboo North district or in any productive farming district, to not sell the licences and to return the exploration licences issued. He also outlined plans (to be realised by 2050) to create a hydroelectric scheme by mining black coal under Hazelwood open-cut mine. However, these promises were not evident in the recent statement Mantle Mining issued to the ASX after the meeting. Why are affected communities and investors given different information? The people who farm, work and live in areas where mining exploration licences are issued feel very vulnerable. And why won't state and federal politicians and councils protect agricultural land against the ravages of mining?
Deborah O'Connor, Berrys Creek
Putting lock on prime suburbs
Justin Madden makes some interesting points about greyzones – "residential areas where the building stock is near or ending its physical life and land values make redevelopment attractive" – and gives Airport West as an example (Comment, 23/11). But what about suburbs much closer to the CBD? I know from personal experience that the housing stock in Surrey Hills is extremely costly to maintain. Boroondara is planning to heritage list another 400 properties within its boundary. Such listing is irrevocable and virtually impossible to oppose. We will end up with 7 million people in Melbourne and ultra-low-density suburbs only 10kilometres from the CBD. This perverse future is being set right now. Some of the people pushing for this are well-intentioned in their desire to preserve an Anglo 1930s neighbourhood feel. But the darker reason appears to be to keep out the Chinese and Chinese developers.
Chris Lloyd, Surrey Hills
Speculating with pastoral leases
Confusion and myths cloud the government's decision to block the sale of "Kidman land" to Chinese interests linked to state owned corporations (The Age, 21/11). First, it is pastoral leases that are being sold. Most were issued before Australia came into existence, initially to British land speculators. After foreclosures, many came to be owned by foreign banks. Second, the purchase of pastoral leases has nothing to do with the aspiration to increase "investment in agriculture". The high purchase prices and low rates of return suggest lease speculation is still the motivation. Finally, the national interest includes long-term sustainable land management and Indigenous land rights, which don't appear as priorities on the Coalition agenda.
Bruce McGregor, Brunswick
Playing into IS' hands
People talk of protecting our way of life, but what exactly is that? Meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars, perhaps? The Australian way of life has never been one path shared by all citizens: just look at the historical treatment of Indigenous people, women and convicts. Since Europeans invaded Australia, and in every decade since, there have been streams of migrants from all over the world, of all religions and creeds. Yet yesterday's "wogs" and "dagos" are now integral to the society that people want protected. Our habits and culture have changed enormously and have never been been writ in stone or remained static.
The rallies and counter-rallies in Melbourne and Sydney at the weekend, anti-Islam and anti-racist, show that the division that Waleed Aly warns is playing into the hands of Islamic State is already here. Yet paradoxically denouncing division highlights that it exists and invites contrary views. One protest invites a counter-protest. It is unclear where this will all lead. Perhaps the silent majority will need to speak up, peacefully and firmly. At the moment I fear that, as with climate change, the views of the 2 per cent are getting the bulk of the column inches.
Pauline Hopkins, Beaconsfield
Right to be heard
Why do the No Room for Racism protesters continue to follow the Reclaim Australia rallies everywhere they go and try to shut them down? Our precious freedom of speech and expression is under threat, and regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Reclaim Australia, the group has a right to be heard.
Jeremy Browne, Ripponlea
Cowardly protesters
Over the years, young Australian men have fought bravely under the Australian flag. These days, young men hide behind it in the form of a mask to spit hatred and bile through its fabric. If these blokes aren't brave enough to show their faces, they should stay home and, while they're at it it, read the words of our national anthem.
John Cain, McCrae
No way to find peace
To David Brooks' question, "Can we find peace within the ancient holy texts?" (Comment, 23/11), the obvious answer is no or it would've happened already. Brooks likes to quote Rabbi Sacks, but it only stands to reason the rabbi would claim religion doesn't cause violence and that "the 21st century will not be a century of secularism" because he is professionally within the Abrahamic religious tradition.
Brooks writes that the "great religions are based on love". I would say that a cursory look at all Abrahamic faiths reveals they are all based on the notion that a bossy, ornery male God chooses one man every so often to let the rest of us know what he expects of us. And there are penalties for letting Him down. This is what Abrahamic religion is really about and several thousand conflicting sects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam could all agree on that. Hopefully, Rabbi Sacks is wrong about the future because if he is correct we are in for more of the same madness.
Allan Lake, Elwood
Tardy in speaking out
I wholeheartedly agree with Amanda Vanstone (Comment, 23/11) that we need leadership on the issue of race and religion. I just wish she had expressed these views when she was immigration minister and her prime minister was hijacking the policies of Pauline Hanson to demonise asylum seekers and fuel fear of the "other" in the community. John Howard's embracing of societal divisions ignited much of the attitude that Ms Vanstone is now saying we need to rid ourselves of.
David Brewster, Brunswick
No place for secrecy...
Australia is still supposedly a democracy, which requires transparency and accountability from those in power. These characteristics also ensure that governments doing the wrong thing get removed from office. The fate of the latest asylum seeker boat, containing families who have come looking for protection, is secret. Also concealed are the terrible health impacts of imprisonment on Christmas Island, Manus and Nauru.
This secrecy has no place in a democracy. There would be no need to hide if we were doing the right thing. "Not commenting on operational matters" is the stuff of police states. We need to end offshore detention, return to community processing after initial screening, invest in a serious regional processing framework and share more of the international refugee burden. Australia can do so much better.
Margaret Beavis, president, Medical Association for Prevention of War, Australia
... on water matters
When a wooden fishing boat gets within 200 metres of Christmas Island, and Australia's response is to tow it back out to sea, you can be sure that government policies are not primarily concerned with "saving lives at sea".
Linda Cusworth, Bannockburn
Welcome to real world
I empathise with those anonymous parents ("Parents sue over genetic disorder", 21/11), but welcome to the real world of tens of thousands of families with disabled children. The highly variable Fragile X syndrome is not the only diagnosis not tested for in genetic testing. Court-awarded pots of money might help you cope with your children but if all the parents of disabled children took the same route, where would society be? As for considering legal action against a cousin for non-disclosure...
Janine Lucato, Buninyong
Down a slippery slope
Pizza Hut sham contracts "used to pay delivery drivers as little as $12 an hour without super or WorkCover (The Age, 23/11) are worse than they seem. When taking into account the costs of drivers supplying their own cars, including fuel, maintenance and depreciation, the "job" is clearly unsustainable. Perhaps we're heading down the road of having to pay the 10-18 per cent tips that are customary in America, Pizza Hut's homeland. There, tips are used as a neat trick to absolve employers of providing staff with a living wage, instead passing that obligation on to customers.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
Asleep at the wheel
Haven't governments learnt anything from the pink Batts fiasco, i.e. that any government-funded employment or education scheme, outsourced to private providers, will be rorted to the nth degree? And why is it left to the media to investigate compliance issues? Shysters are earning millions in the "education" sector, have been for many years, and continue to do so in spite of rule changes, yet governments merrily keep shovelling out the cash until their folly is pointed out in newspaper headlines.
Payments must be halted immediately to these entities and the money spent on resurrecting the TAFE system nationally. My blood pressure soars just reading about this disgraceful situation.
Jennie Owen, Castlemaine
Rubbery reductions?
The results of the Clean Energy Regulator's second round of contracts were recently reported, with 131 projects receiving $557million to reduce carbon emissions by 45 million tonnes. Among the winners were Wesfarmers, which will change the light bulbs in their stores to save 105,000 tonnes; Consolidated Pastoral Company, which will undertake early back burning of cattle properties to save 715,000 tonnes; Pacific National, which will save 362,000 tonnes by instituting fuel efficiencies; while a large number of farmers will be paid to plant trees to soak up more carbon.
Apart from the fact that it would be a reasonable assumption to expect any responsible organisation to itself fund such energy usage and carbon reduction improvements in their operations, the calculation of these carbon reductions seems so rubbery as to be unbelievable. A closer look is needed at the calculations behind the government's self-lauded emission reduction strategy. It couldn't have overstated them, could it?
Peter Thomson, Richmond
Bypassing care audit
A letter writer commented that "surely the time taken to reach a resident needing attention is a basic measure of care and staffing adequacy" in aged care facilities (Letters, 19/11). The monitoring of the answering of call bells for residents is itself fraught. My mother's bell was promptly answered – the electronic records all showed this so the care waiting times would all pass an audit with flying colours. What the records did not show was the staff member flitting into her room to turn off the bell – then flitting out again.
Name and address withheld
Thanks for light relief
A note of appreciation is in order to The Age for publishing all those helpful comments for Brian Noble to find his kitchen drawers, tea towels and so on. I haven't laughed so much for ages, and don't we need it right now.
Michael Cleaver, Southbank
AND ANOTHER THING ...
Politics
Malcolm Turnbull, investing in coal is hardly innovative or agile.
Cynthia Karena, St Kilda East
As long as the government refuses to comment on "operational matters", it remains unaccountable to parliament, the people or the international community.
Ros de Bruin, Balwyn
Turnbull's glib comment regarding the boat off Christmas Island is at odds with a PM who champions his ability to communicate with voters.
Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick
Kevin Andrews is a proponent of resolving aggression with aggression. How 20th century.
Joan Segrave, Healesville
Give the Kurds their way.
Ian Cunliffe, Moonee Ponds
A large chunk of northern Australia is still owned by a British conglomerate. Or is that not part of "our heritage"?
Yo Takayoshi, St Kilda
Adam Giles, if leasing Darwin's port is a fantastic situation, imagine how fantastic Australia could be if we brought in the Chinese army to run the country.
Breda Hertaeg, Beaumaris
Protesters
If it weren't so serious it would be funny: Reclaim Australia protesters wearing masks complaining about the hijab.
Malcolm Fraser, Oakleigh South
So, you object to burqas but cover your faces when you demonstrate?
Uschi Felix, South Melbourne
If you really were patriotic and proud why would you cover your face?
Hans Paas, Castlemaine
We need to remember that no war or atrocity has ever been perpetrated in the name of "no god" or to convert people to atheism.
Greg Keogh, Cheltenham
Last word
I am glad the report "Myer's narrow miss on strike over CEO pay" (21/11) did not say the executive had "earned" his $15million, but that he had "collected" it.
Joan Peverell, Malvern
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