ASYLUM SEEKERS
End the men's agony of living without hope
I was moved to tears reading the story of Nayser Ahmed, "The man who just missed the boat", and "The men of Manus" (Saturday Age, 10/9) – tears of deep sadness for a man who has been separated for three years from his wife and children (who made it to Australia) and for the other men on Manus Island. Some are the same age as my adult children, all with hopes and aspirations, but who are living in limbo. I also shed tears of anger at our politicians who, in spite of numerous reports from doctors, teachers, academics, the Australian Human Rights Commission and now Paris Aristotle, ignore their pleas to end this cruel and detrimental treatment of people who have sought our help. Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton should put themselves in these people's shoes. No one can live without hope. It is what helps us all to find meaning in our lives.
Joy Hayman, Blackburn North
Open our hearts to unbearable suffering
"The man who just missed the boat" was gut-wrenching. How could anyone who read that story not feel for Nayser Ahmed and his family? His seven-year-old son repeatedly asked him, "When are you coming?". We are not a hardhearted people. If Australia were, then I would not lived here for the past 51years. Thank you, Australia. Please, let us not shut our eyes and barricade our hearts to this indescribable human suffering. Let us re-unite this family, for its sake and the many other families who are waiting and suffering.
Elwyn Bourbon, Springvale
It is time for a bipartisan, humane solution
Thank you, Nick McKenzie, for putting names, faces and stories to some of the refugees on Nauru and Manus. It is inspiring that they can maintain some degree of positivity and continue to educate themselves in what must be extremely trying circumstances. Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull must put aside their desperate need to prove who is tougher on "border protection" and find a bipartisan, humane solution to the resettlement of these men. If that means going back on the promise that none will ever be allowed to set foot in Australia, then so be it. That is one election promise I would gladly see broken.
Allan Thompson, Murrumbeena
The terrible injustice of the cut-off date
A week after Nayser Ahmed's wife and children reached Australia in 2013, the Rudd government announced that asylum seekers who arrived by boat would be flown to offshore processing centres. At last, somebody has spoken up about the injustice of that cut-off date. The solution is to admit to Australia those who embarked on the journey before the announcement was made. Those who embarked after that should remain offshore until other countries accept them. To prevent people smuggling starting up again, any new, unauthorised arrivals should join those who are offshore. This solution has the following merits: it would end the suffering of separated families; it would not encourage people smugglers; it is fair; and it would reduce the number of people who need to find a third country.
Peter Wilkinson, Essendon
Hit the hip pockets of those who do not care
I would like to see a page-one page article with details of the amount of taxpayers' money it takes to incarcerate refugees in detention centres, both offshore and in Australia. Perhaps if it hit their hip pockets, those people who are unconcerned about the plight of the refugees would react. I am sure they would suggest other uses for the money, and hopefully become aware of the dehumanising conditions under which the refugees exist.
Lesley Grant, Balaclava
Breaking barriers
Congratulations to Emma/Eddie Ayres, writer Danielle Moylan and photographer Andrew Quilty on "Transition Zone" (Good Weekend, 10/9). It was a brave and sensitively written piece. Emma, we miss your distinctive voice on ABC Classic FM. But Eddie, we would welcome you back to the airwaves any day. We salute your courage, both in taking your journey and speaking about it. This kind of article helps to break down prejudices and increase understanding about the huge barriers and challenges many in the LGBTIQ community face.
Pam Kershaw, Collingwood
Schools before subs
It seems that Defence wants Australian firms to help build a drone army (Saturday Age, 10/9). So why build submarines that need a crew? Given the shortage of personnel who are willing to spend months underwater in a tin can (and who can blame them?), why not spend part of our $50billion on drones and the rest where it is needed – on schools, hospitals etc?
Fred Langenhorst, Castlemaine
The right to our RDOs
As a nurse, I found Harold Mitchell's piece on rostered days off (BusinessDay, 9/9) to be ill-informed. Is he suggesting that full-time workers in industries with RDO provisions should work an extra day a month, for which they are not paid, on top of their normal hours which often involve overtime?
RDOs are not a "holiday"; they are compensation for employees having worked extra hours over the fortnight. Also, workers are entitled to do as they please in this time. Workplaces should be encouraged to offer such options. In an age when mental illness is so prevalent, employers should do everything in their power to help prevent burn-out. This would increase their staff's well-being, prevent absenteeism and improve productivity. Not everyone lives to work, Harold.
Kate Archibald, Kew
Ex-PM's blinkered view
John Howard's views about the representation of women in parliament says more about his lack of imagination than anything else. I am convinced he could not imagine himself being the type of supportive partner who would enable a woman to be an MP. Luckily, many Australians can imagine this, and some do it already. We do not need to have an imaginative majority in our society for equal representation in parliament to become a reality. Good policies from political parties would help.
Malcolm Ramsay, Yarraville
Keeping MPs honest
Given that there is a public holiday the day before the grand final, can the tax-paying public expect that no politician will be in Melbourne on official business? Perhaps a little post-Grand Final audit of MPs' claims for business flights and limousine would be worthwhile.
Tony Roberts, Pascoe Vale South
Loss of biodiversity
"Many younger buyers want modern houses, and they do not want large blocks with trees and gardens", writes Al Morris (Letters, 10/9). We need to see the big picture. If nearly every house sold is converted to a McMansion, then the biodiversity will go down. The sources of food for birds and butterflies will disappear. The bees will struggle to find any flowering plants. The shade of trees will be replaced by an anally retentive, neat, square of grass with a row of yet more monoculture plants. The "front gardens" will be reduced to a driveway, pebbles and some plastic grass. We face a very sad future when we turn our back on nature. Fortunately we will have technology to substitute for our sterile reality.
David Baylis, Mentone
Families only apply
My three-bedroom house is 60years old. I have lived in it for 36years and raised my kids here. I am retired and I am beginning to find the house and garden a little much for me. However, I will stay here for a long time to come because I refuse to sell to developers or to investors. If and when I do sell, it will be to a young family who will appreciate the backyard, even though the neighbouring blocks are being replaced with two-story units. So there.
Lesley Taskis, Kingsbury
Marvellous Antarctica
There is one bright spark in the otherwise dire story of global wilderness loss (Saturday Age, 10/9) – Antarctica. The whole continent is protected as a natural reserve for peace and science. What a wonderful example this could be for efforts to end the loss of wilderness elsewhere – and there is a simple solution. Inscription on the World Heritage List for its obvious "outstanding universal value" would give the world a share in this magnificent achievement. What are we waiting for?
Geoff Mosley, Hurstbridge
Harmful complacency
Can we assume the federal government's gift of bigger and better patrol boats to the Micronesians will provide them a safe passage when they carry their climate refugees to Australia? With our "no worries, mate" policy to preventing climate change now, what will our moral position be then?
Rob Ward, Lake Tyers Beach
The battle for equality
Next time, Georgina Downer, remember not everyone agrees with you, either ("Don't like a T-shirt? Then do not buy it", 7/9). The day that a boy's T-shirt reads: "Batboy to-do list: Dryclean cape, wash batmobile, fight crime, save the world" is the day I will tone down my moral outrage. Then, as a parent, I will truly feel I have a choice about how I raise my children. In the meantime, how can I really have any choice when Target, or any other influential organisation, is continually undermining the values I attempt to instil?
Yvette Gretton, Lauriston
Independent research
Peter Martin says if you click on the research button on the Australia-China Relations Institute's website, you won't see research, only fact sheets that urge Australia to adopt a range of policy positions in its dealings with China. In less than two years, ACRI has commissioned six major research reports from the best scholars in their fields on topics from the beef trade to Mandarin language learning in Australia. Last week we released a report on Chinese-language media in Australia, which delves into Chinese soft power. ACRI has also produced peer-reviewed research on public opinion towards foreign investment..
Both sides of politics have used the facts and arguments we have assembled to justify taking particular policy positions. How advocating that lowering barriers to Australian companies wanting to sell into the world's most exciting market could be spun as "pro-Beijing", as opposed to "pro-Canberra", is beyond comprehension.
Professor James Laurenceson,
Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology, Sydney
Beholden to donors
As a fourth-generation Australian Chinese, I applaud the rise of China after its humiliating exploitation by Western imperialists. I also applaud foreign institutions such as Alliance Française and Goethe-Institut that promote their languages and culture. But I oppose the Confucius and any foreign institution within our campuses that makes them beholden to their donors, just as the formerly fearless ABC Chinese service is now, in its online Mandarin portal, beholden to, and self-censors, anything critical of its Chinese partner.
Most Chinese are attracted here by our values, a lifestyle enabled through democracy: the rule of law and freedom of speech. Now, it seems our politicians and academics are paid to muzzle themselves. In 1930s Hobart, my mother was abused as a "Ching Chong Chinaman". She warned her racist bullies: "One day the dragon will come to Australia". It has come. But must we sell our soul to the dragon?
Helene Chung, former ABC China correspondent
We need a global ban
It is all well and good for Malcolm Turnbull to speak out against North Korea's fifth nuclear weapons test. Why, however, does his government refuse to support the proposal – approved by 83per cent of United Nations' member countries which voted on the issue in December 2015 – for a global humanitarian ban on nuclear weapons? Will the government explain how the planet earth can afford such dangerous and economic extravagance?
Jennifer Gerrand, Carlton North
Dangerous ignorance
A spokeswoman for St Phillip's College says the teacher who allowed a boy to dress up as Hitler made "an innocent mistake" (Saturday Age, 10/9). Surely the teacher cannot be oblivious of the facts of World War II and the role played by Hitler in murdering millions of Jews and others. If the teacher is, should he/she be allowed to teach our children?
Ros Levy, Elsternwick
AND ANOTHER THING
Politics
It costs taxpayers $3594 so that Mathias Cormann's wife could go to the 2016 grand final. This upsets me more than what Dastyari did.
Louis Ferrari, Richmond
Let those who have not Sinodinos-ed cast the first stone.
Garry Adams, Corio
Was our involvement in Afghanistan "worth it" (10/9)? No. War is never worth it.
Ro Bailey, Hawthorn
Australia is to get a drone army. Isn't it called the backbench?
Adrian Tabor, Point Lonsdale
Trump will do anything to get into the White House. The problem is he'll do anything if he gets there.
Cameron Wright, Dromana
Prime Minister, show us some moral courage and do the right thing for the refugees.
Marie Douglas, Camberwell
What happened to Mervin' Ford? Has he been replaced by Stan Still?
Fred Wachtel, Portarlington
Shorten's slightly pained expression is understandable. It must be uncomfortable having so many puppet masters pulling different strings.
Anthony Caughey, Elwood
Furthermore
RDOs (9/9) are available because workers put in longer hours on the other nine days. There's no lost time.
Graeme Finn, St Peters, NSW
Is there a relationship between the Roos' poor performance and the insensitive, premature sacking of senior players?
Graeme Lee, Fitzroy
Leunig should introduce Horacek's Mildred to the wonders of ducks.
Bill Abud, Windsor
Energy Australia is looking for office space in Melbourne (7/9). It could utilise empty office space and vacant land at its Yallourn site.
Bob Speed, Trafalgar