Of course amalgamating Melbourne's councils would streamline "planning processes" ("Town hall troubles", 20/10). It's all about property development. Proponents have no interest in, and in fact question the legitimacy of, politically engaged citizens. Hence innumerable anti-democratic devices introduced in the so-called local government reform of the 1990s, including the excision of Princes Hill and North Carlton from the municipality of Melbourne of which they had been part for 150 years. The main reason a Greater Melbourne Council does not exist, despite many attempts historically, is that state governments of both persuasions don't want their authority undermined, the bulk of Victorians being Melburnians. As premier, Jeff Kennett rejected the widely supported proposal of amalgamating five city councils into an Inner Melbourne Regional Council. Instead a micro Melbourne City Council was established, with the rights of property owners elevated over those of citizens.
Angela Munro, Carlton North
Disclose political affiliation
Four big problems for local government were identified. I'd add a fifth – political honesty and transparency. Last year I moved to Warrnambool. In the council election, 25 candidates vie to fill seven vacancies. In election material and the mailed ballot paper, only one candidate identified a party affiliation. Another provided a contact number and when I inquired she disclosed membership of a party. All candidates for elected public office should be required to disclose past or current political affiliation. While it doesn't tell us everything about a candidate, it does tell us something. Only candidates without such political history or current involvement can genuinely claim to be independent. Ratepayers should have all such information so we can cast an informed vote.
Tony Delaney, Warrnambool
Kept in dark over land sell-off ...
On New Year's Eve 2014 I stood with other local residents in an Ivanhoe car park and watched the fireworks over the city skyline. This view is unique to Ivanhoe but if Banyule Council has its way, it soon will be unique only to those who own apartments on the site. The car park, and an adjacent one, are earmarked to be sold for "commercial use". As we have come to know all too quickly in Ivanhoe, "commercial use" is code for high-rise dwellings. This issue should be of vital importance in today's local elections. However, the council has used an obscure law concerning the caretaker period to remove any mention of these plans from its website and from council offices. Residents are deliberately being kept in the dark concerning the plans for the area around the Ivanhoe Civic Centre and the sell-off of public land.
Frank Brophy, Ivanhoe
... and of works affecting ratepayers
Last Tuesday, there was a clanging of heavy machinery outside our door, our nature strip and footpath destroyed, and the front garden encroached upon. The contractor responds to my queries with: "We don't have to tell you anything." A council ute pulls up. I ask the young man putting on his safety vest and hard hat who's in charge. "Not me," he says. He finally admits to being the council representative checking progress. He refuses to give me his full name and advises me to call the council. After being put on hold for 15 minutes, I drive to council HQ. I wait 20 minutes and am told "someone will ring you back". I say it is an urgent matter but told no one is available. I ask to speak to the CEO. I am told to wait a minute, whereupon a works manager appears and apologises for not notifying us of works outside our house. The article describes everything about the behaviour of our third level of government: arrogant, with nil accountability, overpaid and dismissive of ratepayers. The culture to deny, stall and obfuscate comes from the top.
Paul Burchill, Attwood
THE FORUM
Dream is smashed
Cut open your avocado and what do you find inside ("Don't blame the smashed avocado, it's the coffee", 20/10)? Uncertain job prospects for anyone over 45 contrasted with a retirement age of 67, and a reliance on technology so slavish that we are advised by teachers that they don't know what to teach our kids because the jobs and careers of tomorrow are totally unknown quantities.
Against such a backdrop, we can skip all the $22 breakfasts we want and still we won't come close to servicing a 30-year debt on one of the astronomically overpriced properties in this country. For once, I think Millennials might be the prescient ones. The great Australian dream, not the avocado, is the only thing that's smashed and if its replacement happens to be a nice meal to start the day, I can think of much worse things.
John Skaro, Malvern
Vision clear as mud
While the Abbott government negotiated major free trade agreements, stopped the people smugglers' boats and led the world in confronting Russia over the downing of flight MH17, the Turnbull government has few achievements to point to. When Mr Turnbull replaced Tony Abbott, he cited poor polling and the lack of a clear economic narrative as justification. With poor polling and an economic direction as clear as mud, perhaps the PM should resign in favour of his esteemed predecessor.
Peter Curtis, Werribee South
Turn the tables
So 29 million calls to Centrelink go unanswered (The Age, 21/10). Here's the fix. Get yourself a $10 debt to Centrelink. Let's call it an overpayment. Believe me, a staff member will be calling you.
Richard Corongiu, Alberton, Qld
Queue needs a start
Bill Howard (Letters, 20/10) mentions "queue jumpers". But a queue has to have a place to start. Where do you get on a queue in Afghanistan if you are Hazara, or in Myanmar if you are a Rohingya? There is no queue.
Your Parisian taxi driver has exiled himself because things in his city are changing, but not as fast as they are in Aleppo or Mosul, I'd guess. And if I were looking for security and safety, I'd want to go to a country that has signed the refugee convention. Australia has. Indonesia hasn't.
Finally, all arguments aside, do any of your points justify cruelty to children? Reports from Save the Children teachers and Amnesty International say this is the norm on Nauru. I don't know how allowing a few hundred people to come and live here would alter Australia but I'll take the risk if it means I can stop feeling ashamed.
Helen Hill, Brunswick East
Rehashing old views
On Thursday, the Premier urged people in the Latrobe Valley to stop talking about power station closures, describing it as speculative and worrying for locals. He said Engie hadn't made a decision but when it did, the government would be there for us. Meanwhile, Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio tells us that "the energy market, like any other commercial market, would open the door to increased investment in sources of energy".
Both approaches recite verbatim the circa-1996 position Jeff Kennett used to justify selling off the electricity and gas industries. He promised the market would deliver investment in new electricity generation plant and jobs. On the contrary, this approach bequeathed a dependence on old high-emission power stations, high unemployment and no orderly transition arrangements for either energy industries or local workers. But why bother with a transition plan when unemployment benefits are governments' preferred form of regional economic assistance.
Cheryl Wragg, Moe
We are played for mugs
Vyom Sharma points out that our misjudgment of numbers is precisely what the gambling industry relies upon (Comment, 21/10). But punters are not the only ones who should be doing the maths. Politicians and their economic advisers should also be crunching the numbers, on behalf of taxpayers, of the returns versus the costs of gambling. Yes, the government gets its cut from each dollar gambled and collects taxes from those employed by the industry (although surely internet gambling creates fewer jobs) but on the debit side, money is diverted from other businesses that would pay taxes and employ people. To say nothing of the taxpayer dollars spent on welfare to families the cost of policing as a result of problem gambling. Punters are not the only ones being played for mugs.
Liz Jovanovic, Moonee Ponds
Give patients a voice
Professor Stephen Duckett's report into the tragic deaths of 11babies at Bacchus Marsh Hospital made a number of important recommendations to increase patient safety, but overlooked one globally recognised source of improvement – giving patients a greater role in their care and in the design and monitoring of health systems.
Statistics show that one in 10 people admitted to hospital in Australia will suffer an adverse event. While most result in only minor health effects, about 1 per cent of patients die or suffer permanent disability – a far higher risk than we would accept when flying or driving. Furthermore, patients are still harmed about the same rate they were 30 years ago, even though hospitals have built increasingly sophisticated systems and safeguards for tracking and improving care.
Involving patients is cost-effective, and evidence is also growing that involved patients are safer. A 2011 study of more than 2000 patients at a US hospital found that those who actively participated in their care were half as likely to suffer an adverse event. It's time to stop apologising to patients and families for safety failures and instead start embracing them in building a safer system for everyone.
Susan Biggar, Health Issues Centre
Addicts in despair
Chloe Booker's article "They're not 'cold hard bludgers"' (The Age, 20/10) went to the core of the common lack of understanding of addiction and the damage done to individuals by the stigmatisation of their plight. I have worked with thousands of addicts trying to find a way out of their situation. Rarely have I met one who was glad to be an addict. Typically they are distraught over their circumstances and the damage they've caused to themselves and others. They seek to resolve a very difficult problem, and deserve our support and compassion. Stigma kills.
Naham Warhaft, East Malvern
Heavy marking load
Brigid Marasco (Letters, 21/10), just as a conscientious English teacher makes comments on student work to give feedback, so, too, will a science or maths teacher. The difficult work to mark is where the student's calculations have gone awry and one has to try to figure out where. Moreover, every experiment is different and needs careful trialling and risk assessment to be safely completed. I doubt discussing the accomplishments of Elizabeth Bennet carries the same risk to health as using Bunsen burners and hazardous chemicals, if not carefully managed. A bit of cross-curricular observation is always helpful to get an appreciation of the skills required in other faculties. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
Ralph Judd, Blackburn North
Fun taken out of food
Matt Holden, well might you say that you get pretty intolerant about food intolerance (Comment, 20/10). Unlike me, you haven't lived since birth with a salicylate intolerance, which means all fruit and vegetables potentially cause you to be covered in urticaria and sometimes cause dangerous swelling of the tongue and mouth. Or you aren't intolerant to the lactose in dairy products. You don't want to know what the reaction is like; suffice it to say you get to know your toilet bowl well. Or you don't have to follow a FODMAP diet fairly strictly while at the same time remove salicylate and lactose-containing food from that diet, which kinda means the things you enjoy, like onion, garlic, tomatoes, chocolate, ice cream – the list of yummy things is endless – are not able to be eaten. Count yourself fortunate and give up the whining.
Mary Walker, Richmond
The eyes have it
Russell Eicke's letter ("Quick, look – no, don't", 20/10) reminded me of a large sign alongside the South Gippsland Highway, between Leongatha and Korumburra, that distracted me. It read: "Distracted drivers are dangerous."
Greg Brown, Tarneit
AND ANOTHER THING
Tony Abbott
With Peta Credlin in total control of the then PM's office, how could Tony Abbott have known anything about any deal with David Leyonhjelm?
Norman Hocking, Safety Beach
Abbott and Liberal Party unity: both relics of the past.
Iain Carmichael, Malvern
Have we reached that "on yer bike" moment for Tony?
Hugh McCaig, Blackburn
With the latest Essential Research poll showing 53/47 to Labor, it's only a matter of time before Abbott starts counting heads.
Graeme Lee, Fitzroy
Turnbull has given Abbott both barrels.
David Seal, Balwyn North
Isn't it great watching Malcolm and Tony slugging it out on the floor of the House?
Reg Murray, Glen Iris
Malcolm, you'd better get ready for an Abbott shirtfront.
Dennis Richards, Cockatoo
The nation
Turnbull says we need a plebiscite because marriage equality affects everyone. I've been happily married for 40 years. It won't affect me.
David Pahl, Beechworth
Senator Leyonhjelm is repeatedly trying to be a big shot.
Graham Cadd, Surrey Hills
The ABC is clearly biased. It insists on telling us the truth rather than pretending all is well with the world.
Chris Appleby, Fairfield
Foreign workers may be "younger, faster and cheaper" but are still ripped off. When will slavery be re-introduced for selected employers?
Ian Powell, Glen Waverley
The state
What a great idea to preserve Ned Kelly's old home. Now, if we can just find out where the Walsh Street murderers spent their childhood.
Rob Gyles, Murrumbeena
Unbelievable. The government is spending $1 million to renovate a convicted murderer's former home.
Stuart Molony, Mount Martha