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The Pamphlet.Credit: Cathy Wilcox
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The decision to abandon the Commonwealth Games, disappointing as it may be to many, highlights the money pit that comes with hosting duties. It also makes for a reasonable argument to have a single, permanent home for the Games, both Commonwealth and Olympic. There would be no political posturing, no budget blowouts, no problems with accommodation or broadcast resources, just a regular sporting event held in a world-class facility. Upgrades and maintenance could be funded by all countries.
Angus McLeod, Cremorne
Leaps and bounds of irony
It is ironic that one of the few remaining relics of empire, the Commonwealth Games, may be finally expiring in a state named after a British monarch, Queen Victoria, and in a city named after a British prime minister, Lord Melbourne. The irony is compounded by it occurring before a referendum that seeks to address, in small part, the dreadful harm done to Indigenous people by their forced eviction from their lands at the hands of the empire builders and their rendering to near invisibility by these colonisers and their descendants. Michael O’Brien, Armadale
Nothing lost, plenty saved
Common sense has prevailed. We can talk about ″global exposure″, ″major international event″, ″world’s best up close″, but there is a big world out there full of people who have never heard of the Commonwealth Games. We have lost nothing in the cancellation and saved plenty.
Jan Hasnie, Doncaster
An enduring anachronism
The reasons for the cancellation of the Games pale before the real issue. The idea of a shared commonwealth made up of self-ruling members of the British Empire is an anachronism kept alive out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II (″Lawyers negotiate Games contract exit as taxpayers face big bill”, 19/7). The economics of sharing hosting duties among its members just doesn’t stack up, and Daniel Andrews’ cancellation provides a perfect opportunity to decide on (if the Games are to be continued) a permanent venue for them. The same applies to the Olympics. Why not take them home to Greece?
John Mosig, Kew
There are different races to run
Abandoning the Commonwealth Games in the current economic climate has to be the most realistic decision. The Commonwealth is becoming sufficiently irrelevant in any meaningful sense. Regardless of what the real costs may be, our national priorities should be focusing on the basic infrastructure of health, housing and education. The race we need to win and the goals we need to aim for involve reducing emissions, cutting waste and slowing climate change.
Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale
A decision to be supported
I would not vote for Daniel Andrews. But on withdrawing from hosting the Commonwealth Games, he is absolutely right and should be congratulated and supported.
It was a vanity project and we are well out of it. The final cost would have exceeded even the most recently increased estimates and would have been a crippling burden on taxpayers at a time of rising cost of living pressures in virtually everything. The cost blowout was inevitable, as it is with all public projects of this type which seem to produce very little return or benefit.
Andrews should be praised for getting out of it before it was too late. I hope that for once we can all resist the temptation to abuse the premier for probably an unpopular decision, but undoubtedly a wise one.
Neil Brown, South Yarra
FORUM
Traits exposed
Our response to the official government pamphlet on the Voice tells us much more about who we are than enlightens us.
Several personality traits will be exposed: do we accept and embrace the reality of at least 65,000 years of care for this country or ignore it?
Do we empathise with the social disadvantage and racial abuse First Nations people endure or ignore it?
Do we believe that humans, even politicians and bureaucrats, can usually be relied on to display common sense, compassion and trustworthiness or not?
Do we dismiss the very unlikely, speculative examples of what could happen, eg seek compensation, change Australia Day, or agree with them?
If we are attracted to the latter of these simplified positions, then we are prepared to ignore basic facts, have a very self-centred approach to life, ungenerous attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, see only the worst and lack trust in others.
Howard Tankey,
Box Hill North
Truth goes missing
That the official Voice referendum pamphlet – to be sent to more than 12.5million homes – does not require for the contents of the Yes and No cases to be truthful beggars belief. Or am I simply naive? That those voting nationally towards year’s end could be basing their decision on untruthful information is worrying. Or is this standard political practice in this country?
Mark Herrmann, Bentleigh East
It’s a disgrace
″There is no requirement for the pamphlet to be truthful.″ What a disgraceful statement. What sort of example does this set for the younger generation? Why put these words in, and what a waste of money this will incur. Surely any pamphlet should only print the truth.
Kerry McInerney, Mornington
Not a waste
Your correspondent (Letters, 18/7) expresses concern that the referendum towards establishing an Indigenous Voice to parliament is a waste of time and money.
If the referendum is successful, our Constitution will change to reflect the view of the Australian people, and absolutely no time or money will have been wasted.
Jo Bond, South Melbourne
Unenlightened
It is disconcerting that the pamphlet for the Voice No case returns to the period before the Enlightenment by promoting lazy ignorance in bold letters that, “If you don’t know, vote no,” rather than encouraging, “If you don’t know, go and find out and be informed.″
Paul Miller,
Box Hill South
Ancient history lives
Having read Dark Emu when first released and now totally enriched by the ABC TV adaptation, it focuses the mind so beautifully on bringing to the present First Nations’ ancient history, skills, sustainable living and culture. As a first-generation migrant being part of a so-called ″young nation″ is such a shameful mockery. Quite the contrary, I feel not only deeply respectful but also comforted and grounded by this ancient history.
Any notion of a negative response to the Voice pains me and is a terrible mistake for being ″on Country″.
Martin Hengeveld, Research
Bigger not better
Thank you for reporting the survey of attitudes to the level of immigration (“Immigration surge worries voters”, 19/7). The fact that only 3 per cent of respondents say the level is “too low” whereas 59 per cent say it is “too high” is telling.
It confirms that the business lobby and old-world economists who argue that population growth is desirable, rather than a problem, are now out of sync with community sentiment. Yes, we should have a generous refugee program. And yes, we benefit from being a multicultural society.
But it is clear to most people, if not the government, that our cities, our carbon emissions, Australia’s wildlife, would all be better off if we stopped thinking bigger is better.
Ian Penrose, Kew
Closer reading
I must take issue with your correspondent (Letters, 18/7) that children just need to read what they are interested in and refine their skills as they go. A significant number of children do not pick up the underlying phonetic regularities of the written word “as they go” without intense specific instruction. So they are cut off from the pleasures of reading and also effective engagement in much of their schooling.
No doubt schools today are much more aware of these students than they were decades ago when I assessed many who had average intelligence or above but in upper primary grades struggled to read at a infant level. I truly hope so.
Peter McCarthy, Mentone
Simpler days
Thank you, Larissa Ham (Comment, 18/7), for your entertaining and amusing article about growing up in Wantirna in the 1980s. It resonated with me as I grew up on a few acres on the corner of Stud and Boronia roads in the 1950s and ’60s.
I was the eldest of five children of English migrants and we had a small pear and apple orchard, a market garden and our mum milked a cow to feed us all while dad worked at General Motors at Fishermans Bend.
The three younger kids walked to primary school and my brother and l rode our bikes to Ringwood High along potholed country roads.
They were simple happy days, which are unimaginable in present-day Wantirna.
Libby Gillingham, Mornington
Value of a mentor
Adam Voigt is correct to say that when students are on teaching rounds, sometimes they are little more than classroom pot plants (″New teachers not to blame on class control″, 19/7).
He is mistaken, however, to dismiss the influence of a mentor. Student teachers are commonly instructed to follow the ″when in Rome″ approach to rounds, and as such, they learn the basics of the classroom, which can then be refined on successive placements.
In my experience, observation and inquiry helped confirm (or refute) my perceptions of who a teacher can be. While back in the tutorial room, learning about the history of free, secular education in Victoria gave me the confidence to feel I was a small part of a thing greater than myself.
Anders Ross, Heidelberg
Not so practical
As Adam Voigt suggests, Australian universities are not very good at providing the practical training in classroom management and control needed by beginning teachers.
A major reason is that university education faculties are run by people far more interested in arcane education theory than the gritty practice of dealing with kids. Many are former teachers who find a comfortable university office far more pleasant than the challenges of a school classroom.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills
What was your name?
As a former secondary school teacher, the biggest problem in classroom management was getting to know students’ names. You may have four to six classes with 30 students in each class. That can be well over 100 students whom you need to get to know.
It takes time to get to know students. I have even experienced times when students have lied about who they are and of course they do not wear name tags, so reporting misbehaving students becomes an issue.
The practice of short-term contracts adds to this problem as teachers need to reapply constantly for their positions not knowing if they have a job to come back to.
Until positions become permanent, this problem will persist.
Maria Liew, Woodend
Lack of education
The lack of support for Jewish students having to endure anti-Semitism in Victorian state schools, referred to by a correspondent (Letters, 19/7), is deeply disturbing.
Specifically, how many schools in this state are now implementing the World War II ″Holocaust teaching″ guidelines for years 9 and 10 issued by the Education Department in November 2021? Where are the courses, commonly taught in our schools over 20 years ago, which documented the scapegoating of Jews in the Nazi era leading to the horrors of concentration and death camps?
It is worth observing that, even at a time when the US is becoming more broadly known for its illiberalism, 23 US states have now mandated ″Holocaust education″ units in their public schools, including most recently a state until now known historically for its intolerance: Arkansas.
Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza
It’s DATO time
The world no longer revolves around the North Atlantic. It’s time to expand NATO to DATO, the Democratically-Aligned Treaty Organisation, so that countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia can join.
Dirk Strasser, Mt Waverley
Look to yon legacy
Daniel Andrews needs to be candid with Victorians and just admit that the state’s finances are now in a big mess and Victoria simply cannot afford to stage the Commonwealth Games. I remind him of the Shakespeare quote, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.″
Dennis Walker, North Melbourne
A regional GP
They should move the grand prix to regional Victoria as compensation. Or would that actually be rubbing salt in the wound?
Patricia O’Brien, St Kilda
We’ll always have footy
Let’s face it, as long as we have the footy, life will go on.
Mark Cherny, Caulfield
AND ANOTHER THING
The Games
All Commonwealth Games should be paid for by the head of the Commonwealth, King Charles.
Roger Christiansz, Wheelers Hill
If the Games had gone ahead the chant could have been: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Owe, Owe, Owe!
Pete Sands, Monbulk
Bread but no circuses. Well done Victoria.
Denis Evans, Coburg
Whoever came up with the $2billion figure for the cost of the Commonwealth Games seriously needs to go back to accounting school to review their degree. How could you get the costing so wrong?
Doug Springall, Yarragon
A sensible and gutsy decision by Daniel Andrews. Housing instead of the frivolity of the Commonwealth Games? Fantastic. The Commonwealth itself is an anachronism anyway, but that is another, if related, issue.
Mick Appleby, Geelong
If the Andrews government can dispense with the Games based on economics and relevance, then why not the Grand Prix?
Kevin Summers, Bentleigh
A change of name will surely reinvigorate the Commonwealth Games. Let’s call it the British Empire Games.
Ian Powell, Glen Waverley
The Commonwealth is synonymous with a small group of affluent white countries feeling like world-beaters as they thrash their poor colonial cousins.
Bernd Rieve, Brighton
Notwithstanding the reaction in some parts of the media, there is still a strong chance that the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
Brian Kidd, Mt Waverley
Furthermore
If you don’t know, vote No; but, If you know best, vote Yes.
Henry Herzog, St Kilda East
Peter Dutton and his colleagues’ scaremongering on the Voice is working. I’m scared of them ever forming government.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
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