Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
Cathy WilcoxCredit: .
It seems to me that the monarchy fits the British like an old warm overcoat. (Perhaps less so younger Scots.) Let them enjoy their grand coronation next Saturday. I wish them well.
I am old enough to have lived in the reign of three British monarchs. I was born into White Australia and the ″cultural cringe″ but I will die in a nation with hybrid virility where less than half the population claim northern European ancestry, and a third have roots in Asia, Africa or the Americas.
Of my mixed heritage, I feel most deeply fifth-generation Australian, while being proud of my Scots forebears. I reject none of the past but ache to embrace a braver future. I am proud that we Australians have a distinctive national dialect of English and a recognisably distinct national anthem. I am happy we are a nation within that other commonwealth of nations; a parliamentary democracy in the Westminster tradition. However, I chafe under a flag with a Union Jack on it (that has served us well but is a mere colonial ensign) and I chafe under a head of state who is an ageing Anglo-German celebrity aristocrat and not one of our own.
Now is a ripe time to grow up and claim our own distinctive place on the planet. I, for one, will be swearing allegiance to my country. The one our First Nations countrymen have been trying for the past 10 generations to teach us to love in the way they do. My allegiance next Saturday is to this Commonwealth of Australia. It’s in the name.
Jim McMillan, Kensington
The love can stay, just not the monarch
George Brandis says “there is nothing inevitable about” Australia becoming a republic (Comment, 1/5). His argument hinges on King Charles’ love for Australia being reciprocated by Australians’ love for the King. I see no evidence of reciprocity. Having a British king as Australia’s head of state is immature and embarrassing for us as a nation. The republic is massively overdue. When inevitably it happens, Charles for the remainder of his hopefully long life will still be free to love Australia, just without being its king.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
It’s not about you, it’s about us
On the other side of the world a remnant of monarchy is about to be crowned. And in this country all the members of the anachronistic club are extolling the joys of the new king. One such member points out how he loves Australia. Big deal. It isn’t what the incumbent thinks about us that’s important, it’s what we think about him that counts.
Venise Alstergren, Toorak
Britain has been served well
It is surprising that the admirable constitutional lawyer Geoffrey Robertson trivialises the role of the imminent British coronation, deriding it as ″silly″ (Comment, 29/4). Notwithstanding the expat Australian’s republican sympathies, he might have cited the eloquent words of the great journalist Walter Bagehot, whose 1867 seminal work The English Constitution famously asserted that a constitution needed two parts: ″One to excite and preserve the reverence of the population″; and the other to ″employ that homage in the work of government″. What he framed as ″dignified″ and ″efficient″ roles respectively.
Of course, as Robertson gleefully satirises, the rituals soon to involve King Charles III are inherently overwrought; but, as Bagehot realised, the ″very quaint and picturesque″ coronation ambience, and moderating forces of the Crown and Westminster, have served Great Britain well. Bring on May 6.
Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza
How does Australia see itself?
The definition of a king is a male ruler or head of state of that country, especially one who inherits the position by way of birth. Is that how Australia sees itself today in relation to King Charles?
Garry Meller, Bentleigh
FORUM
Plastic benchmark
The City of Melbourne’s smart bench (″Smart seating sets a new benchmark″, 1/5) would be even smarter if it were made from recycled plastic. There is little point encouraging us to recycle our plastics if they aren’t then used to make something. Street furniture would seem to be the perfect product. Lots of it is needed, and other furniture is already being produced from recycled plastic.
Jan Lacey, North Melbourne
Bench it
Perhaps I am wrong, but $63,000 for a bench, ″smart″ or otherwise, seems inappropriate in these times of rising costs and rental stress. The design might be the marvel of many institutions, yet what is not mentioned is how it is hostile towards rough sleepers, who, to our shame, spend the most time of all on such benches.
Anders Ross, Heidelberg
Tree’s a jolly good fellow
How wonderful that a community came together to celebrate a glorious 100-year-old eucalypt tree (“Black Rock locals throw a party for tree”, 1/5). Sharing food, memories and poetry under the majestic tree seems an apt celebration. Trees are a balm for our souls offering clean air, shade and shelter. They should be revered and protected, not chopped down. As Scotsman Nelson Henderson once stated, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit”. Let’s hope that 100 years from now, communities are celebrating the trees we plant and protect today.
Amy Hiller, Kew
Banking on contact
Apparently bank closures are due to a decline in usage (″Banks defend branch closures″, 1/5). Seriously? Have they actually been to a branch lately. A long line of elderly people clutching passbooks, time-poor tradies and others just wanting basic customer service. We don’t want the maitre d’ greeting us at the door with an ipad directing to the relevant queue. Just a person to talk to in a timely manner.
Rosslyn Jennings, North Melbourne
Circular argument
Seems banks continue to do what they always do best – make things very difficult for people to visit branches then point to the resultant decline as proof that people don’t want branches any more, thereby justifying more closures.
Marie Nash, Balwyn
Stay away from aged care
To avoid dementia and the rapid progression of dementia if symptoms begin, the very best advice at this stage in Australia is to stay out of the residential aged care system, which operates with minimal science and minimal care (″Friends, family key to avoiding dementia″, 1/5).
In residential aged care currently, there is no expertise on dementia, or any other of the common ageing-related conditions, which the aged care royal commission stated should be core business for aged care. Anyone with a loved one entering the system, very soon observes the acceleration of decline of their loved one and other fellow residents around them, due to the poor quality of the whole system.
Ruth Farr, Blackburn South
Fading Greens
Most of those of us who are left wing and consider ourselves progressive could be forgiven for thinking it was April 1 when we read the details (″Inside the Greens’ battle against transphobia″, 29/4) of the internal politics in the Greens Victoria.
How has the party quietly reached such a deep pit of anti-woman sentiment and secured that stance in policy, unbeknownst to those who trust our votes to Greens politicians? It seems that most of the work being done by the Greens is the business of making themselves irrelevant, even as the environment is degenerating into greater catastrophe.
Thank you Age for your coverage of this important issue. Women are fundamentally impacted by the issues reported on and too often the media is silent. More please.
Gina Moore, Melbourne
Think again
As someone with a deep attachment to Tasmania – ex-high school, ex-UTAS and with family living in Hobart – I have long dreamed of a Tasmanian AFL team. The state has a proud record of producing a stream of players to the AFL and its predecessor the VFL, and today with more than 30 AFL players of Tasmanian origin playing AFL they could assemble a competitive team.
However the conditions under which the licence will be granted are concerning. To build an unnecessary new stadium and the ongoing commitment of financial support can be estimated at more than $1 billion. The history of similar projects suggests this will prove to a serious underestimate. Given the population and demographics of Tasmania, will that investment ever pay a dividend or be repaid? Much better use of the funds would be to upgrade the existing facilities and help address some of Tasmania’s long-neglected problems such as the health systems and the housing crisis.
Bob Malseed, Hawthorn
Stand up to gambling
In announcing the appointment of the next AFL CEO, the AFL Commission must take seriously its responsibility to the community to divest itself of the relationship with, and reliance on, gambling industry revenue. The requisite KPIs for the new CEO must surely make this a priority.
Gambling continues to have a corrosive impact on our society. The commission must demonstrate leadership and courage, as we are seeing from other sporting codes, to resist the lure of the gambling dollar.
Anne Lyon, Camberwell
Stop the spread
The photo of houses in Amsterdam (″Model cities show way forward for Melbourne″, 27/4) are all about four floors high, jammed together, no black roofs and not a tree in sight. We look at these or maybe travel to Europe and ogle at old apartment buildings loving them. We return home wanting a separate detached dwelling with a garden.
We have to stop spreading housing out further, covering land, creating less permeable surfaces. Houses now are so close together they may as well be joined and go up to create townhouses. These new developments have no room for greenery. Black roofs added to this means heat banks in summer.
I remember a hotel in Paris that was part of a large rectangular block that surrounded a treed garden in the centre. Why can’t we do that?
What about old hotel-style buildings, maybe two or three floors, containing a few apartments? Done with some sort of style these could fit into areas within existing suburbs and not stand out as super-modern boxes. They can be near transport, shops, jobs and medical services.
Building further and further out means all of these services have to be replicated. It’s all a waste.
Chris Hooper, Castlemaine
Military roles
Your correspondent (Letters, 1/5) makes the worthy argument that community service, particularly in crises, is a valid role for the armed services.
In fact the notion that the military’s primary role is aggression is a misunderstanding if not a miscasting. The only justifiable goal for any military is the establishment and maintenance of peace, albeit often after appalling conflicts.
Perhaps if community service and peacemaking were more central to the military ethos the return to civilian life of many invalided service personnel would be more meaningful and successful.
Robbert Veerman, Buxton
Labor, Libs align
Members of the Albanese government avoid saying that ″the best form of welfare is a job″. That expression is too closely associated with the former Coalition government.
However, Treasurer Jim Chalmers came close recently when he said it was tough to live on JobSeeker and ″that’s why we want to move as many people as we can off that payment and into good, secure well-paid jobs″.
The government might be looking for opportunities to help those in need, but it is not so different from the Coalition that it wants to raise the JobSeeker payment to a level where people start to feel relaxed and comfortable on it.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills
Worn sentiment
As the CEO of Adult Learning Australia (Letters, 1/5) says: ″The inquiry heard from many organisations, government departments and individuals and delivered a list of recommendations. We already know what works. Can’t we just get on with it?″ A sentiment that many people (known to me) involved in Indigenous affairs/welfare have been voicing for years.
Ronald Elliott, Sandringham
Migration questions
Ian Lowe’s opinion piece (29/4) on why Australia needs to rethink its obsession with economic growth makes for some heavy reading on a profoundly fundamental topic. However, I disagree with his closing paragraph about not being able to change the rate of population growth. In the Australian context, yes we can.
It is a fact that our population growth is from immigration. It has been disappointing in the past week to see policy makers around immigration bat away sound questions about what level of migration is sustainable. The mix comes second to the aggregate, not the other way around. Our first goal should be to develop a sustainable population strategy and then determine what level and composition of migration will help Australia adapt to an economy that is truly sustainable.
Kieran Simpson, Blackburn North
Unfair to Bombers
The AFL threw Essendon under the bus. Five days after their Anzac Day match, they were scheduled to play premiers Geelong, who were coming off an eight-day break.
Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick
AND ANOTHER THING
Royalty
The Stone of Destiny in Westminster Abbey and public support for the coronation – republicans are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Greg Curtin, Blackburn South
Well, George Brandis (Comment, 1/5), how lovely for Charles, but he is not an Australian. Our head of state should be an Australian who lives in Australia. It is that simple.
Ross Hudson, Mount Martha
Part of a proclamation by the Archbishop of Canterbury will say, “May the King live forever.” Not a very pragmatic declaration.
Alan Inchley, Frankston
Banks
The banks say that branches are closing because of lack of customer demand. I suggest it’s also the case that customer demand is falling because of branch closures.
Peter Randles, Pascoe Vale South
Which came first? The closure of bank branches or the rise in online banking?
Claire Rodier, Glen Waverley
Furthermore
Can we please balance the talk of war, missiles and foreign fighters with talk of peace and all-out global co-operation for solving the worsening energy-environment crisis?
Barbara Fraser, Burwood
We started off as part of an empire. Now we are asked to form one of our own by recruiting Pacific islanders to our army. This archaic proposal should not just be laughed out of town but so should its proposers.
Tony Haydon, Springvale
Perhaps the homeless should pose as the AFL when making submissions to our governments.
Brian Marshall, Ashburton
The money committed for the Hobart stadium would be nowhere near the cost of the tail-lights on our nuclear submarines.
Peter Carlin, Frankston South
Finally
Solution to duck shooting? Introduce crocodiles to deter duck shooters.
Malcolm Cameron, Camberwell
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
