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Credit: Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
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HOME TRUTHS
The detention system is wrong on every level
So millions of dollars in detention money went to Pacific Island politicians (The Age, 24/8). I feel a renewed sense of disgust and shame that my taxes propped up a system that raised such obvious corruption concerns, one that – this is the crux – mentally tortured genuine refugees and asylum seekers for years on end. They risked their lives to reach our shores, often after physical torture in countries where our troops engaged in battle. Then they faced indefinite detention in alienating places of violence, self-harm and degradation.
We detained traumatised children, despite knowing the life-long impacts on them. And we acquiesced in evacuation delays, leading to preventable deaths. Why our outrage at revelations from the recent royal commission into sexual abuse of children, but apathy or actual support for this system of offshore detention?
Most of us knew nothing about the sexual abuses but we did know about these offshore horrors in real time, horrors that went on long after we trumpeted “we stopped the boats”. And which continue on Papua New Guinea as well as in Australia.
These new allegations of suspect payments are appalling. However, the bigger issue is our ongoing acceptance of a detention system that is corrupt to its very soul.
Martha Morrow, Oakleigh South
Why is anyone shocked at these new revelations?
Why are we not surprised that millions of dollars of detention money went to Pacific Island politicians as part of dubious services contracts? Every aspect of the offshore detention plan seems to involve eye-watering sums of money. Even now that the Nauru facility has no people, it is still costing hundreds of millions to maintain. How is that even possible? Now we find large sums of money went to lining the pockets of Pacific Island politicians. Sadly, despite months of investigation, the stalwarts at the Australian Federal Police and financial crime agency Austrac have not found anyone to charge. The AFP is fast becoming the place where investigations are sent to die.
Ross Hudson, Mount Martha
An urgent need for royal commission into detention
It is to be hoped that the ALP sniffs the wind and realises there is more to be gained from calling out suspicions of corruption in offshore detention than in continuing to support detention facilities on Nauru (which are currently empty) and Papua New Guinea. Your article brings to light what advocates and inmates have known for a decade, which is that the system is at risk of corruption all the way through.
As an advocate for the refugees, I was bewildered by the inability of the contractors to provide the refugees on Manus Island with fresh or healthy food. Instead the provision of packets of old food which was past its use-by date was commonplace. Panadol was administered for serious injuries such as bone breaks as well as fungal skin infections and depression. This was in spite of the contractors charging the government $500,000 per year per inmate to host them.
Can we please have a royal commission into immigration detention since the camps offshore were reinstated by then prime minister Julia Gillard a decade ago. It will be as scandalous as the royal commission into robo-debt.
Di Cousens, Upwey
A legacy of injustice for refugees who asked for help
The billion of dollars spent to torture refugees should not be news to us. For 10 years we have watched both sides of politics sell whatever integrity we have had as a nation with offshore detention deals. We should be very ashamed that xenophobia has governed our response to people who are the victims of wars and other disasters. This policy has led us into shoddy deals with regional players and a legacy of injustice for the refugees who had come to us for help. Is it possible to extract Australia from this mess?
Ellen O’Gallagher, Castlemaine
THE FORUM
Better in every way…
Re the call to end open-plan classrooms (The Age, 24/7). Putting students in rows in front of a single teacher in a small classroom behind a closed door is a 19th century idea that leads to enormous variation of results between classes. Readers may recall from their school days how passive, alienating and boring it can be. It also makes developing strategies for raising up every student enormously difficult.
Open-plan classrooms create greater visibility and accountability for students and teachers. It prevents weaker students from being overlooked. It allows for team teaching so they can share ideas and learn from each other. And it ensures the greater use of agreed curriculum and teaching strategies across the school. It is simply a more dynamic and engaging learning environment that produces improvement across the school.
Steven Cook, principal, Albert Park College
…or an outdated fad?
Experienced teachers know the open-plan classroom rarely works, so the question to be asked and perhaps even answered one day is why such educationally deficient fads hold such sway in education.
How is it that a notion that was largely abandoned as a failure 40 years ago, and then resurrected under a new name – “flexible learning spaces” – spread like wildfire as it if was the greatest innovation since the alphabet? Students learn best when they are actually taught, not thrown into huge spaces with a hundred others to work on group projects while teachers wander around as guides on the side.
Chris Curtis, Hurstbridge
Ipsy Wipsy Spider
Reading the article “Rhythm and Cue: music as kids’ speech aid” (The Age, 22/7), I found myself alternately nodding (of course) and shaking my head in disbelief. According to new research, regular musical rhythms have been found to help children with speech and language-processing difficulties, and those without them.
Isn’t this why, since time immemorial, parents have sung to their babies and toddlers? All those nursery rhymes and repetitive songs, sung while playing finger games or clapping or sung at bedtime – all of them loved by their children. And the repetition. How many times did the poor, long-suffering parent have to sing the same song, repeat the same poem till their own eyelids were drooping? As a parent of an older generation, I have to ask: Don’t parents do this any more?
Gillian Senior, Camperdown
Pain of persecution
Nicole Precel (Sunday Age, 23/7) bravely outlines what too many of us experienced at school – persistent and targeted antisemitism. Growing up in country NSW, the only Jewish kid at a small high school, I confronted the daily ritual of religious bigotry, from taunts of “Christ killer” to forceful demands for money because “all Jews are rich”.
At every opportunity, religion was used against me (and also the school’s only Muslim student who suffered similar harassment). Those who have never experienced ongoing persecution need to understand the lasting damage it can cause to a young person. It is why I haven’t set foot in my home town for 40 years.
Simon Tatz, Newport
Right to be permanent
Almost 30 years ago when I worked for and wrote about the sector, a survey of the Victorian aged care industry’s workforce showed that most wanted permanency rather than their casual, part-time status. Most were never offered this security (or decent pay).
As in Australia generally, there have been continuing workforce shortages that have led to calls for overseas recruitment to address a problem that has an obvious domestic solution. This now looks likely to be offered with Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke’s plan for more than 850,000 casual workers on regular hours to gain the right to become permanent employees.
Megan Stoyles, Aireys Inlet
Towards a healthier life
I commend Kerri Sackville for giving up artificially sweetened beverages (Comment, 24/7). However, it’s important to look beyond the media hysteria and acknowledge the World Health Organisation’s findings regarding aspartame. The committee determined safety is not currently a concern at the commonly consumed amounts as there is limited evidence of an association between aspartame and cancer risk.
While removing aspartame from the diet may be one positive step towards better health, adopting a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and whole grains, increasing exercise levels and reducing our intake of alcohol and red meat may be more beneficial to reduce our cancer risk.
Joel Feren, dietitian, Caulfield
Looking out for everyone
I admit that at times I am guilty of riding on a footpath (Letters, 24/7) when there is no bike lane, when the roads are too narrow, or when the traffic is just too darn frantic.
Earlier this year, I was knocked off my bike on a shared path by a pedestrian with a large backpack. She moved after I rang my bell and called out, but she moved into my path, failing to observe the direction of my approach. I suffered concussion and a fractured sacrum.
Whether it be a road, footpath or shared path, we need to be fully conscious of surroundings and alert to other travellers, keeping dogs well under control and using phones minimally.
Mary-Jane Boughen, Murrumbeena
The use of footpaths
Not everyone may know this but, according to VicRoads, adults can cycle on footpaths if they have a medical certificate that says they have a disability which makes it difficult for them to ride on the road.
Rita Hardiman, Ascot Vale
A real Voice at last
How does it diminish us as Australians, how does it devalue or threaten our principles of fairness, transparency, honesty and integrity, if we respectfully acknowledge the invitation of the Uluru Statement and support First Nations peoples to have a fair go and a real voice in their affairs?
Nick McKinnon, Northcote
Landlords’ perspective
Re “Housing policy overhaul to speed up planning process” (The Age, 24/7). Capping rent increases at 110 per cent of the rate of inflation is worthy of support. Many landlords, most of whom are single-property owners and on middle incomes, are facing significant rises in their interest rate costs. We are not hearing much in the way of relief for them.
The upshot is that rental properties will be sold (this is already happening) but importantly, in the longer term, investors will not enter the property market but invest their money in vehicles that offer greater security and higher returns. If you think that finding a rental is hard now, wait five years to see what it will be like.
Owen Wells, Mont Albert North
Aim for a fairer fixture
Controversial as the AFL’s fixture already is, for several clubs round 19 was the first time they played another club a second time. Other clubs had already played one or two different clubs again by round 18. Port Adelaide had played the Western Bulldogs twice by round 16. Hopefully next year’s fixture will be better thought through and less compromised.
Peter O’Brien, Newport
The joy of singledom
I am an only child, well over 60, and I found the statement, “If you talk to an only child over 60, they will have complaints – ’I was lonely, I was unhappy, I wish I had a sibling‴ (Good Weekend, 22/), to be an unsubstantiated generalisation. Then, as now, the quality of a child’s life comes down to the parenting. My parents made sure I was well socialised with children my own age, that I understood I needed to “learn to take no for an answer”, and that I was not lonely. No complaints here.
Claire Merry, Wantirna
Advice from an ‘expert’
As a cricket armchair expert, I am delighted we have retained the Ashes. Our team outplayed the English in the first two Tests, and this must not be forgotten. However, the cracks were evident in Pat Cummins’ captaincy and the selectors’ perseverance with David Warner as an opening batsman. These are the same selectors who left Travis Head out of the first test in India. Cummins’ tenure has delivered all it can. Time for a new captain and selectors who are ready to create the next generation of Test cricketers. We armchair experts can help if required.
Andrew Dowling, Torquay
Take extra care, Yevgeny
Your correspondent warned Yevgeny Prigozhin to wear disposable gloves when opening doors and steer clear of drinking tea (Letters, 22/7). I can add two other dangerous activities: wearing underpants (remember Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s boxer shorts were laced with a lethal nerve poison) and standing near windows in high-rise buildings.
Linda Fisher, Malvern East
A new use for old planes
The announcement that the Hercules aircraft fleet is to be renewed (The Age, 24/7) opens the opportunity that some of the planes can be fitted for fire fighting. This would be a great investment as the world warms and bushfires become more common, as well as reducing our reliance on “importing” aircraft and crews each year.
David Robertson, Wheatsheaf
Reality of climate change
Victorian Marine and Coastal Council Chairman Anthony Boxshall is rightfully concerned about coastal flooding due to global warming (Sunday Age, 23/7). Recent news of the increasing rate of sea-ice melting in Antarctica will most likely see this happen earlier than 2040. Take care investing in seaside properties. It’s time we all thought about how to adapt to climate change because it is very unlikely we can mitigate it.
Andrew Smith, Leongatha
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
Cricket
Karma in the Ashes. Australia reigns.
Joan Segrave, Healesville
I love English weather.
David Charles, Newtown
Another trigger for Australia to be tossed out of the Commonwealth (24/7): failing to play the last Test in the spirit of the game.
Peter Thomas, Pascoe Vale
How terribly restrained of the England team and their PM not to demand a sixth day extension.
Dennis Richards, Cockatoo
The Poms can’t blame the Aussies for the rain. It’s the British monarchy. Their mantra is long may it reign.
Bill Keneley, Grasmere
Politics
Recent investigations by Age journalists have made even more work for the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Sarah Russell, Mount Martha
If rent rises are restricted, the supply of rental properties will fall. So what is the answer apart from building more rental properties?
John Walsh, Watsonia
If cancelling the Games was easy for Andrews, how hard could it be to cancel duck shooting?
John Laurie, Riddells Creek
Furthermore
Re the value of cash in circulation falling by about $1 billion (24/7). A lot of mattresses are in for an early spring clean.
Winston Anderson, Mornington
When will five-cent coins be abolished? They’re of little value. NZ did this long ago. One less new coin to mint.
Stephen Collins, Brunswick
“Republican threat to block subs deal” (22/7). A good outcome for the wrong reasons is still a good outcome.
Ralph Böhmer, St Kilda West
Any sign yet of a business leader who realises flat wage growth and consumer pessimism are connected?
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
The big issue of the day. Why are there never any five x five KenKen puzzles?
Dean Michael, Mount Macedon
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