With the ascendancy of Trump, it is open season on profiteering and big pharma is no exception (“Big pharma’s plea to Trump to punish Australia for cheaper medicines”, March 20). The thin veil of compassion and goodwill has been thrown aside, and they stand revealed as just another profiteering elite. Australia must not become a vassal state for American capitalism. If we are to be taken advantage of at every turn, as it increasingly appears to be the case, then we should reassess carefully all our financial and strategic links. If we are to be treated as just another vein to be bled then AUKUS, Pine Gap, all our allegiances and obligations are not to be trusted. We are on our own. Bruce Spence, Balmain
Albert Bourla, chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc and board member of PhRMA, has long-standing links with US President Donald Trump.Credit: Bloomberg
The PBS is one of Australia’s major public policy success stories. Mark Butler’s firm stance on protecting it against attacks by the US administration is to be applauded. American big pharma argues the PBS manipulates medicine prices in Australia. It does no such thing. The PBS uses scientific data, economic analysis and a technique known as “reference pricing” to ensure the government and consumers get value from prescription medicines. It makes sure that informed decisions are made on the prices Australians pay for medicines. It helps keep our healthcare system sustainable and is absolutely worth fighting for. Andrew Searles, Anna Bay
The dark heart of US big pharma is now on full display with its attack on Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It seems it would much prefer that many who could not afford their pricing should die rather than have pharma reduce its profits. Pharmaceuticals for the rich only: that is truly “egregious and discriminatory”. Peter Thompson, Grenfell
If Trump looks like yielding to demands of American medical giants to impose tariffs on imported medicines, he should be discreetly reminded that American communications and military facilities in Australia might be shown the door.
Greg McCarry, Epping
Why didn’t Peter Dutton put these important drugs on the PBS when he was health minister, thereby saving Australian women millions of dollars and easing their cost of living? Why didn’t he announce it before Labor did, this time round? On another matter, if he cancels Rupert Murdoch’s dual citizenship as first cab off the rank I won’t complain. Howard Charles, Glebe
Finally our very powerful Australian Pharmacy Guild has a battle worth fighting, one that will truly benefit their customers! I wait with bated breath to see the guild get their swords and shields out and go into battle with US big pharma. Our PBS scheme must be the envy of the Western world with its provision of cheap medicine for all. Katriona Herborn, Blackheath
Point of no return
With the past 10 years the hottest on record, atmospheric CO2 groaning at 420 ppm, and at least 151 “unprecedented” extreme weather events around the world, all indications are that we are heading inexorably towards the dangerous climate “tipping points” (“2024 confirmed as the hottest year there has ever been”, March 20).
Father and daughter survey the flood damage in Lismore earlier this year. Increased floods have been linked to climate change.Credit: Getty Images
Many tipping points such as the Greenland ice sheet have in-built feedback loops which actually accelerate the rate of climate damage. When ice is lost, less sunlight is reflected, leading to more global warming and even further loss of ice. There is a very real chance that breaching one or more of the well-documented tipping points could trigger irreversible, runaway climate change and an uninhabitable planet.
While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron are boldly assembling a “coalition of the willing” to save continental Europe, Albanese (and hopefully Dutton) should assemble a “coalition of the willing to save the world’s climate”. Even if America pursues a different approach, as appears likely, most of the world’s 197 COP counties countries could be expected to respect the science and continue the decades of essential work on climate mitigation. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT)
Self-defence
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s comment piece should be compulsory reading for all politicians (“Trump has hurt one of America’s most lucrative industries”, March 20). All around the world, governments are realising, with shock and awe, their enormous reliance on US defence industries and the need to rethink this, as in the future the “good old US” may not help anyone unless it is in their own interest. With Peter Dutton wanting (if elected) to buy more expensive F-35 jets from Donald, maybe it is time to look at French or other countries’ fighters. Forget AUKUS and go into drones undersea and aerial, built here. So many options and more bang for our tax buck. Robert Antill, Lake Conjola
Don’t shut out seniors
It would seem that among the minority of residents complaining about the proposed seniors housing project in Cremorne are those with entrenched ageist views (“Locals battle to block seniors housing in north Sydney”, March 19). Despite expert reports to the contrary, the potential “influx of elderly residents” is seen as clogging the roads, straining the infrastructure and making the area “less vibrant”. I can assure them, having just stayed at a similar but much higher (22-storey) mixed complex for seniors and some businesses (U City) in the centre of the Adelaide CBD, that the seniors there are thriving and delighting in the vibrant lifestyle that they are fortunate enough to be living in, while bringing extra income to the surrounding stores and eateries, including the Italian cafe and restaurant on the ground floor, which highlights the benefits of the mix of generations enjoying their morning coffees and convivial evening meals there. And rather than yet another seniors facility being exiled to the sticks, it’s great to see this initiative being situated in the accessible heart of Cremorne (and including bringing much-needed new business to the Cremorne Orpheum cinema), as one more step to what we should all be working towards: inclusive age-friendly communities. Anne Ring, Coogee
The revised proposal for independent living units for seniors tops seven storeys on Gerard Street, Cremorne.
Sounds like Sydney needs a vast new suburb named “Somewhere Else”. Tony Ilott, East Hills
Up in smoke
Australia’s extraordinarily high cigarette tax (“Vaping and black market tobacco burn $31 billion hole in budget revenue”, March 19) incentivises smokers to switch from costly legal cigarettes to much cheaper illegal cigarettes. Lower-risk vaping is theoretically another option for smokers, but the current pharmacy system is an almost insurmountable barrier for vapers who prefer to remain within the law. According to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey in 2022/23, 87 per cent of vaping supply was courtesy of the black market. The net result of these policies is that the sky-high cigarette taxes and severely restricted availability of vapes squeeze smokers, many of whom are on low incomes. Organised crime steps in to a low risk, high reward setting to provide supply and then start fighting among themselves to divide the spoils. When will it be time to acknowledge that Australia’s current cigarette tax and vaping policy is bankrupt? Alex Wodak, Darlinghurst
Unis’ narrow view
Amid the clamour and chaos of the new world disorder, it’s most encouraging to read a thoughtful, measured and illuminating article on antisemitism (“Unis get it wrong on antisemitism”, March 20). The authors calmly lay bare the deficiencies, indeed the dangers, of Universities Australia’s new definition. Two crucial statements are at the heart of their exposition. One is that “Zionism is not elemental to Jewish identity”. The other is that “questioning the legitimacy of the state of Israel in its present form grounded in historical, political or moral arguments is neither genocidal nor antisemitic”. It’s deeply disappointing that the governing bodies of Australia’s universities have ignored the validity of these fundamental truths. By failing their mission as forums of rigorous enquiry and open debate, the nations’ top academies have given the green light to the divisive distortions peddled by politicians and the commentariat. It’s a relief to see such a sensible corrective in print. Tom Knowles Parkville (Vic)
Tents set up at Deakin University’s Burwood campus as part of a pro- Palestinian protest in May 2024.Credit: Eddie Jim
I had to wait until the end of your opinion piece on antisemitism to read its most important statement; there should be “the right to debate these matters openly, candidly and freely”. When the universities chose disruptive, loud and intimidating campus protests instead of debate, academic legitimacy and finesse went out the window. Would discussion about definitions of behaviours and commissioning of reports be necessary if the universities had behaved like institutions of higher learning? Ben Basger, Bondi Junction
It has never been axiomatic that to oppose Zionism is also to be antisemitic. Zionism was a late-19th century international political movement with the object of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. “Semite” is a term now generally used as a synonym for “Jewish”, although its original meaning is linguistic and has no racial or religious implications. The sensitivity of many Jewish people to criticism of Israel and its policies is totally understandable. But their cause is not helped by assertions that to question a nation’s actions is equivalent to prejudice against anyone who shares that nation’s predominant religious faith or ethnicity. David Salter, Hunter’s Hill
Poor form
I am so disappointed that justices Michael Kirby and Michael Lee took a public stance to support Dyson Heydon, a man disgraced for his behaviour against women (“A kick in the guts for women: The legal profession’s re-embrace of a disgraced judge”, March 20). The legal publication can achieve its own acclaim without this expression of support. Dorothy Kamaker, Whale Beach
Houses not horses
The NSW government must never cave into the racing industry and its lobby group (“Will Minns really let a privileged few block 25,000 new homes?”, March 20). It is a dying industry, with millions of people, particularly Millennials and Gen X, who see it as cruelty to horses to make money for rich trainers and owners. Why we need so many racecourses is beyond reason. The racing industry is ready to take taxpayers’ money with various schemes over the decades, but has no empathy for the housing crisis that is affecting more people than the tiny number of racegoers at Rosehill. The NSW government should pass legislation and take over the Rosehill racecourse. Mukul Desai, Hunters Hill
Dutton struggling
We have an election due in a matter of weeks and Australia is in the middle of a cost-of-living and housing crisis; Trump is wreaking geopolitical havoc (“Dutton doubles down on referendum”, March 20). And yet the most compelling issue for Peter Dutton is holding a referendum to take 20 million of us to the polls at a cost of $450 million to change the Constitution to allow him to deport a handful of dual citizens who have been convicted of serious crimes. A classic dog whistle from Dutton; he cries “terrorists, paedophiles” because he is flatlining in the polls and has yet to announce anything more than a nuclear industry proposal funded by taxpayers and delivered in three decades.
Mr Dutton, you need to be a lot more substantive than that if you hope to become our new PM in just a few short weeks. Kamala Harris taught us that not being Trump wasn’t good enough, and you really need to do better than dog whistles and not being Albo. Michael Clayton, Hunters Hill
Peter Dutton wants a referendum to change the Constitution to allow him to deport dual citizens who commit crimes. Credit: Eamon Gallagher
We are now witnessing the gradual implosion of Peter Dutton’s bid to become prime minister. His latest grab for a headline in proposing a referendum on the right to deport dual nationals, which followed his proposed citizenship question on antisemitism, is about as daft as they come. It is part of a pattern that has emerged whereby Dutton announces a provocative policy, get lots of publicity, then walks away from it as reaction goes against him. No doubt his aim is to present himself as a strong leader concerned about the safety of citizens, but the real result is he is starting to look desperate as well as flaky. Without policies that have real substance and address cost-of-living issues and the economy the Coalition is doomed. Dutton’s diversionary tactics are failing and people are noticing. David Tunny, Turramurra
How can we have a test on antisemitism without one on anti-Muslim, anti-Asian or anti- any other minority group that can, from time to time, feel persecuted by the wider general community? I wonder what Australia may look like if all the Irish immigrants to this British colonial outpost during the 1800s were quizzed on any “anti-English” sentiment prior to being allowed to settle in the country. This is just a horrible, horrible idea. Joe Nethery, Vincentia
George Bernard Shaw once joked that racists don’t change their minds, they simply rearrange their prejudices. Peter Dutton probably wouldn’t get the joke, however. So the best Australians can hope for is that Dutton and his posse of Coalition ignoramuses educate themselves about the irrationality of racism in all its disguises. Social psychologists have long known that ethnocentrism is indiscriminately ignorant, and that people who claim to hate “Jews” also say they hate “Arabs”, “Asians”, and any other nominated national or ethnolinguistic group not their own. Many racists have been found to be equally prejudiced against “Wallonians” and “Danerians”, labels invented by researchers but referring to no actual nationalities. Philip Bell, Bronte
Peter Dutton could learn the lesson from the (possibly apocryphal) story of the middle-aged Italian immigrant woman with limited English in New York in the early 1900s. When the immigration officer demanded “Do you advocate the overthrow of the United States government by force or violence?” she thought for a moment and nervously responded “Violence?”
Daniel Flesch, Bellingen
I went to a wonderful concert at the Great Synagogue in Sydney on Wednesday night. An extraordinary performance by a Palestinian violinist and a Jewish pianist, an appreciative audience, a few acceptable quips and very pleasant and appropriate security personnel. By contrast, Mr Dutton’s latest vote foray linking antisemitism to entry into Australia is, in my opinion, a de facto incitement to hate and social disruption.
Anne Noonan, Mosman
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