I don’t believe the Matildas deserve equal pay (“A public holiday won’t fix football’s funding failures”, August 15). They deserve to be far better paid than their male counterparts.
The men have only made it to the round of 16 in a World Cup; the Tillies have made a quarter-final and a semi-final (and hopefully a final!). If only the neanderthals in the boardrooms of broadcasters had a bit of vision, maybe this would already be a reality. Peter Prowse, Petersham
Watch the Matildas.Credit: Cathy Wilcox
Isn’t it interesting that Australia’s talented sportspeople so often prove their abilities without all the big-money backing of major players? (“Sweaty, unaffected joy: Tillies remind us of what sport is about”, August 15.) And when that becomes a key part of the sport, our unique and innate abilities lose some of their spark. Ian Ferrier, Long Jetty
There’s a world of difference between the public holiday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposes if the Matildas go on to win the World Cup and the way then-prime minister Bob Hawke handled the America’s Cup win in 1983 (“Public holiday idea gets small-business owners offside”, August 15). Both men faced the risk of recession and small businesses on the brink, but Hawke left it to workers to show up; Albanese wants them to stay home or else get double if they’re called in. I’ll be sitting in the middle of a time-critical harvest with production and wage costs already spiralling and finely balanced with the value of the crop. Many small businesses are the same. Peter Comensoli, Mangrove Mountain
Is it ignorance or envy that whenever football gets a high media profile, as happens when Australia competes in the FIFA World Cups, the naysayers come out with inane comments such as “it might save a lot of trouble if we just had a penalty shootout and dispensed with the preceding 120 minutes of play” (Letters, August 14)? Presumably the proponent of this view has not seen the brilliance of some of the goalkeeping in this tournament (Australia’s Mackenzie Arnold included), which has contributed to drawn matches or low scores. I presume detractors are aware that the space above the goal is not unlimited, as in other “football” codes. James Tulloch, Westleigh
Any chance of the crowd singing Waltzing Matilda just before kick-off (Editorial cartoon, August 15)? Hugh Barrett, Sanctuary Point
This is to modernise a 1950s popular tune Catch a Falling Star, sung by Perry Como, to encourage the current Aussie women’s World Cup soccer team: Catch a rising Matilda, put her in your heart and never let her fade away/For success will come and tap her on the shoulder/When you’ll have a pocket full of medals, won by our waltzing Matildas. Kersi Meher-Homji, St Ives
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda/We’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with you/And we’ll cheer as you put those Pommies in your tucker bag/We’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with you. Dulcie Davis, Murwillumbah
I hope in Wednesday night’s critical Australia v England fixture there won’t be any controversial goalkeeper (à la wicket keeper) incidents. Bernie Carberry, Connells Point
RSL apology a sign it is struggling for relevance
As a Vietnam veteran, I question why it has taken so long for the RSL to say sorry for the treatment dished out to us (“RSL apologises to ‘rejected, ignored’ Vietnam veterans”, August 14). The cynic in me suggests that the RSL now needs a supplement of Vietnam veterans to bolster its relevance, as numbers of the old guard from previous conflicts dwindle. The old guard’s attitude that it was not a real war beggars belief.
In my experience, not only the treatment from the RSL but also the public were among the most vile components of the insults and abuse dished out to us. Upon return from service in Vietnam I moved to a country Victorian town after being spat at and being accused of being a child killer. No one deserves that sort of treatment. After all it was the “luck of the draw” in the lottery that was the means of conscription in that era that shipped us to Vietnam.
In my case, saying “sorry” may not adequately compensate for the damage I have incurred from the RSL in that era, and also from the general public. It was bad enough being conscripted to war, but I could not have foreseen the negative reaction upon repatriation to Australia. Graeme Flavel, Pokolbin
With banners ranging from “Make love, not war” to “Stop the dirty war in Vietnam”, hundreds of demonstrators marched in a disorderly but peaceful fashion from Martin Place to the Town Hall in 1965.Credit: Fairfax
I’m a Vietnam veteran and spent most of 1969 as a member of the US Navy’s River Patrol Force in the Mekong Delta. Although I had heard stories from Aussie Vietnam vets about their poor treatment by RSLs, my reception at a North Shore Sydney golf club which I joined in 1977 and at that time the home of one of the largest contingents of WWII vets outside of the RSLs, was fabulous. In fact, in my first Services Day I was grouped with a WWI, WWII, and Korean War veteran which signified to me that we were “all for one and one for all”. While US vets in the US were treated pretty well by veterans of other wars, our treatment by the civilian population was inconsistent and on a number of occasions distinctly hostile. Michael Clarey, Merewether
My late uncle Herbert “Herbie” Dundas, on a brief Sydney leave between transferring from fighting in the Western Desert Battle of El Alamein (1942) to preparing for the jungle battles then developing in New Guinea, went to his local RSL in Arncliffe, Sydney, expecting a welcome and a beer, but was similarly told that WWII (in his case) wasn’t “a proper war”, and he wasn’t welcome. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Richard Black, Collaroy
US nonsense hampers Assange
Is there another country in the world like the US that thinks allegedly breaking one of its laws has extraterritorial reach as though it were an international convention (“Albanese urged to act for Assange”, August 15)?
Not only is Julian Assange affected by this technically unenforceable nonsense, but apparently also anyone or any company around the world against whom America applies sanctions for dealing with entities that happen to disagree with or resist US influence. Fred Jansohn, Rose Bay
The PM has megalitres of leverage to have Assange released – just needs some intestinal fortitude to use it. Steve Johnson, Eastgardens
Take No head-on
If the current government wants to try to turn around the No vote in the referendum, they need to address the reasons people want to vote No (“Qantas takes Voice support to the skies”, August 15). The arguments that it won’t bring meaningful change, “they will sell my land”, “that legally it is risky” and that a treaty should be prioritised over a Voice to parliament need to be countered in a campaign that will convince this nation of the benefits and good that the Voice will bring. Daniela Catalano, Haberfield
The response to a question about how they will vote in the referendum from one person was; “I’m going to vote No. I was told they will end up selling our land” (“Western Sydney melting pot crucial to polls”, August 15). This is an unfortunate example of Australians unable to make their own decisions but being swayed by others’ opinions. As for “they will sell our land”, whose land was it in the first place? Ted Jarrett, Berry
Setting sons.Credit: Matt Golding
I am a city dweller who rarely has contact with Indigenous Australians. I intend to vote Yes in the Voice referendum because I would like to support the overwhelming majority of Indigenous Australians who say the Voice will help them overcome the disparity in life’s outcomes. The problem is that I really have no idea what the Voice means. I will be taking them on trust. Others will quite reasonably be swayed by the catchy line “if you don’t understand it, vote No”.
The proposed alteration to the constitution establishes a body which can “make representations to the parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”. This sounds like a lobby group, similar to the pharmacy or coal lobbies, so do they really need a change to the constitution for that? Further, if the political party in power has little interest in canvassing ideas from Indigenous Australians or promoting their welfare, do they really think that having a formally constituted body will change things? John Vigours, Neutral Bay
Good argument
It was great to see an article on debating competitions in schools, and congratulations to Sydney Girls high for winning the year 11 and 12 competition (“Debating points to success of a best-case scenario”, August 15). As a former state organiser of debating for the Department of Education and currently a senior adjudicator, I would like to point out that debating in our schools is more than one competition. The Department of Education runs four secondary and one primary competitions. It is the largest organised debating competition in the world. Your list of winning schools is only for the year 12 competition which began more than 50 years ago as a boys-only competition and whose final featured a talented young debater from Fort Street Boys named Neville Wran. Today I can travel all over Sydney from Llandilo PS in Sydney’s West to Buxton in the Highlands and on Zoom to the Riverina or the North Coast to adjudicate debates. Debating in state schools is not elitist. It is alive and interesting and full of young people willing to put forward their arguments. Julie Calear-Apps, Pemulwuy
It comes as no surprise that Sydney Grammar School boys are the top debaters. After all, they are being groomed for careers in law and politics. Patricia Farrar, Concord
Noisy neighbours
Mark Latham says “over the past five years, we have built up the NSW party into the largest One Nation parliamentary party in the country – so where’s the problem?” (“Axed Latham blasts Hanson’s ‘takeover’,” August 15). Might I respectfully inform Latham that three people does not a party make; it’s more just the noise of three rowdy drunks around a backyard barbie, aka a neighbourhood nuisance. Charmain Brinks Newcastle
It amazed me that Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson were together in One Nation for four years. It is no surprise that the union ended in divorce. It is a pity we will have to pay bomb-thrower Latham for another eight years in the Upper House. Lindsay Somerville, Lindfield
Waste not
Wake up, Sydney. The sewage works at Manly’s North Head process sewage for a third of Sydney (“Roughage justice for sewage from a million Sydneysiders”, August 15). Instead of importing increasingly expensive nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers from overseas, we have nutrient rich biosolids fertilisers on our doorstep in a never-ending supply. Time to embrace the circular economy. What comes out must be put back in. Self-sufficiency on a grand scale. Jenny Forster, Manly
Autocracy.Credit: Andrew Dyson
True courage
It is heartening to hear from a principled hero in Russia fighting to end the murderous grip the war criminal Vladimir Putin has over that country (“Putin sent Ilya Yashin to prison as a birthday ‘present’. I spoke to him from his cell”, August 15). We live in hope that justice will be served. Geoff Nilon, Mascot
Gas feels the heat
Your tips about induction cooking are great for all our budding chefs out there (“Burning questions about the switch to electric”, August 15). My household switched from gas to electric to reduce our carbon footprint. Our ordinary electric cooktop does us a treat, although some discerning cooks may prefer the induction method. After reading about the health problems associated with gas cooking, I feel fortunate that we were able to make the switch. “Cooking with gas” was once a cause for celebration. Those days are well and truly over. Anne O’Hara, Wanniassa (ACT)
Toll answer
The issue of road tolls and traffic congestion will never be solved until governments make a concerted effort to provide us with an efficient and cheap, dare I say free, public transport system (Letters, August 15). Margaret Grove, Abbotsford
Never done
Katy Hall, no matter which direction a woman takes, there is one thing that my dear father used to say (to my chagrin), and now that I am post-60 I also say; “the first 20-30 years are the worst” (“As a lifelong feminist, being a kept wife sounds OK”, August 15). As I walked the dog this morning and waved to our neighbour’s daughter dropping off a small child, I wondered how I ever managed to run around after three kids, work and do housework. Now, my hair is naturally streaked grey, I dust when I want to, I exercise and have coffee with women in the same boat, my husband likes to cook, and I don’t TikTok. And I get to hand the grandchildren back. Bernadette Scadden, Earlwood
That does it. I’m coming back as a man. Helen Lewin, Tumbi Umbi
Going strong
My brand of dishwasher is the same as your correspondent’s, but doesn’t sing Jerusalem (Letters, August15). Only 81 years, but has been with me for 51 of those, this week. Wonderful working together. Alison Stewart, Waitara
Q&A lite
Q+A would be improved by reducing the audience to those asking questions and limiting the questions to 15 seconds (Letters, August 15). Don Leayr, Albury
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