How much more evidence is needed to show that the private school funding system is broken (“Five private schools outspent entire states”, February 23)? Whether it is Scottish castle libraries, plunge pools, executive trips to Henley regattas or the latest comparison between the obscene amount of money spent by a few private schools on capital works and entire state school funding, it is clear that the current funding model is failing students. Many Catholic schools and low-fee private schools do indeed fill gaps and provide worthwhile alternatives to public education, but the big end of town is simply exacerbating the ever-growing class divide in Australia. An immediate move to the original Gonski funding model is needed or we risk becoming a forever divided society with opportunities only available to the wealthy. Peter Cooper-Southam, Frenchs Forest
Cranbrook School
I fear the Herald has been most irresponsible in publishing the names of certain private schools that have outspent our public schools on new facilities. Can you imagine the shock, anger and embarrassment of all those other private schools whose names were not listed; the distress of parents whose precious tots have been going to schools that feature last season’s pools and outmoded drama theatres? Nola Tucker, Kiama
If these few private schools are receiving the money for infrastructure from private donations, then they obviously can divert some of this money for their students’ education, thereby reducing their claim to funding from the government. The money saved could then be allocated to public schools who are in great need of these funds. This would be a fairer allocation of public money. Leo Sorbello, West Ryde
Now this latest report about how little funding capital works gets in the public system – less than that spent by five private schools – again highlights the stark reality of what public schools receive. No wonder there are insufficient classrooms, badly maintained buildings and lack of sports and arts facilities. Even without these so many public schools achieve wonderful results and standards. It is amazing how much is achieved with so little.
Augusta Monro, Dural
How on earth can it be that, 12 years on, “private schools continue to get more than their share of the 2012 Gonski resourcing standards” while “public schools across the country are still shortchanged by millions of dollars”? Surely there has to be some sort of refunding of the overpayments and the provision of the recommended funding for state schools. It wouldn’t involve rocket science to get the numbers people working on appropriate restitution and recompense. Anne Ring, Coogee
The fact that five private schools spend more on new facilities than 3300 public schools shows the brokenness and unfairness of education funding. While state-of-the art indoor swimming pools, gymnasiums and grandeur amenities are built, public schools will be using funding on necessary facilities such as new classrooms and much-needed building maintenance.
John Cotterill, Kingsford
Do our politicians have the guts to introduce a carbon tax?
As the annual bill from worsening natural disasters is going to surge, surely it is incumbent upon our federal government to recoup the expense from those helping to cause the damage (“Disaster costs to soar by billions”, February 23). Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims recently proposed that the government introduce a carbon tax that could raise $100 billion a year which would not only cover the damage but provide the funds to help Australia become a renewable energy superpower. The largely foreign-owned fossil fuel corporations pay little tax and employ only a small proportion of people. The only problem is whether or not our federal government has the guts to do what is necessary. Peter Nash, Fairlight
The newly constructed break wall along Collaroy / Narrabeen Beach built in response to severe storm erosion over the years. Credit: James Brickwood
It’s frightening to read that children born today will experience three to four times more climate disasters than their grandparents. We all know what is causing the problem – the burning of fossil fuels – yet we go on selling these to all comers, like a drug dealer peddling heroin to feed his own habit. If fossil fuels are bad for our health, then surely we must wean ourselves off them, both in terms of personal use and sales to other ‘addicts’. Otherwise, are we really any better than the proverbial ‘pusher’ in the street? Ken Enderby, Concord
The insurance industry has known the cost of climate change for decades. It’s sad that denial and delays by conservative politicians and those bowing to industry pressure has helped entrench “natural” disasters. It won’t be long before insurance becomes unaffordable for the general population, and those affected by disaster will be out of pocket and potentially homeless. Anne Matheson, Gordon
The annual cost of damage to buildings and infrastructure from “natural” disasters is anticipated to rise to $9.1 billion by 2060. This figure is actually the real cost of failing to address the reality of our changing climate. I hope you’re all listening - Barnaby, Littleproud, Dutton, Sussan and the rest of your ill-informed denialist rabble. Bill Young, Killcare Heights
Individuals, charities, and local and state governments are faced with the problem of responding to more frequent and more extreme weather events. Meanwhile, the federal government is permitting licensing of new fossil fuel mining ventures, so exacerbating the problem. Remember greenhouse gases? Like perpetual population increase, perpetual economic growth, and unbounded human ingenuity, global overheating is now been taken as a given. Unbounded human ingenuity? The evidence is that humans are stupid when it comes to long-term planning. George Carrard, Oatley
Independents for tax reform
It is clear we need tax reform but this is electoral poison for the major parties (Letters, September 23). So let’s have a minority government in parliament next time with independents holding the balance of power. I don’t mean the Greens and the Nats but more teals and other genuine independents. The major parties will both be secretly happy as they know the problem but they can’t fix it themselves. Come on voters. Next time, return the current independents and find some more in other seats. Peter Kamenyitzky, Castle Hill
I was 29 in 2012 when I first bid on a house. I was not successful but it occurred to me that the tax settings in place then (and now) were such that my parents standing next to me at that auction were more incentivised to buy their third property (and rent it to someone like me) than I was to buy my first. That’s not right. Jeffrey Gabriel, Gladesville
Your letter writer makes the valid point that negative gearing is paid for by wage and salary earners who do not own investment properties. The same holds true for dividend imputation. This system costs wage and salary earners just over $5 billion a year. Australia is now one of only two countries in the world with full dividend imputation. The other countries that used to have abandoned it as the bad policy it is long ago. Stephen Healion, Wang Wauk
I received a generous gift from my parents to purchase a home, putting me in the “haves”, yet I still have the integrity to see that negative gearing is contributing to our society’s increasing inequality.
No country other than Japan has such generous negative gearing laws as Australia. Deductions made from negative gearing exceed income levels. Investors have increased equity and buying power to out-bid non home-owners with less equity. Every home that an investor buys could be bought by a first home-buyer. David Lloyd, Newport (Vic)
Most proponents of abolishing negative gearing suggest allowing one property as it may provide a nest egg for some owners. The real issue is the owners of multiple investment properties who ensure that their costs are always negatively geared either by reorganising loans or purchasing additional properties to ensure that they are maximising the tax benefits of negative gearing. So let’s just start with owners who have multiple properties and use the tax payouts saved to help those who really need it. And if it is politically too hard to address negative gearing in the short term, let’s get rid of the capital gains tax concessions for those properties now. Most owners of negatively geared properties are just biding their time waiting for windfall capital gains returns with only 50 per cent tax. The number of those properties freed up for purchase by new homeowners would be huge. Geoff Wannan, Dawes Point
Won’t work
I’m guessing Anthony Albanese, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke and ACTU secretary Sally McManus have never owned a small business (“Working-from-home ‘a win’ says PM but doubts remain”, February 23). Working from home may be ideal for public service bureaucrats but for private industry workers, the boss should have the final say. If a business owner is unreasonable, staff will move to jobs with greater flexibility. The industrial relations legislation being pushed by Bourke is moving too far to the left. It is the progressive equivalent of John Howard’s WorkChoices.
Riley Brown, Bondi Beach
Slow motion
Could someone please explain why it has taken 14 years to prosecute Obeid, Kelly, and Tripodi for misconduct in public office (“Former Labor ministers to stand trial”, February 23)? This is madness! Surely the law cannot be so convoluted that it allows such delay. If it is, it must be altered. David Brown, Robertson
Facing charges: Former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid, Joe Tripodi and Tony Kelly.Credit: Dean Sewell, Rob Homer
Relative wealth
Waleed Aly’s column relating to the super rich made interesting reading (“Swift and Trump share something”, February 23). However, while it is true that we may consider Ronaldo, Trump, Taylor Swift and Bill Gates to be mega-rich, things need to be put into perspective. A person sitting in a refugee camp in a war-torn country, people facing humanitarian disasters and starvation with no prospect of their lives improving, and millions of people living in Third World countries would consider me, Waleed, and indeed most of the people reading this newspaper to be super-rich beyond their wildest dreams. Phil Peak, Dubbo
Be scam aware
Three billion dollars in financial scams in 2022 and no doubt even more in 2023 (“How to fix our scam economy”, February 23). The government needs to act without delay to implement mandatory obligations and a penalty regime in appropriate business sectors to bring about some curtailing of the activities of scammers.
However, a broader community responsibility exists for us all to do better to protect ourselves. The universality of mobile phones has spawned a culture of needing to be continually connected and of instantaneous responding, thereby opening a door for scammers to enter. When any doubt exists, we need to not pick up a call, to delete a text, or not open an email. The implied necessary behaviour changes could be encouraged by an extensive government educational program to create better awareness and alertness. The digital economy has many benefits and inherent risks that criminals will exploit. Let’s not make it too easy for these cheats. Ross Butler, Rodd Point
The crux of the problem in Australia is that consumers in the financial system automatically wear the cost of the holes in it. Their money is gone and they have to prove it wasn’t their fault. But they don’t own or control the internet, banking or telecommunications systems, and most people don’t even know how they work. When a consumer’s money goes they automatically lose it. Liability should operate in reverse; the “system” should automatically reimburse the lost money and then investigate to find the source of the loss. If the independent investigation clearly and indisputably shows the consumer is at fault, then so be it. Other countries operate on this principle – why can’t we? Paul Gannon, Coopers Shoot
Fashion’s victims
Like so many before it, this scheme misses the point entirely (“Plibersek prepared to step in if fashion industry doesn’t step up on recycling”, February 23). The fashion industry exists to persuade people to buy more, new and different clothes endlessly. Recycling has limited scope and is costly, cumbersome and woefully inadequate in Australia. We must consume less and be prepared to pay what clothing is really worth in terms of the materials, processes, labour and environmental impact it involves. Having paid a fair price for our garments, we will be more likely to value and treat them accordingly, wearing, washing, mending and handing them on with care. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has put the fast fashion industry on notice.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Australia is neck-deep in a sea of cheap fast fashion generating vast amounts of textile waste. Retailers like Kmart are largely responsible but don’t want to take responsibility. Objecting to clothing sustainability because there isn’t adequate recycling is like spraying someone with a hose and saying the problem is a lack of drying facilities. Michael Berg, Randwick
Labour of glove
In the late 1950s I looked down from my mezzanine floor desk on the corner of Bridge and George Streets in the Sydney CBD, where most days the same traffic policeman controlled his flocks with his huge white gloves (Letters, February 23). I saw him wince and just carry on when a turning flat-tray truck grazed his back. I saw the look on a taxi driver’s face when he realised that (the renowned eccentric) Bea Miles had climbed into the back seat of his cab while he was facing the raised white glove. And then there was trying to see which tram, though forbidden to do so, stopped first in the minutes before the Melbourne Cup start, so all the trams behind had the perfect excuse to do the same. John Dawson, North Parramatta
The traffic controller in the late ’50s and early ’60s was known as the “Smiling Policeman”. At Christmas, the pedestrian refuge next to him was full of gifts that motorists passed on to him. He was a delight and the traffic flowed very well as a result. Michael Payne, West Pymble
When I was a “bobby” in England during the 1960s doing traffic control, not only did I wear white gloves but a white coat and white helmet. During the dark I was illuminated by a spotlight and some motorists still did not see me.
Ron Kerr, Ballina
Greatest ever
The debate about the greatest rock movie ever in the Herald’s Letters pages this week should mention D. A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop. It’s acknowledged as the first rock movie of the first rock festival, which was in 1967. And Pennebaker has been called “the pre-eminent chronicler of 60s counterculture”. Without his masterpiece, which still stands up, other concert films might not have happened. Tim Egan, Mosman
The 1989 cult classic Leningrad Cowboys Go America wins the title of greatest rock movie of all time, by a country mile, even if judged only for its extreme quiff hairstyles and winklepicker shoes. One of Finland’s gifts to the world. Steve Cornelius, Brookvale
Let’s also acknowledge the great 2013 musical documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, an in-depth look at the lesser-known backing singers of famous artists. John Swanton, Coogee
20 Feet From Stardom Credit: Age
Awesome anaesthetic
I’m down with you Kerri (“Call me pathetic, but I enjoy a light anaesthetic”, September 23)! I thought I was alone in my love of the “voluntary assisted lying” program (aka anaesthetic). My favourite practitioner for any minor surgical procedure is the gowned and gloved person who offers blissful oblivion. - sadly a rude awakening occurs upon receipt of their fee.
Janet Argall, Dulwich Hill
I so agree Kerri .. and the delicious sandwich after arousing from that medical slumber is worth the fasting!
Angie Miller, Bondi Junction
Postscript
Economics editor Ross Gittins delivered some much-need good news on the climate front this week, telling us that a levy on carbon could raise $100 billion a year – sparking a lively debate on the Letters pages and online. In his column, We can’t escape a carbon tax, which is good news, not bad, Gittins wrote about Rod Sims and Ross Garnaut’s proposed levy on all emissions from Australian-produced fossil fuel and imported fuel.
Gary Barnes thought it may be stymied by politics; opposing such a policy “is unlikely to stop Dutton if he can make a populist argument and win votes. And that may frighten Labor enough to back off. So, once again the blood sport of politics means people don’t get good policy. ”
Sue Casiglia said that “once again, Gittins provides the much-needed answers. I nominate (him) for federal parliament, treasurer to boot.” Sue! We’ve had Ross Gittins for 50 years and he’s not going anywhere.
When our aptly named writer Bill Wyman reviewed Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, asking if it was the “greatest rock movie ever”, readers weighed in. Con Vaitsas voted for 1969’s Summer of Soul, while Anne Elliott loved the Rolling Stone’s Gimme Shelter, Led Zep’s Celebration Day, Woodstock and (the grammatically-incorrect) Springsteen and I.
I respect all the Herald’s letter writers but must beg to differ. The greatest rock movie is Descent into the Maelstrom – The Radio Birdman Story, with footage of the band driving around the UK in a Kombi dubbed the “van of hate”. Turn your speakers up to 11.
Margot Saville, deputy letters editor
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