Credit: Illustration: Jim Pavlidis
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MIGRATION
Bravo Niki Savva (“Dutton and the ABC behaving badly”, 6/6). At last someone calling out Peter Dutton in the strongest terms regarding his dog whistling about immigration and his unicorn energy policy.
His claims that we can’t get a doctor’s appointment, the roads are clogged, or you can’t get your child into a school or child care, are caused by immigration are misleading and divisive.
I recently heard a speech by the far right UK Brexitier, Nigel Farage saying, almost word for word, what Dutton said in his budget reply speech. Both are saying the same thing, and the differences are minimal.
Dutton’s nuclear policy is unachievable and no more than a distraction from the fact that the Liberals have no policy platform and no talent in the parliament to draw from. A weak leader of a weak party.
Philip West, Jan Juc
Migrants are not the problem, it’s the number
Having a science-mathematics background, I support Niki Savva’s criticism (Comment, 6/6) of Peter Dutton’s anti-science stance on nuclear power in Australia. We must heed what respected scientists conclude, and let science rather than emotion be the guide for tackling today’s challenging societal and environmental problems.
It is in that vein that I do not share Savva’s criticism of Dutton’s plan to lower immigration levels.
Our booming population (largely driven by high immigration) is one factor in the competition for housing, road congestion and queues for medical and other services. It is also a major factor in the declining state of the natural environment, as concluded in the government’s State of the Environment report.
Migrants are not to blame. It is the scale of Australia’s immigration program. As science clearly shows us, it is all about the numbers.
Ian Penrose, Kew
Dutton is not alone in criticising migration levels
Niki Savva casts Peter Dutton’s approach to migration as irresponsible. She is ignoring the fact that prominent Australians who are not in politics have been highlighting problems with migration policy.
Peter Costello said late last year that ″extremely high″ immigration is behind inflation. Prominent economist Chris Richardson expressed great concern at the same time about migration causing big problems in terms of housing and rents.
Savva is also ignoring the fact that Australia’s policies have attracted criticism internationally because we are poaching skilled workers from countries that need those skills.
Dutton is under no obligation to endorse the views or policies of Albanese and Chalmers on anything, especially on an issue with a direct link to the economy, where polling shows Australians rate the ALP harshly. It’s not politics, it’s democracy. Poor quality governments lose office.
Alun Breward, Malvern East
ABC’s management looked craven and pathetic
It was heartening to read Niki Savva and Alan Sunderland‘s columns in The Age (6/6). They both hailed the work of a talented wordsmith in Laura Tingle. I do too.
The ABC needs to be careful and not repeat its craven looking response to Tingle’s fair and accurate comments at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
The organisation looked pathetic in handing down its rebuke of a quality journalist. On reflection, I felt better acknowledging the appointment of Kim Williams to the helm of the broadcaster. He is clever and savvy.
I sincerely trust he does not let us down in this important role.
Nora Sparrow, Canterbury
THE FORUM
Balancing views
It seems stupid for Albanese to complain that the Greens have caused pro-Palestinian protestors to stand outside MPs’ offices. People don’t need politicians to tell them what to do - they have their own ways of determining what is right and what is wrong. It happens to be the mainstay of democracy. If Albanese wants to get rid of them, then governments would have to declare their actions unlawful. Given that no action has been taken thus far, their actions are within the law.
John Rome, Mt Lawley, WA
Hypocrisy writ large
The attacks by Albanese and Dutton on Adam Bandt for his stand on Israel’s war on the Palestinians in Gaza is hypocrisy writ large (“Albanese and Dutton slam Greens leader”, 6/6/).
It is true that no civilised person can doubt that Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 was evil. It is also true that no civilised person can doubt that Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza is evil.
Unlike Albanese and Dutton, Bandt’s condemnation of both of these evils has been unequivocal. Moreover, his condemnation of Australia’s parts exported for weapons used in Israel is timely and morally correct.
Albanese and Dutton worry that people who are moved by Bandt’s courage will be voting for him and for his team, or for independents, at the next election. Attacking him in the bullpit of parliament will only strengthen their determination to do so. A hung parliament is in sight.
Allan Patience, Newport
Industrial reaction
I have to take issue with your correspondent’s claim (Letters, “It was the best thing ever happened”, 6/6) that in the 1970s and 1980s train and tram strikes were regular occurrences.
They generally occurred after negotiations broke down over a new industrial agreement. Given that these agreements were generally of a four-year duration by definition a possible strike might occur every four years, hardly a regular occurrence. Maintenance closures are, in fact, far more frequent particularly since privatisation.
Phil Alexander, Eltham
Housing supply
Perhaps someone more intelligent than me, a former landlord, could help me out. Every time an effort is made to raise the sometimes grossly inadequate standard of rental properties, the cry goes up, “now is not the time, too expensive, it will force landlords to sell and so reduce the supply of rental properties”.
Will these properties just magically disappear like some, often very expensive, houses owned by wealthy overseas buyers? Presumably, if they have become too expensive an investment as a rental they will be bought by first home buyers. Wouldn’t this be good for those aspiring to homeownership? Wouldn’t this lead to a commensurate decrease in demand? Fewer renters, and thus more homeowners, good or bad?
Alister McKenzie, Lake Wendouree
Not a bum rap
What a great question when a child asked if there was “something wrong with being white”, (“Briggs says school has given genre a bum rap,” 6/6). I would be proud if my young person showed this level of concern and interest and began to question what it means to be Australian.
I applaud the primary school that is using Indigenous music in lieu of a school bell during reconciliation week to generate interest and discussion in the broader community and requests for knowledge from its students. Truth-telling can provide knowledge of colonisation and reconciliation allows us to acknowledge ongoing impacts, and help us embrace Indigenous culture and be proud to be white or Indigenous Australians.
Bronwyn Davis, Kennington
Victoria, binge state
In the end, ordinary Victorians pay for the profligacy and extravagance of the Victorian state government by paying more or having services reduced (Letters, 6/6).
With Victoria’s debt set to soar to over $188 billion by 2027, the Labor government is trying to find the cash to keep the state going, and win back government in 2026. It seems to think that voters are swayed by big infrastructure spending: edifices that say ‘we are delivering’. But with big ticket spends comes big borrowing and big debt.
What happens when Victoria cannot borrow to start promised projects or complete those it started?
Firstly, recurrent spending is cut, as interest takes a bigger portion of expenditure. Consequently, frontline services, like hospitals and schools are struggling to perform.
Secondly, infrastructure projects are put on hold.
Thirdly, in desperation, the Victorian government has looked around to sell off assets that are not already privatised, such as Victoria’s Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.
Now, to top it off, the government is tinkering with its finances, hence setting up an ‘offset account’. Most people know how offset accounts work. You use current deposits to reduce your debt on a day-to-day basis, thus reducing your interest bill. The problem with offset accounts is they are a trap for binge spenders who are tempted to spend up to their absolute limits. Perhaps this is why various government officials were willing to comment, but only anonymously.
In Melbourne’s west, a law court building complex has been completed, but sits idle, since the Victorian government cannot stump up the necessary cash to commence operations. In 2026 Frankston Hospital is due to start operating. Good luck with equipping and staffing the hospital with qualified people.
If the government hasn’t the use of resources to produce the public goods and services needed, then it will cut them and restrict your ability to use the same resources to produce the private goods and services that you require. So, state taxes and charges rise.
Before Victoria gets out of the financial hole the government has dug for you, expect to pay more for nothing more.
Geoff Black, Frankston
Welcome to mediocre
What is laughable is the claim that privatisation delivers services more cheaply and efficiently. These services are bought for one reason and one reason only, to make a profit.
To achieve that profit, charges increase and staff costs are reduced. We only have to look at gas and electricity where charges have gone through the roof and service is mediocre.
Tim Douglas, Blairgowrie
Set Myki free
Re “New Myki operator wants more money to run troubled system”, (6/6). We need to consider whether the Myki system needs all its proposed technical gizmos. Of course, some funding could come from folk actually paying for their travel. However, this is probably not achievable.
I travel regularly on a bus into the CBD and have been observing who taps on to pay for their travel and who doesn’t.
My results are that consistently about one-third of passengers on my bus route travel for free. Many of these free riders are young. This is admittedly not a rigorous survey, but it does raise the question about how this blatant dishonesty should be treated. The expense of more inspectors on suburban bus routes is probably too great.
If we make public travel free for all folk, this would hide the problem (though not tackle the ethical issues of honesty) and potentially do a great deal of good for our traffic nightmares, air quality and carbon footprint.
And the technical woes of the Myki system would be simplified.
Carmel McNaught, Balwyn North
Weasel words
Re “My boss talks in corporate-speak riddles. Am I obliged to join in?“, 6/6. I remember my boss distributing redundancy notices in the late 1990s.
He said we could arrange a swap with someone elsewhere in the organisation, or alternatively, we could redeploy to a leisure rich environment.
John McCulloch, Cheltenham
Cromwell never boring
George Brandis describes Oliver Cromwell as “boring until he wasn’t” in discussing Sir Keir Starmer (“There are no fun facts about the next UK PM, but that’s his strength”, 2/6).
Cromwell has been called many things – but never boring. At Cambridge, he was known for his enthusiasm for cudgelling, wrestling and ball games. He was well-read in Greek and Latin history and excelled in mathematics. It is reported he jumped from the first floor window of a college room onto a horse standing outside. Elected as an MP, he was involved in the debates about national grievances in the 1628 and 1640 parliaments and was associated initially with John Pym. He commanded troops – if not the army as a whole – from the start of the Civil War and played a role in some of the most significant battles of that war.
If he is ascribing being boring to the manifestations of Cromwell’s devout religious feelings then almost everyone in British public life at the time was boring. If he is describing his pre-military career as boring he is being ahistorical and should read one of the many Cromwell biographies and the sections on his early life.
In a 2002 BBC poll, Cromwell was voted the tenth most important person in British history by the public.
Noel Turnbull, Port Melbourne
AND ANOTHER THING
Indian election
Although India’s PM Modi has cynically cast aside multiple conventions and restraints on autocratic rule, democracy has asserted its inner strength to immobilise his arrogant designs and forced him to be consultative and unifying.
Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Furthermore
What a superb article from Niki Savva (″Dutton and ABC behaving badly″, 6/6), regarding the concocted furore over Laura Tingle, who did no more than say the obvious. Savva’s writing is of such high calibre, it is always an enriching experience to read her column.
Gillian Unicomb, Sandford, TAS
Thank you, Niki Savva. With you and Laura Tingle, we can hope for an ABC which does not muzzle its reporters, thus protecting quality journalism and its audience, we, the people.
Miriam Gould, Malvern
Niki Savva on Peter Dutton. Dog whistling, denying, distracting, demonising, dangerous. Nailed it.
Ross Hosking, Blackwood, SA
Perhaps Laura Tingle was wrong. Maybe we aren’t racist in the general, just the specific.
Joan Segrave, Healesville
Two weeks is all it took for a sanitised, AI-generated “all eyes on Rafah” graphic to be shared 47 million times (6/6). As we cede our humanity to artificial intelligence, are we losing the very essence of being human?
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills
″I will not be lectured to about peace and non-violence by the people who backed the invasion of Gaza″ – Adam Bandt. Enough said.
Michelle Goldsmith, Eaglehawk
Conductors collecting fares and issuing tickets would be cheaper and more profitable than the current ticketing system .
Peter Randles, Pascoe Vale South
Finally
The Demon/Magpie rivalry goes right back (″Moore Hits Back″, 6/6). In the 1958 final, Demon Bluey Adams ran off the bench and shirt-fronted Des Healy.
Greg Curtin, Nunawading
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