If Ned Manning is disappointed in the achievements of this Labor government, he would do well to think about the alternatives available to him (“My family’s always been Labor, but that’s come to an end”, September 3). The Liberals and their National partners achieved next to nothing during nearly a decade in power, apart from fighting the forces of progress. They turned a $300 billion national debt into more than a trillion-dollar debt, and in only eight years oversaw 20 different climate and energy policies, most of which ended up being nothing more than grand announcements. What they stand for seems as confused as ever, apart from their new, illogical and impractical nuclear plan.
The Greens have perfected the art of opposing workable policies on the grounds that they aren’t perfect, or don’t go far enough. They destroyed Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and are in the process of blocking a stand-alone federal Environment Protection Agency. Our teal independent here in Warringah has delivered true local representation, a voice of calm and reason, while fighting for climate action, political integrity and truth in political advertising. Hopefully more independents will stand and be elected next year to show the major parties that voters will no longer stand for mediocre, second-rate politicians whose primary focus is to get themselves re-elected. Alan Marel, North Curl Curl
Ned Manning’s first vote was for Gough Whitlam in 1972.Credit: Rick Stevens
The Labor Party is slow to realise that the current drift away is an existential threat. It cannot hope to hold its vote if people can’t see the point in ‘steady as she goes’. Not that the Opposition has anything much to offer, other than a focus for discontent. But when it is obvious that some original thinking is needed, it is disheartening to stare into a grey policy void. Maybe it is time for Labor to stop banging on about cost of living (which it can’t do much more about) and distract us with some real action elsewhere. The Voice referendum is no excuse for wallowing in the doldrums. It’s the vision thing, needed now more than ever. Margaret Johnston, Paddington
Initially, I thought Ned Manning had written my biography. Too young for ’72 but I voted for Gough Whitlam in 1974. He lifted Australia out of the 23-year malaise of conservative rule. Well-funded public education and free university for all eligible students were Gough’s great legacy. A well-resourced public education system at all levels is how you inform the masses and have them separate fact from fake.
My sons attended Leichhardt High with Anthony Albanese’s son and were taught by the same piano teacher as Tanya Plibersek’s child, who also taught Tony Burke. They have failed to seize their one chance to redress the inequity in the funding of public and private education. Howard Charles, Glebe
Ned Manning needs to sit his adult children down and give them a good talking to. I would argue that years of incompetent privatisation of public services by Liberal governments, diminishing the ability for ordinary people to afford housing and ignoring rampant profiteering and corruption in many areas of society, including the banks and the union movement, has made them justifiably disillusioned with politicians. Yet while the Greens’ policies may appeal in theory, their lack of practical detail consigns them to a world that is not one we currently live in. This Labor government has to unravel the damage of successive policies from the past and assert its power over forces given free rein by previous governments, while appealing to that silent middle-of-the-road majority. Lyndall Nelson, Goulburn
Labor’s timidity is not only turning away younger voters but also alienating older progressives like me. On the same day as Ned’s piece we read of broad public support for banning gambling ads, and the government looking to water down environmental reform. Is this really a Labor government? Playing safe with an eye to a second term could be Albo’s ultimate own-goal.
Ken Boundy, Thirroul
I, too, was a rusted-on Labor supporter. But that all came tumbling down in July 2013 when Kevin Rudd declared that no one who came to Australia by boat would ever be allowed to settle in Australia, thus condemning innocent men, women and children to the horror of indefinite offshore detention. I’ve voted Green ever since. Christine McNeil, Ballina
Like Ned Manning my family has been Labor for generations, and I have never lifted a pencil to vote otherwise, but the new generation is divided. Their main concern is the cost of their HECS repayments, which fuels a desire to get into career paths that pay high salaries, rather than public sector roles. I still support Labor, as long as the party steers away from the leftist ideology that is so divisive and unrepresentative, and sticks to the bread-and-butter issues Labor governments have done so well in the past. Don’t forget it was outer suburban housing and sewerage that fuelled much of the support for Whitlam, who was my family’s local member for some years. Vivienne Parsons, Thornleigh
People who vote for the same party every election because that’s what they’ve always done is why our governments don’t deliver. Safe seats, like those in Wollongong, get nothing from either party because Labor knows it’ll get in no matter what it does, and Liberal knows it won’t. Jane Lieschke, Woonona
Home truths
I was serving on Campbelltown Council when the government released the plan for the massive growth of the Macarthur region (Letters, September 3). Nothing much happened until the election of the Whitlam government and the appointment of Tom Uren as minister responsible for assisting the growth of the area. Uren made large funds available to the state through the Water board to extend water and sewerage infrastructure to the new areas. Levies were imposed on developers to cover these costs, and developers were forced to progressively develop from where sewer existed. This led to the rapid growth of Campbelltown as it became the fastest-growing area in the nation. However, by the 2000s the major developers had been allowed to build huge land banks, so new developers would acquire land further out in places like Wilton, while huge areas of suitable land at the end of existing suburbs remained undeveloped or released in small numbers to create demand. These developers are the ones asking for concessions from Sydney Water as land now constitutes 60 per cent of the cost of a home and makes an affordable home a dream. Frank Ward, Shoal Bay
Gaza work
One letter writer suggests a program for offering free flights to bring in doctors, tradesmen and other professionals from Gaza to fill the needs of Australian residents of Uralla and similar towns (Letters, September 3). Wouldn’t it be better for our government to openly support a two-state solution in Palestine and pressure our American friends to stop supplying arms and finance to Israel, thereby perhaps ending the current conflict? I am sure, then, that those doctors, tradesmen and other professionals in Gaza could devote their energies to rebuilding a country that has been left in ruins. Perhaps we could even provide free flights via Qantas to send doctors, tradesmen and other professionals to assist in this process. Michael Bright, Moss Vale
If we were to lure doctors, educators, electricians and plumbers from Gaza to ameliorate our shortages, this country would become a contributor to the current and future parlous plight of 2 million people who have nothing left but these same people to care for them, and to rebuild out of the rubble of what was their homes. Andrew Cohen, Glebe
Radio droppings
Well done, Melbourne (“Southern cousins shut out the smut”, September 3). How ineffably crass and tasteless; and how fortunate I am never to have heard it. If that’s its content, it should be called The Vile and Tacky-O Show.
Adrian Connelly, Springwood
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson started taking on Melbourne’s $220 million radio market earlier this year.Credit: Instagram
Free regular buses will fix woes
The planners expect commuters to believe the joke that “buses have sufficient capacity” when metro feeder buses are effectively local scenic tours that don’t operate very often (“The metro station car park where 1000 spots are full by 7am”, September 3). There are no solutions to solve station parking issues that don’t involve an exponential increase in feeder bus services, which should be frequent, direct and free. It can all be paid for by selling high-density apartments built on the prime land the free metro car parks occupy, a true win-win for sustainable transport and alleviating our housing crisis. Kin-Yat Lo, Croydon
Where is Scott Morrison and his car park grant scheme when you need him? I just wonder what the residents of the surrounding apartment blocks will think if a multi-storey car park is built next door. Once again, state planning has been found wanting. Philip Cooney, Wentworth Falls
Out-of-proportion representation
Greg Hunt’s comments will cause much outcry and derision (“Party veteran urges Liberals to pick women”, September 3). Given the Liberal party has not enacted any change since the Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane report on the dramatic 2022 electoral loss, which only suggested targets rather than quotas, no one should get their knickers in a twist that this will come to pass. Of course, the point is that if pre-selection (or any selection) was based solely on merit, ideas like this would not be needed. Chris Northam, Cronulla
Charlotte Mortlock has called for quotas. Her group, Hilma’s Network, tracks the number of Liberal women in parliaments.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Greg Hunt and Sussan Ley recommending more women and more diverse candidates be preselected should be encouraging news, but the reasons for doing so make absolutely no mention of the value such candidates could bring to the “no-policy” Liberals. Unfortunately, the subtext is “we want women and diverse candidates who think and act just like the existing Liberals but will make us look less Liberal”. This cynical attempt at manipulating the Liberal image to gain government will be seen for what it is. The negativity and division generated by the Coalition and its lack of policies make them ideal candidates for the opposition. Chris Robinson, Valla Beach
From the Howard government onwards we have had a multitude of conservative governments served by ministers who were nothing if not dogmatic. And still, it comes as no surprise when one of those ministers, in a grand display of wisdom, informs us that perhaps he should have done it differently. All of this with neither a hint of admission of error, nor apology. Peter Bourke, Rockdale
Metered out punishment
I have been thrilled to see the gradual removal of old parking meters. North Sydney has just launched the sleek PayStay app. No one expects an 8.25 per cent transaction fee to be added to the advertised hourly parking price; you don’t get a choice, it’s not optional. To make matters worse, PayStay users are forced to have a balance sitting in their PayStay account – in perpetuity.
But at least they offer you reminders for when your parking is about to expire, at a cost of 34 cents per reminder. In an era of subscription fatigue and cozzie livs, do we really need this? It’s time for more transparency and fairness because these little surprises are adding up and not in our favour. Josh Glass, Darlinghurst
Fine art interpretation
In recent years many artistic icons have been exposed and their legacy besmeared by their past proclivities (“What links a dead paedophile painter with Paris 2024? Shame”, August 3). Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Gary Glitter and Rolf Harris are examples that have all been deservedly “cancelled”. I see there is a Paul Gauguin exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. That same artist was renowned for his sexual relationships with Tahitian children. I’m anything but a wowser, but is there a different code because it was a different century or is fine art above censure? Rowan Godwin, Rozelle
Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian Women on the Beach, 1891.Credit: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Heavenly contribution?
Alix Korte’s imaginative vanity portrait of her husband’s boss, Gina Rinehart, has been lingering for five years in the National Portrait Gallery’s equivalent of purgatory, awaiting formal admission to the artistic heaven that is its permanent collection (“Gallery’s offer to return Rinehart picture”, September 3). I suggest the gallery indulge Rinehart by reinstituting the late-Middle Ages Catholic church practice of selling indulgences to get a soul out of purgatory and into heaven. A multimillion-dollar payment by the billionaire to the gallery should solve this hellish dispute. John Payne, Kelso
Fast-track to nowhere
Kudos to Jeffrey Mellefont for his letter on the death of Mano Yogalingam, who set himself alight in protest against the fast-track assessment system that saw over 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers left on tenterhooks fearing deportation and unable to move on with their lives (Letters, September 3). After 12 years, more than 8000 are still seeking permanent visas; many have no rights to work, study or access Medicare. Yogalingam arrived in Australia aged 11 and died at 23. He was one of thousands of protesters outside parliament and government offices around the country. Marilyn Lebeter, Smiths Creek
Farewells take flight
The tyranny of distance may indeed have diminished over the years and the horizon shortened with the enormous benefits of online and mobile communication, but in his emotional farewell to his son, Malcolm Knox not only casts new light on the foreign student industry, he reminds us that the wheel of life inexorably turns for us all (Letters, September 2).
Like your letter writer, my parents, brother and I, left family in England and Europe to begin a new life in Australia many years ago. News of family celebrations came by letter whilst bereavements were notified by telegram. Almost 30 years of receiving both passed before we saw those we had left behind. When the wheel of life all too soon moved on, the children grew and flew and Sydney airport replaced Southampton docks. I, like Knox and his father before him, could say nothing convincingly philosophical at their departure.
However, when experience or imagination grants us insight, hopefully, we can better understand both the elation and agony of those who leave and those who are left behind. Maureen Tavener, Norfolk Island
Teacher for the ages
Ben Pobje has written a wonderful obituary to Bruce Dennett, a stalwart of history teaching and of public schools (“History teacher with lifelong commitment to public education”, August 31). Dennett was a well-regarded HSC senior marker and a fixture at History Teachers’ Association pupil study days and always attracted an audience of teachers as much as their pupils. I ran similar lectures in Newcastle and he always made time in a busy schedule as he was so proud of his local roots. He had them from the start by saying, “Listen up! I am in charge of the compulsory World War I sections and this is what I tell the markers to look for”. Truly a hero of history teaching at all levels in NSW. Tony Sullivan, Adamstown Heights
Dare to say he’s dreamin’
What a great vibe! (“Joey’s home is his castle. He pays $50 a month in rent”, September 3) Gordon Lambert, Kiama Downs
Breaking the bracket code
Your correspondent asked what happened to curly brackets (Letters, September 3). Curly brackets are still used in maths and computer code. In Excel, they are used in array formulas, which can perform multiple calculations in an array, however, the braces are not typed, they appear when the formula has been written and control+shift+enter keys are pressed simultaneously. Barrington Salter, Elanora (Qld)
Curly brackets, also known as braces, were used to denote a grouping within a sentence but are now mostly used in technical writings {music, maths, science and computing} which is probably why we see less of them these days. Peter Butler, Wyongah
As any computer programmer will tell you, these are {brackets} and these are (parentheses). David Farrell, Erskineville
Pulling up short
Please, no, dear editor (Letters, September 3)! I contribute to this forum because I don’t tweet; I read this page because I have no interest in reading tweets. I like this page in the way I like novels and Test cricket. If tweets are to appear on this page, what next? Insta reels? Twenty20 cricket highlights?
Ross Duncan, Potts Point
- To submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.
- The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here.