Slow stroke.Credit: Alan Moir
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MIDDLE EAST
I feel sick. Sick to read that three-month-old Baraa, weighing just three kilograms, is dying of hunger in Gaza (″Children in Gaza face starvation″, 25/7). Sick to know that her mother can’t breastfeed because she too is starving. And sicker still to watch our government’s inaction.
According to UNICEF, more than 5000 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in a single month – a figure that has doubled since January. Clinics report babies with no calcium in their bodies, unable to walk, or even cry. At least 33 people, including 12 children, have died from malnutrition according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry report this week.
This is not a natural disaster. It is the result of a manmade siege. The UN says 600 aid trucks a day are needed to feed Gaza’s population. At last count, only 28 were getting through. All food aid is now funnelled through just four centres across the entire Strip – centres where more than 1000 people have been killed by military strikes while simply trying to collect food.
And what does the Australian government do in response? Offers more fruitless words of condemnation – then punishes a senator for holding up a placard that read: “Gaza is starving. Words won’t feed them. Sanction Israel.“
Nothing says ″democracy″ like silencing the one elected official demanding we do something.
Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy
World leaders should be ashamed
Why? Why? Why? What have the children of Gaza done to deserve the starvation and pain?
If food shortage and famine were to strike any nation on the planet on this scale, past history tells us the world would show compassion and decency, getting life-saving aid to these poor innocent kids.
Virtually bedridden this week to deal with an issue which is a mere scratch and watching television news around the clock due to an inability to sleep, the images out of Gaza have made me
weep.
So-called world leaders everywhere hang your heads in shame, as you too watch those children die. Forget what started all this. Do something, anything, to save those children now.
Alan McLean (Secretary General, Australian Red Cross, 1988-1993)
What have we learnt from history?
Re ″Children in Gaza face starvation″ (25/7). Yet another appalling article about the starvation of the people in Gaza. This totally inhumane war must stop. This is unquestionably genocide. The lessons of history have been ignored.
Laima Novackis, Carlton
Cartoon tells story
A thank you to my favourite Australian newspaper The Age for finally displaying the horrors taking place daily in Gaza at the hands of the Natanyahu Government and the IDF. I should also thank cartoonist Cathy Wilcox (25/7) for yet another brilliant cartoon, which captures what a thousand words could not.
Roger Christiansz, Wheelers Hill
Shame and grief
The front-page image of a mother and starving child in Gaza, (25/7), made me wish every member of parliament had supported and joined Senator Mehreen Farqi’s silent protest in parliament against the genocide in Palestine. What better place and time to register our shame and grief.
Kay Moulton, Surrey Hills
Stop assisting
It’s time for Australia to announce and impose sanctions on exports of components for military hardware to Israel immediately.
Cecilia Cairns, North Carlton
Out of proportion
While truckloads of donated stockfeed make their way to drought-stricken southern Australian farms, the Israeli government continues to confound distribution of aid to its neighbours in Gaza. After ceaseless bombardment from US-manufactured weapons of destruction, starvation has been added to the arsenal. The events of October 7, 2013 were shocking, but the response is not proportional. No more war.
David Harris, Ivanhoe
Crisis of Hamas’ making
Rodger Shanahan (“Overkill in Gaza: Penny Wong was right to call out Israel”, 25/7) overlooks the important fact that Israel agreed to the ceasefire deal proposed by the mediators, but Hamas refused. Even Qatar now says it’s Hamas holding up a deal.
A different Israeli offer to immediately stop the war and allow safe passage to a third country for Hamas leaders in exchange for Hamas releasing the hostages and surrendering weapons has long been on the table.
Hamas refuses because it is determined to retain control in Gaza, rebuild, and attack Israel again. It uses the humanitarian crisis to get pressure on Israel.
In what other conflict would a government whose people are starving because of a war it started not be the one under pressure to end it?
Danny Samuels, Malvern
THE FORUM
Childcare discrimination
There is another unfolding tragedy in childcare and early learning before our eyes – the widespread and discriminatory reaction towards men working, or wanting to work in these areas. What sort of message does this send to society at large and our children in particular? That men aren’t suitable to work with children? Care for them? Nurture them? This is appalling.
The systemic changes that are clearly needed in the childcare system to ensure our children’s safety must not end in banning men from looking after them. The implicit message in all of this is that men cannot care for kids.
How must this make all the wonderful fathers, brothers, uncles, grandpas feel? That they aren’t worthy? That every male is a potential child abuser?
This is a dangerous path to go down. Panicked policy must not be allowed to take the place of sensible solutions. Otherwise, we face a dangerous fracturing in our community that will have long-lasting, insidious and detrimental effects in how we see each other’s basic humanity.
Jennie Irving, Camberwell
Culture of fear
I am a 68-year-old man and was a registered midwife in Victoria for three decades. It was wonderful back then, before gender bigotry took over. Now, many parents are understandably terrified because one man who worked in childcare is accused of sex crimes against small children.
Will this terrified society now reduce the size of the childcare workforce by making it harder for men to work in it? Lower carer-to-child ratios will make childcare less safe nearly everywhere.
The biggest cause of danger to Aussie kids now is the obscenely ignorant selfishness of the modern culture of fear.
Geoff Fox, Maribyrnong
Think Tasmanian
In Letters, “Be careful of changing” (24/7), your correspondent mentioned the secret ballot, compulsory voting and our independent AEC as strengths of our system. However, single-member constituencies and safe seats have enabled our democracy to be undermined.
In the absence of a well-organised local revolution as happened in the teal seats in 2022, a safe or a nearly safe seat in the House of Representatives is a highly sought after gift from political party headquarters with little consideration of the local voters.
Federal elections should adopt the Hare-Clarke multi-seat constituency model used in Tasmania. Voters could then elect parliamentarians that proportionately represent the different views within the constituency and, in consequence, parliamentarians would be more alert and responsive to their electorate.
We may be able to watch the process operating in real time as the election results in Tasmania are declared and the new parliament deals with the very controversial plans for the stadium in Hobart.
Gerry O’Reilly, Camberwell
Thai diversion
The Thai government has started a ‘Diversionary War’ with Cambodia to rally domestic support for a failing political party (″Travel warning for Thailand and Cambodia after gunfire and rockets leave 14 dead″, 24/7).
What a sad and predictable state of affairs for a country that has so much potential, and for many Australians, holds a special place in their hearts.
The economy is on the verge of collapse, but the Thai people will once again be manipulated by a self-serving leadership for domestic political gain.
Decades of unaccountable military and elite-led governance, have created vast sums of dynastic wealth and power off the backs of the little people, and has turned Thailand into a modern-day feudal society. The Thai people deserve better than this.
Dave Butler, South Yarra
Irresponsible on climate
The historic decision of the International Court of Justice (“Australia faces ‘inescapable’ legal risk after historic climate ruling”, 24/7) that countries adversely affected by climate change can legally sue climatically irresponsible neighbouring countries, not only comes as a future warning to Australia, but calls for an urgent re-examination of a recent appalling decision.
Federal Labor’s irresponsible decision to extend the life of the NW Shelf gas project by 40 years was largely driven by Labor’s WA branch behaving like a subsidiary of the mining and gas industry.
Anthony Albanese acknowledges the role of global heating in our current climate chaos but heads a government that spends $14billion/annum on fossil fuel subsidies and has opened numerous new coal and gas fields.
Labor has now saddled Australia with a carbon “bomb”, to the detriment of future generations.
Torres Strait and Pacific islanders are entitled to regard this Labor government as climatically irresponsible and withdraw support for Australia’s bid to host COP 31.
Ian Bayly, Upwey
After hours applause
When my first daughter became interested in netball, I used to take her down to the local primary school at weekends to throw a ball around. Sadly, this wasn’t possible with my youngest because the school had begun locking up tight after-hours to keep out vandals.
I applaud the Victorian government’s pilot program to open 41 government schools to the community, and hope more kids can have the same opportunity to play and practise sport at a safe, local and free location in their own time.
Max Barry, Kensington
Is Don not so good?
What must the world think of Australia? Recently, we paid a second instalment of hundreds of millions of dollars on nuclear submarines that may never surface, and now we have agreed to import US beef when we already produce a surplus of a superior product.
So must we now wait for the marketing of “Trump Steak” and “Beef Washington” with possibly the plagiarism of the old slogan “Is Don. Is Good”?
Kevan Porter, Alphington
Wasted time
Time is often wasted as AFL players watch ″the shot clock″ or amble backwards just before taking a kick. There must be several minutes in each match as players watch the clock tick down, or go back to their preferred range, before actually lining up and moving into their kick.
Robert Yates, Rosanna
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
Gaza
The front page of The Age (25/7) is an image that will be burnt into memories for a generation. What the Israeli government hopes to achieve by this grotesque overreach is beyond comprehension. What Hamas hopes to achieve by continuing to hold hostages is also anyone’s guess.
Julian Guy, Mount Eliza
It was hard eating breakfast reading the front page of The Age and being confronted with the skin and bone of a Gazan child starving.
David West, Essendon
Re The Age photo: The Pieta, 2025. Has mankind learned nothing from history?
Oriana Collins, Hawthorn
Wilcox’s cartoon (25/7) implies that Israel is solely responsible for the terrible suffering of civilians in Gaza. I beg to differ.
Kati Tribe, Moonee Ponds
“Gaza’s children are starving” and congratulations to The Age for highlighting this shocking tragedy.
Robin Rothfield, Brighton East
Beef
So the Nationals want to have a scientific review on the importation of beef from the US. Is this the same party some of whose members dispute accepted research on climate change?
Rod Watson, East Brighton
Hilarious that Sussan Ley goads Albanese on the opening day of parliament that he hasn’t yet had a meeting with the Donald. Most Australians would agree he should stay as far away as possible.
Catherine Ross, Sandringham
Considering current LNP tantrums, it is good to have the grown-ups in charge.
Hans Paas, Castlemaine
They can import as much American beef as they want, I won’t be touching it if it’s branded US beef.
John Cain, McCrae
Furthermore
Am I the only person who feels that recent overuse of the term ″deal″ is turning it into a four-letter word?
Robert Niall, North Fitzroy
I just read your article on the Erin Patterson jury’s hotel stay. On such an important, expensive case, how could the authorities get it so wrong?
Roger Vincent, Fitzroy
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