Credit: Matt Golding
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Anti-social behaviour
There have been strong voices speaking out against the planned change allowing principals to suspend students for behaviour outside of school hours. The reality is that these young people have almost certainly already been displaying antisocial behaviours within their school, threatening or injuring teachers and other students, with the school receiving little or no support from the families. An out-of-school hours incident such as the recent machete attack may more correctly be framed as being the final straw, following which schools are effectively given the OK to make the difficult decision to remove the perpetrators for the safety and wellbeing of the wider school community. Schools are not structured, nor teachers trained, to deal with these extreme behaviours.
Claire Merry, Wantirna
Teaching good models
Columnist Adam Voigt (Comment, 7/6) not only draws on his experience as a school principal but on research to make the point that punishment for unacceptable behaviour should be about teaching students about accountability. He points out that some of these kids have different morals, values and perspective and I can’t help but agree with him when he says that the schools should be focusing on helping these students come back to school as a better person.
Life is challenging for everyone and more so as kids grow up, the challenge is to help schools in their efforts to teach but also to model appropriate behaviour that enables rather than destroys.
Julie Ottobre, Brunswick East
Bushed at ‘ambush’
The supposed ″ambush″ of Tim Wilson by a lone older woman at a cafe (″The moment lunch with Tim Wilson turned into an ambush″, 7/6) appeared far away from the shocking scene the reporter was trying to portray.
After what seemed to be an unremarkable and completely inconclusive exchange, it was all over. Big deal. Wilson’s comments in the article related to his ″responsibility″ in his reclaimed role were equally vague. Hardly a case of ″Wilson’s political skills being exactingly put to the test″.
Why precisely is it so amazing for a politician to be questioned by one of his constituents, in a public space, attending to a media commitment in his official capacity? As a Goldstein voter, I myself would like to get clarity on how exactly Wilson aims to achieve his cliched aims of ″low inflation″, ″affordable homes″ and a ″safer community″, claimed by his election posters.
Politicians have got a long-standing reputation for being blandly deflective. Actively holding them to their promises is the least we can do.
Marish Mackowiak, Ormond
Dry argument
Your correspondent (Letters, 7/6) suggests the AFL’s requirement for a roofed stadium in Hobart is to keep out the cold. Anyone familiar with Marvel Stadium will know that doesn’t work. Perhaps the motive is rather to keep the rain off – in which case the priority should be for every AFL stadium north of Canberra to have a roof.
Mike Smith, Croydon
The ridiculous cake
So, the AFL’s annual revenue (not including the revenue of AFL clubs) is more than $1 billion a year, on which it pays no tax, and it demands that the proposed Tasmanian AFL team needs a $1 billion stadium to play just seven AFL matches a year, with an average match attendance predicted of just above 20,000 people.
Who would pay for this stadium? The Tasmanian and federal governments would be paying $985 million with the AFL tipping in $15million. And the icing on this ridiculous cake: the Tasmanian health care system is in crisis, particularly its public hospital system. Talk about Alice in Wonderland. The kicker is that Hobart already has a modern stadium at Bellerive that hosts Test cricket and AFL.
John Hennessy, Montmorency
Cruising disgust
The article ″Cruise lines sail past Melbourne over fee hike″ (6/6) highlights the stupidity of our state government regarding cruising. As a regular cruiser over the past 12 years, it’s annoying that my wife and I have had to fly to either Sydney or Brisbane (and return) for all our cruises. While both NSW and Queensland governments have invested heavily in cruise facilities and are reaping the rewards, our government has taken the failed approach of “tax and they shall come”.
As a member of several cruising Facebook groups, people from overseas often ask for advice on where to stay in either Brisbane or Sydney prior to a cruise; no one ever asks where to stay in Melbourne, and those overseas visitors usually stay at least several days before their cruise. Not only has Melbourne priced itself out of the cruise market, but Station Pier is also an embarrassment compared to interstate facilities. Australia is the fourth biggest market in the world for cruising, but to all intents and purposes for cruising, Melbourne doesn’t exist.
Gary Hoffman, Macedon
Support dissent
Painful though it is, the call from Josh Szeps (Comment, 7/6) for Jews to abandon Israel is almost irresistible. But, in perhaps a last gasp of optimism, I question, not his analysis so much as his conclusion. Is it not the better course to seek out and support, in every way possible, those sources of dissent and protest and challenge Benjamin Netanyahu that exist in Israel, to protect what remains of the values of so many of Israel’s founders. To abandon them is not to ″reclaim the moral mantle of our ancestors″ but to surrender Israel and the region to both Netanyahu, and to the malignant forces surrounding Israel that Szeps describes so powerfully.
Michael Liffman, Middle Park
Bad neighbours
The article ″All the leaves are brown, and the neighbours are warring″ (5/6) mentions that the Dispute Settlement Centre deals with thousands of tree disputes each year. This seems like a huge amount but,does not surprise me.
As a council planning officer and building surveyor for a long time, but now retired, I was involved in many such disputes, not only with trees, but fences, buildings, water run-off, noise nuisance and parking problems.
As the article rightly points out, these are mainly private matters that require decisions in a court. But such actions would be costly for many people, and councils’ actions can be limited. As our populations increase, and with a rising demand for more housing and ancillary development, the situation is unlikely to get better. We can only hope it doesn’t get much worse.
Robert Dunlop, Warragul
More tax, please
Winston Churchill’s adage of taxing will not lead to prosperity (Letters, 6/6) is proved incorrect by the Scandinavian countries. We need to pay more tax.
Steve Howkins, Hampton
Education inequalities
A private school is hiring a ″superstar of architecture to design Caulfield school″ (6/6). Please don’t tell me that this school is receiving taxpayer funding while state schools have leaking portables.
Barry Lizmore, Ocean Grove
Stop the betrayal
If I vote for a Green candidate who is elected to parliament, I do not expect them to switch their allegiance to a different party. If they do so, there should be a byelection. The law must be changed to prevent this betrayal of voters.
Elizabeth Sprigg, Glen Iris
Bring back Spencer St
With platform bins reinstalled at Southern Cross Station, they could improve things even more and reinstall the name Spencer St Station. This name means something. The other one doesn’t. Tourists knew where it was then. Not now.
Bronwyn Hunt, Normanville
Ange for Carlton
Maybe Carlton should appoint Ange Postecoglou for next year. At least they’d win something in 2027.
Bryan Fraser, St Kilda West