Credit: Matt Golding
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Change the system
As Adele Ferguson shows (Comment, 5/7) we need more than a kneejerk reaction to the horrific abuse recently alleged. Should we ban men from working in childcare, what about primary schools then? If so should we ban women from working in high schools after cases of female teachers entering relationships with male students. After Malka Leifer should we keep propagating the dangerous and erroneous idea that only men can be sexual abusers? Should we take away kind and talented male early childhood educators and along with them the role models showing men can be nurturing. Surely such role models are needed in a world where young boys are exposed online to hardcore pornography earlier and earlier.
Systemic change is needed but not by punishing men for their gender. In the meantime I’m sure male child care workers will be happy to be relieved of nappy change duties while they worry about their future and their vulnerable young charges.
Nancee Biviano, Aspendale
Protect the vulnerable
Reflecting on a tragic week of news reminds me once again about the insidious trend of companies making ever-increasing profits in the provision of community services. Any time government announces an assistance package or subsidy corporate enterprises immediately strategise how this can be exploited to make money.
Sadly it’s vulnerable people who are often the most exploited or recipients of poor service delivery. We read about and hear examples of this regularly with childcare, aged care and the NDIS. There is nothing wrong with making a decent living for hard work but when profit is put before the welfare of the community there’s a serious moral dilemma at play.
It’s time to reform these industries so that quality service comes before profits.
Michael Cormick, Carnegie
Less self-regulation
The next time a business leader calls for less redtape, just think about the Australian childcare system and the concept of self-regulation.
Peter Baddeley, Portland
Not refreshing
Columnist Kate Halfpenny’s praise for Jeff Bezos’ $50-$100 million Venice wedding (Comment, 5/7) as “refreshing” is tone-deaf. This garish spectacle of private jets and superyachts evokes The Great Gatsby’s hollow opulence, a Second Gilded Age where billionaires flaunt wealth.
Imagine that wealth funding clean energy, reforestation, or early childhood education, for instance, not galactic joyrides. Young people can’t afford homes at $1 million+ in Melbourne or Sydney, while war’s misery fuels the military-industrial complex who seek profit not peace. Let’s protest peacefully, engage politicians, and demand a system where wealth serves humanity. We all deserve better.
Sue Barrett, Caulfield South
Just meaningless
As much as I admire Kate Halfpenny, this time she is just plain wrong. The wedding was hyper meaningless and gross.
Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson
Racialised hate
Friday night’s events in Melbourne mark a terrifying turning point. An Israeli restaurant was targeted. A synagogue was set alight. This is racialised hate. It does nothing to help Palestine. In fact, it makes Palestinian dignity more elusive.
Some on the terminally-online far left will claim it’s “anti-Zionism”, not antisemitism. But when Jewish businesses are attacked and houses of worship are burning, that excuse collapses. “Zionist” has become a socially acceptable slur – a veil for bigotry.
The far right plays the same game: when Donald Trump said “Shylocks and bad people,” he claimed it was just a literary reference. Elements of the far left now launder hatred with the same trick.
This is what happens when politicians aren’t censured for saying Jews have “tentacles,” when parties like the Greens scapegoat entire populations, when people get their news from TikTok, when unrepresentative fringe groups are given a megaphone again and again, and when even legacy media platforms platform the same predictable polemics, afraid to break ranks or admit moral complexity. What begins with euphemism ends with fire.
This isn’t about Israel. It’s about whether Jews in Australia can walk the streets and live without fear. Say it, and say it clearly: this is racism.
Simon Tedeschi, Newtown, NSW
The deeper currents
The article ″Radical Israeli settlers fan the flames of hatred in West Bank″ (5/7) is deeply disturbing. We are told these settlers are “radical,” “extremist,” “fanatical.” But what if they are not?
A recent Penn State University poll, reported in Haaretz, revealed that 82 per cent of Jewish Israelis support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, and 56 per cent support their expulsion from all of historical Palestine. Two-thirds believe Palestinians are a modern-day incarnation of Amalek – an ancient enemy God commanded to be “blotted out” – and most of those believe that command still applies today.
Given these findings, one is forced to consider that when settlers torch olive groves, shoot at farmers, , they may no longer be outliers, but echoes of a deeper current. It is not enough to be horrified. We must speak, act, withdraw support, and refuse to take part in the machinery that allows this to continue.
Fernanda Trecenti, Fitzroy
A big ugly bill
There is nothing beautiful about Donald Trump’s big beautiful bill. It is a disgraceful and inhumane outcome for the nation and most of its citizens.
Mary Fenelon, Doncaster East
The Wright stuff
Tony Wright’s piece (″Why a treaty is key to better future″, 5/7), illustrated by the beautiful images of Justin McManus, should be read by all, not just those of us with a conscience and a heart.
Vikki O’Neill, Ashburton
History’s echoes
Eva-Jo Edwards’ recollection of her and her siblings’ forced removal from their Swan Hill family struck an uncomfortable chord with me.
In 1969, I visited Burwood Boys’ Home and observed the presence there of some Aboriginal children. Without a doubt two of them would have been Eva-Jo’s brothers; not for one moment did I wonder why they were there.
Now we all know that trauma for our First Peoples isn’t just something from centuries-old history, but has occurred, and continues to occur in our own lifetimes. If white children were legislated to be taken from their families, if young white people died in disproportionate numbers in, and out of custody, if blue-eyed people like me had to endure constant enmity and discrimination, heaven and earth would be moved to redress the inequity, and the iniquity.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission’s recommendations must be supported in full.
David Johnston, Healesville
Negative profit
Private enterprises are supposed to be more efficient than government-run organisations but, how often does the pursuit of profits result in poorer services?
Michael Brinkman, Ventnor
A sinking feeling
I am afraid the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will go the way of all our sub deals – binned just like the Japanese and French plans.
Keith Hawkins, Point Lonsdale
Woods and trees
Why is it that the Victorian government still seems unable to see the wood for the trees (“Hopes dashed for new national park”, 4/7)?
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor