Credit: Matt Golding
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.
Lack of trust
New Werribee MP John Lister says “the work starts now” (“Heat on Lister after voters’ stark message”, 15/2). The work needed to start more than a decade ago.
In 2014, The Age reported it was 33 minutes quicker to ride a bicycle from Tarneit to the CBD than it was to drive a car. The Liberals were in power at the time.
A decade has passed and the problems persist. Urban growth continues in what appears to be a rampant and unabated fashion.
One key reason Labor’s primary vote in the Werribee byelection dropped, and this loss did not flow to the Liberals, is that neither major party is trusted to adequately fund the timely provision of infrastructure. It’s not just transport – overcrowded schools, a justice precinct built but no funds to operate, an employment precinct mothballed. Until the major parties deliver credible plans to manage growth fronts, they will bleed votes.
Bill Forrest, Princes Hill
Big Build before people
The only thing that has come out of the recent byelection is the state government’s adamancy that completion (whenever and at whatever cost) of its Big Build program is far more important than the wellbeing of constituents.
Noel Mavric, Moonlight Flat
Bring in the police
If the use of some drugs is illegal, why isn’t their detection by the AFL referred to police and the user charged? (“AFL’s plan for strict new drugs code revealed”, 15/2).
I know it is cruel for a well-known footballer to suffer the consequences of his stupidity by having a criminal conviction, but the example to the rest of the population would be immeasurable.
Adrian Tabor, Point Lonsdale
Charging ahead
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” applies to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on EVs (“Cheap Chinese EVs in pole position”, 15/02).
Elon Musk might add billions to Tesla’s flagging share price by selling more Teslas to Americans. But Australian vehicle consumers will be able to buy a Chinese-made EV cheaply, for about $30 000.
Now, if we can only get enough EV recharging points around the city, Melbourne might be totally EV by 2035. Then we could dismantle all those toxic exhaust smoke stacks.
Geoff Black, Frankston
Sucker Australia
Age columnist Nick Bryant (“Is Albo aluminium foil to Trump”, 15/2) is spot-on to define AUKUS as “an acronym that literally inverts the philosophy of America First”.
It is far more appropriate to write “USUKA” , to be pronounced “You sucker”.
Jim Lamborn, Doncaster
Dark humour
I wonder if it was Vladimir Putin’s warped sense of humour that suggested Munich as the setting for the meeting between the United States and Russia that has every chance of ending in the annexation of Ukraine?
Joan Kerr, Geelong
Drawn-out day
And Donald Trump said he’d only be a dictator for one day.
Roger East, Balwyn North
Respect the force
I am the proud father of more than two serving sworn Victoria Police members. The vote of no confidence in Chief Commissioner Shane Patton (“Top cop’s no-confidence vote”, 15/2) is unfortunate but appropriate.
My kids kit up every day and give of themselves, often to the detriment of their wellbeing, with the forlorn hope that they are making a difference and contributing to community safety.
This state Labor government threw the force under the bus during the COVID-19 pandemic when they used Victoria Police as a social and political tool to enforce their somewhat dodgy strategies.
Victoria Police has not, and will not, recover from this without a strong and concerted effort.
Restoring the respect of Victoria Police would go a long way to improving recruitment and retention. This requires a new chief who is capable of being independent of government and enjoys the confidence of the troops, and government policy that gives weight to practitioners’ views.
Name and address supplied
No fare go
Re “Leaked files show taxi group taking public for a ride”, (15/2): What is the appropriate response when a taxi driver suggests a negotiated fare instead of switching on the meter; gets annoyed if the passenger insists on the meter; and accuses the passenger of ingratitude and racism?
Mirna Cicioni, Brunswick East
Cabbie complaint
I’m elderly with a walker and have a taxi concession card. This is supposed to assist me, which is fine when I book from home; however, getting a taxi back from the city is another matter.
In January last year, three taxis at the front of the queue at Flinders Street refused to take me, and later in the year another did the same. When the third one refused me, I realised there was something fishy going on. Now that travellers can agree to a fare dreamed up by the driver, they’re not interested in those who want the meter used.
The government’s scheme is supposed to assist us, not be used to discriminate against those who are already at a disadvantage.
Megan Peniston-Bird, Kew
What about influencer?
Condemnation by politicians and the media of the hapless young Sydney nurses entrapped by the predatory Israeli “influencer” before police have concluded their investigation contributes to divisiveness in our community (“Detectives search the home of nurses filmed in hate video”, 15/12).
It was the influencer who provoked the comments, recorded them, and shared them online. Where is the condemnation of him?
Gary Smith, Rippleside
Cemeteries dead zones
As an inner-urban resident, I agree with “A tale of two cities: how a lack of trees in your suburb could affect your health” (14/2) that it’s the street trees which are doing most of the work of cooling in our
suburb. In my small and narrow street, thanks to the vision of the City of Yarra, the recent planting of 10 trees into the road itself is a brilliant example of a well thought-out street retrofitting strategy.
Meanwhile, one tram stop away, opportunities for developing canopy are being squandered at the Melbourne General Cemetery.
Not many people realise that at 43 hectares, this cemetery is bigger than the Botanic Gardens. In the past few years, there has been commendable change at the cemetery with extensive planting of native grasses. However, a walk along Lygon Street reveals substantial deaths among the trees on the perimeter. As far as I know, there is no plan for tree planting.
The cemetery will remain a heat island when it should be a major source of cooling and biodiversity.
It’s time the government thought outside the box and included its historic inner-urban cemeteries in its climate-change planning.
Jane Miller, North Carlton
Too much black
Re the benefits of tree-shaded suburbs: As an old engineer interested in measuring things, saving energy, health and safety, I have been taking the temperature of cars this summer.
On a hot day, black cars are 15 to 20 degrees hotter than white cars. This adds to the load on air-conditioners, especially in traffic jams. Adding the invisibility of black at night and on wet days, I have to wonder why black cars have become so common?
John Poppins, Mount Waverley
Regrets? Have a few
To all your wowser correspondents who assert that the vast majority of humanity has never been embarrassed after a drunken night out, live a little.
Maybe it’s better to regret something you have done rather than something you haven’t done.
Clive Shepherd, Glen Huntly
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.