Marginal call.Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
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Feeling grateful
On this 26th of January I am grateful to live in a country where we can have friends of diverse cultures, and many of us do. May they and all their families be safe and feel secure. May the few people who benefit from spreading fear and division fail utterly, obviously and embarrassingly.
Margaret Lothian, Middle Park
Lessons to be learned
It was very disheartening to read that more than 50 per cent of Australians do not want to change the date of Australia Day. This reflects the same lack of sensitivity and compassion towards our First Peoples as did the failure of the referendum on the Voice. When will we learn to listen deeply to those whose land we stole and who have been subject to having their children stolen, their sacred sites dishonoured, their health compromised because of white settlement? What great fear prompts our refusal to meet the modest requests of those who were in this great land first?
Pam Kerr, Maribyrnong
A pointless action
As a resident of Ballarat, the vandalism in the beautiful and historic Botanical Gardens breaks my heart. The right to protest is a wonderful cornerstone of our democracy, but I will never understand the type of protest that alienates every single person except those protesting (or vandalising).
It is an immature, angry and utterly pointless action. It is mean and stupid. We all need to learn to discuss and influence issues in a calm and intelligent way if we are to have any hope of bringing the current political temperature down.
Fiona White, Alfredton
Day serves a purpose
Every year at this time, the Australia Day debate is raised. Given that it seems celebrating January 26 is offensive and triggering for most Indigenous peoples, the date needs to be changed. Although recent polls suggest most Australians want the Australia Day date to remain as it is, it is likely that most don’t really care as long as they get a public holiday.
However, the issue is that if the date is changed, how will First Nations people be able to continue to remind us of the historical injustice and ongoing social, educational, occupational and economic inequity that they endure even in these current, supposedly enlightened, times?
Paul Yeung, Blairgowrie
Selective position
Peter Dutton, when insisting on keeping Australia Day as January 26, is quoted as saying that “we should be respectful of everybody”. I don’t know how keeping that date is respectful when for many Australians it is the date when their land was taken from them by British settlers.
He says we should boycott companies that don’t agree with him. How is this being respectful of everybody. He then denigrates lecturers and teachers for teaching the history of the colonisation of this country saying it makes people ashamed of their history. Well, we should be ashamed of parts of our history when settlers rounded up and massacred First Nations people. What Dutton is actually saying is we should be respectful of people who want to forget parts of our history and celebrate the landing by white people like him.
Ralph Algreen-Ussing, Strathdale
A boorish lot
Why have we become such a culture of booers? The behaviour of parts of the crowd as an injured Novak Djokovic departed Rod Laver Arena was nothing short of abysmal.
Linda Henderson, Kew
Look hard at yourselves
After all the unbelievable shots, the fightbacks the magic, the magnificence and the ″greatest of all time″, to boo Novak Djokovic when he has finally had enough, it’s time Australian spectators took a long hard look at themselves.
Bruce Beatson, Toora
A new low
There was a time when Australians were known for their sportsmanship. The booing of Novak Djokovic as he walked off injured at the Australian Open set a new and disgusting low.
Reg Murray, Glen Iris
Entertainment costs
Let’s speculate on who those booing might might have been. How about some of the party people who have been blatantly encouraged to attend the ″spectacle″ of the Australian Open. Their ″entertainment″ was cut short.
I suspect they have no real knowledge of the nuances in a tennis match and the history of those competing. Sure, spectators in bygone days would have been disappointed, but they accorded the injured players a quiet respect.
I don’t like this carnival atmosphere that the Open is now encouraging. It makes the organisation more money – good for them – but at what cost to the game itself?
Karin Strahane, Greensborough
A legend badly treated
Instead of booing a great champion, a standing ovation was due. Novak Djokovic is a sporting legend and should not be treated this way when injured. Very poor behaviour regardless of the ticket price.
Bruce McLean, Blairgowrie
Spelling out respect
Sports columnist Greg Baum is so right to castigate tennis players who complain they are disrespected (“Shelton call on disrespect? We’re shocked”, 24/1). It’s an endless mystery that so many people who excel in any field think that automatically entitles them to our respect.
Respect is something you earn only if your behaviour warrants it, not because you happen to be good at (or make a lot of money from) something. It’s not so much what you do, but the way you do it, and it’s for others to decide when respect is due.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
How to earn disdain
By abolishing all government diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) in the US (“President has more power and he’s not afraid to use it”, 22/1), Donald Trump is trying to restore a patriarchal system of government favouring white men through conscious and unconscious bias. The objective of DEI initiatives is to create equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. Those corporations like Meta and Amazon who have cancelled their DEI programs to please Trump deserve our disdain.
Mark Toner, Brighton
Knowing people
The article ″Lunch with Miriam Gluyas″ (28/12) has been the reason I was a nurse for more than 30 years and why I volunteered at a community centre when I retired. As Gluyas states, ″We want to give people who use our services some dignity.″ This is a lady who is the true example of someone who proclaims she is a Christian.
I could relate to this article. I was a discharge co-ordinator in a busy neonatal ICU and was involved in planning supports for complex family social issues. I got to know the stories and real struggles some people have. I remember towards the end of my career getting frustrated at judgmental staff. I’d think how dare they label these people. You don’t know their whole story. But I had to stop and think – I didn’t know their stories once. As Gluyas says, ″If you don’t know, you don’t know.″
Sue Lee, Kingston, Tas
Protest v responsibility
Thank you Chip Le Grand for the article ″Moving CBD protests harms no one″ (23/1), which makes a thoughtfully nuanced case for moving the pro-Palestinian rallies from the CBD. The right to protest is not in question. It is about recognising the accompanying responsibility not to spread hatred and fear.
Sally Polmear, Barkers Creek