Credit: Matt Golding
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HEZBOLLAH
I was shocked by your correspondent’s suggestion that “one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter” and that it is “a totally normal response” that Hezbollah flags should be displayed at a demonstration in Australia (Letters, 1/10). Terrorists are always evil people. On October 7 Hamas invaded Israel, raped and murdered indiscriminately and took more than 200 people hostage, including grandmothers and babies. Sadly I suspect most of these people are no longer alive. Hezbollah has, over many years, murdered not just Israelis, but people from the US, France, and other countries. Both of these organisations are recognised across the world as terrorists. No, Hezbollah are not and can never be freedom fighters and showing support for them in Australia is not “a totally normal response”. They are the essence of evilness and should be condemned by all.
John Rosenberg, South Melbourne
No place for violent imagery
Your correspondent defends the public display of Hezbollah flags as a matter of perspective while “the US continues to supply Israel with all the weapons it wants”. Is he suggesting Israel be denied the equipment it needs to defend its right to exist, or is he advocating a different supplier? Would he deem it OK for a listed terrorist organisation in Hezbollah (unlike Israel) to accept arms and financial support from Iran, a country only too happy to sponsor and arm Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi terrorists? He says it is “totally normal” in a “multicultural democracy” for such protests, including the display of flags exclusive to those militant and violent organisations. I suggest that if you want to maintain a freedom-loving and respectful multicultural democracy then don’t allow groups to promote hatred via display of hate symbols with chants demanding the killing of their enemies.
William Vickers, Melbourne
Who makes arrests?
Perhaps the most disturbing thing to emerge from the recent anti-Israeli protests is not the display of Hezbollah flags, but Peter Dutton’s statement that it was “unacceptable that the government wouldn’t be arresting people already” (“Hezbollah flag-waving protesters risk jail, AFP warns”, 1/10). All Australian governments adhere to a long democratic and apolitical tradition of not deciding whom police and prosecutorial authorities should arrest.
Is Dutton flagging a disturbing end to that tradition should he become prime minister, or is he just engaging in more of his usual, mindless bluster?
Dennis Dodd, Shepparton
Questionable methods
Your correspondent (Letters, 1/10) refers to the “morality of all this”, with regard to the Geneva Conventions on the rules of war. It seems the rules have been abandoned. While all weapons of war are abhorrent, there was something in Israel’s pager attack that was sinister and alarming. It is well-known and identified in Antony Loewenstein’s book, The Palestine Laboratory, that Israel exports its technology around the world. We should be very alarmed about the direction our humanity is travelling.
Judith Morrison, Nunawading
Cycle of violence
Israel killed the leaders of Hezbollah; Hezbollah now have filled the vacant positions. What a fascinating Petri dish the Middle East is. Who would have thought a seemingly endless cycle of killing each other would fail to evolve into peace?
Barry Miller, Kyneton
Innocent victims
Your correspondent refers to the slaughter of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon saying the “death of non-combatants is inevitable”. Let us not forget that these “non-combatants” are many thousands of innocent women and children. As your correspondent correctly says: the Holocaust and the world’s failure to prevent it remains within our living memory, and yet the massacre and displacement of Palestinians is occurring in plain sight and still the world fails to prevent it. There are no winners here.
Julie Perry, Highton
THE FORUM
Limited intelligence
Peter Hartcher writes that, “the assassination [of Nasrallah] shows that Israel has achieved highly sophisticated intelligence capabilities, human and signals” (“Why Iran no longer strikes fear”, 1/10). And yet the Israelis did not know that they were going to be attacked by Hamas on October 7 last year.
Margery Renwick, Brighton
Defence mechanism
Many correspondents complain about the US supplying arms and weapons to Israel but where are the letters criticising Iran, North Korea and Russia for supplying rockets and other armaments to Hamas and Hezbollah? Both these terrorist organisations have regularly used these weapons against Israel. Why should one side in this conflict not be able to procure the means to defend itself?
Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully
Fuelling our travel goals
Mike Foley’s article, “The golden fields we see on the highway are powering the next wave of air travel” (1/10), sums up the fact that biofuels like canola and cottonseed are only likely to provide, at best, 2per cent of aviation fuel by 2050. There may be a temptation to increase production until every square metre available is under canola production endangering our forests, grasslands and native species that live there.
Another solution is to reduce our passion for air travel. Unfortunately, this seems to be a bridge too far and our inboxes are constantly bombarded with “travel deals”. The once-in-a-lifetime overseas trip has now become a regular and overwhelmingly desirable event.
Graeme Lechte, Brunswick West
A drop in the ocean
Recent strides in biofuel developments highlight the potential of Australian agriculture for energy innovation. Despite these advances, which require substantial land for modest output, their potential is severely undermined by the government’s recent approval of new coal mines. According to The Australia Institute, these projects will emit about 1.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases over their lifespan – more than three times Australia’s total annual emissions.
This move sharply contradicts the necessary actions required to combat climate change. While biofuels represent a step towards a greener future, their impact is dwarfed by the emissions from these new coal projects. To avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, there can be no room for new coal mines. Real change demands action against fossil fuel dependency, not just incremental advances in sustainable practices. It’s crucial that our government re-evaluates its priorities and aligns its actions with its environmental commitments.
Julia Paxino, Beaumaris
Beyond our waters
The article “Survival in the Timor Sea” (The Age, 1/10) confirms what many of us have thought over the years while successive federal governments have argued for “no more deaths at sea” when in fact they meant “no more deaths in Australian waters”.
Our treatment of refugees remains a blight on Australia, which of course is founded on the back of refugees and migration.
Politicians need to examine their souls and ask themselves what role did they play in the potential deaths of refugees as they gave tacit permission for the Australian Border Force to turn them back at sea in the knowledge that should anything untoward happen it won’t have been in Australian waters. We need stronger, heroic politicians, politicians who can make decisions based on honesty, humanity and truth not by simply considering potential political fallout and their careers.
David Conolly, Brighton
Opportunity lost
So Treasurer Jim Chalmers is unconvinced that any changes to negative gearing would boost housing supply (“Budget hit by wear, tear of a slowing economy”, 1/10). The Parliamentary Budget Office recently analysed Australian Taxation Office and Treasury data to demonstrate negative gearing discounts to property investors will impact bottom line revenue by $100.1 billion over the next 10 years while capital gains tax discounts will forgo $65.48 billion over the same period. That’s about $165.58 billion in tax breaks given to property investors who by definition are not the most vulnerable members of our community.
If Jim Chalmers were to cancel these tax breaks and reinvest that $165 billion in new public housing via a reinvigorated Commonwealth State Housing Agreement, he would not only increase housing supply, he would provide affordable accommodation to this country’s most vulnerable people.
Craig Horne, Fitzroy North
True support
There is a message for us all in Caroline Wilson’s moving article “Fagan almost walked away amid struggles” (Sport, 1/10). It provides a guideline that tells us that when we are in trouble we need to talk about it and it emphasises the necessity for those surrounding us to listen and be supportive. From bereft to legend status is summed up in Greg Swan and Andrew Wellington’s emphatic message to Chris Fagan “we’ll look after you”.
Brian Marshall, Ashburton
Nuclear risk
Apart from the prohibitive problems of Peter Dutton’s nuclear power fantasies so clearly listed by your correspondent (“Nuclear not a starter”, 1/10), a worse problem is the vulnerability of nuclear power stations, whether large or small, to attack by a warring enemy nation, or a terrorist group. Such dangers are evidenced currently with Ukraine’s President Zelensky reporting Russia’s military is planning to target nuclear power plants in Ukraine, and in the US where the neo-Nazi terrorist gang Atomwaffen’s operationalised plan to blow up a US nuclear power station was fortunately thwarted by police. The Atomwaffen Division (Atomwaffen meaning “atomic weapons” in German), also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, is an international far-right extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network, founded in the US south in 2013.
Jennifer Gerrand, Carlton North
A long shot
John Silvester’s excellent (as usual) article (“Easey Street’s sliding doors moment, and the scoop I never thought I’d write”, 26/9) on the 1977 murder case does however draw this strange conclusion: despite the fact the police had found a bloodied knife in the boot of a car driven by a local young house burglar near Easey Street – he said he had found it on railway tracks – for them to concentrate on the teen as a suspect would have been “the longest of shots” and have “been seen as a distraction”. Surely, it would have been quite to the contrary.
Peter Drum, Coburg
Setting an example
So the parents of private school students, who withdraw their children because of bullying, are being forced to pay the full term’s fees and being threatened with debt collectors, if they don’t (“The high price of withdrawing a bullied child from private school”, 1/10). You know what that’s called, bullying.
Samantha Keir, East Brighton
No frills
Kris Kristofferson was an amazing talent who managed to convert me from a strict diet of classical music to a far more eclectic range of music. It wasn’t so much his distinctive gravelly voice though that first attracted me, but more the lyrics, which were helpfully printed inside many of his best albums. In concert his no-frills approach (no choreography, no clever lighting/staging effects, few if any backing singers) allowed the focus to remain squarely on his songs and his direct delivery with minimal commentary in between.
Probably not to everyone’s taste but he provided the soundtrack to much of my young adult life. Vale one of the modern greats.
Dave Rabl, Ocean Grove
Emergency measures
On my way to hospital recently in an ambulance that didn’t require lights and siren as I had stabilised, we were stopped by a road accident blocking the lane in Wellington Road, Mulgrave.
Apparently it was minor and no one was hurt. Given we were blocked by the involved cars, the very competent and kindly paramedics, Georgia and Linda asked if the drivers needed help.
Lying in the back, I could hear one side of the conversation. The drivers were waiting on the police, the tow trucks and an ambulance. Something about the fact we were in one must have escaped them. Anyway, the drivers refused to move their undamaged cars to the side of the road to stop blocking traffic, and even refused to engage their hazard lights. My particular situation was not urgent, as it turned out, but it could have been more serious.
Shouldn’t people who report issues and claim assistance from emergency services for such frivolous matters, be charged with some sort of misdemeanour, even if it’s just stupidity?
Pete Dunne, Highett
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
Crying
I’m with Jo Stubbings (Comment, 1/10). I can’t stop the tears at funerals or weddings. Or songs on the radio. It’s definitely the music, sometimes the words. When my family watched Disney movies my children would nudge each other and say Mum’s crying again! It’s definitely an emotional outlet.
Kerry Bail, Beaconsfield Upper
AFL grand final
The grand final “fan engagement” folk fail to understand that the 100,000 people at the G are the atmosphere. Every year ear-splitting music is blasted right up to the first bounce thus drowning out that magnificent roar.
Brendan Coyle, East Ballina, NSW
Your correspondent’s suggestion that we return to having the massed forces bands for the price of 120 grand final seats fails to recognise that, at current seat prices, it would still be cheaper to pay for Katy Perry.
John Alley, Thurgoona, NSW
Trump
The picture of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance (The Age, 1/10) shows that one ties his red tie too long (Trump) the other too short (Vance). Gentleman, the correct length is for the bottom of the tie to end just above the belt buckle.
John Massie, Middle Park
It’s incomprehensible that American polls still appear to have Trump and Harris neck and neck. How can the vile remarks and unhinged commentary not substantially change voters’ intentions?
Fiona White, Alfredton
Carbon reduction
Australia’s golden band of canola nearly ready for harvest – to feed the 733 million hungry people on our planet? No, it’s biofuel for jet setters.
Jenny Smithers, Ashburton
Congratulations Great Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution, switching off coal forever. The planet breathes a little easier.
Greg Curtin, Nunawading
Furthermore
If you want to stimulate your vagus nerve (“Viva las vagus, the nerve key to new medical hope”, 1/10), try meditation, breathing techniques or swim in the bay every day. No side effects.
Ian Cameron, Chelsea
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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.