Credit: Megan Herbert
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Your correspondent (Letters, 4/12) is correct, pointing out the ″Ivory Tower″ perspective of the Victorian government compared with the community reality regarding the need for parking spaces in denser housing options.
I would add to her excellent examples the experiences of visitors to the occupants of apartments, with no or limited parking, where public transport is not an option or practical at their place of origin. They comprise not only social visitors but those delivering essential caring services to residents.
Occupants cannot always go out to socialise due to mobility or financial issues. Those providing services to support individuals on care packages who have to move between clients on a daily basis need readily accessible parking or their valuable time is not only wasted but the hours of unpaid time increase. Young families often need valuable assistance from grandparents.
Community independent members of all parliaments provide valuable practical input to those residents of government ″Ivory Towers″, but we need more of them so their voices are heard.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn
Developing this plan is dumb
Reducing the provision of car parking in major developments because of proximity to public transport is a dumb idea. In Alphington, we have experienced the consequences of this policy with the redevelopment of the 40 hectare site which, when complete, will house 5000 people.
With the development only half finished the new residents started parking in the adjacent residential streets which led to residents requesting parking restrictions and the need for parking permits to which the residents of the YarraBend development were not entitled. But the current residents now pay hundreds of dollars for parking that was previously free. And the new residents complain about the lack of parking. Apart from the developers there are no winners from this dumb policy.
Bruce Hartnett, Alphington
Well-planned means a win for everyone
Your correspondent (Letters, 4/12) says lack of parking is the problem in relation the state government’s changes for car spaces in new developments. She says it will present challenges if there is no room for a car. This country is so car-centric. I live in a regional town with a two-kilometre walk to my shops, GP and railway station. I recently sold my car due to lack of use. I don’t have the transport infrastructure of metropolitan Melbourne. I walk, ride my bike, take public transport, or the occasional taxi. I still shop, see my GP and meet friends in cafes. Recently, on a wet morning, I caught a taxi to the railway station, on my way to Melbourne, and had a delightful trip to Ballarat by V/Line coach watching the green countryside pass by. At 74, I don’t have to take children to day care, but I manage without a car very well. We need to get cars off the road for environmental reasons. They are also very expensive to run. Walking, bike riding and public transport are good for your health. Well-planned higher density living, and the government’s recent decision, is a win for people and the climate.
Gryff Jamieson-Ballard, Castlemaine
Balance needed in using the spaces
Good to see some positive action to rationalise car parking provision for apartments near transport and activity centres (“Shake-up to scrap rules in car parks”, 3/12). Experience shows there’s plenty of evidence of under-used residents’ parking, but there is often inadequate space allowed for visitors and delivery vehicles, which also needs to be recognised in any new regulations.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
THE FORUM
Hands off library
So many of us have relied on the excellent State Library staff over the years. My oldest little library story was from many years ago when I went there, heavily pregnant, to check the meaning of a slightly unusual baby name I hoped to use. The dear librarian helping me climbed up and down ladders at a great rate for a few minutes, as I realised he was worried I might deliver on the spot, and yes, the baby was named from the book that the librarian found for me that day. I hope this wonderful institution is not destroyed by the proposed cuts. Once gone, their many services will not easily be replaced. Not everything is available on the internet.
Davina Hurst, Ocean Grove
Not a carnival
How disgraceful to read that the management at the State Library, in the words of writer Gideon Haigh, view it as ″an events space, the books and artefacts serving a largely scenic purpose″. Books and artefacts are the entire purpose of any library worthy of the name, and certainly of one ranked as the third most-visited in the world. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and our state government should take pride in this great institution; the crass direction being proposed is detestable and should be acted upon immediately to protect and preserve its true vision and operations.
If we wanted a carnival we’d go to Luna Park.
Darryl Emmerson, Ballarat
The Tassie albatrosses
The proposed AFL football team for Tasmania should be called the albatrosses, given the amount of debt the AFL and their own government are willingly hanging from the necks of all Tasmanians.
Julia Ditterich, East Gippsland
Destructive cost
The proposed Tasmanian stadium, good idea, is to be mainly funded by debt, bad idea. The massive cost will hurt Tasmania’s finances for decades for a few games that could be played at the existing ovals.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill
AFL goes it alone
The Olympics and FIFA have ceased imposing stadium and infrastructure obligations on host cities and countries that have most things in place so as to avoid generational debt. Not the AFL.
Patrick Alilovic, Pascoe Vale South
No need to worry
Reading Monday’s paper, we worried about who would staff the new Defence Delivery Agency. The answer came in Tuesday’s paper. It would be “plum jobs for political mates”. Thankfully, only one sleepless night.
Gerry O’Reilly, Camberwell
Diversity diaspora
Just home from early morning cataract surgery. Wonderful nurses originally from Asian countries, an anaesthesist of South Asian origin, a skilled surgeon from South Africa and, on our way home, a chemist who hails from Eastern Europe. How lucky are we to live in a country blessed with such fabulous immigrants, and with so many cultures to celebrate and enjoy.
Andrew Trembath, Blackburn
Stop protection racket
Congratulations on your fearless editorial (“Electoral changes don’t go far enough″, 3/12).
I agree, this “stitching up” has to stop. Another grievous racket is that political parties have given themselves permission to have their logo and their party name alongside their candidate’s name on the ballot paper, but an independent candidate must have a blank – not even the word “independent”.
Bruce Hawken, Glen Iris
Surcharge robbery
Today I bought a coffee at a cafe in St Kilda Road – this is a rarity for me. The cost was $5.20. It seemed to me that not so long ago it was $4. When I offered cash – the legal currency of the country – for payment, I was told “We only accept card”. So I paid with card and found that the cost was $5.28, a surcharge of eight cents. This is outrageous. We are being forced to use the new technology and being charged for it. Surely we should be getting a discount.
When you think of the number of coffees bought in Melbourne, and the number of eight cents involved, someone is making a lot of money.
Chris Renwick, Brighton
Please explain, Wells
Re ″Wells refuses to explain $190k New York visit″, this expense is astounding. We taxpayers deserve a full justification for it and we deserve to see the itemised receipts for each expenditure.
Tony Bell, Hawthorn East
Fare is fair?
Anika Wells needs to explain how she spent taxpayers’ money to the tune of $189,372.30 for three days in New York (″Wells refuses to explain $190k New York visit″, 3/12). She also needs to explain how the airfare for the deputy chief of staff was more expensive than her own.
Christine Hammett, Richmond
Fire with social fire
I applaud Anika Wells’s determination as she stares down international companies expressing faux-outrage at efforts to protect our young from some of the dangers posed by social media (“As teens flee to new apps to avoid social media ban, Wells says she’ll ban those too”, 2/12).
I would like her to strengthen her defence against these amoral, money-making behemoths by fighting fire with fire. She could do this by encouraging the ABC (my preference) or, possibly, an Australian news network to present an alternative social media platform as Donald Trump did with his Truth Social when he was unhappy with the social media environment.
This platform could be promoted as an “Australian alternative” that protects young and old participants by only allowing identified posts, eliminating the cowardly practice of hiding behind anonymity, and removing harmful, dangerous or hateful misinformation.
I happily pay taxes to support the ABC and pay for subscriptions to “newspapers”. I would also readily pay for such a platform, private or public.
Michael Langford, Flinders
Keeping staff safe
It is concerning to read that the Royal Melbourne Hospital is building a purpose-built security control room. (“Donations used to fund hospital security centre”, 28/11), yet the rise in violent threats made to staff involving weapons needs some response.
While there is some debate about the use of charitable funds to build this centre, the most important issue is to keep healthcare staff and patients safe.
Julie Ottobre, Brunswick East
Ban’s other side
While in theory the social media ban for under 16s is a good idea, it shows that our leaders have little understanding of the social dynamics of teenagers as it will do more harm than good. For a start it’s going to create a great social divide between over 16s and under 16s, but worse still it will divide the under 16s into two groups, the cool, in-group ones who get round the ban and those who can’t. This will have a serious psychological impact on the out-group.
Tony O’Brien, South Melbourne
The do’s and don’ts
It seems that when asked to explain their school’s success in recent NAPLAN tests, many principals offer the same explanation: explicit teaching (″Rapport a key in NAPLAN success″, 4/12).
Explicit teaching is often characterised by the ″I do, We do, You do″ approach in which responsibility for learning gradually shifts from the teacher to the student. It can be contrasted to inquiry-based learning models in which students take more responsibility for their own learning. This approach often regards the ″I do″ step as too teacher-focused and limits student imagination and creativity.
Evidence such as recent NAPLAN improvement in particular schools shows that explicit teaching produces students who really ″do″, perhaps implying that other teaching methods produce students who don’t do very well.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills
Decentralise, now
In the many letters of concern about housing density (Letters, 4/12) none raise the long-term answer of decentralisation.
Access to good quality, affordable housing is fundamental to society, but short-term political solutions only compromise the long-term future. The UN notes that no large country concentrates such a high share of its population in so few major cities as Australia. The Whitlam government began a program of decentralisation, developing cities such as Albury-Wodonga, and if these policies had continued Melbourne would be a vastly better city today.
We need to create the conditions that allow some population growth to flow away from the city into regional Australia. Decentralisation is complex, expensive and difficult to implement, but the long-term prospects of infinite growth are simply unsustainable.
Bryan Long, Balwyn
Presidential paradox
It’s disturbing to read the article “Hegseth doubles down on strikes” (4/12) on suspected Venezuelan drug boats “in the fog of war”. We know Donald Trump is a paradoxical mix of shock tactics and transactional dealmaking, but will someone please explain why he wages war on Venezuela, claiming it’s a war of self-defence against drugs killing American citizens, while he pardons former Honduran president Juan Hernandez,convicted of helping to smuggle 400 tonnes of cocaine into US?
Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Those slippery fogs
Cry havoc and let slip the ″fogs of war″. Heartfelt apologies to Mark Antony and Shakespeare.
Myra Fisher, Brighton East
AND ANOTHER THING
US affairs
Re “Hegseth doubles down on strikes” (4/12), after “the fog of war” there will be “the smog from war”. US Republicans are speaking of the money to be made from access to the largest oil reserves in the world in Venezuela.
Jenny Smithers, Ashburton
I think I’d be more inclined to call Pete Hegseth’s “fog of war″ as fog of brain.
David West, Essendon
Pete Hegseth calls it the fog of war. I call it cold, calculated, deliberate murder.
Derek Wilson, Cheltenham
Furthermore
I dream of being able to fly premium economy. For federal Communications Minister Anika Wells and her staff to use $100,000 in taxpayer money to fly to the US is obscene.
Barry Lizmore, Ocean Grove
Rory McIlroy is spot on. Kingston Heath is superior to Royal Melbourne (″McIlroy delivers blunt rating″, 4/12). I would go further and get all the sandbelt chorus line to take the blinkers off, and visit Peninsula Kingswood in Frankston. It’s by far the best Victorian course.
Peter Leonard, Mount Eliza
Message for the US and Europe: Vladimir Putin is only interested in holding ″piece″ talks, not ″peace″ talks.
Robyn Westwood, Heidelberg Heights
I agree with your correspondent (3/12). Come on ABC, no more repeats of Would I Lie to You and Hard Quiz. I can anticipate every line now. I look back to the wondrous days of The Drum – intelligent comment and debate, who would have thought my eight cents would get me that?
Mick Webster, Chiltern
The true addiction of young people to their phones is about to be revealed. Parents, prepare for a bumpy ride.
Marie Nash, Balwyn
Finally
Simply the best! (″Matt Golding wins 2025 political cartoonist of the year″, 4/12)
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills