Credit: Matt Golding
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MELBOURNE
Voters in the west have not been “forgotten” by Labor, despite the commentary around the Werribee byelection. Thanks to the Bracks/Brumby government, there’s a whole new rail line, the Regional Rail Link (RRL), from Deer Park to Little River running at a 20-minute frequency. When they had the chance from 2010-2014, the Liberals cut parts of the RRL build, including level crossing removals at Deer Park and a flyover at Sunshine. They promised a rail line to Avalon (rather than Tullamarine) and not one millimetre was built.
The whole point of the Westgate Tunnel is to benefit people of the west, unlike the Liberal’s favourite project, the East West Link, whose only purpose is to save someone in Balwyn five minutes on a trip to the airport. Footscray Hospital is being completely rebuilt and updated emergency facilities and expansions have been opened at Sunshine and are being built at Werribee Mercy Hospital. Hardly neglect. A new hospital is being constructed in Melton.
Melton has had the rail line duplicated – being a single line for 140 years — and three new stations added. Existing stations were renewed along with level crossing removals. It now has a 20-minute frequency. These were essential first steps to electrification. The Metro is the second step. One could argue there would have been no Metro without Labor — the Liberals “paused” it for four years to examine a route via Fishermans Bend (and Timbuktu) and have the temerity to whinge about it “not being on time”.
Jeff Kennett closed dozens of schools in the west. Labor governments have re-opened many and built another 25 new schools in the west since 2000, most under the current government. It’s true to say that buses don’t run every 10 minutes at 4am on a Sunday, but it’s false to say there have been no service improvements. Labor has tackled race hate in the west. Have the Liberals?
The Murdoch media and 3AW give every critic a voice during a Labor government but seem to go quiet under the Liberals. Most crime rates have declined since 2016.
Paul Kennelly, Caulfield North
Loop back to the east later
It appears our premier just doesn’t get it, the very last thing Melbourne or Victoria needs is another mega build project, not least for the eastern suburbs. The Suburban Rail Loop was meant to be a loop around metro Melbourne and it certainly made sense to start in the west, link up with Sunshine and the airport and the recently completed but long overdue regional rail link, opened in 2017, two decades late.
No wonder the people of Werribee are furious with Labor. It’s also getting embarrassing for a city such as Melbourne to still not have a train service to its airport and for that to not to connect with Melbourne’s fastest growth areas of Werribee and Geelong.
The premier and her cabinet should stop promising to work harder but rather, stop, listen and think, long enough to realise there is no sound strategic merit in starting the SRL in the east and plenty to start in the west.
Bernadette George, Mildura
The wrong project
Listening to Jacinta Allan on the ABC still trying to justify the SRL reminded me of nothing so much as a Trump calling black white: if she is, as she says, listening to the electorate, then why is she persisting with this outrageous waste of our money? Major infrastructure projects are essential but they need to be the right projects.
Perhaps the SRL might be justified in the future, in which case the right thing would be to preserve the corridor for when it is actually needed. But no corridor was preserved when it was cheap to do so, so the SRL is being built with the extraordinarily expensive method of tunnelling.
Gareth Moorhead, Ivanhoe
Steaming straight ahead
When you get an iceberg warning, a good captain should slow the ship down and change course — this might ensure its survival. However, if you believe what has so far been said, the Allan government is going full steam ahead.
Peter Drum, Coburg
THE FORUM
Ally to avoid
Americans will pay Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, not the suppliers. Meanwhile, demand for American exports will fall as prices increase if retaliatory tariffs are imposed on US products in foreign markets. Higher costs of imported steel and aluminum raw materials will also increase the price of many American manufactured goods, domestically and worldwide
So far, it looks like the main losers in all this are Americans. Australia dodged a bullet, when Trump didn’t exempt our steel and aluminium from his tariffs (“PM books tariffs call with Trump”, 11/2). It’s best not to be seen by the rest of the world as aligned with Trump in his crazy trade war on everyone.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills
Dangerous deal
That Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles was in Washington just days before Trump’s steel tariff announcement is proof of how impotent Australia has become against the US. None of us know what secret agreements are in place around AUKUS and what commitments Australia has given to the US. This is the peril of Labor adopting a Morrison government policy in lieu of a public debate on its merits ahead of the last federal election.
Nick Roberts, Shepparton
Bragging rights
Trump’s tariffs are the equivalent of destroying your car so it won’t get stolen or hijacked. Increasing the cost of imports of essential materials will increase the prices of everything that major manufacturers use in products that ordinary Americans buy. And products for export will be less competitive against alternatives from China or other countries. How many people will become unemployed? Hopefully Trump will be one of them.
America imports 23 per cent of its steel and about half of its aluminum. Trump’s tariffs will do more harm than good to US citizens, adding massively to the costs of any businesses using these metals. That includes the automotive industry (especially trucks), building industry, ship building, aircraft (Boeing, Cessna, Beechcraft) and world-renowned Caterpillar. Trump will surrender, like many who start a “war”, and no doubt still brag about how great he is and what he achieved.
Ross Kroger, Barwon Heads
Seeing the (red) light
Re the issue of productivity raised by Shane Wright (“Could a cup of coffee solve our productivity problem?” 11/2), many main road traffic lights are permanently set to a time cycle – regardless of the low traffic volume on that road, while numerous cars on the adjoining arterial road patiently wait their turn, an unproductive outcome that is duplicated numerous times right across the state. Surely more productive traffic light technology can be installed?
Trevor Jennings, Leopold
Surely the worst road ...
I lived in Portland until 1999, and regularly return. In December I drove from Adelaide to Melbourne via Portland. The “highway” between Portland and Warrnambool is the worst highway that I have driven on. The number of potholes that have just been patched over is countless, requiring the necessity to drive close to the dividing line to avoid the patches or potholes that have not been repaired. In places, authorities have reduced the speed limit instead of fixing the road.
Friends of mine from Portland who have complained about the state of the roads, have been told that due to the poor weather, proper repair of the roads was not possible – yet the spring of 2024 was one of the driest on record. It’s an accident waiting to happen.
David Povey, Marden, Adelaide
... or is it this one?
The Grand Ridge Road through Gippsland must be one of the worst roads in Victoria. You start off on bitumen but as you climb it soon changes to an unsealed bush track. Signage is very poor, particularly high in the hills. The edges are ill-defined and soft. If someone slipped off the side they wouldn’t be found for months or years. It has deteriorated so badly it is only suitable for timber trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Yet it is still advertised as one of the great tourist drives in Victoria.
Paul Chivers, Box Hill North
Full circle of addiction
Lisa Visentin gives deep insight into this century’s global fentanyl trade (“How China’s drug labs inflame Trump’s global trade war”, 10/2). China is the principal supplier of fentanyl precursors – fuelling an illegal market, mainly via Mexico, that has become the leading cause of death of Americans aged 18 to 49. It is ironic, given Britain and other European powers made massive wealth from exporting opium grown in their South Asian colonies to millions of Chinese addicts during the 19th century – forcing it, despite its reluctance, to supply tea, porcelain and other valued commodities to the West in exchange; and accept proselytising Christian missionaries. What goes around, comes around and China retains a strong sense of historical injustice. Are chemical opioids China’s revenge on the West? As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Caroline Leslie, Hawthorn
The actual charge
Let’s not forget Sam Kerr is facing criminal charges because she said the policeman was white, not stupid. The tut tutting of some observers is that she was disrespectful towards a public servant in the way she expressed her explanation of events. She is not in court for being disrespectful. She is being tried on a blunt, technical use of the word white as opposed to the nuanced, long-standing lived understanding of racism by the non-dominant culture. Seems like pushback to me, in the current climate of world events.
Ange Mackie, Coburg
Extreme wealth
I’m sure I’m not the only one offended that a private residence just sold for between $115 million and $150 million (“Grand Toorak mansion sells, smashing Victoria’s house price record”, 11/2). Yes, it’s a beautiful heritage home but when you consider so many are without homes it doesn’t sit right. I don’t begrudge Paul Little his wealth, he worked hard, created a successful company and sold it.
However if he is a multibillionaire perhaps he could have donated Coonac to the National Trust, who could have turned it into a museum? Funds raised could have supported its upkeep and perhaps even helped the homeless.
Samantha Keir, East Brighton
Watching scamwatch
Phone and email scams are a plague of daily life, especially for the elderly (I’m 73), who are often the scammers’ favourite target. I get them constantly. And they are becoming more and more sophisticated and convincing as the scammers refine their methods. I received a phone call this morning saying my bank credit card had been debited $1000 and asking if I had approved the transaction. If yes, press 1, etc. The call was from an Australian mobile number and the speaker was a woman with an Australian accent. Very convincing. But I don’t have a credit card with that bank so I wasn’t fooled. But no doubt some people are fooled.
When I tried to complain to the government agency overseeing scams at www.scamwatch.gov.au I went round and round in circles. I couldn’t file my complaint so I gave up after 10 minutes.
The Albanese government needs to redo the website, launch a high-profile campaign to make the public aware, and prosecute numerous scammers, hopefully putting the worst offenders in prison to deter others.
Edmund Doogue, Crawley, WA
Not lectured by him
I, like Mark Dreyfus, will not be lectured on antisemitism by politicians who have never experienced racism (“Dreyfus blasts ‘disgusting’ opposition attempt to gag him on antisemitism”, 11/2). And certainly not by the Liberal Party, which only a few years ago strongly campaigned to remove parts of the Racial Discrimination Act that would have effectively enabled hate speech against Jews and other minorities, while defending in Parliament bigots’ rights. Nor will I have Peter Dutton, who appears to have made dog whistling an art form and spread divisive information to sabotage the Yes vote, define for me what is or isn’t antisemitism.
Henry Herzog, St Kilda East
Carry on
I humbly request that your AFL photographers provide us with action shots of play rather than the standard photo of the goal kicker with his clenched fists and mouth wide open screaming. It seems like all players respond in this manner these days with no evidence of any degree of humility being displayed. I don’t remember Peter Hudson or Doug Wade carrying on in this manner. They were there to kick goals and this they did very well.
Rod Evans, Parkville
Seeking justice
Thank you to Dr Rory Marples for his humanitarian work, and his article on the escalating crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and to The Age for publishing it (“‘On the streets I once walked dead bodies lay prostrate and forgotten’,” 8/2). The Gaza and Ukraine wars have eclipsed the DRC conflict despite its deadly fighting and the prolific war rape documented in its conflict zones.
As British war correspondent and researcher Christina Lamb reports, sexual violence has been a weapon of war across the world since ancient times, without legal consequences.
This changed in 2008 when war rape was made a war crime by the International Criminal Court. The ICC now provides the sole avenue by which the world’s women and girls can attain any justice for, or protection from, sexual crimes in war. As Australia is a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, how can the Albanese government justify its failure to join 79 countries, including Britain, France, Denmark, Germany and Canada, in standing against Trump’s sanctioning of the ICC?
Barbara Chapman, South Yarra
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
US relations
Just as well the US is our friend. We wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of Donald Trump.
John Rawson, Mernda
Mr Trump, we thought we were friends, but if you want to slap us with a 25 per cent tariff, we’ll pack up your things at Pine Gap, and you can send a few blokes over to collect them.
Geoff Schmidt, Richmond
Is it too late to cancel the cheque for the submarines?
Keith Fletcher, Glenlyon
Let me get this straight, Trump’s proposed tariffs would include the Australian steel used to make the submarines that Australia is paying the US to build, while also supporting the American submarine industry?
Wendy Brennan, Bendigo
The Albanese government should respond to any US tariffs on Australia by banning the import of Musk’s Teslas, as well as so-called “Yank tanks” like the Chevrolet Silverado. They are a menace on our roads.
Fabio Scalia, Balaclava
Among other things, Trump has put a tariff on aluminum. Just as well we only export aluminium.
Alan Inchley, Frankston
Furthermore
Your correspondent (Letters, 11/2) worries that “Apparently the Greens are now the enemy of Labor and not the Liberal Party”. Given the Greens devote most of their energy and resources to unseating Labor MPs, and not conservatives, his analysis might be right.
Graeme Russell, Clifton Hill
Surely there is something wrong with the British legal system when they need a trial by jury running into two weeks to deal with a drunken altercation in a suburban police station. Here a magistrate would dispose of it in a quarter of an hour.
Reg Murray, Glen Iris
Finally
It’s not only taxi drivers who deserve a decent prayer room (CBD, 11/2). How about one for passengers hoping their flight will depart and arrive as scheduled, and their luggage as well.
Claude Forell, Elwood
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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.