Attempt to please both sides on religious discrimination will backfire

The government is tying itself in knots trying to please both sides. (“Religion’s right to offend? ‘Hate has no place in schools’”, 5-6/2) We are a liberal, tolerant, democratic and mature society. It’s time to accept we don’t all have to believe the same thing. If a school presents its principles and curriculum, parents can make an informed choice. Having some people disagree with one’s way of life is inevitable. Anyone growing up in the 50s, 60s or 70s was well acquainted with middle-aged people telling us we were going to hell. We rolled our eyes.

We should be helping our children develop the strength of character to withstand criticism, the intellectual ability to defend their position, an acceptance that rules can be debated but not flouted and an understanding they won’t always be liked.

The government needs to take a step back and trust a sensible demos. We do not need to crouch behind yet more legislation.

Jane Bieger, Gooseberry Hill, WA

What a tangled web we weave. Surely it is time to cut through this impossible knot by simply declaring that so-called religious beliefs concerning sexuality are not religious beliefs at all but simply ill-informed opinions and prejudices. Problem solved.

Anne Di Lauro, The Gap, Qld

Defenceless nation

In his article “It may already be too late to defeat the tag team of Putin and Xi” (5-6/2), Greg Sheridan writes: “Putin does all this with an economy about the size of Australia’s. This, by the way, should throw the astonishingly feeble nature of Australian defence efforts into a merciless light, but that’s another story.”

It may be another story, but Sheridan should write and publish it now. It’s getting late and it’s getting darker. The people of Australia need to know just why not a single prime minister or government of any persuasion since the end of World War II ever sought to remedy our feebleness. This applies also to the civil servants in Canberra who were supposed to be keeping watch and to generate the actions that would make us a nation too difficult to be conquered and too proud to allow our sovereignty to be usurped by power or money.

Sheridan writes further: “One day, if the Americans ever lose interest in defending us, and given that we have made no provision to defend ourselves, there might be in Western capitals a discussion along the lines of: ‘Well, Australia was always racist and not really legitimate, it was inevitable that a Great Power would occupy that land mass, in any event it’s a small population, a long way away, and of no concern to us.’”

We need all of our journalists to interrogate those who would next govern us as to just what they think about our predicament, and just what they will do to remedy it.

Nick Partridge, Shenton Park, WA

Theft of rock art

The news of a large Aboriginal rock art boulder disappearing from Sundown Point on Tasmania’s Tarkine coast and, further south, another being defaced with a chisel underscores public neglect aided and abetted by government inaction (“Fierce battle over Aboriginal rock treasures”, 5-6/2).

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Heritage Act provides fines for destroying relics but no jail sentences. Not that this should be a worry as the destruction of original Tasmanian art often goes without police investigation. The federal legislation is essentially toothless.

Before the current outrages, Tasmanian rock art was daubed with a red swastika, a cross was chiselled over an ancient engraved circle, a truck was backed into another and a cave painting was besmirched. The 1998 trail to a piece of art sawn out of another Sundown Point boulder went cold on the US west coast: Interpol still lists that bit as stolen.

No doubt the large rock slab with 6000-year-old etchings which is now missing would fetch a fortune on the global black market. But, rather than think about that, it is so reassuring to hear that a big wave must have washed it away.

Bob Brown, Cygnet, Tas

Deaths and taxes

About 450 people die every day in Australia. So far in February, deaths with Covid-19 have averaged about 79 a day. Family and friends of the 79 will mourn, many of them deeply. The same is true for those left behind by the other 371 deceased. Both groups of mourners deserve our sympathies. Every human life is unique and precious.

It was Benjamin Franklin who wrote that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Today we accept the latter certainty, but we are slow to accept the former, even in the midst of a pandemic. Perhaps we are too used to medical breakthroughs, vaccine and drug developments and improvements in clinical care. We seek to blame someone, anyone, when the certainty of death reasserts itself.

Garry Tam, North Bondi, NSW