Beijing could easily end the bloodshed foisted on Ukraine

I would like to inform Ruan Zongze that there are two sides to every story (“China seeks peace in Ukraine crisis”, 1/3). Contrary to what he says, there is a simple and straightforward solution to the Ukraine crisis. Instead of publishing a 12-point peace plan, all China must do is ask President Xi Jinping to tell Vladimir Putin: “Get out of Ukraine.” It is well known that President Xi is the person who can end the war as he is the only person Putin will listen to. I would also like to add that Dr Zongze’s comment that the root cause for the war is NATO’s unlimited eastwards expansion and that NATO can’t live without an enemy is very much misleading. It would be better by far if Dr Zongze informed us why China abstained last week when the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for an end to the war, demanding that Russia leave Ukrainian territory.

G. Jaworsky, Wollert, Vic

Euthanasia fears

Former AMA president Stephen Parnis is rightly horrified at some states’ push to extend euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide to mere telehealth phone calls (“States pushing the boundaries on right to die”, 25/2). If doctors can “counsel or incite” suicide and “promote” suicide methods, does this not violate the National Suicide Prevention Strategy?

It was refreshing to read in The Australian (17/2) that most doctors prefer to save lives and heal the sick than participate in euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. Commendations to them, that is what they were trained to do and why medicine has been such an honourable profession since Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, separated witchcraft from the healing acts.

Our doctors comply with the paramount medical ethic: “First do no harm.” Concerning are the references to Philip Nitschke, who wants euthanasia for those not sick such as the troubled teen. Since Canada has introduced its “waiver of final consent” this is obviously a scheme to get rid of those with dementia. As doctors have been trained to save lives and heal the sick, getting them to administer or give poison to their patients overturns their professional duty. Making them agents of the state in getting rid of depressed people destroys their profession and ethics. The better answer would be to provide proper health resources for those in rural and remote communities and treat those with depression before they get to despair. Thanks to all the doctors who prefer to save lives and heal the sick.

Dr Katrina Haller, Skye, Vic

Voice of compassion

Recently I reviewed an article by David Turnbull on the Uluru Statement from the Heart for Qeios, an open science platform. I based my review on my long experience over 40 years as an adopted member and “old lady” of a clan of the Kunwinjku of western Arnhem Land, and as a social scientist. Following cultural protocol I sought the opinions of Aboriginal relatives, friends and contacts. The move to enshrine a First People’s voice in the Constitution and give them a say in political decisions that affect them should be seen as right and proper. But it is also a step towards a shared identity. As pointed out in the article, Aboriginal philosopher Mary Graham in 2008 wrote that a “spiritual identity, regardless of cultural background” will emerge from those who care for the land. But a collective identity already exists, for example, in the many blended families in this country.

There is shared identity in the expressions of care for others that I have witnessed, including non-Indigenous strangers. In 1992 Kunwinjku elders, hearing of the isolation, guilt and grief felt by women who had suffered a stillbirth, asked me to tell those “sad mothers” that “we understand”, displaying a degree of empathy not usually encountered in mainstream society.

Mirarr elder Yvonne Margarula wrote after a backpacker was killed by a crocodile in Kakadu in 2004 that “we all have to care”. One response expressed to me by a tour operator was that the attack was “good for publicity”. In the review I highlighted some traditional competencies Kunwinjku and other First Peoples have to offer the wider society; for example, sophisticated diplomatic and child-rearing skills, and multiple ways of knowing and practical wisdom. Those latter capacities are already recognised by business and government as necessary to aid adaptation to an uncertain, rapidly changing future. Kunwinjku learn these skills as toddlers in the role of “little parents” to other children and their great-grandparents.

In 1984, my sister-in-law, Larrakia elder Paula Thompson, said: “We all caught together. So we have to try to live together. Even if we fail, we can’t give up.” Her daughter and I repeated her words in the welcome to country address given at the opening of the 13th Northern Territory parliament in October 2016. And so we must. We have no choice but to try and to keep on trying.

Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow, Darwin River, NT