Interest rate cut welcome, but may prove mixed blessing

My young daughter has just bought a house.

I should be happy for her that we have a rate cut finally. However, I can’t help but feel the rate cut has come at the expense of her long-term financial wellbeing with a government that has been profligate and not focused on its cost-of-living support that artificially reduced inflation and includes rebates for all, with discounts on HECS that will only benefit long-term those who, by virtue of the education they receive, will likely have higher incomes. My daughter may have an extra $80 a month in her pocket now but it is a drop in the ocean compared to the price she will pay in the long run.

Nicholas Milns, Maroochydore, Qld

Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has lifted the lid on the Pandora’s box of financial ills that will now beset us.

Inflation will quite possibly pick up immediately. The Australian dollar will fall, prices will rise for food and services, house prices will increase, and energy costs will continue their inexorable rise. Wages will come under further pressure as Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese splurge on their spending towards the forthcoming election. We are in for a wild rodeo ride.

Alexander Haege, Tamarama, NSW

I am happy, in the short term, for my family members with mortgages. But the rate cut decision smacks of a triumph of hope over experience.

The US Federal Reserve cut rates only to see inflation rise rather than decline. Our labour market is still tight despite an appalling level of bankruptcies, and a falling currency, which will likely follow this decision, will add to inflationary pressures. What are the chances of an interest rate rise just before the federal election?

Chris Taylor, Dernancourt, SA

Lessons in futility

The article, “Students’ grasp of politics is failing” (18/2), reveals just the tip of the ignorance iceberg. NAPLAN results continue to show steady decline in student performance in all areas, and our comparative performance internationally is also falling.

The end result of student-led teaching, and disapproval of rote learning, is that one-third of year 12 students are functionally illiterate. The curriculum remains full of political correctness, the latest addition being that we can improve mathematics by adding Aboriginal knowledge.

Rather than the obviously needed root-and-branch review of syllabus, teaching methods, and class discipline, the Education Minister recommends the usual solution to all modern problems – “more funding”.

Graham Pinn, Maroochydore, Qld

If we are serious about wanting to increase young people’s understanding of how Australian society works, then all that is necessary is to mandate that a section of the selective high schools entry or private school scholarship tests includes a civics and government section, and let the many coaching colleges do the rest.

Having civics, government and recent Australian history as a compulsory HSC subject might also inform students before they leave formal education and get to vote for the first time.

Garry P. Dalrymple, Earlwood, NSW

Hardly a freeloader

Greg Sheridan makes a good point that Australia needs to preserve its own national security and not rely on America (“Australia, not Europe, the big freeloader on US power”, 17/2).

More than ever, there is a cogent case for our foreign policy to be one of non-alignment, given the increasingly uncertain realities of the Trump presidency, its foreign policy shifts and its declining moral integrity as a democracy. Yet the elephant in the room, not mentioned by Sheridan, is the presence of the US bases in Australia, a potential nuclear target for both Russia and China. Australia is hardly a “big freeloader”, given America’s reliance on the strategic importance of these bases. Also, Australian military and some civilian airports and seaports could be put at the disposal of the US military should the need arise.

Jeni Thornley, Newport Beach, NSW

Warning on Trump

Anyone who has read Antony Beevor’s monumental accounts of the major conflicts of WWII would have to treat his opinions with the utmost respect, if not reverence (“Trump’s plan for Ukraine a failure of realpolitik”, 18/2). So when in reference to Donald Trump he states that “the arrogance and irresponsibility is simply breathtaking”, in relation to Trump’s proposed settlement between Russia and Ukraine, his concerns should be taken very seriously indeed.

We seem to be heading toward a very testing period in terms of both the balance of power in Europe and the viability of the American-European relationship as represented by NATO.

Bill Pannell, Pemberton, WA