Labor is quite right to be wary about putting the voice to the people prematurely

Labor’s realism in qualifying its support for a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is well-founded (“No voice vote until win is on: Labor”, 6/4). There is still a great deal of scepticism in the community given the abject failure of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the long-defunct advisory body.

The public will need to be convinced that any arrangement for an Indigenous voice will not divide Australia, that it will indeed be a representative and unified voice, that it will not unduly further complicate the already cumbersome government policy formulation and parliamentary processes, and that the costs for it are reasonable. Unless those requirements can be met, any government would be wise to hold off on a referendum, or even a parliamentary vote.

Michael Schilling, Millswood, SA

Michael Asten’s letter (7/4) pointing out that any evidence contrary to the IPCC orthodoxy, no matter how scientifically valid and compelling, is nevertheless ignored, reminds me of the film The Big Short.

Its message is that while the global financial crisis was utterly predictable, only a few outsiders (labelled heretics and weirdos) saw it coming: “These outsiders saw the giant lie at the heart of the economy, and they saw it by doing something that the rest of the suckers never thought to do. They looked.” The same could well apply to the heart of the climate consensus, with the over-sensitivity of models to CO2 being just one aspect that should be of major concern.

As the financial and social consequences of such a mistake will dwarf the financial crisis, we should all be demanding that scientifically valid explanations rather than dubious mathematical fiddles and excuses be provided for these failings of modelling. Science advances by addressing what doesn’t fit with what you think is happening, not by ignoring it and only paying attention to what does fit. That is just neo-religious dogmatism.

Andrew Lake, Edwardstown, SA

At risk of being condemned to a re-education gulag, I say, “Good on you, Sally Grover” of Giggle. (“Echoes of Orwell in threat to women’s rights and safety”, 2-3/4). And the same to you, too, Angela Shanahan for your article, and you, senator Claire Chandler for your Save Women’s Sports bill. How nonsensical it is to pretend that a biological male, with all the physical attributes thereof, can be anything but a male. Whatever a person wishes they might be – man, woman or goldfish – has absolutely no effect on their physical reality. A woman is a woman and a man is man, just as God created us to be, both in his image.

So I implore people in positions of power and authority to get real and say, “Enough is enough. Stop the nonsense of gender fluidity and affirm the self-evident reality of physical gender.”

However unfortunate are the effects for those few people whose bodies have developed differently from the usual male-female pattern, there is no justification for forcing humanity as a whole to deny reality.

By all means let us have sympathy, empathy for them, but not at the cost of reality, of sanity. Can you imagine a Wallaby front-rower or lock competing in a women’s roller derby compet­ition or in a figure-skating championship? Dangerous on the one hand, ludicrous on the other, even if Giggle-worthy.

Men, stand up and be counted, and protect the other half of our humanity. I confess to being a physical, mental and emotional male man. By the way, what is the difference between sex and gender? Have we confused the two?

Peter R. Tyson, Heathmont, Vic

Can there be any greater urgency than addressing the shortage of nurses (“ ‘Foreign nurses key to poll vow on aged care’ ”, 7/4)?

Can there be anything more important than ensuring we have enough paramedics and ambulances? While the election revolves around many minor issues that examine the inside of a ping-pong ball, articles exposing the inadequacies in our health system are written but no solutions are offered by the major parties.

An excellent starting point would be a significant pay rise for frontline workers to entice those who left to return and to attract new entrants.

John Partridge, Balgowlah Heights, NSW

The nursing profession is predominantly staffed by well-trained and dedicated people who almost certainly need to be better paid. The ALP commitment to increase staffing levels is a pipe dream if they believe there are large numbers of people prepared to do the training and show the dedication required simply waiting to take up the challenge once wage levels are increased.

David Harrison, Coogee, NSW