Legal failures prove adage that justice delayed is justice denied

It is a great relief when justice finally arrives. The key question for Lyn Dawson’s family and raised by Judge Geoffrey Davies is critical: Why has it taken 40 years? A similar question can be asked by Shandee Blackburn’s family and many others who are denied justice (“ ‘Why take 40 years to prosecute Dawson?’ ”).

The common link is the failure of the Department of Public Prosecution in both NSW and Queensland to institute prosecutions despite recommendations from coroners. Is it an overabundance of caution? Is it fear of failure? Is it plain ineptness? Inaction is in fact failure by DPPs.

Clearly, firmer guidelines or new laws are needed for DPPs to ensure these failings of justice are not repeated. What’s the point of a “justice system” that only delivers further injustice added on top of the original injustice – the killing of a family member? It’s time for state attorneys-general, and in particular NSW and Queensland, to shake up their moribund systems.

Lee Smith, Kenmore, Qld

Greed is not good

Are some of our social issues and the widening gap between rich and poor due to our greed? Not to mention our insatiable need for climate-warming energy sources.

We have enough money to buy a house but want it to be huge and have four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a theatre room. It must remain at a comfortable 23 degrees all year round.

We buy an investment property or holiday house and then claim as much tax offset through negative gearing as we can. We have sufficient superannuation but want to use it to hand over a huge nest egg to our kids instead of using it for the purpose for which it was created.

Every few years we upgrade our car for the latest model and brag about how small the changeover price was. We vote for the political party that promises to protect our wealth at all costs.

Many of us do not know what it is like struggling to make ends meet but we guard our wealth and privileges with our lives. But, each year we feel better when we donate $50 to the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal.

Sometimes it takes a health scare or family crisis to bring us to our senses and realise that material luxury isn’t everything.

Graeme Lechte, Brunswick West, Vic

Two timely, front-page reminders, “Golden ticket visas to get the axe” and “Star should lose its licence” (12/9), of the biblical truth about the love of money.

Eric Neil Harvey, Wodonga, Vic

In good voice

Some time ago we put a refundable deposit on what we thought might be a more suitable place to live as we grew older. We saw the plans, they looked reasonable. It seemed to be a good idea, but it was not until we saw the finished product we realised the potential, and practical, problems that living in this particular facility could give us cause to regret.

It reminds me that this is the same problem that the much vaunted constitutional changes will have to face if plans go ahead without a complete understanding of each small and large detail of the changes planned for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

If there is to be a referendum on which we will be asked to vote, we need to have open and full access to, and a thorough working knowledge of, any changes to be written into our laws so that there are no conflicts or misunderstandings in the years to come.

It is helpful to read again John Howard’s words, as he put it so succinctly, that for Aboriginal people “their special, though not separate, place within a reconciled, indivisible nation” should guide our deliberations.

Stephanie Summers, Nth Turramurra, NSW

Climate warriors

Brian C. Povey (Letters, 12/9) attacked the NSW Environment Protection Authority for classing carbon dioxide as a “pollutant” and reminded us that all life on Earth “ultimately” depends on CO2. The latter may be true, but – like too much of almost anything, including water or even oxygen – too much CO2 can be damaging, by causing global heating and extreme weather events; or fatal, by causing total life-support system collapse.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin, ACT

Queen Letizia of Spain addressed the UN COP25 Climate Summit in Madrid, while Britain’s late, great Queen Elizabeth provided a video address to the COP26 in Glasgow last year, along with the physical attendance by senior members of the British royal family. But regal interest on this topical issue has been best represented by Prince Philip, who respected and admired the work of our Professor Ian Plimer. Indeed in my ideal world, COP27 would open with Plimer’s recent pearl, “net zero has nothing to do with the environment and climate change and is all about power and the transfer of hard-earned wealth”.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW