Praise for Pearson but education should be a federal responsibility

Congratulations to Noel Pearson for his article on education (“Good to great schools, with no more diversions”, 24-25/5).

Pearson’s observations are to be commended but will anything change when education remains the responsibility of each state and territory?

The federal government should take over the responsibility for all education and then perhaps the most effective ministers could be asked to manage this diverse portfolio.

Only the most skilled teachers should be teaching years 1 and 2. If students can’t read or understand basic mathematics during these years, then it will take a long time, if ever, for them to catch up.

It is hard to recruit individual maths and science teachers who invariably have to teach both subjects according to the school’s needs. It will be another indicator of how a curriculum can become compromised and ineffective.

We need more prominent people like Pearson to speak out.

Susan Swift, Chapel Hill, Qld

NDIS rip-off shock

I am saddened but no longer surprised each time a new story appears, reporting that yet another NDIS care recipient has been ripped off.

The shocking story by David Murray (“Human face of NDIS abomination: blind, milked for cash, cut off from outside world”, 27/5) really takes the cake.

I suspect these stories are the tip of a huge iceberg and, unless extreme measures are taken soon, the whole country will eventually suffer, financially and otherwise. It would appear that some very vulnerable NDIS care recipients are suffering even more than they would have done without the NDIS.

The originally well-intentioned NDIS was supposed to improve people’s lives and give hope to their families that their loved one would have adequate lifelong care.

Susan Dornan, Beecroft, NSW

Flawed deal on Darwin

The Port of Darwin and indeed most Australian public infrastructure should be either owned and operated by Australian governments or operated on their behalf by Australian-owned tradeable entities, and should never have been sold to any foreign-controlled entity (“US eyes Darwin Port prise”, 27/5).

To simply allow replacement of Chinese ownership with American ownership transgresses this principle and if I were the Chinese ambassador, I’d be rightly very annoyed, especially after all the work that has gone on to restore Australia’s relationship with China.

I am sure he would understand that we made a complete cock-up in selling it in the first place, as no port in China would ever be foreign-owned, but for us to then allow another foreign entity to own it could be considered highly insulting.

Peter Thornton, Killara, NSW

Weapon ban no answer

As usual, the Victorian government, like most governments, has gone for the easy solution. It’s not the machetes that should be banned (“Mall machete brawl teens were on bail”, 27/5).

If someone wants to hurt, maim or kill, they will find a weapon. Experts, with far more knowledge than me, have stated that complex social factors are contributing to the behaviour of the teenage boys.

Provide them with the support to address these social factors while there is still time so they become role models and contributing members of society. A change in funding priority will save millions in the future, unlike banning machetes.

Marie-Antoinette Assenza, Weetangera, ACT

Hard to contain Iran

Greg Sheridan hits the nail on the head in pointing out that Iran’s official state ideology is one of “extreme Islamism, in which the US and Israel figure as entities of eternal evil, which the Islamic revolution has a duty to destroy” (“Is a new conflict in the Middle East just around the corner?”, 27/5).

There’s no shortage of analysts in the US and elsewhere arguing that coexistence with a nuclear Iran is better than bombing Iran’s nuclear installations, which might risk a wider regional conflict.

But the bottom line is that supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the man who alone controls Iran’s nuclear program, isn’t much interested in compromise.

He wants nuclear weapons and so insists Iran must enrich uranium.

Earlier this week, his underling, President Masoud Pezeshkian, dismissed the idea that Iran’s economic survival depends on talks with the US.

“It’s not like we will die of hunger if they (Americans) do not want to negotiate with us and sanction us,” he said.

Iran has repeatedly threatened the total physical destruction of Israel. Credible military threats should be part of a broader effort to roll back Iran’s nuclear program.

Anthony Bergin, Reid, ACT