Presumption of innocence for Christian Porter still elusive

Unfortunately the settlement of Christian Porter’s libel action has apparently not silenced the enemies of our justice system (“ABC warns against claiming Porter lost”, 1/6).

We, particularly politicians, should not need reminding of a fundamental precept of that system, that guilt or innocence of crime is, as Chris Merritt only last week stressed (28/5), a matter for the criminal law, not an uninformed or gossip-prone public. And, at its heart is that golden thread of criminal justice, the presumption of innocence — that it is for the prosecution to prove guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. Anything short of that risks dreadful consequences to those accused of crime, as seen in the case of Cardinal George Pell and in the shameful belief once reposed by English police in the wicked Carl Beech last year sentenced for 18 years’ imprisonment for obstruction of justice by his false, Salem witches-like accusations against innocent public figures.

I cannot see how any “independent investigation” of unproven allegations against Porter, called for by some politicians, can do anything other than add political mischief to an already tragic matter.

John Kidd, Auchenflower, Qld

Grow up on China

With customary erudition, Rowan Callick makes a convincing case for China’s single-minded attempts at widespread domination, unhindered by things we hold dear like the rule of law, human rights, rules-based international behaviour and much more (“Don’t blame us, it’s Beijing forcing a new world order”, 1/6).

Fortunately, we can all do our bit to slow China’s progress — just stop buying their stuff, especially wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars that make them richer, us poorer and no difference to the climate.

If you must buy such stuff, buy it from someone else. And stop giving them a free kick by not burning our abundant coal to make cheap and reliable electricity while they burn vast amounts of it every year to make the stuff that makes them rich so they can dominate us.

In other words, grow up.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT

Premier pay

There is an old adage that says, “pay peanuts and you’ll get monkeys”. That little gem has now been turned on its ear with the release of the premiers’ salaries (“What the nation’s premiers get paid”, 1/6).

No one begrudges paying top dollar for exceptional performance, particularly in difficult times. However, here in Victoria we have a Premier who is the highest paid in the land and he is overseeing a state that is arguably close to being classified as failed.

Look north of the Murray and we see another Premier who should have her pay doubled. Yes, we would all like to clone her and get one too. Two greater contrasting examples of state level leadership one would have to look very hard to find. That said, the senior levels of both the public and political sectors in every state must move to a performance-based remuneration scale so that we, the taxpayers, can see value for our dollar and maybe we won’t have to worry about paying peanuts.

Tom Moylan, Melbourne, Vic

Congratulations to the tennis authorities that thought it was appropriate to ignore the mental health issues that Naomi Osaka clearly expressed. It looked as if she was bullied out of the French Open by a complete lack of concern for her welfare. She is a great player, but obviously finds press conferences very stressful and not helpful to her mental stability. It is not a matter of whether we think the press conferences are stressful or not. It is what she feels that is most important. This seems lost in the conversations on this issue.

So, she bows out of the French Open rather than causing any more problems to her mental health. So much for the “Act, Belong, Commit” messaging.

Benedict Hodsdon, Nedlands, WA

Naomi Osaka. The Meghan Markle of the tennis world.

Russ Fathers Tweed Heads, NSW

How we did ‘it’ prewar

At the risk of revealing my status as an old fuddy-duddy, it might be worth pointing out that to many of us who are of the prewar generation some of the sexual problems we read about today are quite avoidable.

At least in theory, the way to go in our day was to enjoy the company of large numbers of the opposite sex but to keep clear of intimacy until we found one person we saw as probably a life partner. We then waited until marriage before we engaged in full sexual expression.

There were, of course, plenty of babies born out of wedlock in those days but the social disapproval of premarital encounters helped keep many of us on the sex-with-commitment-only path. Some still live by that rule and I can highly recommend it.

David Morrison, Springwood, NSW