What’s happened in the land of Once Were Larrikins?

What’s happened in the land of Once Were Larrikins?

I concur with every word (well almost) of Steve Waterson’s analytical lament on the death of the Australian larrikin (“Has coronavirus crushed our famed larrikin spirit?”, 19-20/12).

It used to be that Australians challenged the status quo and boldly stuck their heads above the parapet, challenging beliefs thrust upon them by their British masters. Well, a few Australians at least had that sort of courage in this past year. At least the silent majority adored them for doing so, unafraid to guffaw at their antics.

Like Waterson, I was born in Britain, but I was raised in New Zealand. So I also have choices about where I can live. I, too, can “bugger off”, but I won’t. The scourge of political correctness — wokeness — is universal.

If British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with his ridiculous new-found belief in climate change action, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, with her adoration of victimhood, truly represent their countries with their pandering to the politically correct, then, sorry, I’m sticking with Scott Morrison.

Crispin Walters, Chapel Hill, Qld

I commend the article by Steve Waterson. During this pandemic, our real concerns should have been directed at the ease with which some of our premiers have been able to control their constituents, so much so that we have been “easily cowed into submitting to the idiotic restrictions of our coronavirus response”. Inference was made to the rise of Hitler in Germany. It is good to remember he came to power by popular vote. This is the danger when people easily slide “into a tepid bath of sullen conformity”.

We need a new movement of satire and comedy in the arts to expose these egocentric power mongers, rather than the weak and politically correct ones that dominate, especially on the national broadcaster.

David Leafe, Roseville, NSW

In his fine if unflattering analysis of the state of our national ethos, the estimable Steve Waterson asks if the coronavirus has crushed our “famed larrikin spirit”. Steve, mate, cobber, rhetorical questions don’t come any better than this one. From the outset of this deeply unpleasant business, I have been unable to withhold a measure of admiration for those young folk who, trusting in the immortality of youth and the curative powers of sun and saltwater, defied the proximity police and flocked to the beaches. They, at least, showed something of the traditional national spirit.

Conversely, I was appalled by the response of parliamentarians to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s coughing spasm back in May. Remember it? There the poor bloke was, seized by an uncontrollable fit of coughing, and not one of his colleagues was brave enough to breach the 1.5m exclusion zone to deliver a slap on the back or even inquire, “Are you alright, mate?” What a pack of elbow-bumping wusses.

We’re always banging on about “mateship” and “the Anzac spirit”, but how much of these admirable qualities remain if we bolt at a cough or a sneeze?

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Nice one, Steve Waterson. Let’s throw open the borders and ignore the public health advice and we can be just like the US, where zealous individualism is costing 3000 lives a day. Apparently Waterson wants the freedom to die horribly of a respiratory illness in an ICU ward because that’s “part of being alive”.

Lindsay G. Partridge, Newtown, NSW

Steve Waterson has opened our eyes to what has happened to this beautiful, creative, friendly country. Bureaucrats, politicians and unelected health officials have taken over our lives. Talk about Animal Farm

R. Faure-Field, Ashmore, Qld

Thanks and a belated welcome for Steve Waterson to the land of Once Were Larrikins. Steve, not all of us were like your mates and others in the bar at the Cross all those years ago. We had a healthy respect for proper, necessary authority. We were taught at home and at school that our actions had consequences and to accept responsibility for our actions. If I misbehaved at school or home I was punished as I deserved but carry no scars. Today, not just Australia, but far too much of the Western world, pretends that we are not responsible for our actions; it is always the fault of the system — capitalism, patriarchy, invisible racial oppression and so on.

However, I do share your concern at the all-too-ready acceptance by many of excessive policing of meaningless, ever-changing restrictions on personal freedoms, at least in my home state of Victoria, this very difficult year.

Michael Smith, Mooroolbark, Vic

School results

The recent HSC results in NSW are interesting. Private schools receive significant funding. These schools can choose their students, who are advantaged even before they start school: their parents are more likely to be educated and value education; they are more likely to have been sent to a better preschool. These children have probably grown up in a household that has books, have been read to, taken to the library from infancy and experienced other cultural activities. Despite this, private schools do not dominate the results. Why?

Children attending selective high schools are also advantaged: many have been privately tutored. Their schools attract better teachers and they have been nurtured and challenged for six years.

The fact that students from non-selective high schools featured among the top students demonstrates the public system can and does produce good outcomes for bright children. The ones who miss out are the ordinary students in the non-selective high schools, which are chronically underfunded.

Should the government wish to maximise the outcome of its funding it will focus on this cohort so every child has the opportunity to reach their potential. Such schools should receive more funding, especially physical resources.

Joan Lambert, Adamstown, NSW