Centuries ago, a wealthy, homely, unathletic aristocrat could commission a portrait that depicted him as an Alexander the Great look-a-like astride a snorting, rearing stallion (“Rinehart letters reveal effort to axe portraits”, July 26). These vanity pieces were generally hung on the walls of the aristocrat’s home. Nowadays, the portraits in major galleries are selected on their artistic merit, not the thickness of the subject’s wallet. If Gina Rinehart wants to gaze on a flattering picture of herself, I am sure there are plenty of software programs that can transform her visage into the image she desires so much. Just don’t expect the National Gallery of Australia to hang it.
Mike Reddy, Vincentia
Vincent Namatjira’s portraits of Gina Rinehart were the subject of requests for removal.
I find Kyle Chalmers’ chest tattoo to be unflattering and offensive, but I have no right to suggest he remove it or cover it up. Vincent Namatjira’s portrait of Gina Rinehart is in the style of his other portraits - it’s neither flattering nor unflattering. It does what art is supposed to do: make you think, question and react. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m grateful we live in a country where Namatjira and Chalmers can express themselves freely and not be censored by powerful interests.
Peter Campbell, Potts Point
It’s not only swimmers, politicians and business alumni that wouldn’t be where they are today without the actions of Hancock. Surprisingly, Aboriginal people weren’t as quick to write in to applaud her company’s impact on their lives.
Colin Stokes, Camperdown
The ongoing debacle over Gina Rinehart’s portrait stumbles on, getting both nastier and more ludicrous by the minute. She needs to understand that the portrait is a satirical caricature like all the others on display in the artist’s exhibition; to be viewed as an artistic interpretation. Gina needs to grow a thicker skin and her cohorts need to pull their heads in.
Judy Finch, Taree
The portraits of Gina Rinehart could never be called flattering and I can understand how upset she is about them. The more she comments on them, bringing them to people’s attention, the more they will stay in the public’s mind.
Marjie Williamson, Blaxland
I think we need to give a local name to the “Streisand Effect”. The obvious choice now is “The Rinehart Effect”.
Martin Lewis, Baulkham Hills
The only reason Peter Dutton is backing Gina Rinehart’s attempt to have her portrait removed from the National Gallery is because he feels he may need support to do similar when portraits of Voldemort and Mr Potato Head are put on display. Peter Miniutti, Ashbury
Biden’s exit
President Biden’s speech, delivered four days after his withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential election race, was powerful and heartfelt (“Biden makes the most important speech he never wanted to give”, July 26). But it’s one thing to aspire to a second term in office based on his excellent track record and many years of experience, and quite another, at his age, to guarantee he has the health and strength to see it through. It’s my guess that First Lady Jill is now feeling incredibly relieved. And deep down, so too, the man himself.
Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills
President Joe Biden addresses the US from the Oval Office on Wednesday.Credit: AP
It’s getting difficult to argue against Donald Trump’s dismissive contempt for “crooked” Joe Biden and “lying” Kamala Harris. That these two should persistently now be putting Joe’s eleventh-hour political withdrawal down to their own personal lofty ideals of “democracy” and commitment to America and political rejuvenation - when in fact he had to be prised with a crowbar from recontesting, by way of donor evaporation and party threats of a shameful disendorsement at the upcoming convention - says plenty about the spin and swamp of American politics that Trump promises to end. He probably won’t, but it’s easy to see why he gets traction.
Alex Mattea, Sydney
Donald Trump wants us to believe that he’s got what is necessary to make America “great” again. Maybe, but I believe Kamala Harris could go beyond that and make the world a better and happier place again.
Bernd Fichtner, Dunbogan
Kevin Rudd calls Donald Trump “nuts”, “the most destructive president in history” and “a traitor to the West”. But David Livingstone reckons Australia’s ambassador to the US will not be embarrassed by these comments (“Master of barbs v Rudd’s persuasion”, 26 July). After observing Rudd since his entry into federal parliament in 1998, I am pretty sure nothing embarrasses him.
Riley Brown, Bondi Beach
The media’s been selling for a year the fable of Jill Biden as the compassionate, caring, loving spouse of the president, and Melania Trump as the cold, calculating, distant partner. Any update at all?Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield
Lette swings and misses on golf
As a man never prone to scratching his crotch in public but, since my mother died in my mid-teens, having become adept at washing, cooking and cleaning, I’m puzzled by Kathy Lette’s ‘incisive’, if self-consciously and predictably provocative, analysis of the modern male (“Men are not from Mars. They are from another galaxy entirely”, smh.com.au, July 25). As a middle-aged, and admittedly middling golfer, I can also attest to the fact that a significant number of people playing the game these days are women, and a significant number of them women of Asian provenance, all of whose enthusiasm for the game suggests they have no doubt, rightly or wrongly, the fairways are indeed a land of great promise.My mother also taught me to always put the toilet seat up when peeing, and put it back down afterwards. It seems that you might be able to take Kathy Lette out of Cronulla in the 1970s, but you can’t take 1970s Cronulla out of her contemporary world view. To a man who grew up around the same time in not too distant Lakemba, It’s disappointing to see her horizons haven’t been capable of expanding.
Ross Duncan, Potts Point
As always Kathy Lette finds funny words to write about the ‘sex wars’. In her hallmark clever way, while giving readers a light-hearted laugh, Lette manages to inoffensively sneak in a few realities about the way the world often still works. An interesting question might be why men would be interested in Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a career. Surely it wouldn’t be only about income, as it isn’t very attractive in terms of time, high stress, hours worked, variable and often unpredictable multiple risks, and is entirely unrelated to any of their personal life experience. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville
New curriculum gets an A+
Every teacher in NSW will feel grateful to Hunter and Parkinson for their timely piece to recognise the challenges and time involved with the forthcoming changes to the primary curriculum. (“A great leap forward for kids (just don’t forget their teachers)“, July 26). In the past, rarely was time allocated to understand curriculum changes, professional development delivered to all teachers, or time to make essential resources, let alone reviewing the effectiveness of new courses. Merely to be thought of and considered raises teacher profiles and hope for the future for further teacher respect within our communities. Janice Creenaune, Austinmer
Poultry excuse for profession
Don’t be too hard on school career counsellors - they’ve been providing entertainment for students for decades. When I was at a country school, over 60 years ago, we were delighted to have a day off regular classes - filling endless forms, doing IQ and aptitude tests and so on - when the vocational guidance officer arrived from the city. As a joke, we found the most bizarre entry on the list of preferred professions and all ticked ‘chicken sexer’. The confused guidance officer remarked that she’d had no idea there was so much interest in poultry in the area. Heather Johnson, West Pennant Hills
Glebe Island dreaming
Michael Koziol’s article (“Huge plan at Glebe Island revealed”, July 26) reports the looming conflict between the NSW Department of Planning’s Bays West vision for 95 hectares of mostly government owned land and the Port Authority of NSW’s plans. These two government agencies have seriously divergent visions. Given the ongoing mess of the deeply flawed Rozelle Interchange, primarily designed to fill the coffers of Transurban more than serving the motoring public, one cannot help but fear for the future of the Bays West development. Looking south to Melbourne’s Docklands re-development of 25 years ago, we see the salutary lessons of the dangers of political failure and bureaucratic bungling. In 2012, The Age reported, “20 years on the yet-to-be-completed Docklands precinct has been ruled a soulless, dispiriting, windswept failure.” Will NSW politicians and bureaucrats repeat the Dockland’s disaster? We shall see, but it is hard to be optimistic. Michael Davis, Balmain East
The Urban Taskforce developer lobby, says Bays West (left) could be Sydney’s next Barangaroo (right).Credit: Wolter Peeters
If there is housing built at Glebe Island, what will it be? Will it be affordable housing selling around $1 million - $1.5 million with water views and close to the city? No. It will be spacious, luxury apartments selling for $3 million - $5 million. Completely out of the price range for new home buyers. All it will do is rotate homeowners who already have a luxury home. Government should begin at the other end by asking the questions of where and how we build homes under $1.5m that are within a reasonable distance from the city. Wentworth Park would be a good place to investigate. Neville Turbit, Russell Lea
Race to renewables
Failure to process applications for renewable energy projects expeditiously places NSW at risk of losing the race to replace retiring coal generators in time. Assessment turnarounds for major renewables projects in NSW are way longer than in other states. It is not hard to improve. For starters, the Minns government should dispense with onerous pre-lodgement reviews and documentation, limit requests for further information to a set period, and dispense with long, complex and repetitive EIS preparation as the default rather than being reserved for only a minority of high-risk matters. This will mirror good practice interstate, and help fast-track the job of future-proofing the state’s energy supply and resilience. Jim Allen, Panorama, South Australia
Read all about it
Someone should remind Rupert Murdoch that you can’t take it with you (“Attempt to rule from grave is stranger than fiction”, July 26). Most people of advanced years choose to spend their remaining time on earth enjoying the love of family and friends and healing fractured relationships. It seems Murdoch prefers to be remembered for his love of power and material success. That’s really sad. Graham Lum, North Rocks
Rupert Murdoch has already done more to harm America’s democracy with the lies and disinformation spewed by Fox News than any other entity in his adopted country’s history.
He has caused a division unlike any other since the civil War. Now he wants the destruction to continue even after his death. Victoria Harrington, Thirroul
Banking bad
If, as Waleed Aly contends, (“It’s simple: Your bank is not safe”, July 26) criminals have access to customers’ detailed personal and transaction information, then responsibility for that security breach is squarely on the banks. Their cowering behind a corporate wall of obfuscation and finger-pointing negates their obligation to the public. Not all in the community are tech-savvy; not all have the communication skills to understand these persuasive and sometimes threatening “cold calls” and emails and texts that trick so many into divulging access to their bank accounts. Failure to implement the Scam-Safe Accord’s strategies beggars belief — and that failure also is on the banks. Let them foot the bill … for a change. If we can’t trust our banks, then the financial system becomes a free-for-all, which is just the environment of bedlam where scammers flourish. Bradley Wynne, Croydon
If it wasn’t so difficult and time-consuming to get through the labyrinth of devices used by banks to avoid ever speaking directly to their customers about anything, it might be a simple matter of calling them to check if something is a scam or not. But that’s often too hard. Complicated push-button and voice-activated menus, disembodied chat-bots, repetitive announcements, extensive queueing and all manner of annoying frustrations seem specifically designed to make you give up and never try again. For something that’s “not safe”, it sure is impenetrable. The best advice is to treat any cold call claiming to be from a bank as an attempted heist. Adrian Connelly, Springwood
Waleed Aly’s valuable article on the reluctance of our banks to match the improved security policies of their English peers or owners confirms the inadequate response of the Labor Government to the scamming scourge. Indeed, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones on his Scam Awareness tour of electorates earlier this year was aligned with our banks in seeing customers being primarily responsible for scams: “A scam starts with a person answering an email, SMS or call” he stated. Copying UK regulators’ initiatives would be a big step in the right direction of inventing our banks to do the right thing. Michael Britt, MacMasters Beach
Latin lessons
My university, which used to have a meaningful four-word motto in Latin, now sends out letters addressed to “Dear Alum” (Letters, July 26). O tempora, o mores!
Evan Bailey, Glebe
Kids are still being taught Latin? I recall being told in 1970 when, as a second form student at Crows Nest Boys High School and electing to study this subject, that I was crazy as it was a dead language. Nevertheless, I persisted and how grateful I am. Some 50 years later I can still conjugate the verb, “to love”. If I’m not mistaken, it is, “Amo, Amas, Amat, Amamus, Amatis. Amant”. I’m sure it will come in handy at a trivia night.
Jonathan Crosby, Dubbo
Fiddletown follow
I’d never heard of Fiddletown before, but thanks to Elizabeth Maher - and Google - I’m now the wiser (Letters, July 26).
Edward Loong, Milsons Point
Boulevard of broken dreams
How disappointing to see the cynics and sceptics bagging the revitalisation of Parramatta Road. I’m sure it will happen but it needs to be put into a priority hierarchy. Once we have built a high-speed rail line from Melbourne to Brisbane, 10 or so nuclear reactors and the AUKUS subs I’m sure it will be started. It sits in the priority list just above the Multifunction Polis at Bathurst.
Ian Morris, Strathfield
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