Now that the bus driver has received his just sentence and given his apparent poor health, he will probably never breathe free air again (“Killer bus driver jailed”, September 12). However, if justice is to be truly served, there should now be a judicial enquiry into his employer. His unsuitability for his job should have been crystal clear to his employers, supervisors and his fellow drivers. His addiction to prescription drugs could have been easily determined by requiring him to have a medical examination, with the report going to his employer and then to the relevant authorities. The judicial inquiry could also be tasked with determining what penalties should be applied to the employer and what additional measures are needed to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Warren Devrell, Wellington
Brett Button, driver of the bus which crashed causing the deaths of 10 passengers.Credit: Nick Moir
What good does sentencing a worker to 32 years in prison for driving a bus negligently, causing it to roll over and inadvertently kill a number of passengers? Answer: none whatsoever. What bad does it do? Answer: plenty. Most notably, it causes people like me to question further, to the limited extent that remains possible, our society’s notion of and commitment to justice. Ross Drynan, Lindfield
This sentence is an absolute injustice. This guy made a terrible mistake with the outcome that people died. He was stupid and totally unjustified, but the sentence is just beyond belief. He drove dangerously. Was anyone egging him on? Was he aware that his driving was potentially deadly? No! He was stupid and irresponsible in a responsible job. The outcome was devastating, but his intention was certainly not criminal. Does this sentence actually help anyone? Revenge is an ugly word. Jeremy Baker, Bathurst
The Hunter Valley bus crash was a tragedy. However, it was not a matter of a premeditated loss of life. Some of the victim statements indicated they were clearly seeking public revenge – not justice, which is what the court system is set up to administer.
A sentence of 32 years for the driver is an extraordinary punishment for manslaughter. Remorse was clear, and the guilty plea does not appear to have been a consideration in the sentence. It must now be compared with some of the sentences for shootings and murder. Allen Kavanagh, Lilli Pilli
While the tragic Greta bus crash is back in the news, can the roads minister give us any figures as to how many fatal accidents are caused by drivers with extremely high levels of prescription drugs in their system, as was the case in this accident? John Swanton, Coogee
Past time for home truths
The Voice referendum result caused me to sit back and ask this question: What makes Australia tick (“History rewritten in high schools”, September 12)? The announcement today that the history syllabus is to be revamped is a ray of hope for me. It is clear that most voters in the referendum had not the foggiest idea of our colonial history. I look forward to the evidence that history is to be based on. Michael Kennedy, West Pymble
Michelle Kennedy, head history teacher at North Sydney Girls HS and has helped consult with the NSW Education Standards Authority on the new high school history syllabus. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Hooray for the rewrite of the history curriculum. The truthful teaching of our colonial history should have been in place a long time ago. It most likely would have spared us the hate-filled and wilfully ill-informed reaction to the Voice referendum last year. Bob Edgar, Westmead
Our syllabus design is catching up with the need to teach facts to young history students. Shame about it being years too late for me to forget my shame of what I taught young minds back in the early ’70s. It does give hope for what the syllabus changes will mean for us all in the generations to come. Cecily Chittick, Wyong
It doesn’t matter how often you change the school curriculum if you don’t have a trained teacher in front of the class delivering it to the students. There are so many teaching vacancies across NSW that implementation of any new syllabus will be a challenge. Peter Miniutti, Ashbury
History war, anyone? Greg Baker Fitzroy Falls
Trump board game
Bruce Wolpe claims that Donald Trump saved his most effective comments for last, asking why Kamala Harris hadn’t done anything about pressing problems for three and a half years (“Trump had two foes during debate”, September 12). This included her immigration policy. The facts are that Harris tried to introduce the Border Act of 2024. This would have put 1500 more border agents on the border and stemmed the flow of people coming into the country. Harris reminded her audience that Trump picked up the phone and told the Republicans, already committed to passing it in the spirit of bipartisanship, to kill the bill. It was reminiscent of Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison killing Labor’s Malaysian bill, something which Abbott later claimed to regret because most immigration experts said it would work. When asked about it later, Morrison first said Abbott told him to oppose it, but then later fell in with hard-right Coalition sentiment and described Labor’s idea as bad policy. Frank Carroll, Moorooka (Qld)
Trump sliced apart Credit: Marija Ercegovac
“It was a rigged deal as I assumed it would be”, Trump said. There’s a pattern here; if something doesn’t go Trump’s way, it’s “rigged”. What is equally concerning is that the Republican Party is complicit in this ongoing perversion of the US political system. With its associated vilification and questioning the legitimacy of the government departments and agencies responsible for actually running the nation. What is becoming a local worrying trend here in Australia is the increasing tendency of the Coalition to ape those statements. Denis Cartledge, Tenterfield
If Trump becomes POTUS and evicts the cat-eating immigrants, Australia with its feral cat problem could provide a feed for these feline banqueters. Paul Keys, Clouds Creek
I guess Springfield, Ohio, now has a whole lot of cat-less child ladies. Adrian Connelly, Springwood
So that’s what those sly childless cat ladies have been up to: breeding cats to sell to starving US refugees. Roger Pamphlett, East Balmain
Swilled out
I applaud the Good Food Guide’s decision to remove restaurants under the Swillhouse Group from its 2025 guide (Letters, September 12). The Swillhouse Group, after a lengthy investigation, has been exposed to have condoned criminal behaviour involving sexual assault of its female employees. This is certainly no arbitrary moral judgment about “appropriate conduct”. It is decisive, brave, considered action, reflecting the serious nature of the dereliction of duty of an employer. The inaugural Good Food Guide Cultural Change Champion Award signals a significant change in focus on leadership and respect in the workplace within the hospitality industry. Bravo, Good Food! Alex Bilash, Burwood
I would ask your correspondent to consider “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept” - wise words from the previous governor of NSW, David Hurley. “Inappropriate” conduct is unfortunately harder to legally prove than underpaid wages, but this doesn’t mean it should continue to be ignored as it has been in the past. Bravo to the workers who have endured and now spoken up. Sharon Warner, North Turramurra
Article helped shine a light on town’s big problem
I wanted to write to say a massive “thank you” to the Herald and particularly Jordan Baker (“The tiny town with a big problem: a serial pest who targets women”, September 10). As one of the women featured in the article, I cannot express how difficult it has been, but to finally have our voices heard has been liberating. Our only newsagent in Cooma ran out of papers after the first few hours! This article has factually presented a massive issue that has been poisoning our communities due to a weakness in both our enforcement and judiciary systems. But most importantly it has shone a light on a dark problem. It is media and journalism at its best, doing what it is there to do – telling the truth and giving people who felt voiceless a voice. Bronnie Taylor, Nimmitabel
Bronnie Taylor and Tanya Higgins in Nimmitabel. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Are we also parents?
It’s fascinating to see the expectation that schools and the education system will solve so many of the problems emerging in contemporary society while governments are defunding education and devaluing the status of the teaching profession (“Children, and parents, must be schooled in social media”, September 12). Some examples recently are the need to control youth obesity, educating about sex and the negotiation of consent, knowledge of the Holocaust, dealing with social media literacy, domestic violence, youth mental health, understanding climate change and the list goes on. Where does parental responsibility start and end and to what extent should the school be responsible for resolving these issues? Vanessa Tennent, Oatley
Having been a school teacher for some 37 years, I sympathise with the view that it would be better to educate kids in appropriate use of smartphones rather than simply impose an age ban. However, my experience has taught me that most parents are indifferent to their children, frightened of them or simply not able to educate them. Even schools would find it hard to break through the resistance of the bulk of those students determined to enjoy free access to social media. It therefore falls to government to protect our young people from the unmitigated evil that can emanate from those innocent-looking smartphones. Russell Dorey, Hornsby Heights
If social media access is based on age, then in a particular class or school year group, some students will have access and some will not, the latter group getting smaller as the year progresses and birthdays pass. This will surely create social discord, possibly bullying and exclusion. In the case of social media, school year group is a better indicator of maturity in social development and overall learning than biological age. Start the access with term 1 of year 9, 10 or 11. Cheryl Murdoch, Annandale
Wooly-headed
I totally agree with the letterwriter concerning the farming group Keep the Sheep (Letters, September 12). Are they really thinking we all imagine a rural setting with green rolling fields where the sheep may safely graze and that the farmers regularly administer kind and loving care until they end their days in some sort of utopia?
That picture is far from the actual reality of travel in a boat from hell, being treated abysmally by people who have no regard for animal welfare and bundled off to a painful death. “Keep the sheep” is a misnomer which does not reflect the reality of what will happen to the animals. It is time to face the facts that live animal export is not a trade that any government can be proud to support and it is time to move on, with government subsidies for a more humane approach to farming animals. Jane Cullinan, Berkeley Vale
Ben Sutherland from Keep the Sheep and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during the farmers’ rally at the front of Parliament House in Canberra. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Ley, Dutton, Littleproud, Nampijinpa Price, Hanson and Katter want to “keep the sheep”. Hopefully, they will all stay inside the shed because we really don’t want any of that lot getting loose. Tony Doyle, Fairy Meadow
Intention is the line
Surely the conundrum over where to draw the line between outlawing hate speech and protecting free speech comes down to one issue: intention (“Labor to retreat on tough hate laws”, September 12). If the words in question intentionally promote hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, and this can be proved beyond reasonable doubt, then they should fall outside the law, as is the case with other crimes. Our country’s social harmony is being tested like never before. For all our sakes, this is where we need to draw the line. Vic Alhadeff, Kirribilli
Life-long benefit
Proactive management of health issues is better than trying to cure what’s broken (Letters, September 12). Whilst we can’t all be greyhounds, our hips and knees will not last if we are more like elephants. Avoiding excess weight helps prevent hypertension, diabetes and arthritis with all the problems that follow (heart attacks, strokes, peripheral vascular disease, joint replacements and more). Preventative measures started when young and supplemented in adulthood are critical to avoid long-term debilitating health problems later in life. Hugh Wolfenden, Bellevue Hill
We only ever had one health check in high school. I got A+KK which was code for good posture but knock-kneed. Peter Cowan, Mt Keira
West far from best
I continue to be mystified by the ABC’s decision to relocate its radio studios to Parramatta (“ABC’s move west splits Sydney staff”, September 12). It must be causing many headaches for staff, visitors and interviewees having to access the new site, instead of the more central Ultimo. How much better would the money have been spent buying new television programs, for example, instead of viewers being subjected to endless repeats. Maxine Collins, Castle Hill
Making a killing
Why is it necessary to have a military equipment expo in the middle of Melbourne (“Police expand barricades, search protesters on subdued day two of anti-war demonstration”, smh.com.au, September 12)? It seems deliberately provocative and aimed at normalising the business of killing. One item of television coverage had a salesperson standing in front of a sign saying “Taking lethality to a new level”. If such events are necessary, should they take place on military bases behind security fencing without the need for an expensive police presence? Neil Reckord, Gordon (ACT)
Markus Zusak and his dog Frosty. Credit: Edwina Pickles
Dogged dangers
I am still perplexed at the subject of Markus Zusak’s latest book (“They busted his knees, terrified his friends – then Markus Zusak’s dogs delivered”, September 4). I have long admired his previous novels, particularly The Book Thief . I can’t react to the description of two dogs mauling a possum in Centennial Park with anything other than horror and the obvious thought that it could have been a child. He has admitted that one of the dogs, Reuben, would have killed his newborn if not stopped. This is one of your books, Marcus, that will not be on my reading list. Rhonda Ward, Tamworth
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