Credit: Matt Golding
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.
PEACE TALKS
We should be thankful to Volodymyr Zelensky for modelling correct behaviour in the presence of Dear Leader (Donald Trump) (“‘You look fabulous in that suit’: The funny moment Zelensky won over Trump”, 19/8). The man sitting beside the Ukrainian president might be the least qualified person ever to occupy the office of POTUS. An ignorant, lazy bully, who changes his mind six times before breakfast, and regularly parrots the words of the last person to speak to him. Alongside one who wields great power, Zelensky was trying to get him to exercise it to the benefit of his people.
Trump might be sitting in an office plastered with the very worst of bad taste gold geegaws but Zelensky swallowed the gorge that no doubt rose in his throat and grasped the opportunity. Puffed up the already overstuffed ego. Trump is a very needy soul, because he knows he is a fraud. Zelensky knows that when he repeats your own words, you praise him for such brilliant insight.
And as you thank him effusively and enthusiastically, you might even suggest he be nominated for an award, (just joking, that’s a step too far).
Ken Richards, Elwood
Unsuited for the task
It must be a nightmare for President Zelensky and other leaders to have to deal with Donald Trump. He changes his mind constantly, seems to be in thrall to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has no understanding of history or geopolitics, yet the world needs the finance and support of the US. He suffers from unconscious incompetence, but everyone has to pander to him. I would love to hear what is said about Trump behind closed diplomatic doors.
Dean Virgin, Strathmore
Easy give away
In the recent Alaskan “peace talks”, President Trump has behaved like he is hosting a TV game show such as Deal or no Deal. By encouraging Ukraine to cede occupied territory to Russia, Trump is blatantly pushing his case for a Nobel Peace Prize at no cost to him. It is easy to give away other people’s land.
John Guy, Elsternwick
Finding peace
Not a Trump fan here, but I thought it was encouraging to see the warm greeting between the would-be King and Putin in Alaska. Diplomacy towards a peace agreement is the only way forward (unless of course you want the killing to continue). A ceasefire won’t be enough to quell the root cause. A peace agreement with security guarantees needs to be signed. The hawks need to get out of the way. Upward of 1 million young men have been killed already and even more will be buried if Ukraine are yet again encouraged to continue fighting by the war.
Evelyn Konstantinidis, Albert Park
Deferring responsibility
The elderly are expected to be wise; to have learnt the lessons of history. “People who fail to learn these lessons are forced to repeat them.” This is Donald Trump all over. History tells us that nations must stand up to a bullying aggressor. It is pointless to appease dictators like Putin. They only play you. They consolidate and try to take more territory. Hitler claimed the German people needed “Lebensraum”. Putin wants to restore Russia’s Soviet era empire.
NATO’s European leaders felt that they needed to fawn over and flatter Trump, to support Zelensky in his audience with King Trump. It is sad and sickening that it has come to this. The European allies still want to evade their responsibilities. They want to get Trump to export enough US advanced weapons to Ukraine to repel the Russian invaders. When will Europe’s NATO allies realise that the US is out of the equation? That they can’t wheedle arms out of the US? They must pay their way and fill the arms vacuum left by the US.
Trump has a clear agenda: military isolationism. Putin’s is to restore Russia to previous greatness. Putin should wear MRGA (make Russia great again) hats. What about NATO’s European allies? Maybe EATFOA (Expect America to fork out again).
Geoff Black, Frankston
THE FORUM
Tax changes
Sean Kelly rightly points out that many major legislative changes around taxes have often been enacted without an “election mandate” (“Albanese must make clear roundtable is just the first step”, 18/8). He also says that, “We need more services, which means we need more tax, which is harder to get with an ageing population.” Is it? As one of the ageing members of that ageing population I’d say you could raise billions without taxing anyone. Just stop subsidising our retirements.
Franking credits would be a good place to start as, of all the many bizarre distortions to the economy enacted during the Howard years, this is the least defensible. Giving aged stock holders refunds for taxes they have never paid? How does that pass any test, let alone the pub one? Rather than restricting negative gearing to one, two, or three homes, restrict it to solely the earnings on rental income. And the capital gains discount was supposed to encourage investment in Australian industry, not vast inflation of the property market. It hasn’t worked. Get rid of it.
And can we please dump stamp duty, adopt land taxes nationally, and get some liquidity back in the property market?
Mick Cahill, Fitzroy North
Diesel rebate
Another topic that deserves discussion at the productivity round table (Letters, 19/8) is the multibillion-dollar diesel fuel rebate. Our current system refunds mining companies $495 for every 1000 litres of diesel used off road. The Safeguard Mechanism penalty, meant to encourage emissions reduction in heavy industries, then charges these industries $5 for the resulting pollution.
This is clearly a ridiculous situation, subsiding both pollution and the lame status quo. The productivity roundtable should adopt the Grattan Institute’s proposal to wind back this generous diesel rebate, apply an emissions charge instead, and begin the shift to road-user charging.
Mark Wills, Northcote
Audit consumption
We produce things, and consume things. Whereas there is constant talk about how we might increase “productivity”, rarely do we consider the other side of the equation, which one could call “consumptivity”. How governments spend is well documented, but most expenditure is private. Part of the cost of living so-called “crisis” is undoubtedly due to the over-consumption of unneeded products, as a result of the ever increasing imposition of the advertising industry. This is leading to more destruction of the environment, plastic waste and pollution. Whether governments should attempt to control private expenditure is politically fraught, though we do impose excise on products such as tobacco and alcohol. Maybe Australia produces enough already; it’s just the unfair distribution of what we have that is the problem.
Robert Scopes, Hurstbridge
NDIS failure
Isn’t it about time we had common sense and agencies spoke with each other to sort out the complexities of people dying and not being in the wrong place for their needs (“Terry had months to live and wanted to be in palliative care”, 19/8). The NDIS should never have been set up in the private sector, it should have been integrated with the public health and welfare care system, so that better connection took place and the profit motive was destroyed. Instead we hear about other heartbreaking cases like Terry’s, and deaths which could have been made far less traumatic for the individual and their families.
Peta Colebatch, Hawthorn
A valid code
There have been two key assumptions made my many about the Bendigo Writers Festival controversy (“Writer boycott proves strangely selective”, Letters, 19/8). First, La Trobe University imposed special conditions on the festival via its code of conduct. It did not – it required the La Trobe sponsored festival events to follow the code as it already applies throughout the university. Second, the code of conduct blocks freedom of speech. It does not. I have been in situations where a code of conduct applies. Robust and sometimes uncomfortable discussions still take place, but in a respectful, non-divisive way. A code of conduct simply asks people to please play nice: respect other people’s feelings and experiences and not denigrate them while expressing your own. It asks us to follow the limitations to free speech which already apply throughout civil life. Writers, with their command of language, can use facts and examples in a non-threatening way to make their points. I note too the La Trobe professor who immediately blamed Zionists for applying pressure “to arts and educational institutions” — apparently in the case of the Bendigo Festival, one letter was sent about one author.
Louise Kloot, Doncaster
Demanding support
There is a chilling side to the Bendigo Writers Festival saga (“Letter to Bendigo Writers Festival flagged concern over Palestinian author”, 19/8). Supporters of the participants who withdrew from the festival have pressured those who stayed to also withdraw. For example, the author Samah Sabawi, short-listed for a prime minister’s literature prize this year, wrote on social media, “EVERYONE has an obligation to turn their back to the Bendigo Writers Festival. Any writer or anyone in the industry who plays along pretending business can go on as usual will be tarnished. Your presence is a statement.” Others on social media are building up lists of people who did not withdraw from the festival because, “It is important for me to know, when buying books, whether or not the author is a genocide/apartheid normaliser, and therefore complicit.” As a former bookstore owner, I find this extreme.
David Marlow, Elwood
Improving lives
Your article (“The ‘miracle nation’ at 60: How Singapore thrived against the odds”, 11/8), relies heavily on longstanding detractors with well-worn criticisms to paint a skewed picture of Singapore. They claim that middle-class Singaporeans are “truly squeezed” and that working-class citizens are “worst affected by social inequality”. The facts say otherwise. The government heavily subsidises housing, healthcare and education, and provides additional support for those with less. Our progressive system of taxes and transfers has reduced both income and wealth inequalities, with the Gini coefficient, which measures income or wealth inequality, now at its lowest in almost two decades. Singaporeans continue to support the People’s Action Party government because it has delivered results and improved lives, especially for the lower-income and broad middle.
Anil Nayar, Singapore High Commissioner to Australia
Another slur
Another week and another homophobic slur used by an AFL player to denigrate his opposition (“Rankine called Pie to apologise after alleged homophobic insult...” 18/8). What is it about some footballers who see being gay as an insult? To any gay footballer reading this, I am so sorry you have to play in such a hostile and unwelcome environment and to the AFL and the clubs you must do better. If anyone wonders why no player has come out? You have your answer, why would they and have who they are, weaponised by an ignorant opposition player.
Samantha Keir, East Brighton
Quick learners
Your correspondent (“Simple solution”, Letters, 18/8) wrote, “Good luck explaining the [AFL] game to a first-time spectator”. I recently attended a game with a first-time spectator — my visiting Canadian nephew. The night before, he watched a replay of the 2023 grand final, after which he informed me that he “now understood the rules”. I strongly urged him to use his new knowledge to explain them to the umpires. PS: Happily, Montreal now has at least one dedicated Pies fan spreading the good word.
Dennis Dodd, Shepparton
Subtle control
While Terence Stamp (“Priscilla, Superman actor Terence Stamp dies aged 87”, 18/8) is more recently known for Superman movies and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, film watchers should have a look at one of his earliest films, The Collector.
Co-star Samantha Eggar was deservedly nominated for an Oscar, but Stamp’s subtle, controlled performance of an obsessive killer is not to be missed in the cannon of his work.
Also, let’s face it, he was a beauty who never faded. Vale.
Carmel Boyle, Alfredton
Brave new world
Melanie La’Brooy (“Tech lords are promising us utopia. Their brave new world might be a dump”, 18/8) expresses concerns about a future ruled by AI and the problem of job security. I have a story that relates to this concern.
I recently rang Telstra about an ongoing bill issue, and was told by a recorded message that all their operators were busy and I would have an hour’s wait, but it would be quicker to go online. So I thought I would give it a try. I then spent the next hour exchanging texts with one or two bots (the “name” of the bot seemed to change), and was assured that my problem would be acted on.
It wasn’t, of course. You would think that Telstra would employ humans to follow up on issues left unresolved by bots.
After the next bill arrived I finally spoke to an excellent human at a Telstra partner shop (Bettatech in Ballarat) who knew exactly what the problem was, and put in a complaint for me. I even got a follow-up call from a Telstra human!
It would be a welcome service if businesses in Australia actually employed Australian workers to answer the phone.
Chris Pearson, Kyneton
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
Heads of state
The world politely rolled out the red carpet as two leading arms dealers and gangsters made decisions for the rest of humanity.
Cherryl Barassi, St Kilda
Melania Trump (“Revealed: Melania Trump’s vague letter to Putin about ‘children’s laughter’,” 18/8) is doing a better job for Ukraine than her husband.
Dan Drummond, Leongatha
The AFL
In this extended final AFL round of 10 games, only two are on free-to-air TV. Paywalls rule!
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
I have but one word to describe a footballer getting $2 million a season. Obscene.
Glenn Murphy, Hampton Park
If your correspondent thinks the music is too loud at the MCG, try the SCG. I was there to watch the Swans v Geelong and the volume of the “music” was so loud you could not converse with the person next to you. Ridiculous.
Mark Hulls, Sandringham
Furthermore
Dare to struggle, dare to win! Congratulations to the Transport Workers’ Union in its win for the Qantas workers (“Qantas fined $90m in landmark ruling that could embolden unions”, 18/8).
Mary Fenelon, Doncaster East
The state Liberal Party should listen to Philip Davis (“Liberal boss calls for unity to stem electoral bleeding”, 19/8) and show a united front. United we stand, divided we fall. At this rate they are making sure Labor win in November 2026.
Christine Hammett, Richmond
Why have a road user charge for EVs? Eliminate the fuel excise on petrol/diesel vehicles and have a fee for every vehicle. The question is whether these fees will ever go towards road maintenance, etc.
Sergio Bobbera, Curlewis
Finally
“Don’t let a wee problem at night ...” (19/8) brings to mind problems associated with ageing. First problem is when you discover your waterbed leaks. Second problem is when you remember that you don’t have a waterbed.
Les Aisen, Elsternwick
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.