Credit: Cathy Wilcox
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DIPLOMACY
I take exception to George Brandis calling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “weak and diplomatically clueless” (“White House? PM’s in the doghouse”, 25/8). Albanese is the direct opposite of Donald Trump and that’s why he won a majority in the last federal election. His governance is stable and for the people, unlike Trump, a convicted felon whose governance is for himself. He is deliberately causing chaos to keep himself in the news.
Albanese is wise to keep his distance as deals done with Trump are never guaranteed.
Maria Liew, Woodend
Erratic leader best avoided
George Brandis’ attempts to belittle Anthony Albanese for not having yet met US president Trump in person seem little more than a political attack. Two other articles in the same edition of The Age by Nick Bryant (“Does sucking up to Trump work”) and Nicholas Riccardi (“Trump ran on a promise of revenge. He’s certainly making good on it”) demonstrate why our prime minister should be in no hurry to meet this vengeful leader who often disparages those who suck up to him and uses the power of the US presidency for self-aggrandisement.
Trump is disliked by a vast majority of Australians and Albanese would be “in the doghouse” at home should he go to America on a “brown nose” mission.
To paraphrase others, Trump is “all sizzle and no sausage”. For him it is all about self-promotion and the photo opportunity. His erratic and at times outrageous actions reflect limited comprehension, lack of attention to detail and a desire for adoration.
While working with others in the US government, it is in Australia’s interests to stay away from America’s “wannabe king”.
James Young, Mount Eliza
Voters support avoidance
If, as George Brandis claims, Anthony Albanese is being snubbed by Trump in terms of face-to-face meetings, well done to our PM. This does not reveal, as Brandis claimed, a “diplomatically clueless” leader but, given the farcical nature of many of Trump’s leaders’ summits, a politician who will not toady to a capricious bully whose political ruthlessness and low tactics mock integrity.
The majority of Australian voters would prefer our leader not to kow-tow to a dangerous buffoon.
Julie Gainey, Ocean Grove
What is in a meeting for us?
George Brandis suggests our PM has failed by not yet meeting with Donald Trump. But we must not gloss over two important considerations.
First, what is in it for us, and is anything Trump says today, worth anything tomorrow?
Second and most important is the paradoxical golden rule of foreign relations at leadership level. Foreign relations at leadership level must always be conducted primarily with an eye to the domestic audience. Our PM is reading the Australian public mood better than Brandis and the Liberals in general. Indeed, it’s quite possible he’s leaving the unpopular Kevin Rudd in place as our ambassador to help avoid a meeting.
Trump is yet to appoint his Australian ambassador. Perhaps he’s avoiding Albanese or perhaps we’re just not on his priority radar, which under the circumstances is hardly surprising. All up, it’s looking like another win for our PM.
Mark Freeman, Macleod
Best to lie low
Why all the handwringing about Trump’s disinclination to meet with Albanese? Let’s face it – the US does not share our, perhaps, inflated view of our importance on the international stage. And that may be a good thing. I, for one, would prefer not to see our prime minister having to publicly curry favour with Trump or, worse still, be humiliated for defending Australia’s best interests against the latter’s unreasonable demands.
Graham Devries, Camberwell
THE FORUM
Opening up divisions
I’m sure if I asked one of these elite-salary people to justify their salaries, (“How much more do CEOs earn than you? Most Australians get it wrong”, 25/8), they would cite responsibility and stressful conditions. I don’t doubt they experience this. However, don’t a lot of other professions have similar responsibilities and are great contributors to the functioning of our society, while earning salaries that are more than 100 times less.
If we continue to reward some careers with extreme salaries, we undermine a lot of other worthy careers getting much less. Like healthcare workers, teachers, emergency services, garbage collectors, where many of these salaries top out at $100,000 per year.
If we continue on this path it will lead to an even more divided society between the haves and have-nots. Some are suggesting government tax reforms. Whatever the solution, this needs to be addressed.
Sharon Hendon, Glen Iris
Salary criteria
CEO salaries are even higher than most of us had thought. If we use the following rational criteria based on the human condition and human needs, we might arrive at a very different result. Take pay scales based on a worker’s risk of death or injury at work; sacrifices made to obtain entry qualifications; physical demands of the work; workplace amenity; job security; responsibility for others; social sacrifices made through shift work; physical and mental effort required in a typical day’s work; and of course the most important criteria, the value of a person’s toils to society and the impact this work has on the environment.
The free market is the most powerful, but irrational and obscenely unfair, determinant on our reward system. After assessing a person’s true worth using rational criteria, it is difficult to argue for rewards greater than twice a nurse’s or teacher’s salary.
Howard Tankey, Box Hill North
Targets can be met
I am one of the many Australians who support the government setting a 2035 greenhouse gas reduction target of at least 75 per cent below 2005 levels (“Voters back steeper climate targets as Coalition readies for fresh brawl on net zero”, 25/8). Such a target is achievable given the predictions and modelling by the Federal Department of Climate Change (2024), a CSIRO study and The Climate Council (2024), which show that, with technology already available and a concerted effort, Australia could reach a 75 per cent reduction this decade. But much further effort is required to avoid a catastrophic 2 degree increase in global temperatures.
With the implementation of more well-designed policies and the further encouragement of emerging technologies, the government and business could demonstrate what can be achieved for the benefit of the Australian economy and the world’s climate.
Households and communities, such as my own, can only do so much. We need strong leadership from those in positions of power to secure a safe climate for us all.
Jenny Henty, Canterbury
No reason to wait
Australia broadly supports net zero by 2050, as evidenced by the results of the last election. We sensibly also want realistic emissions targets in the meantime. We’ve seen climate deniers morph into net zero sceptics. They grudgingly agreement that climate change is real, but say that net zero is too difficult in the timeframe.
This change comes from scientists’ advice about global warming, plus the public can see the worsening climate in the news, including record drought and marine damage in Australia and record fires from Los Angeles to Europe.
The next task for scientists is to convince the climate action sceptics that the damage of the worsening climate crisis is greater than the cost of net zero.
Most rigorous, peer-reviewed analyses conclude that the costs of an orderly transition to net zero are lower than the costs of failing to act. Organisations confirming this include the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Stern Review, the World Bank and Boston Consulting. What peer-reviewed evidence recommends dropping net zero and strong interim emission targets?
John Hughes, Mentone
Leaders not followers
As a Yarra resident who was proud of my council’s strong commitment to climate action, I am very disappointed in its refusal to include acknowledgement of the climate crisis in the Council Plan (“Fiscal restraint or culture wars? Councils winding back climate action”, 23/8). Yarra was a leader in the recognition of the climate emergency in 2017, when current mayor Stephen Jolly supported that recommendation.
Action on creating a safe Yarra in the face of climate change is crucial, but preparing a four year plan without referring to the issue makes that unlikely.
Kerry Echberg, Princes Hill
Quality of work
In the AI debate, a very important element is missing (“‘Apologies for any confusion’: Why chatbots hallucinate”, 24/8). Correctly, there is debate about job security, but there is very little comment on the impact on work itself. Computerised work systems, as demonstrated over the last 50 years, can be designed to exclude human skills and initiative, or to enhance them.
Most managements prefer to have these skills and initiatives designed out, so there is more management control. However, global research shows that when the systems are designed to enhance employee skills and agency, they are more efficient, less wasteful, and provide for more skilled and challenging jobs.
A lot of global research and practical examples are emerging of designing AI this way, and should be more central in our debate.
Max Ogden, Fitzroy North
Schools under pressure
Minister Mark Butler’s announcement of Thriving Kids to meet the increased level of need for services and support for young children with disability, particularly autism, has attracted significant attention. (“Medical bills could surge in unclear NDIS shake-up”, 23/8.) How it will work is still to be established.
Serious consideration is being given to Thriving Kids being delivered through early childhood education and schools. We need to know how this will impact on education. Whether it will be delivered inside or outside of teaching hours is a very important question.
Our education system is already stressed due to teacher shortages, resourcing constraints, a crowded curriculum and competing demands to meet the diverse needs of all students.
Numerous state and federal inquiries, and indeed royal commissions, have highlighted the need for reform in education for students with disability. Currently, kids with disability cannot be guaranteed a quality and inclusive education. We need to ensure that any new system of services and supports does not further compromise access to education for kids with disability.
There is indeed much uncertainty around this recent announcement. One thing is much more certain though: adequate services and supports as well as a quality and accessible education will greatly enable kids to thrive.
Stephanie Gotlib, All Means All – The Australian Alliance for Inclusive Education, Collingwood
Building regulation
It’s ironic given Ross Gittins’ observations about over-regulation (“One thing could bring a lasting boost to productivity, but there’s a risk”, 25/8) that the cost of delays in building approvals was supposed to be resolved when the Kennett government privatised the building inspection process, (once the sole responsibility of local government). It was at least clear before then who was responsible for any delay, malfunction or monumental stuff-up.
Since privatisation, not only did we soon have heritage-listed churches given approval for demolition by some private building surveyor in Geelong, we belatedly discovered “el cheapo” flammable cladding and all sorts of illegal substitutes for specified materials listed on the building permit.
Prior to privatisation, the system wasn’t perfect or free of corruption but it was easier to weed out the dodgy operators. Three decades on, the whole system of design and construct is akin to tangling with a tiger by
the tail.
Local government is far from perfect but it is time to make it clear who is responsible and to streamline the planning and building approval process and, at the same time, make it far more accountable and open to regular scrutiny by a competent agency and regular random audits.
Bernadette George, Mildura
Lack of focus
Is there no end to the lack of strategic focus of Victorian governments? With the increased housing development in the west and inappropriate infrastructure, congested “peak hours” last for three to four hours morning and night. We now learn rail transport may be disrupted (“Rail closure could flood city’s west with trucks”, 24/8).
A liveable city is almost achievable if you live in the right suburbs, but too bad for those of you in the western and northern suburbs – you’re on your own.
Denise Stevens, St Kilda
Taxi woes
It’s time for a clean-up of the dodgy cab practices at Flinders Street station where I’ve been refused a lift as I have a half-price taxi card. The other unacceptable practice is demanding a set price for the trip. My friend went in by Uber for $28 but when getting a return cab at Flinders Street the driver told her it would be $50. Sitting in the back she had no idea he wasn’t using the meter. Most taxi drivers are decent but not all.
Megan Peniston-Bird, Kew
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
The right move
Constant discussion of a meeting between Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese is nonsensical. Our PM is right to stay as far from the Oval Office as possible for as long as he can. Genuflecting to a peacock who changes his mind every few minutes is pointless.
Juliet Flesch, Kew
Unlike George Brandis, I think Albanese being in Trump’s doghouse is a badge of honour and a sign of strength. Long may he stay there.
Mike Smith, Sandringham
So Albanese is “diplomatically clueless” according to George Brandis. Do his successful visits to China, Indonesia et al account for “clueless”? No, clued up would be my term.
Maurie Johns, Mount Eliza
If Australia wants an ambassador prepared to humiliate himself and our country before Trump we should apparently send George Brandis.
Malcolm McDonald, Burwood
Furthermore
After reading “Why chatbots hallucinate” (The Age, 24/8) I suggest a moratorium on so-called artificial intelligence until we have developed sufficient actual human intelligence to deal with it.
Keith Fletcher, Glenlyon
Barnaby Joyce and his backers can rail against net zero and claim it will cost a bomb, but if we don’t decarbonise our power grid it will cost us the world.
John Mosig, Kew
There is a self-serving argument that a chief executive on a huge salary is deserving, (peanuts and monkeys), but belies the reality that even a “meagre” salary of say, $1 million, will I’m sure deliver a clever and motivated operator.
Peter Baddeley, Portland
After reading seven days of letters to The Age, I read Sunday’s Faith and restore my hope in life.
Winston Anderson, Mornington
A photo of Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chair (The Age, 25/8) made me wonder his age. It is 72. Donald Trump is 79. Democratic senator Chuck Schumer 74. The government of Australia is not perfect but at least it isn’t a gerontocracy.
Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn
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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.