Ignorance and arrogance
The tragedy that is Palestine continues, with Hamas expected to accept within days the “peace plan” drawn up by Trump and his cronies, or Israel will be allowed to “finish the job”. That is, to continue murdering Palestinians, the Gaza Strip utterly flattened, the West Bank and East Jerusalem totally under Israeli control.
It seems that Western nations accept this as a fair deal that Hamas must accept, or else. It is hard to think of a more unholy trinity – Trump, Blair, Netanyahu – to be in charge of the destiny of Palestinians, but quite possibly, accept it they must.
Once again, they have been abandoned by the West, which, for a moment there, seemed to recognise the scale and number of atrocities inflicted on it for so long by Israel and its supporters.
Will the world really welcome Israel back to the fold if this peace plan goes ahead? Weep for Palestine, again the victim of the Western world’s ignorance, duplicity and arrogance.
Jill Dixon, Northcote
Optus probe needed
So, the foreign-owned Optus parent company, Singtel, pays no tax in Australia. (“Singtel rings up no tax as miners and banks support the budget”, 2/10). Its sense of entitlement takes your breath away. In my area, Optus are hellbent on installing a 5G cell tower on public property against the will of the community who pay for that land.
It will have a significant impact on the neighbourhood not least of which relate to our concerns as to amenity, safety and poor site location (an equipment cabinet which can conceal pedestrians on or near a busy intersection is not good).
Optus contributes little to public land or to the wellbeing of Australians through taxes. We need an inquiry into its conduct and a more robust telco regulatory environment to better protect the community because the current system is not working.
Cate Ellis, Carlton North
Don’t squander chance
The possibility of Rio Tinto closing its coal-fired power station in Gladstone as soon as 2029 can be viewed as both a crisis and opportunity. The opportunity involves a transformation to clean energy. But this may require the right policy levers to be pulled. Regional industrial centres like Gladstone with skilled workforce and other assets will need the co-operation of policymakers, not an anti-renewables overreaction. The latter will lead to a squandered opportunity to benefit in the global decarbonisation path that our key trading partners are set on.
Jim Allen, Panorama, SA
Renewable roadblocks
As your correspondents explain, if it weren’t for National Party MPs like Barnaby Joyce stirring the pot, renewable energy would be a clear winner nationwide (Letters, 2/10). The Clean Energy Council estimates that farmers will receive about $1 billion in landholder payments for hosting renewable energy by 2030. Wind turbines and solar panels offer a drought-proof income stream for landowners and many cost-saving and health benefits to communities. While the benefits blow strong across the country, many in the Coalition continue to resist a shift that could revitalise the regions they claim to represent. How disappointing.
Amy Hiller, Kew
Fission possible
Rather than re-prosecuting its failed nuclear fusion policy expecting a different outcome (see definition of stupidity), perhaps the opposition could look at fission. It appears that Chinese research will allow that country to offer this much more desirable energy solution early next decade – a timetable that would suit the Coalition’s faint chance of future success.
John Dickson, Glen Waverley
Vulnerable inmates
Brad Battin said that he supported trans people but that “there is no place for a paedophile father in a women’s prison. Vulnerable women should not be forced to live with a male sex offender”, (“Trans inmate jailed for child sex abuse no danger to female prisoners, says lawyer” 30/9).
Clearly, he recognises the vulnerability of women in prison. I question why he does not then recognise the unique pains and vulnerability of being a trans woman in prison, especially with the knowledge that this woman has been in solitary confinement for 13 months.
Battin’s so-called “support” for trans people is paper thin if he subscribes to the belief that criminal acts strip away someone’s gender identity, no matter how monstrous or perverse those acts are, as if being “allowed” to be a woman is a reward bestowed upon you when it is convenient and taken away when it is uncomfortable. Trans women are women; whether they belong in women’s spaces is really a no-brainer.
Cian Truong, Prahran
Bad language
Re “An 80-year-old woman dropped the C-bomb. I thought FFS” (2/10). More than 40 years ago, the Melbourne Film Festival screened the film Blue Collar. I do not think it was commercially released, although the use of expletives verging on a verbal tic was warranted by the subject matter in raising a political and social point about the struggles of working-class American males living in cruel assembly-line conditions.
Why is it so surprising that today any person of any age or gender should use such language casually? It has occurred for hundreds of years for impact in literature. And what better validation for its use than the youth on the tram next to me who shared his limited conversational phone style with the whole carriage?
Rosalind McIntosh, Camberwell
Bad behaviour
The article “Geelong’s Mad Monday became bad Tuesday and an apology on Wednesday” (2/10) uses black humour to Geelong players’ disgraceful behaviour.
However, this behaviour needs to be called out and penalised as these men continually mock and abuse women doing their job.
Those men deliberately picked these three topics to attract attention to exploit misogyny knowing that the repercussions would be nothing. When do men and the AFL stand up and say enough is enough? As a sportsperson, behaviour is challenged both on and off the field, and they are expected to act as role models. The opposite occurs in the women’s league, and thank god we have that to watch because I have lost faith in the AFL.
Georgia Birch, Ascot Vale
How could this happen?
Some AFL players chose the wrong form of entertainment to celebrate the footy season climax. Not a good look. Not the right message. AFL bigwigs need to ask themselves – verbatim, what would Snoop Dogg say?
Duncan Steen, Coburg
Rise and palm
The ball bounce at the start of Aussie Rules football games invokes such anticipation among the fans and has done for more than a century. Will the ump get it right? What a sigh of relief when they do! The variability and randomness of the bounce is the essence of the intrigue.
It’s a unique feature of football codes across the planet and great ruckmen, too many to name, will surely be saddened by the eradication of the bounce and their skills perfected, to rise and palm it to advantage.
Tim Nolan, Brighton
Sad to see bounce go
During this year’s AFL grand final I admired the skill of the umpires in being able to bounce the ball at the centre. That first bounce! It was always a special moment; especially during finals time. Now it’s gone.
Sure, the game has to evolve but it is a pity to see the centre bounce drop into history along with the drop kick and the torpedo punt. One can see that the high mark is also in danger of extinction. All of these skills made our game unique. I am a little saddened to see this change to “our game”.
Bill Proctor, Launching Place
Vale Jane Goodall
Re “Jane Goodall, conservationist renowned for chimpanzee research, dies at 91” (2/10). Waking up to this news evoked a momentary feeling of sadness quickly surpassed by feelings of respect and admiration. In every sense of the word, Goodall was a trailblazer whose empirical studies of chimpanzees via immersion in their world is both a gift and her legacy at once.
Remarkably, that a woman who had no undergraduate training went on to complete a PhD is a huge feat of itself. But, more than that, was her message to people the world over of peace. She said, “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.”
That might have meant being labelled a “difficult woman” to which Goodall observed, “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us”.
Jelena Rosic, Mornington
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Matt Golding
Gaza
Finally, a two-state solution has been achieved in Gaza. The state of Israel and the United States have agreed on what is going to happen to the people of Palestine. Probably not the two-state solution many were hoping for.
Mick Hussey, Beaconsfield
The so-called peace plan announced by the US autocrat with his indicted war criminal friend has more holes than a Swiss cheese, allowing Netanyahu to “finish the job” after the hostages are released, while blaming Hamas for scuttling the plan.
Angela Smith, Clifton Hill
Looking at the front page photo of Trump and Netanyahu (1/10), I see two real estate barons salivating over a Gaza land development deal.
Jane Ross, San Remo
Furthermore
Where does the Savage Club CEO go for lunch, given she’s female?
David Jones, Essendon
Oh dear, why are they cancelling the bouncing of the ball? The best part of the “bounce” is the unpredictability of where it goes.
Olivia Cuming, Hawthorn
I hope they are also reviewing the shape of the Sherrin since it can also bounce unpredictably – just ask St Kilda’s Stephen Milne about the last minutes of the 2010 grand final.
Rick Whitelaw, Anglesea
While we expect the vehicles on our roads to be roadworthy, perhaps we have a right to expect the roads to be vehicle worthy.
Michael Maine, Warrnambool
A daily dose of Good Food is a much appreciated distraction from the negative news of world events, local and global politics, and thankfully no Trump on the menu.
Margaret Raffle, Keilor East
Finally
In the absence of reports sighting heavenly hosts descending upon Melbourne, it’s rather odd your correspondent should think Melbourne was the “visitation capital” of Australia (Letters, 2/10).
Deborah Morrison, Malvern East
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