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EDUCATION
Your correspondent posits that by sending their children to private schools (Letters, ″Private benefits″, 15/8) parents are alleviating ″strain″ on state schools.
I have a family member who has taught in government schools for 25 years, so I am well aware of ″strains″ of a different kind resulting from long-standing inequitable underfunding of facilities, resources and salaries.
Our society is becoming increasingly divided between the haves and have-nots, exacerbated by odious comments from public figures glibly dismissing the needs of those who have less.
The appalling mismatch of grossly inequitable education funding is a blatant example of one sector of society seeing itself as more worthy than others.
Thus, we are ripe for the picking by populist politics.Jane Ross, San Remo
State school parents provide for private school luxury
Re Letters, ″Private benefits″, 15/8: I have zero sympathy, let alone any thanks to offer, to parents who think they make a ″considerable sacrifice″ to supposedly ease the burden on public schools by sending their offspring to schools with all the bells and whistles and everything that opens and shuts.
Whole families have to live on what they spend to send one child to a private school. Through their taxes, parents of government school children contribute not only to the basic education of all children but also to the state-of-the-art facilities at private schools – without their children receiving any benefit from the latter.
There would be no need for those enclaves of conspicuous wealth if even half of that ″considerable sacrifice″ went to government schools which already do a remarkable job in spite of their conspicuous under-resourcing.Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn
If only public schools were better funded
Is your correspondent aware that many parents who send their children to private schools do so because public schools are underfunded? (Letters, 15/8). According to research commissioned by The Australia Institute, around one-third of parents with children at private schools would have chosen public schools if they were better funded.James Proctor, Brown Hill
Private school is social segregation
The latest scandals of elite private school boys highlight the problems that we are building for ourselves in the future in deepening divisions and prejudice in our community.
If nearly 30 per cent of young people attend these ethnic, religious, gender or class divided schools, how can we then imagine that this will not carry on into the future?
What we experience in our youth goes deep into our psyche in ways we are hardly aware of.
Our schools should be places where young people from all backgrounds get to know, tolerate and value each other.
Schools in Finland have a global reputation for quality and performance. Private schools are virtually unknown there. The clincher is that their public schools are properly funded and respected.David Scott, Eltham
Applaud protesting school students
Your correspondent (Letters, 15/8) suggested that parents should be ashamed that their under voting-aged children took part in a protest.
I would be as proud as punch if my children felt so strongly about an issue, affecting the society in which they live, to go out and protest whether they are old enough to vote or not.Julian Guy, Mt Eliza
THE FORUM
Toll cap promise
Re ″Road tolls to be capped at $50 weekly under Coalition commuter plan″, 16/8. The Coalition plan to replicate Sydney’s $50 weekly toll cap in Melbourne is an uninspired piece of policy copying that misunderstands Melbourne’s road transport system.
Sydney’s cap responds to geographic barriers that funnel drivers into unavoidable tollways. Melbourne is fundamentally different. Our road network offers far stronger arterials and freeway alternatives, and toll roads provide convenience rather than essentiality.
Additionally, there are fundamental issues relating to problematic transport engineering and transport economics distortions, coupled with the absurdity of taxpayers subsidising Transurban.Carlo Ursida, Kensington
Toll companies’ benefit
Perhaps it’s unsurprising that the Coalition is pledging to reimburse drivers who use Melbourne’s toll roads up to $3000 per year. Not only will this effectively transfer public money into the coffers of the highly profitable private toll road companies, but it will encourage more drivers to hit the road and away from public transport, thereby increasing traffic congestion and increasing petrol and diesel fuel usage.
Noting the level of donations to the Coalition parties by both the tolling companies and those that sell such liquid fuel, the cynic in me cannot help thinking that this is a factor in the Coalition’s policy.Kevin Bailey, Croydon
A stupid idea
No state Liberal Party, you do not need to spend $90 million a year (that Victoria cannot afford) to subsidise toll road users. If the example of ″office worker from Glen Iris″ in The Age report (16/8) chooses to drive to the CBD instead of spending half the cost of that on a train or tram fare, why should other taxpayers pay for that?
Stupid ideas like that show that you’re really not ready to take the reins in November.Greg Smith, Caulfield South
Culture clutch
My late mother was a third-generation Australian. Her Anglo-Celtic ancestors arrived by boat in the 1850s and became pioneering farmers. Two of her Australian uncles died in France and Belgium during the Great War. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force during WWII where she became a sergeant. Her Australian patriotism could never be questioned. However, even as late as the 1970s, when required to nominate her (and my) nationality on official forms, she wrote ″British Subject″ in firm capital letters. One Nation’s requirement that newly arrived Australians ″adapt to one cultural identity″ may require some patience.Graeme Betts, Shepparton
One-eyed Hughes
Re ″Dave Hughes to campaign for Liberals in Victorian election″, (16/8). While I understand Dave Hughes’ view about Labor’s mistake, I also think he’s being one-eyed about it. Both the Labor and Liberal parties are fearful of being seen as cowardly in the face of our powerful business and union lobbies.
It’s not just a Labor or Liberal problem. Even the Greens seem to be caught in this. Hence, a good reason to look to independents and non-partisan politicians of which we thankfully do have a few.Teresa Martin-Lim, Brighton
Not funny, Dave
I am dismayed to learn that life-long Labor supporter and talented comedian Dave Hughes has become so disgruntled with Labor policies that he has, not only “flipped” over to the Liberal side of politics, but decided to help open the Liberal state election campaign, for free.
For a so-called, long-time supporter of social democratic values to make such an emphatic statement and perform such a public backflip to embrace the other side does not compute. It is unfathomable, especially as Liberal Party policies are those of yesteryear, formed from its close relationship with multinational mining corporations, big business and developers.
I must say Dave Hughes’ own values espoused over many years now count for nothing and he will be now known as the Mark Latham of comedy.Derek Costello, Belmont
Allan’s achievement
In discussion of whether Jacinta Allan ″leaves the electorate in a better or worse condition than she found it″ (15/8), little mention has been made of what, for my part, is a fine achievement of her government. Victorian Labor has stood above all other state governments for its response to the invitation to Australians made in the gracious and dignified Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.
The statement, so beautifully worded and ″from the heart″ sought constitutional recognition and Voice, Treaty and Truth in order that our ″children walk together in two worlds″.
The First Peoples’ Assembly (2019) is the voice, representing the Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in negotiations with the Victorian government. The Yoorook Justice Commission heard heartfelt truths from both Indigenous and settlers about the consequences of colonisation. These two laid the groundwork for Treaty (2025), the first between an Australian government and First Peoples.
Anyone who has paid close attention to these steps would surely be impressed by the quiet, patient, exemplary democratic processes that have characterised negotiations on the parts of all involved. Leaders of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Commissioners of Yoorook Justice Commission, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Natalie Hutchins and Jacinta Allan deserve the thanks of all for leading us towards a richer and reconciled future.Prue Gill, North Carlton
Too much trivia
Who the heck is this podcaster Nikki Osborne who seems hell-bent on throwing our PM under a bus? Let’s get back to the serious press who want to discuss policy. Enough with the trivia.Wendy Baker, Lilydale
Ley not disingenuous
Your correspondent (Letters, 16/8) comments that Sussan Ley’s Greyhound bus trip through America was ″disingenuous″, is a failure to acknowledge that her trip was to observe, to empathise, to listen to the heartbeat of America without judging.
Ley could have sat in plush surroundings in New York conversing with those of her political persuasion. However, in ethnographic style, she immersed herself in the humble world of her fellow travellers – sometimes prisoners, veterans or nuns with minimal possessions; she walked a distance to the bus in the cold; she travelled light; as a sole woman she went into bars; at times she experienced loneliness.
Her trip encapsulated the ethnographer’s role, to understand the other from their point of view, from their experience of getting through the day. That’s not disingenuous.David Hickey, Heidelberg
Republic question
Is it time that we, as a proud nation, restarted debate surrounding the ‘R’ word? Surely, we are mature enough to stand on our own feet and have a head of state elected from within our own people and with our own interests at the forefront of all decisions.Ken O’Brien, Mentone
Legal system adapts
Re ″A man lied about paying this worker for sex. He is now going to jail for rape”, 16/8). Put to the legal test – Victorian affirmative consent law reforms introduced in July 2023 has confirmed that there is no delineation of the core principle of ″informed consent″ based on vocation and gender.
That the same legal system that once criminalised sex workers for their job has produced the aforementioned ruling is positive progress in another important way. The delineation of labelling a woman a ″damned whores or God’s police″ (a bad or good woman) as a justification to abuse her, is no longer plausible or socially and morally acceptable.
So, bravo to the judiciary for drawing a clear line in the sand whereby any person who “makes false or misleading representations to induce consent” – whether from a sex worker or not – will be said to have committed a “serious violation of bodily autonomy” (ie a basic human right) and will be punished accordingly.Jelena Rosic, Mornington
Flanagan’s comments
Following controversies, including regarding this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week, Richard Flanagan (″Lunch with ...″ 15/8) criticises the widely adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
It should be pointed out that in her remarks at the commencement of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Commissioner Virginia Bell stated that the commission would apply the IHRA definition, stating that its critics overlook that it does allow for criticism of the policies of the Israeli government, and that it requires consideration of ″the overall context in which conduct occurs before making any determination that the conduct is antisemitic″.Geoff Feren, St Kilda East
Hornet’s nest
Pedants cop a lot of flak for their interventions, but I suppose somebody has to police our language. Your Letters correspondent, (16/8) admonishes Nikki Barrowclough for apparently confusing style with grammar. He states that she is reacting to ″a trend″ that many find disagreeable. He then adds that ″none seem to be ungrammatical″.
But as ″none]″ is a contraction of’ ″no one″, and as he has made ″trend″ the subject, according to the subject-verb-agreement rule, he should have written ″none seems″. Or is that being too pedantic?Owen Hugh, Kensington
AND ANOTHER THING
Politics
Re ″Coalition pledges to cap Melbourne’s road tolls at $50 per week″ 16/8. Motorists to be subsidised by taxpayers to use Melbourne’s profitable privately operated toll ways. The $90 million could be better used to fill in potholes on public country roads.Jim McLeod, Sale
Re ″Dave Hughes to campaign for Liberals in Victorian election″, 16/8. Is there anybody who actually cares what Dave Hughes thinks?Keith Fletcher, Glenlyon
Dave Hughes, a comedian? Jess Wilson and the clown!Peter O’Brien, Newport
Let’s put Andrew Bragg into one of his recommended, substandard houses for six months in the height of hot summer and see if he has the same opinion regarding solving the housing crisis. (″Taylor rebukes Coalition frontbencher after Bragg goes rogue on housing, migration, tax″, 14/8).Doug Springall, Yarragon
It was great to see so many young folk protesting against Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Bravo, students.Merle Mitchell, Mt Eliza
Furthermore
There should be weekly rubbish removals across the state. The reason is to avoid health hazards. It is appalling that some councils do not collect garbage weekly. It should be legally required to do so.Doris LeRoy, Altona
Re your correspondent’s question (Letters, 14/8) ″Would you be able to understand the reports if Shakespeare was reading the news on television?″.
I would love to hear Shakespeare reading the news, but it would mean putting up with Pauline Hanson saying ″Please explain″ at the end of each line.Claude Miller, Castlemaine
Finally
It’s refreshing to hear one of my artistic heroes saying out loud what has become totally evident to me: our fascination with cancelling and self-censoring our discourse on big issues stifles discussion of the human condition in all its forms. Thank you, Richard Flanagan (″Lunch with″, 15/8).Rupert Steiner, Balnarring Beach
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