Credit: Illustration: Andrew Dyson

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THE VOICE

The Coalition’s failure to commit to bipartisanship

The Coalition continues to be a naysayer on important issues for our nation. This follows a decade of an indolent government incapable of formulating a meaningful policy agenda. A commitment to bipartisanship on the referendum particularly with regard to the Voice to parliament is seemingly beyond the Coalition despite extensive consultation and recommendations from the people most impacted by this change to our Constitution.

Our First Nations Peoples deserve recognition and, importantly, involvement in approaches that will address the abysmal health and social outcomes that beset them. Now a respected member of the Liberal Party, Ken Wyatt, has resigned (The Age, 7/4) and if recent history is any indication, the future of the party seems set for the political graveyard. Now that is an unfortunate outcome for our democracy.
Anne Lyon, Camberwell

Plan will set communities against each other

A great editorial – “Peter Dutton’s opposition to the Voice flawed and divisive” (The Age, 7/4). What is he afraid of? He claims the government’s proposal is divisive, yet argues for a vague system of local and regional representation, which if implemented, would set different communities against one another as they compete for limited resources and a say in matters that concern them.

This is a retrograde step that will ensure the status quo is maintained. A divided voice is not a voice. The government is responsible for two of the most critical policy areas affecting Indigenous Australians – health and education. They have the right to the Voice and it needs to be heard at the highest level of government, not dissipated at a local and regional level.
Dianne Siemon, Hawthorn East

Selective questioning about what is ’legal’

Peter Dutton and his Coalition MPs are so fretful and concerned about the legality of the Voice and its possible negative impact on Australians that they have said “no”. It is a pity they did not turn their minds to such issues when they unleashed the robo-debt scheme and let it run riot for years.
Martin Klavins, Crafers West, SA

Liberals’ default response is always to say ’no’

Of course the Liberals have said “no”. It is totally on brand for a party whose nine years in power was defined by doing nothing and knee-jerk opposition to positive action on climate change, tax reform, affordable housing, funding for science and the arts, environmental protection, infrastructure renewal (pork barrelling excepted) compassion, empathy and inclusion.
Peter Rushen, Carnegie

It’s time for Australians to vote Yes at referendum

Surely it is time for Australians to ensure fairness underpins our future decisions. We know that the rights and wellbeing of First Australians have been compromised since European settlement. We know that inclusion of a Voice to parliament is a step in the right direction. However, I think we all know there is a presumption that business as usual is the most comfortable way forward. Having allowed the Uluru Statement from the Heart to be so rudely dismissed, let us take the opportunity to wholeheartedly support the Yes vote.
Rosalind Byass, Stawell

THE FORUM

Yet more bureaucracy

Peter Dutton is to be congratulated in his opposition to the Voice. He has discussed the issue widely and sought opinions from recognised Indigenous people such as Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Furthermore, it has been pointed out that we already have a separate government body, the National Indigenous Australians Agency, operating specifically to look after the interests of Aboriginal people. It has about 1300 employees with half being Aboriginal. Dutton realises that we don’t need yet another bureaucratic organisation.
Barrie Dempster, Balwyn

Surely symbolic too

Now that both parties in the Coalition have dismissed the Voice as a symbolic gesture that will do nothing to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians (plus waste a lot of money), I presume they will campaign against the monarchy in any of the future debates on the republic.
Jeanette Cameron, Blackburn

Neither yes nor no

Your correspondent (Letters, 7/4) says many people do not know what they are voting for in the referendum and will vote No. That assumes you know what you are voting against. If you do not know, then submit a blank vote.
Barbara Trauer, Northcote

How do they know me?

This week I received a long email from “Peter Dutton, Liberal Party”, attempting to explain his/its opposition to the Voice. I thought it strange and disturbing that as a person who has never had any connection with that party, my details should be on its mailing list. I would like to know why and how was I targeted.
Trevor Westmore, St Kilda

Why opposition matters

Once, not long ago, opposition was the alternative government; a political party not in power but offering a suite of policies for the electorate to consider at the next election and providing a check and balance on the government.

What do we have now? A rag-tag collection of self-interested individuals who want to hark back to the “glory” days of the Robert Menzies era, and who appear to have no appreciation or understanding of modern Australia. Many people on the left will rejoice in wall-to-wall Labor governments statewide, but many will realise an effective opposition is paramount to the health of our democracy.
Hans Pieterse, Narre Warren North

Listen to the people

Peter Dutton does not seem to have noticed the disdain Australians have expressed for the Liberals in recent federal, state and byelections. His opposition to the Voice shows his continuing lack of understanding of Australians.
Gretel Lamont, Aireys Inlet

Towards clean energy

Santos wants Australia’s public purse to subsidise its carbon capture and storage projects – “Australia is lagging on carbon traps” (Business, 7/4). CEO Kevin Gallagher even cites the head of the International Energy Agency to argue that “reaching net zero goals without CCS will be almost impossible”.

A more compelling statement from the IEA is that there must be no new fossil fuel projects if our planet has any chance of staying within 1.5degrees of global warming. Our public money should be spent in support of the rapid, clean energy transition our planet needs, not on carbon capture and storage projects that are unproven or have failed over decades.
Julia Croatto, Kew

A man of true courage

Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump’s vice-president Mike Pence (Letters, 6/4), do remember his amazing courage in formally announcing that Trump had lost the 2020 election, even while the vandals were storming the Capitol and looking for Pence to hang him.
Mara Hayler, Darley

A very insignificant issue

I am flabbergasted by Matthew Bach’s contribution to education discourse – “Positive Education is driving away teachers and sending students backwards” (Comment, 6/4).

There is no doubt Positive Education is a valid subject for debate. But for Victoria’s shadow education minister to suggest this is a first-order issue is beyond understanding.

I talk to teachers across the state daily, and of all the many challenges they report, I have yet to hear this mentioned once. Bach is out of touch with the overbearing stress teachers face, and his piece smacks of culture wars rather than any considered attempt to improve the quality of education in Victoria.
Chris Curnow, Mordialloc

Good sense from Bach

So who is Matthew Bach? An educated, intelligent sensible member of parliament? A Liberal I could even consider voting for, well maybe.
Jamie Pearce, Port Melbourne

Condemning our faith

I was saddened to read Matthew Bach’s article. The comment that Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking, is “rubbish” would appear to condemn the Christian faith. The book is based on Christian teachings.
Merrilyn Beeny, Kew

Heed employees’ needs

Most adults would agree that diversity in the workplace is positive, but the last 10years have proven that hiring processes are much slower to catch up.

Nowhere is this employment gap more evident than in the relatively invisible community of neurodiversity. The neurodiverse experience varies widely, but most struggles arise in striving for neurotypical standards using neurodivergent-unfriendly methods.

Unfortunately, a long history of misinformation and demonisation has rendered workplaces unintentionally hostile to reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse brains, usually due to misinterpretation of our actions. The first step, as always, is to listen to employees’ needs, and be open to communication.
Laura Blakeley, Hawthorn

Inconsistent standards

Dr Andrew Watkins (Letters, 4/4) argues for patients to be permitted to exercise their conscientious choice when requesting assisted dying. But in the next breath he advocates depriving “institutions and individuals” of their conscientious choice not to participate. Double standard.
Dr Caroline Miley, Heidelberg

The joy of gardening

Megan Backhouse invites us to join her in a beautiful reflection of the recent Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (Life, 7/4). As a lover of all things quirky and bright, I agree, the show’s installation of sunflowers, amaranth, fig branches and other flowers woven into the bright yellow milk crates was brilliant in colour and imagination. A visual invitation to release our creative juices. Aspiring garden lovers can create something simply gorgeous without needing to have a lot of space, money, or gardening experience. Go, gardeners.
Isabelle Henry, Ascot Vale

High cost of garden show

The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is over and the public are no longer denied free access to the southern half of the gardens. All traces of the event have gone with the notable exception of the damage to the park.

Readers might care to take a walk around and through the southern section to see the legacy of this event. While the lawns will repair in due course, that recovery will take months, not weeks. And not without considerable effort and expense.

The City of Melbourne has advised me that the event organisers pay it a very large amount of money after each annual show to repair the gardens. This alone is solid evidence of the great damage done. Is this an acceptable use of the World Heritage Carlton Gardens? Surely a more suitable venue for this successful and popular event can be found.
Leslie Kilmartin, Carlton

AND ANOTHER THING

Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding

Politics

Peter Dutton is single-handedly digging the Liberal Party’s grave.
Grace Carter, North Fitzroy

The only hope for a Liberal return to power would be for Albanese to do a Whitlam.
Ray Way, Blackburn South

Bridget Archer, the next leader of the Liberals.
Gillian Upton, Balaclava

Dutton’s vocabulary needs to extend further than “nope, nope, nope”.
Annie Wilson, Inverloch

Is Dutton trying to capitalise on the Aston result? If so, he’s doing a really good job.
Barry Kranz, Mount Clear

The Liberal Party: the turkey that died in Aston just turned rancid.
Michael Tate, Geelong West

The Voice is not dead; the Liberal Party is dead.
Sue Bradshaw, Fitzroy

After listening to Dutton, I’ve finally made up my mind. I’ll be voting Yes.
Maria Prendergast, Kew

Peter Dutton has got it wrong. This isn’t “a Voice from Canberra”. This is a “Voice to Canberra”.
Ian Brain, Ballarat

It’s a good thing Dutton wasn’t around to overthink the signing of the Magna Carta.
Pamela Lloyd, West Brunswick

I’m a proud Liberal and, despite the disappointing loss in Aston, I support Dutton and urge others to do the same.
Diana Goetz, Mornington

The splashing that can be heard is the sound of people jumping off the sinking ship.
Cor Lenghaus, Armstrong

So Dutton and other white MPs know better than the Aboriginal authors of the Voice what is in their best interests? Plus ca change …
Meryl Taylor, Beaumaris

Trump

I’d be happy to contribute to fund the prosecution of Trump. Or maybe we could just pay him to get out of our lives.
John Lippmann, Canterbury

Donald Trump isn’t the messiah (7/4). He’s just a very naughty boy.
Jason McCutcheon, Malvern East

MAGA: Make America Go Away.
Barry Greer, Balnarring

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