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We’re not there yet

Stuart Robert, the government minister who called some public school teachers “duds”, is also the person responsible for vetoing research grants in Australia (“A sorry specimen”, Extra, The Sunday Age, 20/3).

No wonder Professor Mark Dawson, a director of research translation at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre says: “I have never been in a research environment that is more desperate, more despondent and feeling more isolated and ignored.”

It appears we have definitely not realised Bob Hawke’s ambition to be the “clever country”.
Pat Anderson, Airport West

A question for the ALP
Here we go, a federal election is approaching and it looks like Labor may have a chance.

Naturally, the moron attachment of the Labor Party wants to have as many public fights as possible.

A question to be asked of them is do they think it will help for the Coalition to enjoy another term as a result, with all the consequences to the environment, continued economic inequality and rorting of hundreds of millions of dollars of our money?
Carmel Boyle, Alfredton

This is an old battle
When I began teaching reading 71 years ago, the battle between phonics v whole-word methods raged as vehemently as it does today (“Dud teachers? Lack of phonics the issue”, Opinion, 22/3).

Both factions continue to ignore basic facts: English is a notoriously non-phonetic language, full of pitfalls, and, reading is an art, not simply of decoding words, but of conveying meaning.

Both strategies, therefore, must go hand-in-hand, but it is important that they be couched in contexts of significance to the learner. Literacy is an astounding human accomplishment of written communication and storytelling. We owe it to our students to experience its joys as they are learning to read.
Rose Marie Crowe, McKinnon

This lifts all of us
I agree with your correspondent’s comments (“Please forgive me”, Letters, 25/3). I am a Liberal voter and also support government funding of housing, across all suburbs of Melbourne (and Australia).

This is imperative now, more than ever, given the steep property price hikes over the past 20 years and population growth. A home (like health, education and food) is essential to a person’s wellbeing and dignity.
Government-funded housing is needed for a range of people, from young to old, sick, disabled and healthy and those running from trauma. All of them will be in financial trouble, which may not be of their doing, and need help.

Spreading housing across all suburbs lifts all of us up. Secure homes give anyone who has suffered adversity the opportunity to live closer to existing support networks (people in Bayside communities can and do become homeless), inspire dreams for greater achievement, enable the young to become productive and integral citizens and will give peace and security to those who are old, disabled or sick.
Cheryll Thelan, Sandringham

Common sense at last
Finally. there is some common sense on refugees (“Jacqui Lambie says she made secret deal with PM to get refugees to NZ”, online, The Age, 24/3).

The two questions this development raises are why did the Prime Minister lie at the time and say there was “no deal” and why did it take the Coalition nine years to say yes to New Zealand when their offer was an obvious, humane solution?

I suspect the positive reception to the teal independents running in vulnerable Liberal seats helped focus the government’s attention on the need to deal with the refugee “issue”. How wonderful to see even before any of them are elected, these smart, educated, mainly female candidates are having such a positive influence on important issues. Imagine what they could do if they are elected.
Matilda Bowra, Fitzroy North

A one-eyed policy
We get agitated when China seeks a foothold in the Solomon Islands but fail to understand China’s determination not to allow a Western presence anywhere near the Spratly Islands, a similar distance off their coast.

It is this kind of monocular foreign policy that causes suspicion about our judgment on foreign policy issues.
Tony Haydon, Springvale

A glaring omission
The glaring omission in your article “Teachers ‘key to fixing classroom disruption’”⁣⁣ (The Age, 24/3) is that no mention is made of the most influential factor in a young person’s behaviour, and that is the home environment and parenting practices.

Many sometimes struggle with the latter, and for this reason it is important to note that the federal government has recently released the National Children’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

It includes provision of evidence-based parent education and skills training available to all, including from the earliest life stages.

This initiative is clearly helpful in relation to classroom behaviour, given that parents/carers play a key role in shaping how youngsters present themselves to others.
Name withheld

Sublime to obscene
Plaudits to Kylie Northover (“Happily lost in the city of Atlanta”, Spectrum, 26/3) for highlighting the return of the series Atlanta. More than comedy, always thought-provoking, the work of Donald Glover and his collaborators has been a stimulant for those who fell with delight in step with its rhythms and diversions.

And from the sublime to the obscene: shooting ducks a sport? Did we navigate the hurdles of virus and accompanying restrictions to celebrate by blasting birds that don’t shoot back? Stop it now.
Ken Williams, Richmond

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