EASTER: Redemption dies on the cross of blaming others

Definition that needs acting upon

It is interesting that both the Victorian Liberal parliamentarians who broke the long-trusted convention of "pairing" politicians for humanitarian reasons, are, according to their publicity, "active Christians". What a shame they didn't adhere to Christian principles, especially during the holy Easter week.

Meg Paul, Camberwell

Other religions before Christianity

Dr Stephen Woodcock ("Out of chaos, a code", The Age, 31/3) would be better informed about the Easter cycle if he were to turn his mind to the religious takeover of the ancient pagan religions by the later religion of Christianity, a movement begun in the northern hemisphere where the March equinox is the spring equinox (in the southern hemisphere it's the autumn equinox and not the correct time for resurrection fables.)

The spring equinox represented and celebrated the rebirth of life. Eggs were painted red and given as a symbol of birth. Eostre was the goddess of spring and her familiar was a hare. There's your symbolism of modern Easter. Thus the sacrifice of the pagan fertility god promised the new regrowth of Earth's abundance.

Christianity grabbed at any symbolism and relevant earthly cycles it could get to embed its story into the minds of the people and create a new belief.

Sue Ingleton, Castlemaine

May Smith resurrect his career

Anyone with a heart watching Steve Smith's tearful and genuinely remorseful press conference in Sydney could not help but feel enormous sympathy for the young man whose world has crashed around him. You just wanted to give the boy a hug.

Hopefully he will receive all the emotional and professional support any person in his situation would receive. Cameron Bancroft and David Warner too. Smith can't do much more than to apologise as a way of acknowledging the error of his ways and promise to make amends for his failure of leadership. His road to redemption begins from that point.

This Easter, there has been a chorus of voices crying "crucify him, crucify him". Smith may not rise from his tomb in three days, but he will eventually return after his 12 months ban to earn back his place in the national cricket team. He should be allowed this opportunity.

Nick Toovey, Beaumaris

Even idols are not without fault

It's Easter and we are still crucifying people. No matter how far someone is pushed the expectation is you cannot make a mistake. Be anxious young people, mistakes are not tolerated. Bring back the wooden idols as they will be faultless.

Sharyn Bhalla, Ferntree Gully

FORUM

No excuses

The actions of Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie on Good Friday leave me wondering how they can call themselves followers of Jesus Christ and how they could possibly allow themselves to stoop so low on the day in which Christians commemorate Christ's death.

No matter what excuses Matthew Guy puts forward, the fact remains that those two opposition members betrayed the trust put in them by their electorates, their parliamentary colleagues and the people of Australia as we struggle to come to terms with other similar scandals splashed across our papers over the past week.

As I ponder such behaviour, I realise that such actions surpass anything done by the Australian cricket team. Finn and Ondarchie both hold seats in our democratically elected Parliament, the cricketers were playing a game.

Guy says in his defence the Labor Party would not allow a pairing earlier for Dr Carling-Jenkins, but so what? The hypocrisy of his decision is glaring. Labor allowed a pairing and Guy trashed the agreement. Shame on him.

Margaret Leahy, Woodend

Guy loses trust

Good Friday heralded possibly the most blatant misuse of parliamentary standards in Victoria's history. How can Matthew Guy expect the voters to trust him at the next election?

Michael Higgins, Erica

Outrage, please

So the whole country is up in arms over some men cheating at a ball game. Meanwhile, in our Victorian Parliament, two Liberal party MPs cheat by pretending they have to take religious observance and not be in Parliament and then walk back in to vote down a key piece of legislation. That is really serious cheating. And their leader, Matthew Guy, praises them. Really?

C'mon, Malcolm Turnbull, where is your outrage now? Is cricket more important than Parliament?

Kath McKay, Upwey

Tradition mistreated

What a shabby way to break a tradition of trust. One of the little oddities of Parliament is "pairing" and if one member can't be there an opposite member will not vote. Two Liberal members were paired with two Labor members. The Liberal members returned in time to vote and helped defeat the bill by one vote. A tradition shamed by Matthew Guy and his party.

Peter Johns, Sorrento

Precious market

I am so glad Heritage Victoria listened to all our concerns about the development of the Queen Victoria Market.

I am a third-generation regular shopper and I bring the fourth generation along with me. I completely agree that the charm of the market is its rawness, unpretentiousness, the theatre and the sense of community which no shopping centre could ever have. A lot of the theatre takes place under the trees in the mall that the council would like to replace with a glass house that stylistically has no place there. Yes, in Melbourne replace shade trees with a glass house construction. Really not sure how that is environmentally friendly.

Nobody is denying that the market needs work done. The 7000 people the council interviewed before all of this started prove that the public agree work needs to be done. The council seems to have misunderstood what the traders and public wanted. What is also baffling me is how come Heritage Victoria received a tsunami of reasons not to redevelop the market the way the council recommends and the public's sentiment didn't come out in the initial consultations.

Helen Penglis, Caulfield North

Look to NZ

The grass is greener on the other side – of the Tasman. How refreshing to read of NZ's new PM Jacinda Ardern (Good Weekend, 31/3) tackling poverty, housing affordability and environmental issues, in place of the tax cut favoured by the previous government. She has already increased the minimum wage by 5per cent and made the first year of tertiary education free. While Australia relies on high levels of immigration and housing sales to foreign investors to prop up its lacklustre economy, NZ is clamping down on both, while offering to take refugees from Nauru and Manus.

With homeless now begging in genteel Balwyn, it's unlikely a company tax cut will heal Australia's ills. Australians can support NZ's commendable policies by directing overseas travel dollars towards the land of the long white cloud.

Joan Reilly, Surrey Hills

A good story

Thank you, Henrietta Cook, for an inspiring story ("Enrolling the community", The Age, 31/3). The personal success of Patsy Huggins and her daughter Rose is heartwarming. But the commitment of the Coleman Foundation to supporting parents and kids in disadvantaged schools is magic. The idea of expanding "community hubs" to a further 10 needy schools fills me with optimism.

Susan Mahar, Fitzroy North

What care?

The editorial ("Mentally ill patients deserve better care", 31/3) has highlighted the danger of sexual assault for women in Victoria's public psychiatric wards. When I was an inpatient two years ago, a psychiatrist threatened that if I didn't comply with medication, I would be transferred to a different ward where it would be forced into me.

Could systemic issues of power, control and compliance be contributing to the rate of sexual violence in locked wards?

Name and address supplied

Credence gone

The recent cheating fiasco in Australian cricket drives another nail into the coffin of professional sport. We have seen cheating and drug taking raise its ugly head to the point, that sadly, I no longer give credence to any performance at this level. As a sportsman/woman they hit their "use by date" at a fairly young age so there is a very strong imperative to earn as much as they can before they are "over the hill". Huge pay deals, prizemoney and sponsorship deals are meant to offset the likely brief nature of a sporting "career". Consequently an individual or team is under very great pressure to win. This gives rise to a slippery slide culture of "win at all costs". "Youth" is no excuse – one person embroiled in the current debacle is 31. Most people have come to understand by their teens that cheating is no way to behave. Sport at the local level has a very great part to play in maintaining fitness and playing its part in displaying and developing good social behaviour. Professionals are certainly fit, but some are increasingly falling down as role models for the latter qualities.

Peter Monk, Woodend

What if?

I deeply care about Smith, Warner and Bancroft. I care about their mental health. I want to see them play again. But I must ask, What if the world didn't know what happened and that the public did not see what the cameras exposed. Would our men be gutted and deeply sorry?

Kate Downey, Newtown

Values cheapened

The two Liberal politicians Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie have insulted their professed religion on the holiest day of the Christian calendar by their lies and deception in claiming a pairing and then sneaking back to vote. This dishonest and unethical practice sullies the reputation of the Parliament and cheapens the true values of Christianity. John Pesutto claims the public is "unconcerned". His ignorance and blindness is a contributing reason why the Parliament and his profession slide further into the realms of irrelevance and contempt. The public reaction to the Australian cricket behaviour a week ago in South Africa might suggest John Pesutto's belief that "the ends justify the means" and a "win at all costs" mentality, may not be as fully embraced by the public as he would like to believe.

Stephen Kong, Hawthorn

More than babysitters

Cynthia Fenton's grandmother asks, "Why are we subsiding unqualified and uneducated strangers who have no emotional investment in our children to raise them for us?" in her article ("Childcare strike goes way beyond pay", The Age, 30/3).

As a working mother and educator I wholeheartedly disagree with her sentiments. What a huge, sweeping generalisation and insult to a workforce of (mostly) women who are, a) educated and qualified, b) run quality programs that lay the foundation for future learning, c) provide a level of care that goes well beyond "wiping babies' bums all day". The educators that work at my children's centre are committed to ongoing professional development. They are continuously creating innovative and engaging units and programs.

Fenton is correct in saying this strike goes beyond pay. It's a wider issue of how we view and value education in this country. It's not as simple as reducing these talented and passionate educators to simply young babysitters.

Lauren Hall, Ocean Grove

There was motive

In his defence of Russia, Mark Freeman (Letters, 31/3) claims that there is "no clear or sensible motive" for Russian involvement in the poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. I strongly disagree. In Russia, treason against the Motherland is regarded as the most heinous crime. Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, undoubtedly wanted revenge against Skripal to send a warning to other Russians who might consider similar actions. Also, there was little reason for Putin not to act when he did. Latest reports suggest Putin's popularity has increased as the state-controlled media in Russia blame a Western conspiracy. The World Cup in Russia is the greatest sporting event and the prospects of a boycott are negligible.

Graeme Irwin, Macleod

AND ANOTHER THING

Cricket

Thanks Cricket Australia, Easter will now be remembered for three additional crucifixions.

Ross Coulthard, Glen Iris

Did anyone spot the onion in David Warner's pocket?

Paul Sands, Sunbury

Would wetting the tennis ball in backyard cricket constitute ball tampering? Will refer to Backyard Cricket Australia for ruling.

Jim Harrison, East Doncaster

Spare us the crocodile tears. What the three cricketers really regret is looking like idiots, and losing sponsorships.

Lesley Black, Frankston

You may shine the ball on your pants to make it swing, but rub it on sandpaper to make it swing and the whole world comes down on you. Makes you wonder.

Les Harley, Moonee Ponds

The team talked about "not stepping over the line". The line wasn't where they thought it was.

Anthony Dillon, Brunswick

Politics

What's the penalty for pair-tampering?

Jan Hale, Torquay

Matthew Guy sandpapers off decades of political convention. Cheating I think it's called.

Philip West, Jan Juc

Furthermore

CBA Calabrian Banking Association.

Jon O'Neill, Waurn Ponds

Everyone should be horrified at the use of chemicals to kill people, but many (including Americans) have conveniently forgotten about the use of napalm in the Vietnam War.

David Ginsbourg, East Bentleigh

Ross Gittins ("Land of the unfair go", 28/3) should be compulsory reading for all Australians.

Graeme Grant, Cheltenham

"Police set to be armed with military-style rifles" (29/3). Are we on the slippery slope towards US-style gun laws?

Anne Flanagan, Box Hill North