LANGUAGE: Adding injury to insult demeans to the end

On the strength of that argument let me make another true statement. "Men are self-centred fools", although many, many are not. It's a pity therefore that so many of that few to whom the statement is true end up in Canberra.

Jim Dargie, Traralgon

Regressing into childhood

We seem to be living in an age of arrested development. It's not just celebrity culture and brain-cell-killing reality TV, but adults have also begun speaking as if they're addressing children or are children themselves.

Whether you're more familiar with Dr Zhivago or Dr Doolittle, you'd know that the academic or courtesy title "doctor" is used with a surname. Just as the Prime Minister isn't Mr Malcolm, a doctor or vet isn't Dr Emma, unless perhaps you're speaking to a small child.

It appears not to bother anyone else, but the usage sets my teeth on edge. Similarly, we seem largely to have abandoned adult terminology such as mother and father, using instead the children's words mum and dad, even in serious reporting by reputable media. Because he was an adult, Graham Greene didn't write Travels with my Auntie, and we do still have Mother's Day rather than Mummy's Day; so please could we drop the cutesy infantile language?

Christine Duncan, Surrey Hills

MPs, please be respectful

I am appalled by the language and attitude of Senator David Leyonhjelm towards Sarah Hanson-Young. I think it is way beyond time that Parliament had a decent code of conduct and respectful language. No company or organisation would allow such bullying and offensive language to be used. I'd like to see some respect for all instead of this nasty bearpit approach.

Judy Bell Brunswick

Leyonhjelm's words can't be condoned

Nothing condones David Leyonhjelm's offensive language and insulting powermongering in the Senate or elsewhere. I am paying his wages, and he needs to lift his game or get out.

Julie Satur, Somerville

The oik, sighted on the letters page

Just when I was despairing that our use of the English language was descending into colourless dross, along comes "feckless oik" (Letters, 5/7). Thank you Russell Brown, you made my day.

Jane Ross, San Remo

Ex-footballers, take a punt on grammar

It's fine having ex-footballers comment on our great game, but could they be given a crash course in English? A few examples: "The better team won on the day" not "the best team won on the day", "They need to move the ball quick" becomes "they need to move the ball quickly", (indeed a lesson in adverb usage in general would not go astray), "They stripped the ball off him" should be "they stripped the ball from him".

Then there is the dropping of "aitches". For example "arf time". This may all sound a bit petty but calling on radio and television is a privilege so please don't butcher the English language.

Noel Butterfield, Montmorency

FORUM

There must be rehab

So the Richmond drug-injecting rooms expect up to 300 a day to use the facility. Does this not raise flags to people including the government? Minister for Health Martin Foley stated, "It will stop people dying in laneways and stairwells in nearby streets."

There is a much bigger picture here. This is like saying we don't care that drugs are illegal or that people are injecting them, we just don't want you to die a sad lonely death in an alleyway. None of us want that, but I believe if you are going to use this facility as a harm minimisation project then you should also be considering the outcomes of people using it. Where is the rehabilitation opportunity for these addicts?

Are addicts really going to travel to this facility to ensure they are injecting safely? Am I naive or is this a realistic approach to what is being catered here for people to openly inject themselves with drugs. I am for harm minimisation, but I support rehabilitation which is long-term and requires constant support and supervision.

I hardly see this facility as a necessity or priority when we have people who require medical assistance and are unable to receive or access it for many varied reasons, particularly ourelderly.

Tania Maxwell, Wangaratta

Give it a chance

How can anyone respect an opposition that will not even give a supervised drug facility a chance? Drug addiction is a very real health issue. We must try all options. Just because the Richmond facility is near a school is no reason for rejecting it. It's a much better option than behind the shelter shed.

Father Graham Reynolds, Ballarat North

Sheer hypocrisy

Oh, the bitter irony of The Age front-page headline ("China breached our trust: Defence chief", 6/7). What about Australia's breach of trust of the fledgling government of Timor Leste in 2004 by bugging its government discussions on oil and gas reserves in the Timor Gap in order to rob them of what was rightfully theirs?

Such hypocrisy.

And then, under one of many new disturbing laws, the Intelligence Services Act, they charge those who were brave enough to expose their deceit and dishonesty.

Our government has stooped to new lows that we should all be extremely worried about and railing against.

Margaret Edwards, Berwick

Recycling woes, 1

I agree with Jill Dumsday's (Letters, 7/7) observations on the multiplicity of plastics being a huge problem for recycling companies (not to mention the food contamination they put up with from twit residents).

Recently I noticed that the medicine packaging that I was about to put in my recycling bin was actually coated with plastic, despite the contents being individually foil-wrapped. Do pharmaceutical companies really think consumers need shiny bling packaging on medications?

And how on earth does this style of packaging help the environment?

Elaine O'Shannessy, Wandin North

Recycling woes, 2

As much as we all support recycling plastics, this might be easier said than done. For example, my 125ml compact protein drink has four different types of plastics that would need to be separated and placed in different bags. The container is a hard plastic, the straw and its wrapper are two more different plastics, and the components of the lid would need to be separated with the tin foil inside the lid being placed in the rubbish bin.

This is a great challenge for me, as an elderly citizen, with arthritic fingers.

In this instance, the manufacturers would need to redesign the whole container to make recycling feasible.

Jenny Siedle, Hawthorn

Political goals

As I walked past two homeless people in Carnegie, I wondered how far the Coalition's pledge of $25 million for football upgrades in Tasmania would go to assist our non-sporting population. What byelection?

Helen Russell, Murrumbeena

Justice denied

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has warned that the state government's policy to increase prison places and extend mandatory detention rather than tackle the root causes of crimes is putting public safety at risk. The only logical purpose of imprisonment is to restrain those who are violent from inflicting harm on themselves or others, while helping them to change their behaviour so they can return to the community.

More than two-thirds of prisoners reoffend within three years of leaving prison. Generations of research show unequivocally that the more severely people are punished, the more violent they become. As it is, we pay $100,000 a year for each prisoner, while the costs of rehabilitation are a fraction of the costs of restorative programs. The Scandinavian countries and New Zealand with their focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment have the lowest recidivism rates in the world. It is arguable that prisons actually create more crime than they prevent, so that both morally and economically, justice reinvestment is an idea whose time has come.

Bryan Long, Balwyn

Night curfews

David Brown (Letters, 7/7) suggests that not walking alone at night would minimise risk. I assume his suggestion is for women. Don't blame the victim. However, another idea is for no men to be out at night. Or perhaps a curfew to prevent anyone from being on the streets after dark.

Gretel Lamont, Aireys Inlet

No understanding

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson's refusal to resign confirms the Catholic Church's lack of understanding of damage to their "brand". He has been found guilty and should have been sacked, not given the chance to resign. The Church's action or lack thereof demonstrates the world in which they inhabit is not the one the rest of us wish to live in. Following his sacking he could make an unfair dismissal claim to the relevant authority, like the rest of us.

Peter Roche, Carlton

Let the Suns shine

In 1925, three expansion clubs joined the Victorian Football League: North Melbourne, Footscray and Hawthorn. It took almost three decades for one of those teams to win the premiership. I wish people would stop bleating that the Gold Coast should leave the competition after only a handful of years without finals. It smacks of pro-Victorian reactionarism. They are a team of kids having a crack and doing their best in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Good on them.

Chris Scholten, Malvern East

Money not well spent

Perhaps the TAC could better spend our money on education regarding the correct use of roundabouts, not littering our freeways (the Eastern Freeway is a disgrace) and bringing back the "Get off the phone" campaign. Rather than telling us how they spent our money on safety barriers, they should realise there is no benefit in spending more money telling us they're there.

There seems to be no money spent on education any more.

Kay Southwell, Balwyn North.

Quality of life

As someone with a severe disability giving back to the community, shouldn't that be enough of a criteria to properly fund disability supports? It has emerged that the NDIA has been flip-flopping over whether people with severe autism should remain on the NDIS. Then comes a government edict that an autism advisory group is needed to better inform them if other reassessment tools are required to properly support these same severely autistic people with high needs.

It seems suspicious and inevitable that these people are being reassessed in order to be booted out of the scheme, thus saving the agency money. Have they given a thought to the actual people involved?

What happens to their dignity, self-esteem and self-worth once their supports are stripped away?

As someone who has remarkably capable and selfless parents who fought doggedly for my quality of life, I now have one of the best care models in the country. Consequently, I now possess all three attributes and have given back to the community through mentoring, journalism, teaching and showing other people with disabilities, that with the right supports, a quality life can still be lived with a severe disability.

Anthony Bartl, Kensington

Accountability, please

All workplaces that I know of have policies that detail consequences for aberrant and unacceptable behaviour of their staff.

In my former job role I reviewed the human resources policies of many organisations and can attest they all had such policies except maybe for one or two. In relation to the fallout of Senator David Leyonhjelm's comments about Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, surely the powers-that-be in Parliament need to consider developing policies that deal appropriately with such matters. There needs to be accountability and known consequences for such behaviour in Parliament just as in other workplaces.

Susan Hayden,Cheltenham

Nice one, Cyril

A freak. A magician. A wizard. He was all of that and more. A true genius with the football. More than that, an honest unassuming man. As a Hawk supporter it's hard to see Cyril Rioli go. But his contribution to the club is enormous. Thanks for the unbelievable memories.

Michael Shaw, Melbourne

Pride in achievement

Rhino poachers eaten by lions. There couldn't be a greater example of poetic justice.

Reg Murray, Glen Iris

AND ANOTHER THING

Refugees

What a wonderful global effort to find and hopefully rescue the trapped children in Thailand. Now for the children Australia imprisons on Nauru.

John Passant, Kambah, ACT

Politics

Why, after 117 years since Federation, is Australia often run as separate "countries", each with different laws and regulations?

Barry Robinson, McCrae

Why does the media report anything Tony Abbott says? Recommending a knighthood for Prince Philip was bad enough. We don't need to get into climate change.

John Brennan, Surrey Hills

Those best suited to power are those least attracted to it.

Cameron Wright, Dromana

"I don't want to rock the boat on climate change," says Tony Abbott. Well get off the boat and back on your bike mate. Please.

Di Donigi, Warragul

Paul Keating's description of the Senate as "unrepresentative swill" has never been more pertinent.

Lynne McLennan, Mt Helen

Malcolm Turnbull, in an attempt at political debate, calls Bill Shorten a liar. Is anyone else tiring of these constant attempts at character assassination?

Jean Tansey, Berwick

Sport

How long do we have to bear tantrums on court followed by arrogant rudeness in press conferences? Just because someone's a talented tennis player. Shameful.

Janine Joseph, Armadale

Another poetic, insightful piece about one champion by another champion, Bob Murphy ("Cyril on song one of the sweetest tunes", 5/7) in a tribute to Cyril Rioli.

Libby Chanter, Glen Waverley

Finally

I can't wrap my garbage in yesterday's Age. My iPad doesn't bend in the middle.

Greg Walsh, Black Rock