Guilty politicians looking everywhere except within

It is ironic that those politicians who have deliberately and carefully dog-whistled the racist vote ever since the Tampa affair should suddenly throw up their arms in shock and horror at the emergence of violent, fascist, racist groups, the development of which they themselves have been partly responsible.

John Uren, Blackburn

Anning does not merit all the media attention

The accidental Senator Fraser Anning is doing his best and succeeding at attracting media attention and uplifting his profile. His latest stunt is no doubt an attempt to improve his dire prospects at the next election. Why does the media continue to give a huge platform to such divisive fringe voices? He in no way represents mainstream Australians, who reject racism and bigotry. After all, he got only 19 votes at the last election.

Khizar Rana, Walkerville, SA

It's impossible to try to control people's opinions

While I agree with much of Samantha Ratnam's article (Comment, 8/1), I think she overlooks recent developments. John Howard fuelled a recurrence of racial intolerance; however, since that time, we've fallen under a spell of intolerant inclusionism, much of it imported from the US. Buzz phrases like People of Colour and Check Your Privilege from a country that is really quite different to here; demands that we be inclusive of anything and everything without explaining what that means or why we should do so without question; people being hounded out of careers for daring to express divergent social opinions.

Most Australians have long resisted being told how to think. Most reject attention-seeking racist clowns just as they reject the progressive thought police. Most reckon you're still entitled to your opinion no matter how dumb.

Like it or not you'll never convince everyone about something. There'll always be some racists, opponents to gay marriage, climate deniers and so on. How about we embrace our freedom to think what we like while respecting the need to live and let live?

Mark Freeman, Macleod

Bring on the laughter to humiliate the moronic bunch

If there are any "real" neo-Nazis out there (or even some old ones), could they please contact these morons who are goose-stepping about in the manner of Basil Fawlty in "The Germans" episode of Fawlty Towers? They are really calling into disrepute the whole ethos of this long-discredited monstrous bunch of murderous bastards.

Am I being too harsh? I think not, as long ago Charlie Chaplin and Mel Brooks showed how to deal with these deluded fools. Comedy is the answer, as the one thing they can't stand is being laughed at.

John Paine, Kew East

Melburnians should unite to keep these thugs away

Like Kathryn Richards (Letters, 7/1), I too am a long-term St Kilda resident. I did not know the rally was on or I would have been there expressing my opinion about racism.

I agree with her that these people will not be tolerated by us. St Kilda is a very special place and the people who live here will not allow these people to defile our home. Everyone in Melbourne needs to stand up to these thugs and not allow them to gain any foothold in our city.

Joan Campbell, St Kilda

THE FORUM

The weight of numbers

When I read the comments in recent articles about the St Kilda foreshore troubles, I am shocked by how many comments criticise the "left-wing radicals" for seeking a confrontation by showing up at the same time and place. This false equivalency is aided by the about equal numbers on both sides.

If our community is made of the right stuff, we should be able to organise a much more massive counter force, outnumbering the thugs 10:1 or better. Then we can, without bloodshed or police, walk them gently into the sea and keep them there until they cool off and get the message.

Ralph Bohmer, St Kilda West

Doin' it for themselves

Emma Husar ("How not to treat women MPs", Comment, 7/1) provides plenty of evidence to confirm my long-held suspicion that the only "game" politics resembles is a mug's game.

We've seen too many examples of competent, resourceful and well-intentioned women in the political arena struggling under the weight of male superiority, entitlement and pettiness – and perhaps also male jealousy?

The only conclusion I can reach is that maybe women should use their independence to form their own party and do things by themselves to represent other women. They'd be sure to attract strong support. Perhaps then the men in the entrenched power structures out there might sit up and listen.

Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale

Time to call in the debt

A plea has been made for corporations to help fund the Australian Institute of Sport to keep on top in world sport.

Bill Shorten and his Labor friends are looking to significantly increase taxation if elected. They should look no further than the AIS, which is predominantly funded by the government and trains professional sports people, tennis players, golfers and many more. But unlike university fees, these sportspeople do not have to pay back their "education" costs. Some of them earn large amounts of money and it is about time the government forced them to pay back to the government.

Don Cameron, Brighton East

Even the playing field

I have a suggestion for Cricket Australia that they introduce a system to make Test matches more even.

We would still have the toss of the coin for the first Test, then the loser of that match has the choice in the second Test whether to bat or bowl first. If the first Test is a draw, then a toss is required for the second.

As it is currently, whoever wins the toss generally has a huge advantage over their opponents. It would have been interesting see how the Australians would have performed in the last Test if they had batted first.

It comes back to the old practice used in many sports of "mugs away".

David Bond, Portarlington

Travesty of trash

Over Christmas I had the misfortune to walk a section of the Great Ocean Road from St Bernards College back to the memorial gates at the start of the road and the rubbish that I was confronted with defied description. Paper, plastic bottles, nappies, glass, ice pipes, discarded steel and, the piece de resistance, six 20-litre oil drums thrown down a gully ready to to washed into a creek and out to sea.

I can see why the brave people of Apollo Bay have had enough (The Age, 7/1.) The traffic and total lack of respect for one of our greatest natural assets will turn it into another overpopulated rubbish dump that the selfie stick wavers can tick off the list. God help us.

Alan Lehmann, Beulah

Barely a pass mark

I don't know if changing the ATAR admission standard for teaching to the top 30 per cent will improve the prestige of the teaching profession, but what I do know is that the admission standard for the political class is closer to the bottom 30 per cent for integrity, inspiration and worldly life experiences.

Paul Miller, Box Hill South

Rare mix of skills required

I admire Tanya Plibersek, but I can't support her wanting to choose teachers from the top 30 per cent of high school graduates. I speak as an abysmal teacher who had very high VCE results.

What do teachers need? People skills: they teach children not just subjects. This means all children: the good natured, the beautiful, the mean natured and the ugly.

Excellent record-keeping skills: your average teacher assesses the skills of up to 400 students each week.

The hide of a rhinoceros: students can and often do make snide remarks.

Super-sensitivity to winkle out abuse or bullying in their classes.

Understanding of diversity: an Australian teacher might be faced with 14 or 15 language groups in one classroom with skills ranging from those who had never seen an electrical switch to those who speak in verse in a few languages.

In my last year in a Department of Education and Training school, one of the students appeared at lunchtime wielding a machete. The teacher on yard duty coped. Show me how a high ATAR score helped him to cope, Ms Plibersek, and I might change my mind.

Hinda Rosen, Elwood

In death, signs of life

In a recent media release from Marshall Perron, who introduced the first voluntary assisted dying legislation in Australia in 1995, it was stated that "parliamentarians traditionally shy away from supporting voluntary assisted dying (VAD), believing it is politically toxic to do so. Victoria, under the Andrews government, has changed all that by showing the opposite to be true."

The two most vocal parliamentarians who opposed VAD in Victoria, Robert Clarke and Inga Peulich, both lost their seats in the recent election. This is not surprising as we know from many surveys that 80-85 per cent of voters want VAD legalised.

As Marshall Perron points out, "Candidates can increasingly expect to lose support when they ignore the wishes of the voters they seek to represent." They are elected to represent the views of their electorate, not their own views, regardless of what their conscience tells them.

This is an important lesson for our federal representatives as well as politicians in other states.

Harley Powell, Elsternwick

Affront to sane choice

While the government and doctors applaud themselves for the forthcoming introduction of voluntary assisted dying in Victoria, my thoughts are with those Victorians who do not meet the criteria of these absurdly restrictive laws.

The countless thousands of intelligent, sane adults whose medical conditions force them to endure intolerable suffering, and who wish to decide their time of death and seek assistance to do so, will be denied that assistance if their condition is not considered to be terminal within six months.

The cruel irony is that while we are confronted daily with the growing suicide statistics, many desperate people seeking voluntary assisted dying are being forced to take their own lives by being denied a satisfactory alternative.

I anticipate that as the full implications of these laws are realised more broadly the suicide rate could very likely rise further. Shame on those lawmakers who do not respect the fact that intelligent and sane adults are the only ones who have the self-knowledge and right to decide for themselves, if and when to end their lives, if they choose to do so.

Jennifer Joseph, South Yarra

Sobering food for thought

The next time any of us in this country feel the urge to have a whinge about some trivial issue, we should read and reflect on Michael Bachelard's article ("The Undesired: Syria's Children", 5/1).

Neil McDonald, Berwick

Don't duck the issue

As concerned Victorians await the Andrews decision on a 2019 duck shooting season, Jo Wilkinson (Comment, 7/1) outlines precisely why it must not occur.

The Game Management Authority has failed in regulating shooters and cannot be relied on and affected rural communities are desperate for economic stimulus that does not "trash" their natural assets.

Good on James Newbury for having the courage to speak out against this brutal and destructive practice. For contrary to Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie, there is nothing "lovely" about duck shooting. As detailed in the eyewitness account, it is a violent and unregulated activity that panders to a tiny proportion of Victorians and costs us millions of dollars.

In the face of record-breaking drought, lack of breeding and long-term decline of bird numbers, any announcement of a 2019 season would be outrageous and highly irresponsible.

Kim Stacey, Black Rock

Transgressors on a long list

John Higgins feels we should boycott Thailand as a result of some recent actions. I wonder if he could tell us which countries we could visit with a clear conscience (thinking of human rights, environmental issues, animal welfare, etc). Australia, I am sure, would not be on that list.

Dave Torr, Werribee

Telling a sad storey

Too many inner-city streets are no longer pedestrian friendly. This includes my own neighbourhood.

Oversized apartment developments are robbing our inner suburbs of their safety as well as their charm, warmth and viability. Our delightfully eclectic mix of shops and friendly shopkeepers is being replaced with bleak sets of windows, darkened and formidable, or completely covered by supermarket, liquor, pharmacy and real estate ads. I'm told there are residents above. Do we care what happens on either side of those windows even if we could see through them?

Please, Planning Minister Wynne, it is vital we retain a sense of place as we negotiate with those who simply see value in bricks and mortar. The idea of neighbourhood-friendly, four-storey developments is a promising start.

Susan Mahar, Fitzroy North

AND ANOTHER THING

Deck the footpaths ...

'Tis the season to grow dead Christmas trees on nature strips. An Australian suburban landscape phenomenon.

John Higgins, Hawthorn

But we knew that

I congratulate Fraser Anning for confirming what everyone in Australia – apart from himself and 19 other people in Queensland – already knew!

Eric Kennelly, Ballarat Central

When Fraser Anning says "people have had enough", I assume he means enough of him.

Brandon Mack, Deepdene

Well done, India

India have won a famous Test victory in Australia and, while celebrating, not a champagne bottle or frothy in sight. Classy.

Neil McMillan, Point Cook

Unhappily, we lost the cricket series – but we tried, and lost to a better team who won fair and square. I'd rather an honourable loss than a dishonourable win any day.

Laurie Warfe, Mount Eliza

A change of pace?

The SBS program Slow Summer featuring the slo-mo crossing of Australia by the Indian Pacific rail train was great viewing recently. Why can't we have this on every time the cricket is on.

Paul Gearing, Moonee Ponds

Well, that figures

Peter Dutton can't seem to be able to count either his number of supporters in the Liberal Party or the number of countries Neil Prakash is a citizen of.

Kishor Dabke, Mount Waverley

Fresh targets

Shooters should move their sights away from ducks to Victoria's burgeoning feral animal population and do our remaining native animal population a favour.

Fred Langenhorst, Castlemaine

Tooth be told

Karl Quinn can't swallow the choice of Bohemian Rhapsody for best film and actor (Comment, 8/1). Maybe it's he who needs some dentistry.

Glenda Johnston, Queenscliff