Judith Crotty, North Dandenong

Where lies sympathy for hapless animal?

The Department of Agriculture (note, Animal Welfare is not part of their name) is itching to resume Middle East live sheep export in the northern summer.

Now that the heat is off it, the department is choosing to ignore reports into the cruelty of it and side with its political and commercial masters.

I can't help thinking of the role of farmers in all this. It seems that their care for their animals ends at the farm gate, at which point, these poor, hapless creatures are offloaded to their cruel fate.

Farmers should also take a stand against the cruelty of it.

Fingers crossed that a Labor government will abide by its promise to end this trade.

Alan Williams, Port Melbourne

Minister, the heat of humanity is on you

Anyone who has seen the live footage of sheep in distress enroute to the Middle East must be appalled at this latest decision to resume the live export trade. It's clear that this is not an election issue when Agriculture Minister David Littleproud continues to ignore public concerns over this iniquitous trade.

Moreover, the proposed new standards of measuring the number of times sheep pant as an indication of distress are farcical and unrealistic. I'd like to see the minister in the full heat of summer without airconditioning, yet he appears to have no qualms about subjecting defenceless animals to heat stress.

Helen Scheller, Benalla

Head 'em up, move 'em on

Does anyone remember David Littleproud's outrage in relation to the horrific vision of sheep having been cooked alive on one of the many voyages to the Middle East? He said, "If they've done wrong, they'll swing, make no mistake."

Well, it's confirmed, he has turned his back on the science (McCarthy Review) and sheep will be exported in May.

It's business as usual.

Lyndi Chapman, Keilor

FORUM

Hearts of humanity

Today, for one uncrowded hour, I stood under a tree keeping watch over those who came to pray at the Albanian Australian mosque in Carlton North.

I stood with friends, some old, mostly new, somewhat unsure whether our presence was appropriate or welcome.

Amid the quietude, a Bangladeshi boy among us held a sign: We are One.

We were acknowledged by the gathering worshippers with shy, surprised waves.

But after prayer, they crossed over to us, smiling, arms outstretched. We had come to say sorry for their grief; they answered with graciousness and generosity. We shook hands like we were in a receiving line at a wedding. We had opened our hearts, one human to another, and soon they were full.

For one uncrowded hour, we were one.

Christobel Begg Botten, Fitzroy North

A Nobel for Ardern

Being in New Zealand these past few days has been a sad but heartwarming experience. The act perpetrated by the bigot whose name we don't say has had the opposite effect to what he intended. It has brought the country together, led of course by the Prime Minister the rest of the world must envy. On television I heard a Muslim leader saying that Jacinda Ardern should receive a Nobel Peace Prize and he ended with the most sincere, "We love her."

Bob Hunter, Hampton

Call it for the crime

Jacinda Ardern shows us that great leadership can completely provide the responses and actions needed for a community and country reeling from the enormity of unspeakable horrors. She also named the recent terrorist act as terrorism and criminal. Too often the word criminal is left out of these heinous actions. Too often the label "terrorist" is seen as a badge of honour by certain parts of our community. These people terrorise by carrying out criminal actions. They are criminals. This needs to be firmly emphasised and named.

Joan Lynn, Williamstown

Freedom is unqualified

I'm puzzled by the editorial ("Time's up for men-only clubs", 17/3). You say that freedom of association is a right, but seem to believe it is one that should not be exercised. So is it a right or not? Perhaps you believe it is only a theoretical right, rather like free speech in China. I believe this is a dangerous argument and that if people genuinely have rights then they should be free to exercise them and not be criticised for doing so.

David Francis, Ivanhoe

Danger on all sides

Ed Husain (Comment, 17/3) opines that "the threat our societies face is so great because it is a twin danger: a deadly combination of far-right fascism and Islamist extremism".

I would, however, add one extra dimension – that of far-left extremism. Irrational hatred of segments of society is not restricted to Islamist extremism and ultra-right-fascism. The uber-left also spreads its own hatred. Nowhere more so than in Husain's homeland, Britain. The adage "Scratch any extremist and one quite often finds a fascist underneath" most certainly applies to all three of these cancers of society.

George Greenberg, Malvern

Sandpaper's rough side

There are some suggestions that Steve Smith could eventually become captain of Australia again. No! The role of captain requires many skills, but it also requires character and honesty.

To suggest his return is to condemn Tim Paine as not being good enough in an apparently urgent need to win. Didn't anyone learn anything from Sandpapergate? The gate to being captain must surely be shut.

It's time to move on and look at the latest players to return our integrity and maybe some victories – honest victories.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill

Counting heads

If 500,000 people use PrEP for HIV prevention worldwide, which has a 99 per cent success rate, it still means it fails on 1 per cent, which is 5000 people.

Alan Inchley, Frankston

Kicking a goal

A train is one thing, but a better bribe for Corangamite and Geelong would be another fast Ablett.

Malcolm McDonald, Burwood

Bury stuff, bury heads

If billions of federal dollars are available for rail upgrades, could I suggest that a more pressing issue might be waste recycling. Burying our stuff in the ground (including heads) is simply not good enough any more.

Greg Whitehouse, East Kew

Chickens to roost

In response to Amanda Vanstone (Comment, 20/3), the major parties have failed their constituents and the rise of independents is a confirmation of the electorate's decision to take control themselves. Liberal, Labor and the Nationals have only themselves to blame, but are unwilling to accept their negligence and culpability and blind stupidity.

Scott Ramsay, Strathdale

Death by singularity

Political necessity requires simplistic slogans to beguile the restless masses. For this reason Jobson Growth was perhaps an inevitable love child of capitalism and Western "civilisation".

The essential problem lies in the fact that continual growth of the kind intended in this slogan requires continual expansion of markets. Consequently we have seen markets grow from the kind that used to occur on the village green to the kinds that now require vast supply chains (and consequent investments) and huge international markets. Increased populations are needed to maintain supply and to absorb the products and services provided. What more could we want?

Well, a few things probably.

Like noticing what continuing this activity means for sustaining life, let's say climate stability, availability of water and food, retention of the natural world. Like sharing equitably the resources the planet provides. Like understanding that, in the end, a single mass culture would be a kind of death in itself.

Lyn Kennedy, Wesburn

'Sport' shot to pieces

How long will Victoria's taxpayer dollars be squandered on propping up recreational duck shooting? It is a lose, lose, lose for Victoria, firstly through the pointless death of tens of thousands of native waterbirds, already struggling for survival due to drought. It is a loss of sustainable economic tourism for regional communities in need of economic uplift. And it is a loss and appalling waste of money that all Victorians are propping up the diminishing number of diehards who take pleasure in the slaughter.

Kim Stacey, Black Rock

Not a speeding bullet

Claims of a Melbourne to Geelong "bullet train" are false. Unless, of course, you are stuck in 1964. That was when the original Japanese bullet train was launched with speeds of 200km/h. In 2019, those trains now top speeds of 320km/h. In 1964, the internet had not been invented and television was black-and-white, yet the Morrison government is now proposing a fast rail project with speeds of 160km/h. Not a bullet train by any stretch of the imagination.

Nick Roberts, Shepparton

Caution, pigs aloft

Pig farmers and the makers of barrels, together with the operators of flight schools for porkers, are no doubt rubbing their hands together. What is promising to be a bumper season is already under way in the metropolitan south-eastern and south-western regional electorates. This is, in part, due to local climatic conditions and to the judicious application of carefully prepared fertiliser, often sourced from as far away as Canberra.

Experts predict it will be their best year since 2016.

Elaine Hill, Warrnambool

Oh, poor Mother Earth

Recently, thousands of schoolchildren across the world went on strike and begged the grown-ups to panic about the science of climate change. Last week, our leaders of government, the grown-ups, are instead panicking about having the coal exports to China reduced ("Fear over US-China coal deal", 20/3).

When will they realise what the children are saying is true. There is no economy without aplanet and there is no "Planet B".

Atholie Harden, Williamstown

Leader versus people

It strikes me, while travelling through Turkey at the moment, that the divisiveness and nastiness of Recep Erdogan, stands in contrast to the beautiful, peace-loving and welcoming people he represents.

Tim Hoffmann, Brunswick