Australia Day, trinkets and the deeper meaning

What price the space?I believe ex-premier John Cain jnr would be turning in his grave if he could see the cankerous sprawling development that Melbourne Park has become (“Power play”, 13/1).While current tenants, promoters, administrators, major sporting clubs and other potential beneficiaries fight for division of the taxpayer-generated spoils, more fundamental issues with this so-called “public space” remain.The relentless private and corporate appropriation of the priceless public land which was once Flinders and Olympic Parks has been quite disgraceful. And the ongoing failure of successive governments to provide replacement city parkland, as Cain once promised, is simply indefensible.Peter Barrett, Brighton

Taking a serveWhile I appreciate that the tennis is currently a big thing in Melbourne, please remember that there is more to life and news than the tennis. Not everyone wants to eat, breathe, sleep and dream the tennis.Australian Open chief Craig Tiley may want to make the tennis into ″⁣the biggest sporting event in the world″⁣ (The Age, 12/1) but you don’t have to help him by obliterating any trace of anything else from your newspaper.Making the Good Weekend quiz solely on the topic of the tennis was a step too far in taking over the world; the quiz is sacred. What next, DA’s crossword solutions to be tennis words? Please, no. (DA, that was not a suggestion.)Susan Bradley, Eltham

No longer my ABCI have been a life-long loyal devotee and staunch defender of the ABC, but I find myself dropping off it at the same rate as it is retreating from serious program content in favour of light-weight entertainment (Green Guide, 11/1). I still miss Lateline and see the demise of The Drum as the final straw.Thank goodness for SBS and Al Jazeera.Sue Currie, Northcote

Silence is goldenHow to begin meetings respectfully in a culturally and religiously diverse community, whether in parliaments or local council settings, seems to be an ongoing issue.A short time of silence could be preceded by words such as: Let us for a few moments consider our responsibility to all those we serve and those upon whose foundations we build.And if you think silence is impotent or pointless, try standing in the middle of 50,000 people at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance during the two-minute silence on Anzac Day.Shared silence can be a genuinely unifying act, devoid of bias, and to which each person contributes their own meaning.Jim Pilmer, Camberwell

Democracy’s beaconThe autocratic states have to force people to join them – China threatens Taiwan with invasion and remakes Hong Kong in its image. Russia invades Ukraine. Yet Western Liberal democracies have no problem attracting people, hordes of migrants and refugees flock to the US and Europe. I don’t see any refugees or migrants hankering to get into China or Russia, and the Arab world doesn’t take any refugees. I guess the democracies must be doing something right?Wayne Alexander, Eltham

Andrews owed apologyThe article ″⁣Thousands of lives saved by COVID curbs″⁣ (14/1) reported that, due to our aggressive approach, at the peak of the pandemic Australia’s death rate was 33 times lower than the UK’s and 46 times lower than the US’s. Perhaps everyone who sought to undermine Daniel Andrews will apologise.Reg Murray, Glen Iris

Figures tell the storyDaniel Andrews’ haters should actually be grateful to the former premier because even though Victoria endured the debilitating effects of the world’s toughest lockdown laws, Australia’s death rate in the crucial first two years of the pandemic was 33 times lower than the UK’s and 46 times lower than the US’s. As the Burnet Institute’s analysis indicates, Australia lost its relative global advantage during 2022 and 2023 when the Victorian and federal governments yielded to relentless public pressure by shifting to ″⁣living with COVID″⁣ without clear transmission-reduction strategies.Kevin Burke, Sandringham

In your debitTo your correspondent (Letters, 14/1) who says it is difficult for a retiree to get a credit card, get a debit card instead. They work the same as a credit card but only draw on funds you have.Alan Inchley, Frankston

Drugs are health issueTelling young people not to use drugs is a bit rich when alcohol is freely available and often encouraged. Alcohol is also a drug that can harm or kill a person and put other people in danger. Public drunkenness is no longer a crime in many states and is now being treated as a health issue. The use of other drugs could be put in the same category to reduce harm, improve outcomes and reduce medical and criminality costs. Drug testing could be an important part of this program.Jennie Epstein, Little River

Insurance solutionThere has been much correspondence about the soaring costs of insurance. Since we have moved into the era of ″⁣global boiling″⁣, as UN chief Antonio Guterres has termed it, the once rare occurrences of property damage caused by fire and water are now commonplace. The old model of member-based organisations funding the disasters impacting the few, through the modest premiums of the many, are long gone. The cost of premiums for the many is becoming unaffordable while the relatively few, living in high-risk areas, are now uninsurable.A new solution must be found. One is for big business polluters to finally contribute meaningfully to an insurance fund with this expense included in their costs of production. Ultimately, the consumer will pay, but demand would be influenced by realistic product prices that fund the costs of making good.Peter Thomson, Brunswick

Education dreamsHow sad, and how restricting too, for children to attend those private schools from prep to year 12, and miss out on a more diverse student background and experiences (″⁣School fees or buy a house″⁣, 14/1). And perhaps if all those lawyers, doctors and financiers sent their children to public schools we’d get the obscene level of taxpayer funding going to private schools reversed and our education system improved. One can but dream.Peta Colebatch, Hawthorn

Questionable linksYour correspondent attempts to link the ridicule being directed at Peter Dutton’s call for a boycott on Woolworths to disappointment about the referendum result, suggesting this might derail his election plans (Letters, 14/1). This is questionable on two fronts. First, the ridicule is not comprehensive: a great many people believe that attempts to fiddle with Australia Day, by governments or big business, have gone far enough, and while the Murdoch media continue to push this line it will always resonate with a majority in the community. Second, a massive 60 per cent voted No to the Voice, underscoring the fact that the vast majority of people supported Dutton’s position. That result only enhanced his standing in the electorate, as polls have shown.Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully

In defence of the shagI always delight in the articles by columnist Tony Wright. I’m not as delighted, however, with his ornithology (″⁣We’ll be stuck like shags on a rock″⁣, 13/1). Cormorants, often called shags, are not suffering ″⁣the indignity of having been lumbered with feathers that are not as waterproof as other seabirds″⁣. They have the happy circumstance of feathers that do not trap air, allowing them to stay underwater and chase their prey of fish and yabbies. The consequence is that their feathers do get wet. They can fly with wet feathers but it just takes more energy, so it makes sense that they hang them out to dry.Greg Hunt, Oak Park

Collective action neededIt is a positive to note that several correspondents are examining their own actions to reduce their ″⁣footprint″⁣ on the planet, but it is also worrying. The concept of the individual ″⁣carbon footprint″⁣ was originally espoused by BP, which spent $100 million between 2004 and 2006 on advertising the idea of individual responsibility to persuade you and me that our choices must change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the planet.Individuals can, and should, examine their own lifestyles and reduce their impact on the planet, but if we all want to far more effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we need to inundate our politicians with demands that they stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry, stop approving more fossil fuel exploration and extraction, legislate a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use in Australia and its export and immediately accelerate our transition to renewable energy superpower status. It is collective action to drown out and overwhelm the self-serving clamour from fossil fuel interests that will make the real difference.Helen Moss, Croydon

Nature is the bossThe Age headline ″⁣Let nature take its course″⁣ (13/1) reveals the arrogance of humankind. We don’t ″⁣let″⁣ nature do anything. We may try to manage, ignore, divert or delay, but eventually nature will always take its own course. If we don’t understand, respect and work with the fundamental laws of nature we will not survive as a nation or as a species.April Baragwanath, Geelong

AND ANOTHER THING

HistoryThe annual angst associated with Australia Day reminds us why its nomenclature and date don’t work. Let’s celebrate Federation Day instead.James Sarros, Black Rock

Before we label things un-Australian, just who defines and/or decides what being ″⁣dinky-di Australian itself‴⁣⁣ really is?Tris Raouf, Hadfield

How about May 11 for Australia Day? Nothing overly important happened in Australia (well, my birth), which means only a few people will be offended by the date.James Lane, Hampton East

The date that should become the new Australia Day is the one on which we become a republic and lose the colonial trappings of the day we have now.Tony Haydon, Springvale

Peter Dutton captures the true spirit of Australia Day: draped in denial bliss, and clad in imported, cheap, low-quality and tasteless Australiana merchandise, sounds about right to me.Henry Herzog, St Kilda East

FurthermoreAbsolute beach front may become absolute in water.Doug Springall, Yarragon

Before 1988, Flinders Park was public open space accessible to all. Now it’s called Melbourne Park sports precinct, accessible at a price.Barbara Lynch, South Yarra

If a town organises a festival to raise money to cover costs of flood damage, is that an “event event”?John Cameron, Bellbrae

Tax cuts for the wealthy, with so much economic hardship, is an obscenity.Malcolm McDonald, Burwood

Australia tagging along hanging onto America’s coat tails again.Reg Murray, Glen Iris

FinallyTennis grunting: I’ve lived with the sound of the Albert Park GP cars in my Clifton Hill flat for 20 years.David Cayzer, Clifton Hill