Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
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Lapdog land
Is our government really so weak that it’s willing to accept the status of America’s lapdog, tolerating any abuse without response other than some low-level whining?
Diplomacy is clearly failing, basic self-respect (never mind international respect) demands that we respond forcefully. Jacqui Lambie’s idea of booting the Americans from Pine Gap and Darwin deserves serious consideration, as it’s entirely justifiable – we don’t share classified intelligence with a hostile government, nor do we allow their military in.
Further reasonable measures could be withdrawal from AUKUS, cancellation of the submarine “deal” that isn’t guaranteed anyway, and putting 25 per cent tariffs on all US goods imports containing steel or aluminium, such as cars from Tesla, Ford and Chevrolet and technology from Apple and Google etc.
Damien Calcutt, Wyndham Vale
Take on the bully
Columnist Peter Hartcher begs the question when he bluntly rejects Jacqui Lambie’s suggestion that Australia could retaliate against Trump’s tariffs by threatening the tenancy of US military bases here (15/3).
He asserts “The reason Australia hosts US facilities is because they’re designed for our collective defence”. But this shibboleth is precisely one of the issues now under consideration. There is no treaty to this effect. Where in an “America First” posture does coming to the defence of Australia fit in? How certain can we be that the US would come to Australia’s defence if it might not even come to Europe’s?
The insistence we must find “positive” (read, non-threatening) ways to deal with Trump’s attacks on our exports, universities and culture flies in the face of the evidence. He didn’t respond to our paper bag full of AUKUS dollars. It is now clear the only thing he responds to is muscular threats. The US bases here mean we have the capacity to defend our interests in terms he will understand, but our leaders seem collectively too timid to take on the bully.
Bill Garner, Maldon
Billionaire buddies
If Peter Dutton becomes prime minister will Gina Rinehart become his version of Musk, Bezos or Zuckerberg? And, is the recent mural of the two of them together a portent of the future?
Irene Wyld, Cape Schanck
Betraying its value
The great USA was the major force behind establishing and running the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-46, a series of trials held after World War II, where high-ranking Nazi officials were charged with crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, the most fundamental goal of these tribunals was to establish the international law and order, which would treat any future aggressive wars as the crime of the aggressor.
The very core of the American democracy, such as humanism, equality, compassion, cooperation and mutual respect between people and countries, was then inspiring the world and its law and order.
Now, the group of the American politicians, who are making big public noise about “Making America great again” in fact are in many ways betraying those cores of the American democracy. They are even promoting a “deal” between the aggressor Russia and its victim Ukraine as between the equivalent parties. Will the US wake up and save its glory from such a disgrace?
Vincent Berg, Coomera, Qld
Americana
The following words are now boycotted (for obvious reasons): cookies, candy, first responders. Please feel free to add to this list.
Max Lazarus, Vermont
No going back
The Coalition’s pledge to scale back the renewable rollout and build seven nuclear plants (15/3) won’t get us “back on track”, as their campaign slogan proclaims. It will ruin us. Fires, floods, droughts, melting polar caps, rising insurance all tell us we need to change now – we can’t go “back”. It’s political opportunism by the Liberal Party, not good policy and we voters have the power to reject this at the election.
Belinda Burke, Hawthorn
Post office loss
My elderly aunt enjoyed her weekly walk to Macedon Square in Lower Templestowe to do her banking at the local post office, after the last bank in the area closed. Although withdrawals incurred a $5 fee, she didn’t mind because it gave her independence and the post office was a thriving hub of locals.
It closed last month. This has caused much anxiety with the local elderly who will now have to rely on others to drive them to the nearest bank or post office. What kind of world are we becoming? Cost-cutting has resulted in disempowerment and a loss of independence for our most vulnerable citizens and loss of community for the locals.
Louise Dorrat, Carlton
Highway rubbish
If the state government had really strengthened environmental laws to “crack down on polluters” (15/3), then the EPA would be prosecuting VicRoads for the rampant plastic and other rubbish that is strewn along our freeways and state-run roadways. Not only are road verges and central strips groaning with all manner of rubbish, sometimes quite large, they seem to have totally stopped any weed control, with weeds growing through every crack in concrete gutters and paving, and blackberries smothering what was once carefully planted indigenous vegetation.
On my route to work I feel as if I am in third-world country driving along the Eastern Freeway, Mount Dandenong and Dorset roads. The contrast with Eastlink could not be more obvious.
Alex Judd, Blackburn North
Bread before beds
If your correspondent (Letters, “Upholding standards”10/3) is right, and councils should be “ensuring commercial entities ... are restricted to commercial zones” (in the context of selling bread from a stall in a residential area), then how come people with spare houses can set up short-term commercial accommodation wherever it suits, regardless of zoning?
Short-term rentals through organisations such as Airbnb has gone way over the scale once offered by traditional bread and breakfast with council permit (and cooked breakfast by the host).
Now, there are too many people, too many cars, and too much mayhem.
Get them into the commercial zones. We need to protect our living and sleeping zones and get all businesses into appropriately designated places where fair rents and rates prevail.
Clyde Ronan, Yarrawonga
Housing tragedy
There are people in our street living in a van with no running water or toilet and the shop around the corner that has been empty for years is now a squat. The house next door was not maintained by successive landlords to the point the estate agent said it was unfit for rental. People are living in tents along the creeks near us. We have a failed market that does not provide for the basic human need of shelter, yet our government is demolishing public housing. Re-gifting it to developers or to agencies that leave their tenants with less secure housing does not address that market failure. We need investment in government provided public housing.
Max Sargent, Thornbury
Wombat threats
While the action of disturbing the baby wombat was silly and uncaring, also running the risk of attack by the distressed mother, more concerning to me are the reported death threats against the offender.
Death threats issued anonymously over the internet should be pursued and punished without exception, and service providers compelled to provide identification information, or risk being treated as accomplices.
Adam Thomson, Collingwood
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