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Credit: Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

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ECONOMIC MATTERS

Ensure the unemployed have a life worth living

Re “A life-and-death question for the new RBA governor” (Comment, 17/7). Given that unemployment has a direct impact on the nation’s suicide numbers (on average, 230 a year), as shown by research by the Mental Wealth Initiative, and economists see there is a “natural rate” of unemployment – around 5per cent – for a healthy economy, then why are we not supporting those who “need” to be unemployed for the sake of the economy?

Associate Professor Jo-An Occhipinti and Professor Ian Hickie advocate a full-employment policy. If this creates inflation problems, then why not counterbalance this with unemployment payments that are above the poverty line and tailored programs to provide the necessary structure and social connectivity that having a job provides? It is morally unacceptable to be told on one hand that you must have a job in order to healthily survive – thus not be a “dole bludger” – and then be told you must be unemployed so that the rest of us can have a healthy economy.
Allan Havelock, Surrey Hills

The impact that corporate profits have on inflation

I am incensed that we appear to accept the view that more workers will have to lose their jobs before the economy becomes more “sustainable” (The Age, 17/7). I remember my father struggling to find work during one of our recessions. And all these years later, workers continue to be offered up as sacrificial lambs without any impact on the top end of town.

There are other ways to reduce inflation. As Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus points out, we need to “recognise the role of corporate profits, rather than employee costs, in driving up inflation”. And let us not forget that the planned tax cuts for those on high incomes are still on the agenda.
Rita Thorpe, Coburg

Time to introduce a universal basic income

Economic theory includes the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment. This theory suggests that as employment increases (unemployment falls), inflation increases due to labour demand. Then interest rates must be raised to “cool” the economy with all the carnage that brings, as we all know. It may not be a comprehensive theory but the “high priests” of classical economics believe it.

So it seems that the economy is geared for a certain level of unemployment in order to optimise inflation and interest rates. Therefore, the unemployed provide a vital socio-economic service. And it is time to stop vilifying this cohort, especially through programs such as robo-debt. Pay them a living wage instead – the time for the universal basic income has arrived.
Andrew Barnes, Ringwood

The danger when we have a lack of competition

Hopefully new Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock will update the orthodox economic model that has dominated its decisions in recent years. What drives the bank to be overly anxious about an imagined wages spiral but seemingly uninterested in rapidly escalating business profits?

Also, two recent International Monetary Fund research papers indicate that a lack of competition is reducing the effectiveness of monetary policy in influencing inflation. Huge companies such as the big banks, power companies and supermarket chains use their massive market power to keep prices higher and wages lower than they should be.
Kevin Burke, Sandringham

Let’s focus on the renters, not the landlords

”Since 1994, most Australian landlords have lost money on their rental properties with an average landlord typically losing between $7000 and $14,500 a year after the deduction of expenses from rent, despite negative gearing allowing some losses to be claimed against income tax.” (The Age, 17/7). Well strike me pink. What a capricious lot those investors are to be throwing money away like that. And the terrible lack of “headspace”, according to one landlord. Forget renters, this must be truly awful.
Patrice McCarthy, Bendigo

THE FORUM

Disease of gambling

Re “Gamblers will be forced to sign in” (The Age, 17/7). Recently I watched a husband and wife on different poker machines inserting four $50 notes at a time and then losing it all. Worse was watching them doing it again.

I looked around the area, with dozens of machines, and saw many others who were also caught up in this insidious habit. The suffering of families is well-known, with some destroyed socially and personally by gambling.

For too long, the authorities have dilly-dallied about making solid changes in the law. Stricter laws regarding pokies are needed (although I’m sure the venues will hate them) and there is strong interest in correcting this dreadful social “disease”. We now wait for the cycle to be broken.
Anne Kruger, Rye

Clarifying the details

My calculations from your graphs in the report on investment property ownership (The Age, 17/7) show that about 80 per cent of them have a taxable income of less than $120,000. However, the average tax deduction claimed against those properties that led to those taxable income statistics is not shown.

Again from the graphs, almost 25 per cent of owners are aged 60 or more. What is not revealed is how many of the 80per cent are in this age bracket and how many are retired, for whom a modest income is unsurprising.

The term “mum and dad investors” is also included, thankfully in quotation marks. As this term is widely used in the real estate industry, I would be interested to know what percentage of landlords have dependent children and what percentage are childless.
Kevin Bailey, Croydon

Impact of climate change

Brave and adventurous veterinary nurse Elizabeth McConnell has my full admiration (My Career, 15/7). The horror inflicted on our precious and often endangered wildlife from unnatural weather events like the Black Summer bushfires and the 2022 floods results in increased demand for us to assist them. The dedication of people like McConnell, working to help animals impacted by loss of wildlife habitat, climate change and pollution, cannot be overestimated. I fear more vet nurses will be required as the planet heats. Best of luck and thanks to them.
Isabelle Henry, Ascot Vale

The spray or the mask?

Re the trial to see whether a nasal spray containing the drug heparin can help protect people from COVID-19 (The Age, 17/7). My partner and I returned to Melbourne on March 17, 2020, the second day of Victoria’s lockdown for overseas arrivals. We got the COVID-19 vaccines as they became available. We use masks on public transport and in shops. Neither of us has had a cold, COVID-19, RSV or influenza. Neither of us use heparin. I will be interested in the outcome of the trial. My money is on the mask.
Vincent O’Donnell, Ascot Vale

Gender shouldn’t matter

Your correspondent says, “perhaps now is simply the time to appoint a woman” as governor of the Reserve Bank (Letters, 17/7). Why? Yes, Michele Bullock’s CV is impressive but hopefully her appointment was not influenced by her gender.
George Greenberg, Malvern

End the toxic culture

I appreciated Katy Hall’s article on consultancy firms very much – “Falling in with bad company” (Talking Point, 15/7). I commend her research – the facts and figures are extraordinary. It is probably a forlorn hope but this article should become an integral part of manuals for new employees of all large and small organisations.
Caroline Heard, Glen Huntly

Show us the details

Clearly there is overwhelming support for constitutional recognition of First Australians. However, the Voice remains, even by its name alone, a nebulous concept that many are uncertain about. Isn’t it time for the government to put some flesh on the bones so that those of us who want to advocate and vote for the Voice know, with more substance, what we are advocating and voting for.
Dan McGlade, Brunswick

Voice, but no referendum

Your correspondent asks the No campaign: “How will not having the Voice improve the lives of First Nations peoples?” (Letters, 15/7). The No campaign cannot prevent a Voice. Parliament can create one without wasting time and money on a referendum.
Robert Humphris, Malvern

My right to choose

I am horrified that doctors could be prosecuted for merely discussing voluntary assisted dying with patients (The Age, 15/7). How ludicrous that my life belongs to the state and the state can decide how long I must suffer. The bad news is we are all going to die. The good news is that with VAD, you can choose to go painlessly and quickly before your life becomes an endless nightmare for you and your family.

If I reach a stage where I no longer recognise my loved ones, if I am in constant pain, if I cannot see or speak, or I am confined to bed and unable to perform basic functions without human intervention, then I wish to access VAD without fear that anyone who assists me may be prosecuted. Make it a common addition to our wills and let me stipulate the conditions of my VAD.

Unable to access VAD, a relative took his own life – earlier than he wanted to, but while he was still physically able to do so without assistance. Is this what we have to resort to? In many aspects of life, it seems Western society is too focused on fear of potential litigation and has lost sight of what is important to normal, everyday people just trying to get through life as best we can.
Julie Christensen, Blackburn North

The great lane debate

Several readers have commented recently about drivers moving to the right lane to make a left-hand turn. My gripe is about the opposite. I live in Wallan and for years I have noticed, in single-lane roads, nearly everyone stopping in the middle of that lane for a right turn, so of course no one can get past them on the left.

Quite a few veer to the left to turn right. All illegal because, by law, you have to get as close as possible to, but not over, the centre line. A while ago I was behind a police car with its right indicator on. Hmm, let’s see. It stopped in the middle of the lane. Every now and then I see someone turn right from the middle of the road – but very rarely.
Greg Wilson, Wallan

Changing of the guard

Finally Novak Djokovic has met his match in 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men’s final. Djokovic has had an extraordinary career and it has made him an extremely rich man.

Perhaps he should have spent some of his fortune on temper-control lessons. His outburst in the final, smashing his racquet into the net post, is unforgivable. Djokovic is a smiling, gracious winner, but a poor loser. It’s good to see a new generation breaking through from the old brigade, with Roger Federer retired and Rafael Nadal close to the end.
Geoff Lipton, Caulfield North

Read what you love

Re “Checking literacy levels part of the ‘slet’ factor” (The Age, 17/7). High-stakes testing has a crippling effect on a love of reading and writing at any age. Kids do not need more instruction on sounding out nonsense words to pass tests. They need to read and write about what they are interested in and refine their skills as they go.
Susan Mahar, Fitzroy North

Need for professionals

The robo-debt fiasco has been a major failure of government and governance, but also a failure of technology and possible harbinger of things to come with AI.

Little has been said about the technical solution underpinning robo-debt, but we can assume that it was well-executed and worked as planned. This is not the point, however. The solution was wrong at many levels that should have rung alarm bells for the computing professionals involved.

The project would have required teams of computing professionals, business analysts and project managers who should have highlighted the risks, impacts and basic errors of what was being proposed.

It may be that critics were ignored, overruled or even bullied into submission, but we should have expected more. As a retired computing professional, this concerns me and it should concern the community as well, especially as we enter a world where AI solutions abound. It is more important than ever that we have professionals who can properly and fearlessly assess the impact, effectiveness and ethics of proposed technical solutions.
Jim McGovern, Marysville

True Aussie champions

What a fantastic Ashes win for the Australian woman cricketers. Particular congratulations to Ellyse Perry’s record-breaking series and becoming the first Australian, male or female, to have scored 6000 runs and taken 300 wickets in international cricket.
Meg Biggs, Kew East

Making the comparisons

Your correspondent (Letters, 17/7) waited 70 minutes on the phone to his gas/electricity provider, only to be told he was on a “good plan” and no cheaper rates were possible. My electricity supplier’s “best offer” was a 30 per cent price increase. After I received the Victorian government’s $250 power saving bonus, I went to the website compare.energy.vic.gov.au. It provided me with an alternative supplier offering a 34 per cent reduction on my bill. The time spent? Ten minutes online.
Sean Geary, Southbank

Ditching of the drones

The recent downfall of up to 350 drones into the Yarra River, following a light show (The Age, 17/7), raises some interesting points. Are these drones sufficiently waterproof so that they can be salvaged and used again? How were the total number of 500 drones controlled? Surely not with 500 individual controllers under the direction of a conductor?
|Bill Pearce, Mornington

AND ANOTHER THING

Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding’

Politics

Daniel Andrews says pokies are “the cause of terrible harm” (17/7). If that is acknowledged, why are they are allowed to proliferate so much in this state?
Glenn Murphy, Hampton Park

Re gambling legislation reform. It must be a great feeling to, you know, create a problem and then solve it yourself.
Barry Whelan, Aireys Inlet

Why all the negativity from Sussan Ley especially re the Voice? She never appears to be on top of issues.
Merle Mitchell, Mount Eliza

Will we soon have a ’Bull-ock” economy?
Kieran Maher, Mont Albert

The NDIS should be run for the participants, not those with vested interests. A repeat of the aged care industry where profit for the providers is put above all else.
Doris LeRoy, Altona

Sport

All “jokers” aside, Novak is not a happy chappy.
Francis Bainbridge, Fitzroy North

Carlos Alcaraz was awesome. The young shall inherit the Earth.
Nina Wellington Iser, Hawthorn

At this rate, I can’t see Collingwood Football Club losing the premiership.
Paul Custance, Highett

Furthermore

The bottom of the Yarra River is the best place for drones (17/7).
Madelene Rich, Seaford

Reports of record temperatures, droughts and floods worldwide as climate change worsens. Why didn’t anyone warn us?
John Hughes, Mentone

Alas, our Coral Sea may soon need a name change. It’s a pity Dead Sea is already in use.
Ralph Frank, Malvern East

All this fuss about Barbie is beyond my Ken.
Robin Jensen, Castlemaine

Screenwriters provide directors and actors with the foundation of their projects. Without them, no show goes on.
John Rawson, Mernda

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