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“Oh, it’s a blunt instrument but it’s the only one we’ve got!“
Is anyone else detecting a strong note of insincerity when this phrase is rolled out by bankers, politicians and business people to once again justify ineffectual interest rate increases? One would have thought that by the 2020s, we would have developed modernised approaches, different from those we were using in the 1980s to manage this challenge.
Imagine the response if tradespeople, engineers or surgeons were using that line as they built our houses, designed our planes, or were about to operate on our hearts? How convenient that those least affected by interest rate rises wring their hands in despair at having to once again roll out their tired and blunt old instrument.
Russell Ogden, Inverloch

The more serious concern is inequality
Young people are being locked out of the housing and rental markets. Cost-of-living expenses are increasing. Still the Reserve Bank’s answer to this is to hike up interest rates to reduce inflation. There has been much outcry about this over recent days, the most enlightened view of which was “RBA on wrong road” (Letters 26/11), which looked at the real reason for domestic demand.
Underlying all this, however, is a more serious problem: that of increasing inequality of incomes, of resources and of power among Australians. The federal government either isn’t listening, is afraid of losing voters by introducing more radical policies or has no idea what to do. Inequality eats away at democracy and the future of all of us. It is time for more effective solutions to help lower- and middle-income families get ahead.
Jan Marshall, Brighton

It’s not the consumers who are to blame
In all the statements and commentary regarding inflation, a crucial fact seems to have gone missing. While the RBA governor Michele Bullock is calling on us to forgo haircuts and dental procedures, she, and every commentator I’ve read or heard, seems to be ignoring the fact that consumers do not set prices. The narrative being pushed is that because we continue to insist on getting our cavities filled and our hair trimmed we are somehow forcing the providers of goods and services to continually raise their prices, that continued demand somehow, inevitably, forces price increases. This is not now, nor ever has been, true.
Providers and retailers increase prices because they can. A simple metric that could be used to find the true culprit in the inflation game would be to look at profits. If profits are increasing, then that is what is driving inflation.
Mick Cahill, Fitzroy North

If this plan is on track, we’re doomed
The auditor-general warning of massive interest repayments of Victoria’s ballooning debt (″⁣Auditor-general warns of $12b interest bill by 2033″⁣, 25/11) highlights the gravity of the state’s finances. Equating to $1790 for every Victorian per year, the future funding of schools, hospitals and roads will surely be adversely impacted. And this figure does not include any significant attempt to repay any of the $171.4 billion debt forecast in 2027. How a government spokesman can say its fiscal plan is on track seems beyond the realm of reason. Plunging Victoria into an unsustainable debt dive for future generations to grapple with hardly appears to be a plan. It seems more of a financial catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.
Mathew Knight, Malvern East

First, put the horse in front of the carriage
Boosting immigration to rescue a low-productivity economy struggling with falling birth rates and building more freeways to compensate for under-resourced public transport is like putting dilapidated carriages before the horse.
Kevin Burke, Sandringham

FORUM

Calling out Bowen
It is excellent that Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will attend COP28 with his Safeguard Mechanism for reducing emissions, and his new Capacity Investment Scheme for increasing clean energy (″⁣Australia closing in on 2030 target″⁣, 26/11).
But he must be called out for the government’s continued approval of coal and gas projects, which outweigh the emissions reduction. This craziness must end, especially now.
Barbara Fraser, Burwood

Right asylum wrongs
The Age editorial (25/11) succinctly excoriates the perilous state of detention for people seeking asylum. For many years asylum seekers have suffered enormous deprivation and ignominy and been punished for their right to seek asylum.
Over the years the experiences for many asylum seekers have shamed us as a nation: history is now telling the story. The Labor government now has the opportunity not only to redeem itself but to honour the right to seek asylum with compassion and not use detention for the game of politics.
Judith Morrison, Nunawading

Dialogue is needed
Imagine if, instead of students parading under banners and slogans that they may or may not have understood, schools devoted time to engaging them in dialogue about the crisis in the Middle East.
Dialogue is a rigorous but open-ended process whereby participants begin by expressing their own views and drawing on particular narratives and cultural traditions. But this is just input: they then need to engage in thoughtful reasoning and conversation, to listen to one another – especially those with different views and narratives – to have the intellectual humility to rethink their beliefs and transcend their narratives, when given good reasons for doing so, to question the authority and expertise of those who influence them, and to ask the kinds of probing questions that compel them to think harder.
Above all, they need to respect one another as people who, together, are trying to make sense of the complex issues involved. Sounds simple? It’s not. Most students and teachers are novices when it comes to real dialogue. And to counter the inevitable tribalism that we all find so tempting and comforting, such dialogues must bring together students from a diverse range of cultural, religious and social backgrounds. Now that would be an educational experience worth undertaking.
Laurance Splitter, McKinnon

Children’s crusade
Imagine if those in power used their influence to stop rather than perpetuate the many appalling situations happening in the world (Letters, 25/11). Children wouldn’t have to protest, they could stay in school, confident in the future. But they are being let down by adults – we need to be taking the future of our children seriously. Because of our inaction, they have a lot to protest and be concerned about.
Belinda Burke, Hawthorn

Conflict overload
Your correspondents ask why schoolchildren are not marching to protest all the other wars where many thousands have perished and millions displaced. I watch the news every night and wince each time the presenter warns me that the coverage might cause me distress. I am confronted with this on a daily basis, but all those other wars, not a word. And that goes for column content in the press generally. No wonder the schoolchildren are marching on the only issue they know about.
Colleen Lloyd, Malvern East

Plenty of causes
Your correspondent (Letters, 25/11) enumerates international issues deserving of school student activism. Close to home, reasons to demonstrate include Indigenous inequality, homelessness, unconscionable treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and even the serious and inequitable underfunding of state schools.
Joe Wilder, Caulfield North

The good doctor
In November 1963 many kids at our primary were in deep playground discussion trying to comprehend time and relative dimension in space. The first screening of the BBC’s Dr Who had content so profound that children were actually thinking with depth and intensity for the very first time.
One brave girl dared to ask: ″⁣Miss, if you went back in time and altered the future, what happens to this present?” To our teacher’s credit, she suggested the question may not have a straightforward answer.
“Radiophonic Workshop” and “Paradox” entered children’s vocabulary and Miss noted that the BBC depicted the smartest person on Earth as a teenage girl – Susan.
Perhaps it is best that today’s ″⁣Sonic Screwdriver Show″⁣ has found sanctuary in Disneyland.
Ronald Elliott, Sandringham

Matters of faith
Barney Zwartz (Faith, 26/11) asserts that atheists’ rejection of an afterlife and the Christian belief in heaven are both entirely a matter of faith. This seems to be a misunderstanding of what faith in this instance means – a belief in something (eg, religious doctrine) for which there is no proof.
Most atheists accept there is no credible evidence to support a belief in an afterlife. This is not a faith position but one of reason. As the late Christopher Hitchens once remarked, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. For atheists, biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus do not meet this standard.
Richard Aspland, Rosanna

A premier invitation
Have recently noticed the latest attacks on former premier Daniel Andrews, as treasurer of the Oakleigh Golf Club I would like to extend an invitation to him to join our club. Two big advantages for Andrews joining Oakleigh include really low club fees – only $110, or even less for a social member, just $25, and a friendly atmosphere.
Robert Jamieson, treasurer,
Oakleigh Golf Club

Putt, putt, not tut, tut
Tony Wright (″⁣Teed off or a case of inter-course envy?″⁣ 25/11) has amusingly put the Daniel Andrews/Portsea Golf Club brouhaha into perspective. Quite likely the opportunity to indulge in ″⁣Ban Dan″⁣ vitriol has provided catharsis for right-wing golfers at golf clubs throughout Melbourne (Portsea included). This is natural following nearly two decades of suffering the socialist privations imposed on them. However, it would be nice if they could respect that the majorities who kept re-electing Andrews include some golfers, possibly more at Kingston Heath than Portsea. Maybe, when on the course, they could mutter their diatribes among themselves, just like we lefties are supposed to.
Bill King, Camberwell

This is their voice
Your correspondent (Letters, 25/11) is correct to question why schoolchildren are demonstrating against the actors in the Hamas-Israel war while ignoring other more deadly conflicts. Young people are demonstrating because young people are being killed. Those of us of voting age have a small voice (our election choices). School-age children don’t have a voice, yet. It is time for politicians to listen to them. Yes, they should be in school. The future belongs to the young.
Thomas Upton, Kennington

Look to Box Hill
Re the article ″⁣Plans for new suburb include only one primary school″⁣ (24/11), how about Box Hill? It has no state primary school and is now bursting with a plethora of new high-rise residential towers, with more to come.
As for the natural green space supportive of childhood development, the only adjacent site is the Box Hill Gardens, and this has been largely appropriated for the development of the Suburban Rail Loop across the next 20 years. Where is the planning for educational and open space needs in these densified areas?
Rather than just focus on housing, the government must include planning for the present and future requirements of the community; in this case, the developmental needs of children.
Elizabeth Meredith, Surrey Hills

Failing nature
The article ″⁣The threat to Australia’s flying koala″⁣ (25/11) highlights more than the plight of the greater glider; it points to our broader failure in environmental stewardship. The current conservation efforts, while well-intentioned, are treating the symptoms while ignoring the disease. We need to address the causes of biodiversity loss – habitat destruction, climate change, and unsustainable development – directly. This is about more than saving the greater glider; it’s about recognising the critical role every species plays in our ecosystems. The loss of one species can start to unravel the whole ecological tapestry.
The government’s delay in implementing environmental reforms, already a year overdue, is unacceptable. Especially as Australia holds the grim title of a global hotspot for extinctions. The half-hearted surveying efforts and apparent lack of genuine concern in forestry practices underscore a bloody-mindedness that can no longer be tolerated.
It’s high time we stopped playing the catch-up conservation game.
Sophie Torney, Kew

Son of a gun, this is one
Loved David Astle’s clerihews ″⁣See you later, educator″⁣ (26/11) also Parnell Palme McGuinness’s ″⁣We are one, we are many, we are a success″⁣ discourse.
Thought I would give it a try.
″⁣Brian M, loves all of them,
Australia is great,
you are welcome here mate.″⁣
Brian Marshall,
Ashburton

AND ANOTHER THING

War
No matter what opinions people have of the Middle East conflict, children should never have been hostages.
Michael McKenna, Warragul

It is one thing to march for free Palestine, but quite another to demand “from the river to the sea”.
Jerry Koliha, South Melbourne

Why wouldn’t you want the ceasefire to continue into ongoing peace?
Bryan Lewis, St Helena

I’m not sure that Hamas expects protection by international laws (Letters, 25/11), but I reckon innocent Palestinian citizens in Gaza certainly do.
Ian Maddison, Parkdale

So many letters regarding school students taking part in demonstrations. I say good on them if they are marching for peace. There isn’t much point in protesting for one side or the other. Surely that is just inflaming the situation.
Libby Gillingham, Mornington

Furthermore
Imagine if the RBA affected the economy in such a way to result in the headline ″⁣Coles and Woolworths make a modest profit as do the big four banks″⁣.
Jae Sconce, Moonee Ponds

Ditch the stage 3 tax cuts and spend the money on free childcare – lay down misere for Labor.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn

It’s possessive (″⁣The mark of sorrow″⁣, 25/11). Of course the boys’ schools apostrophe is appropriate – and in the right place, too. As for the place of boys’ schools, that’s another story.
Jane Ross, San Remo

Black Friday sales. There goes next month’s mortgage payment.
Denis Evans, Coburg

Finally
As to the moon rover, surely the name will be Rover McRoverface.
Michael Lunney,
Yandina, Qld

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