An unwarranted award
On Tuesday, Margaret Court is to be made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC). I would have thought that after the backlash from so many people over the award given to Bettina Arndt, the selectors would have learnt their lesson. Margaret Court holds abhorrent views that are extremely divisive and intolerant to so many people within the community.
Joan Lynn, Williamstown
Right to diverse views
Daniel Andrews is intolerant of the views held by Margaret Court. She is Australia’s greatest female tennis player and deserves recognition for that alone. She does not deserve to be pilloried because she holds beliefs contrary to those of other people.
Her views are not my views but she has the right to hold them. The attacks on her are out of all proportion. Perhaps we should ask Rod Laver his views on many topics. And if we do not agree with them, should we remove his name from his arena? Surely tolerance, love and respect for others is what a civil society is all about.
Ellen McGregor, Frankston
Case of double standards
Well said, Susan Hillman Stolz – ‘‘No cause to celebrate’’ (Letters 22/1). I have been presenting similar ideas to Invasion Daydeniers for a couple of years. When I ask them ‘‘Would you celebrate the anniversary day of any invasion of modern-day Australia?’’ only one has answered. The response: ‘‘Of course I bloody wouldn’t.’’ Food for thought I would think.
Neil Bateman, Boneo
May 9, the ideal date
It is way past time to change the date for Australia Day to May 9. This is the date on which the Australian Parliament first sat in the Exhibition Building in Melbourne in 1901. The date that Parliament first sat in Canberra in the old Parliament House in 1927. The date when Parliament first sat in the new Parliament House in 1988, following an election that included Aboriginal voters.
May 9 allows schools to contribute to the celebrations and the weather is generally amenable to outdoor celebrations throughout Australia. When this change is made we can address, together, the more substantive issues of treaty, constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament. Bruce Hartnett,
former Victorian chair,
Australia Day Committee
It’s just another date
I might be in the minority here but, does anyone actually celebrate Australia Day? Does anyone stand under the flag, thinking about how awesome Australia is and praising it for being such a great country?
I never have. Australia Day for me (and I suspect the ‘‘quiet Australians’’) has always been a paid day off work. A get-together with friends to drink, eat and have a bit of fun. Which is any weekend really. I am not trying to downplay the significance it might have for our First Nations people but is it any more significant for them than any other day they are treated like dirt? Australia Day does not mean anything, unless you decide to make it something.
David Jeffery, East Geelong
Selective free speech
Recently Scott Morrison said ‘‘there’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue’’ (The Age, 13/1), in relation to members of his government voicing divisive conspiracy theories and pursuing a far-right agenda.
Yet his government has criticised banks that are concerned about risk exposure to fossil fuels and accused them of ‘‘virtue signalling’’. The Prime Minister is also unhappy with Cricket Australia for attempting some kind of reconciliation over Australia Day.
The Prime Minister is ‘‘free’’ to voice his objections in relation to these two important issues. He is also ‘‘free’’ to call out the unhinged views of his parliamentary colleagues, but he fails to do so. One must conclude he is sympathetic to those views.
Fiona Colin, Malvern East
Colonies to a nation
The First Fleet reached Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788. There is good reason to commemorate this arrival date, but why call it Australia Day? Why not commemorate what actually happened and call it First Fleet Day? Australia, as a nation, did not exist then. For the following 112 years it did not exist either, until on January 1, 1901, the various colonies came together to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Les Cooper,
Anglesea
Safe and unsafe crowds?
Dan Andrews has urged people not to attend Invasion Day protests as it is unsafe in these COVID-19 times (The Age, 22/1). He has no qualms about crowds attending the Australian Open though. It is hard to understand how one event is safe and another not, unless there is a political agenda at play.
Rohan Wightman, McKenzie Hill
Our easy peasy entry
I flew back into Essendon Airport on Thursday morning on Sharp Airlines, from King Island, clutching my permit to enter Victoria. I fully expected to be greeted by gowned and masked health officials, demanding to see my permit and interrogating me as to where I had been. However, nothing, no one greeted the passengers. We picked up our luggage and went on our way.
Jenny Lawrence, Hawthorn East
Too many breakages
Facebook first used the motto, ‘‘Move fast and break things’’. So when the company’s Australian managing director Will Easton (The Age, 21/1) cries foul in opposition to making it pay for its news content, I suggest that he ‘‘Go back and fix things’’.
Luke Mills, Richmond
Wrong reason, Minister
After spending billions of dollars on keeping refugees in detention, we must be grateful that Peter Dutton has finally found a reason to release them into the community. How much better it would be if the reason were compassion. Jennifer Monger,
Benalla
Vulnerable refugees
I fear that refugees who were recently released on bridging visas will end up in unpopular jobs and be treated like cheap slave labour by employers emboldened by Peter Dutton’s attitude towards them. Who cares if they are exploited when they are ‘‘illegals’’? These are people with medical issues, who were medivacced for treatment. Some of them say they did not receive this. It behoves the government to make sure they do not become victims of predatory practices, but receive the help they need.
Olivia Manor, Coburg
Sign, for our future
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which bans signatories from testing, developing, producing, stockpiling or threatening to use nuclear weapons (The Age, 22/1), is an extraordinary achievement. The dedicated Australians who contributed so much to achieve this, and won a Nobel Peace Prize along the way, must be congratulated and thanked. Any nuclear use, accidental or deliberate, will bring an abrupt end to any prospects for a future, for humanity and also much of our extraordinary and beautiful natural world. We must press our laggard government to ratify the declaration.
John Poppins, Mount Waverley
Relax, Donald has gone
Thank heavens I can now open my daily newspaper without fear and trepidation of discovering what new horrors Donald Trump has inflicted on the United States and the world overnight.
Jean Andrews, Cheltenham
Let’s try talking instead
In light of the changing of the guard in the US, wouldn’t it be nice if world leaders pulled back from tweeting messages to each other? A phone call is always nice, or an email or even a fax.
Kym Cross, Campbells Creek
A return to compassion
After four years of Donald Trump and the alt-right rhetoric, it is heart-warming to hear Joe Biden and Kamala Harris speak with compassion and authenticity. Maybe the new administration will make America great again.
Danny Hampel, South Yarra
The forgotten people?
No mention of Indigenous Americans at the inauguration, unless I missed it. Dispossession is part of the history of most nations. We in Australia are not alone in this unhappy fact. We may be a little ahead in addressing the problem. It is a part of ‘‘coming together’’.
John Mathew,
Melbourne
Keep the recipes coming
I enjoyed another tasty, nutritious and economical meal this week – linguine with spicy tuna, olives and capers. Thank you, Neil Perry and The Age, both of whom continue to provide homemade opportunities, even beyond our darkest times.
Barbara Mothersdale, Hawthorn
Tennis? What a yawn
I used to love watching the tennis
– remember Rod Laver, Yvonne Goolagong, John Newcombe, Pat Cash, Pat Rafter, all good people. But I will not watch one minute this year. The current players are too self-centred, too privileged, too wealthy and simply too boring.
Chris Wilson, Poowong
Tennis? How to get in
I am an expat and I usually visit my family in Melbourne each year, to honour my father at the Anzac Day march. If I promise to play tennis, can I come to the march this year?
Kevin Prince,
Trieste, Italy