Let’s hasten renewables but not privatise our wind, sun, water

There is an ongoing crisis in the health system because of COVID and flu infections. COVID levels among our overworked, underpaid health workers are further stressing the system. The sensible precautions outlined by your correspondent are the least that the rest of us should be following.
Paul Parramore, Sawtell

I hope your correspondent has sent her message out on social media; it is likely the majority of those who need to heed it are not regular Herald readers. On a near-to-full flight to the Gold Coast on Thursday, a majority, not just one or two, chose to wear their face masks under their noses, some even under their mouths, too. They were young, phone-watching women. But who is complaining? No one, at least not until one comes down with COVID. Ross Drynan, Lindfield

While fully aware that masks for workers in the restaurant industry are no longer mandatory, it was with great concern and fear for my safety that I recently noticed the waitstaff in two fine dining establishments loudly extolling the virtues of a dish in very close contact with diners, to the point where we could literally smell their breath. I cannot help but think that as they flit from one table to the next, they not only endanger themselves, but are perfect vectors of disease, as well. Perhaps it’s time to revise current rules on mask use. Cristina Corleto, Stanmore

That thinking feeling

Clare Rudkin is not correct in asserting that critical thinking in the humanities is based on navel-gazing (Letters, June 10). However, it does promote self-reflection.
As a mature-age student I attended Griffith University. Previously having politics somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan, I learnt, in a BA course, not what to think, but rather how to think. This changed my life, and I will be forever grateful. Ian Lewis, Kentucky

No critical thinking in the humanities? No critical thinking in philosophy, history, literature, law, religion, modern and ancient languages, archaeology, anthropology? Critical thinking applies not only to every discipline one can think of, but to life in general. Fiona Hibberd, North Ryde

Your correspondent trumpets the triumph of evidence-based science over the navel-gazing humanities. What a bleak, emotionally sterile view of life. Please allow me a bit of navel-gazing along with my daily ration of evidence. John Court, Denistone

Nature calls

Worms that eat plastic sound wonderful (“Plastic-eating ‘worms’ may be pollution solution”, June 10). Larvae hatch into moths. What do the moths eat? Australia has a nasty habit of introducing a species to solve a problem, which then escalates into a bigger problem – think cane toads. Will we soon have flocks of concrete-eating moths? Marjie Williamson, Blaxland

Money talks, but no one flies in passport debacle

With critical staff shortages delaying passport delivery, is the costly “expedited service” exacerbating the problem (“$150 to queue for hours: Australians pay cash to avoid passport lines”, June 10)? Are available staff having to prioritise those paying extra for their already expensive passports, extending delays? On top of this, desperate people are having to pay others to wait in extensive queues. All this doesn’t sound particularly fair but then, for almost a decade, we have seen how money talks, creating an increasingly inequitable society which has prioritised the well-off. Let’s choose the fairer path, starting with employing far more permanent staff, limiting the “expedited” passport service to those in real need and removing the charge. Alison Stewart, Riverview

Rallying cry

Thank you, Peter Yu, for your rallying cry to all Australians who want genuine reconciliation between First Nations peoples and others through the Uluru Statement from the Heart (“Constitution excludes my people”, June 10). Now is the time to right the wrongs in the Constitution regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The ALP deserves credit for making this possible. As an 84-year-old, I wondered whether I would see this in my lifetime, but now it is within our grasp. Let’s get on with it. Andrew Macintosh, Cromer

Question over faith

Why should people of faith have the privilege to be simultaneously protected by anti-discrimination laws while being exempted from any of the responsibilities of such laws (“Leaders want quick action on freedoms”, June 10)? I don’t think people should have the right to tell me that I am intrinsically disordered while I’m at work. That’s hardly an unreasonable, freedom-destroying standard. Samantha Chung, Randwick

Archive achievers

David Anderson overlooks the fact that the ABC needs librarians and archivists to produce and retrieve digital information (“ABC MD defends archive staff purge”, June 10). Information is the same whether it is on hard copy or digital and it is nonsense to believe it will magically appear by the clichéd press of a button: Google will give you a thousand answers but librarians will give you the right one. Please keep these specialists so they can continue in their vital roles of upholding journalistic standards and preserving the ABC’s collections of film, sound and print. Diana Wyndham, North Sydney

Where fault lies

Apart from blaming those cowboys with few ethics who perform cosmetic surgery we should attribute some of the fault to ourselves (“Surgical horror stories behind social media sell”, June 10). Many of us have congratulated people who have had some of this unnecessary surgery either personally or as is most often the case today via social media usually with our ‘likes’ which only fuels the interest and confidence of others to undertake these procedures. It’s time we thought more about our social media activities which can have devastating consequences. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury

Common indecency

The rabble that rioted Capitol Hill were “egged on by a malevolent and reckless conman” (“Capitol crime as Fox cancels greatest show in town”, June 10). This apt description of Donald Trump is so accurate. Those, including Fox News in the US, that still support this “conman” are an affront to common decency. John Cotterill, Kingsford

Terror in Texas

An 11-year-old girl needs to smear herself in her dead friends’ blood as a disguise to stay alive. Was this in the battlefields of eastern Ukraine or perhaps hiding from the new punitive regime of the Taliban in Afghanistan? No, just Texas (“Girl tells of using blood for disguise”, June 10). What self-respecting lawmaker, of any side of politics could possibly, in their wildest and most fervent beliefs think that that is OK? Perhaps it is time for trade barriers until they start to enact meaningful gun reform? Tony Bennett, Broke

Landmark ruling

The landmark ruling by the High Court on unconstitutional citizenship stripping surely must have a bearing on the many Australian citizens with a migrant background who have gone directly from jail to indefinite detention or deportation (“Ruling a win for accused terrorists”, June 10). The previous government bestowed on their immigration minister draconian judicial powers to punish selected offenders twice for the same offence. With a trillion-dollar debt, it is time for the new government to stop this dreadful waste of taxpayer money, give them back their citizenship and let them go home to their families. Julius Timmerman, Lawson

A matter of respect

Dominic Perrottet doesn’t get it (Letters, June 10). Yes, palliative care is essential at the end of life. But life naturally ends. You don’t get life without death.

Extraordinary medical care, medical interventions and research have prolonged life for many. The natural course of diseases has been defied to give many patients extra years of good-quality life. The question of whether people should be entitled to choose to end their life when they have had enough suffering is quite distinct from the issue of whether sufficient palliative care resources are available for those who are merely heading towards the end of their lives.

There comes a time when palliative care is no longer sufficient. Those people who have fought the good fight and have had enough should be entitled under the law to say, “enough”.

It’s not about palliative care, it’s about respect for the person whose life is naturally coming to its end. Margaret Shanahan, Northbridge

Lettuce live

Seriously, young people expect to eat lettuce and own a home (Letters, June 10)? John Buchanan, Ultimo

Underdog acts

The Socceroos, ranked 41st, need a lot more than “self-belief” to overcome Peru, ranked 22nd. Anything is possible, but the odds are in favour of the wrong team (“World Cup play-off one for the Roo believers: Behich”, June 10). Mustafa Erem, Terrigal

Ask your Dada

If rugby league is art, then everything is art (“League is art, so take heed you arty types”, June 9). This was Marcel Duchamp’s position when he exhibited a factory-made urinal in a Parisian art gallery in 1920. As a Dadaist, Duchamp regarded this as anti-art, not art, and as late as 1963 he expressed disgust that Dada was revered as an art movement and not an anti-art movement. Your writer regards popular entertainment as art, which is essentially a Dadaist position. Sport is not art – it is Dadaist to say it is. Michael Boylan, Glebe

Art and literature do go well with rugby league. I was browsing Sartre’s La Nausee on Wednesday night, as Queensland ran over the Blues. Ivan Head, Burradoo

Opposition attracts

Don’t miss the new thriller from Peter Dutton: “The search for relevance in a post-election age” (“Australia is ‘not going to back out of’ AUKUS deal: Burke”, smh.com.au, June 10). Kay Abrahams, Freshwater

Postscript

There was no escaping the feeling of satisfaction in writers’ letters this week. The mood was still mostly upbeat and congratulatory towards the early actions of Anthony Albanese’s Labor government. The consensus was that it was “wonderful to see the adults finally in charge, showing the leadership that has been missing”, particularly relating to the national action plan on climate and energy which began to take shape.

And it was too early for criticism of the government, from the opposition in particular. Former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce was widely derided for his thoughts on the possible problems of a federal integrity commission. His views, and those of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on any issue he raised, were described as belonging to a “warped Morrison-era perspective”, “laughable” and “flawed”.

But Andrew McPherson of Kalaru was being more cautious: “I am pleased with the progress our new government is making regarding a modicum of action on climate change, release of the Biloela four, Pacific neighbour diplomacy and other changes. However, it is far too soon for accolades. The Abbott and Morrison mal-administrations are not exactly hard acts to follow. Albanese and his mob still have a lot of work to do. Hold the applause for now.”

Barry Ffrench of Cronulla was similarly hesitant, concerned the first opinion polls post-election could see a big decline in the new PM’s popularity, despite what he saw as his government’s successful early work. Those turning against Albanese could have a “hankering for the opaque and partisan former government because there was something in it for ‘them’, not something in it for ‘all of us’,” he wrote. Pat Stringa, letters editor

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