Words are meaningless without meaningful action
The suffering in Gaza is real and heartbreaking, and it rightly demands public attention. But while our focus is fixed there, far greater – and largely unreported – humanitarian catastrophes continue elsewhere.
In Sudan, over 26 million people are experiencing acute hunger, with hundreds of thousands of children believed to have died from malnutrition since conflict erupted in 2023.
In Yemen, after nearly a decade of war, more than 17 million face food insecurity, and Save the Children estimates 85,000 children died from hunger in just the first few years of conflict. These numbers dwarf even the most alarming figures from Gaza, yet receive only a fraction of the coverage. All civilian suffering matters. But if our outrage is driven only by who is involved – rather than the scale of the suffering – then our moral compass risks becoming selective.
We owe more to those whose voices go unheard.
Jennifer Stewart, South Chadstone
THE FORUM
History's black holes
The story of our age is supposed to be constant progress, but man-made calamities repeat. For instance, the famine imposed less than 100 years ago on Ukraine by Moscow robbing grain is recounted in Putin's cruel destruction of that nation today.
At the same time, we see an alliance between Trump and Netanyahu as if both have pledged to drive Gazans into the sea, like the Ottomans drove Armenians into a desert. Loose threads in the fabric of history are being plucked by Putin in Ukraine and by the duo of Trump and Netanyahu over Gaza.
If history is anything, then we are watching a black hole in its page, a void where good intentions go to die.
We can only gaze at the suffering, not least those of little children dying of preventable starvation while food piles up outside the gate.
We in the liberal democracies have a perilous dilemma that will leave many of us numb. We determine our own futures free of coercion but are at risk of permanent loss of any sense of justice.
Trevor Kerr, Blackburn
Think like Thatcher
Sussan Ley's performance at parliamentary question time the other day was as flat as a day-old gin fizz. Her diction was poor, her body language ephemeral and she showed little gravitas in the face of the embarrassing comments from Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce. Given the low standing she appears to have within the LNP she really needs to get her act together.
And she can. There's one thing she can do that could really help her out. Go home and think to herself 'What would Margaret Thatcher do?'
For a start she'd lower her voice by an octave. Then, practically, in a strident act of strength and without pity, Thatcher would have undertaken a purge of every useless, shallow, disloyal male in her orbit and appoint young, energetic, ambitious loose cannons, male or female.
Were Ley to follow Thatcher's style, Labor would be dazed and confused. Then perhaps the Liberals can start to agree with Labor on what they can agree on, including net zero whilst setting aside other matters of disagreement for later.
The country requires an effective opposition. At present. we have to endure a bunch of hayseed tenant farmers whingeing about why they're out in the rental cottage and not staying in the big house.
The last thing the country needs is a state like we have in Victoria. As a Scot, I was never a fan of Thatcher but her parliamentary performance and her campaigning was undeniably resonant with voters at the time.
Simon Clegg, Donvale
A treaty, it's not
I am far from amused by the 27/7 report of the 'beer-lateral relationship' and what your correspondent rightly styled the ' so-called Geelong Treaty ' signed by Defence Minister Richard Marles and the UK Defence Secretary John Healey.
Treaties should be discussed and endorsed by the parliament. I have not seen any such reports of this matter. Is this another example, like AUKUS, of the public being informed, after the event, of matters that intended to shape the future for us and our children.
Associating international agreements with warm relationships between elected politicians is a modern-day nonsense designed to add to the electoral appeal of the individuals. Even if they did wear flat hats or tradie boots to look the part when visiting the brewery in Geelong or the pub in Rotherham, it is not how decisions on vast amounts of taxpayers' money should be made.
Gerry O'Reilly, Camberwell
Company we keep
Re ″ Hong Kong places $40,000 bounty on local academic ″, (27/7). Dr Feng Chongyi should consider himself fortunate he is not a former US citizen. Whilst we should be outraged that the Chinese government has applied a bounty on his head, the Australian government will not extradite him to Hong Kong. The actions which have garnered Chinese ire are not illegal under Australian law.
Feng Chongyi is still a free man, though his life will now be unfairly constrained.
Not so lucky was Daniel Duggan, who was extradited to the US by our government to face charges in the US which were retrospectively applied, for actions which are likewise not illegal under Australian law. Duggan has now disappeared into the gulag which is the US justice system.
The double standard applied here is a disgrace.
Australian citizens should be protected by their government against overreach by all nations. There is no free pass for ones that claim to be our ″ally″.
Ken Richards, Elwood
Polystyrene danger
The Yarra Riverkeeper Association has just released its 'Polystyrene Report'. It has found that expanded polystyrene (EPS) constitutes the most prevalent and pervasive litter in the Yarra River, and that most of it comes from construction sites. Builders love EPS because it's cheap and light to use, and makes construction a lot quicker. It is mixed with concrete to make foundations, and used in walls as insulation.
This is an environmental disaster in the making. Polystyrene is a form of plastic. It does not degrade in the sense that organic material does. It simply breaks down into micro-plastics that get into our waterways and soils, and if ingested by birds, fish and frogs, can damage their internal organs. It is more harmful than other forms of plastic as its toxic chemicals can leak into the environment.
So, where is the EPA on this, and the Victorian government? The state government's push for fast growth and densification to solve the housing crisis will only exacerbate this.
There is no safe way to use polystyrene on construction sites. It must be banned or its use severely curtailed.
Annette Cooper, Camberwell
Education quality
Re Letters 'Private access appeal' (24/7). The idea of private schools opening their Olympic-standard sports facilities to the public out of hours is as unthinkable as high-class restaurants offering dinners to the homeless in the morning.
Those who could pay, but usually don't, would flood in. Sporting entitlement might lose its meaning. Profit margins might be cut and normal enrolment might shrink. Privilege and exclusivity might be eroded and business models collapse.
″Old school″ employment preferences might fade. Education equality might benefit. Hard, but good.
Alastair Pritchard, Templestowe
AND ANOTHER THING
Trump world
I had thought that Donald Trump was beyond satire. Thank you, South Park creators, for proving me wrong.
Mark Lewis, Ascot Vale
Trump is off on a highland 'fling'. Let's just hope he's not sporting a kilt. We know what a whirlwind he can be.
Tris Raouf, Hadfield
Conflict
During the London Blitz, just over 7700 children were killed. The estimated deaths and injuries of children in Gaza is around 50,000. It is beyond belief.
Barry Revill, Moorabbin
Despite Albanese's visit to China, nothing really seems to have changed with a bounty of $40,000 placed by Chinese security police on a local academic (27/7).
Martin Newington, Aspendale
AFL
Snoop Dogg at the AFL grand final? I had hoped we'd moved on from cultural cringe. Australian – good, better, best.
Julienne Gleeson, Portarlington
'Doggone it, AFL″ (Letters, 27/7) is so right. Let's take it a step further. Use new and upcoming talent for the grand final, and reinstate free to air footy on Saturday for young families and those who cannot afford streaming services. AFL footy in Melbourne should be available to everyone.
Susie Wettenhall, Glen Iris
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Paul Murray: Futile bid to hit unachievable net zero target continues to cost households
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To put that more simply, we would have to install more than 11 wind turbines every day and 3000 solar panels every hour to December 31, 2029. But investment in new renewable energy projects last year was the lowest since 2017. Not one new wind farm has come on stream this year. Labor has put almost all its eggs in the one basket, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen's capacity investment scheme (CIS) through which taxpayers underwrite renewables projects. The scheme seeks to take the risk out of the projects by guaranteeing revenue streams for some $73 billion of needed investment by 2027. The eventual cost of those guarantees is unknown, but potentially massive. This week Bowen increased the target under CIS from 32 gigawatts to 40, despite the clear evidence that it isn't working at attracting sufficient new capacity. 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He told the conference run by the Smart Energy Council — a lobby group funded mainly by people selling Chinese solar panels — that unless Australia set itself an even higher renewables target for 2035 we would be responsible for very dire consequences. 'The change is working,' Stiell said. 'Now consider the alternative: missing the opportunity and letting the world overheat.' So a nation that contributes just over one percent of global carbon emissions would be responsible for cooking the planet unless it sets a new unreachable target, having missed the existing one by a country mile? This sort of moral blackmail has characterised the climate change debate for decades and clearly is as useless as the targets Stiell envisages for Australia. It got worse. 'Mega-droughts will make fresh fruit and veg a once-a-year treat,' he warned. 'Australia has a strong economy and among the highest living standards in the world. 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an hour ago
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Palestine, AUKUS set for debate at Labor love-in
A key defence partnership and Middle East policy will come into sharp focus at a Labor conference as protesters try to disrupt the love-in after the party's thumping election win. Party leaders, members and union officials will gather for the Victorian Labor state conference on Saturday and Sunday in Melbourne, with MPs to rub shoulders with the rank and file. A raft of grassroots resolutions will be put up for debate and voted on across the two days, although the motions are not binding on the state or federal Labor governments. These include one calling for immediate action against the "military occupation, siege and genocide" in Palestine. A similar resolution passed at the state conference in 2024 after the terror attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the nation's subsequent military campaign in Gaza. Suggestions within the motion, which is subject to change, include comprehensive sanctions on members of Israel's Netanyahu government and legislating improved military trade transparency and tracking laws. Labor's official platform backs Palestinian statehood but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to set a timeline for the policy's implementation, recently declaring it was not imminent. More draft motions seen by AAP relate to the AUKUS nuclear submarines pact, US President Donald Trump, a public housing towers redevelopment plan and the right to peaceful assembly. A rally has been called outside the event by a coalition of groups opposing the "genocide in Gaza", forced administration of the embattled CFMEU and incoming state protest laws. Security has been tightened for the event after pro-Palestine protesters stormed the venue in 2024. The major security breach led to the conference floor being locked down and delayed speeches by Mr Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan, who has warned people not to bring their "extremist behaviour" to the 2025 conference. "If they want to join the Labor party and be part of the debate and discussion inside the room, that's how you make a difference," Ms Allan said. A Victoria Police spokesperson said the force was prepared for protest action and ready to respond if needed. The conference falls on the same weekend as Garma Festival in the Northern Territory's remote northeast Arnhem Land. Mr Albanese is expected to attend the four-day festival, with another senior leader to give the federal address to the state Labor faithful in his place. With issues mounting after a decade in power, the Victorian Labor brand was viewed as a drag on the Albanese government's hopes for re-election in the lead-up to the May 3 poll. Labor ultimately retained all of its Victorian seats and added MPs for Deakin, Menzies and Melbourne to its ballooning lower-house benches in Canberra.
