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The Age
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
Australia would be wise to tread very carefully
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. AMERICAN ALLIES I read with horror the report, 'Marles backs Hegseth speech' (1/6). Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claims: 'We (the United States) are prepared to do what the Department of Defence does best, to fight and win decisively.″ As far as I recall, the opposite applies. Has he forgotten Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan? And what about Korea? Australia must tread very carefully when dealing with the US. America will do nothing that is not in its own best interests. To my knowledge, Australia (under the Morrison government) is the only country to have publicly stated that it will join America in war with China over Taiwan. If such a war occurs, China will never attack sovereign American territory. Not so for Australia. In fact, the first targets to be taken out will be the American communication bases. If Defence Minister Richard Marles thinks that by supporting Hegseth, we will get a better trade deal, I question his judgment. Jim Lamborn, Doncaster Trump's US must not dictate our defence policy It was disappointing to read of Defence Minister Richard Marles' sycophantic response to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's bellicose stance on China and his push for Australia to increase our defence expenditure. The ALP must stand by its election promise to maintain our strategic relationship with an unreliable Trumpian America while simultaneously fostering our still-recovering rapprochement with China in a way fully consistent with our national interest. It would be intolerable to have Donald Trump's unstable America dictating our defence policy. We must make it clear to Trump that Australia can only guarantee our strategic support when the US proves itself again a reliable ally. Terry Hewton, Henley Beach South, SA We need an independent defence minister Seeking to distract from his country's rapidly increasing disarray, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth comes out swinging with a bellicose return to a 1950s foreign policy stance, evoking all the death and destruction that has involved. Richard Marles responds with his usual grovel but goes back even further with his slogan, 'Peace through strength' – frighteningly reminiscent of 'Peace in our time'. Australia, right now, is in urgent need of an independent forward-thinking defence minister to plan beyond the increasingly irrational and ever-myopic self-interest of the US. John Laurie, Riddells Creek Just what is Marles actually saying? Is Defence Minister Richard Marles endorsing Australia joining the United States if there is war with China over its claims that Taiwan belongs to China? Malcolm McDonald, Burwood 'Peace through strength' a contradiction Yet again, we foolishly acquiesce to the trumpeting of war by the US. As is seen daily in many parts of the US, it is in chaos. Under Donald Trump, it has ambushed many allies on tariffs. Richard Marles does not seem to understand that 'peace through strength' is a contradiction and is not a prelude to a peaceful world. This is demonstrated every day in Gaza and Ukraine. Judith Morrison, Nunawading Marles has placed us in harm's way Here we go again. The last time Australia hitched itself to the Donald Trump wagon, China imposed costly trade restrictions. Moreover, Defence Minister Richard Marles has placed us in harm's way. Trumpian America's self-delusion knows no bounds. America's Vietnam adventure ended in a humiliating withdrawal. That taking on an industrialised China on its home turf wouldn't end in abject failure is ludicrous to the extreme. If Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has any concern for the national interest, he'll rein in his defence minister and ask Foreign Minister Penny Wong to explain to Beijing in diplomatic terms that our sabres will be rattled only in self-defence of our own shores. John Mosig, Kew THE FORUM
The Age
a day ago
- General
- The Age
Fireys using pen and paper as technology fails following cyberattack
Technology outages are still forcing Fire Rescue Victoria to turn to pen, paper and pagers for hours at a time, 2½ years after a cyberattack damaged the emergency service systems. The agency is investigating the cause of the latest series of outages that repeatedly shut systems down this week, but the United Firefighters Union says the problem is recurrent and risking public safety. Fire Rescue Victoria denies the problems have endangered public safety. Fire Rescue Victoria endured four separate outages in the week to Saturday, for up to seven hours at a time, to both its Station and Firecom systems. Both systems cut out last Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. They again shut down for one hour and 45 minutes on Saturday morning. The Station Turn Out system alerts firefighters to dispatch to an emergency and automatically opens bay doors for fire trucks. Firecom provides real-time information about the location of vehicles, resources like hydrants, and the emergency itself. The shutdowns prompted Fire Rescue Victoria to write to staff on Tuesday confirming the organisation was investigating the cause of the outages. In a letter to Fire Rescue Victoria, seen by The Age, United Firefighters Union state secretary Peter Marshall said the two IT systems were critical and that outages hampered the ability of firefighters to respond to emergencies. 'The failure of these critical systems put firefighter and community safety at risk,' Marshall said. 'Without the Station Turn Out system functioning, firefighters rely upon a phone call to receive notification of an emergency incident to which they must turn out.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Journalists' attacks on Ben Roberts-Smith unjustified
If Chris Masters were to apply the same standard of behaviour to himself as he does to Ben Roberts-Smith, he would not be defending his journalism by resorting to personal attacks on those who hold a contrary view to him about whether Roberts-Smith is a war criminal (' Roberts-Smith and his rabid band of supporters has an outspoken new member – Gina Rinehart ', May 25). There is no justification for describing such people as 'rabid'. As one of them, I'm offended by the characterisation. Masters claims there is 'profound evidence revealing Australia's most decorated living soldier is a war criminal' yet Roberts-Smith has never been charged, let alone found in a criminal trial to be guilty of murder. Why is that, one wonders. Until he is found guilty, accusations of wrongdoing by Roberts-Smith should properly always be qualified as 'alleged'. It is true that four judges 'have now found to a civil court standard that Roberts-Smith murdered four captives', that is, that he probably did so, though it is not beyond reasonable doubt that he did. This finding is only on the basis of the evidence before them in the civil defamation matter and applies only for the purpose of providing the defamers with a truth defence for their defaming of Roberts-Smith by calling him a war criminal. Most critics of Masters, his fellow journalist Nick McKenzie and the Herald and The Age for what they have published about Roberts-Smith are not rabid. Instead, they have a healthy and genuine concern for the man's right to his former good reputation and, too, for the upholding of the foundational legal convention that courts are to presume an accused person innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Surely this defence of a man found by a civil court to have murdered lets down the many thousands of people who have served in our military and complied with the rules. Australia has always been quick to stand up and condemn war crimes by other countries; apparently it is different when it is us. And what about the compensation recommended for those poor families whose husband and father Roberts-Smith was found on the balance of probability to have murdered? As far as I am aware that has never been paid – another great shame for Australia. It seems we have one rule for others and a different rule for ourselves. Michael McMullan, Avoca Trump's free ride The ethics surrounding Donald Trump's acceptance of an out-of-date replacement for his big boy's toy, aka Air Force One, are questionable to say the least ('Love at first sight – but Trump will have to wait to fly new Air Force One', May 25). Presidents past have coveted this obscene display of power and self-indulgent importance. Protect the so-called leader of the free world by all means, but why such a gas-guzzling, flying mini-White House? Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook Leyding the way Jacqueline Maley has helped me to see Liberal leader Sussan Ley in a new light (' Littleproud's Trumpian tactics showcased Ley's grace under fire ', May 25). After the monumental disaster for the Coalition that was the federal election, the break-up fiasco spearheaded by Littleproud, followed by its swift repudiation, has turned the Nationals into a laughing stock. Through it all Ms Ley has emerged with her credibility firmly intact. She must not now simply give in to the Nationals' demands, but rather concentrate on doing what she promised to do: respect, reflect and represent modern Australia in an honest attempt to listen and learn from past mistakes. Nothing less will return the Liberal Party to the capable opposition our country deserves. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Both Israel and Palestine have deep ties to the land
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@ Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published. I attended a talk this week in St Kilda by peace activists Gershon Baskin, an Israeli Jew, and Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem. Both argued it was essential for peace that there was an end to 'competition of belonging', replaced by mutual recognition that both peoples had a past tied to the same land. They outlined how most Palestinians and Israeli Jews long for peace, but for 25 years, extremists on each side had given the other the message that they did not want to live in peace. I was reminded of the words of the Holocaust survivor Edith Eger, 'I also want to say that there is no hierarchy of suffering. There's nothing that makes my pain worse or better than yours, no graph on which we can plot the relative importance of one sorrow versus another.' Samer and Gershon ended by encouraging Australians to urge our government to recognise a Palestinian state as the next step towards peace. Mark Zirnsak, Senior Social Justice Advocate, Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania We must search our consciences Nicola Redhouse's search for moral clarity and determination is something that we all must emulate (″ When Israel acts shamefully, we Jews must be willing to be ashamed of it ″, 30/5). Day by day the casualties mount in Gaza and the Israeli justification of self-defence and elimination of Hamas becomes ever less believable. This is a war of extermination and we must all search our consciences for the strength to speak out against it. Lorel Thomas, Blackburn South Going forward side by side Feeling paralysingly helpless by the sufferings across Gaza and in other world places, on reading Nicola Redhouse's opinion piece there came a moment of intellectual, moral and spiritual clarity. With a clarion call to her tradition, ″Love that cannot feel shame is not love – it is vanity. Nationalism that cannot feel shame is not love of country; it is mere jingoism″, I found the boundaries shift. She states Judaism ″has never required uniformity of judgment, but it has required a reverence of truth″. With eyes to see, and hearts to feel the reverence of truth of overwhelming evils and suffering, we can still feel love of identity and nation, while we hold our heads in shame, as we rise to work side by side for the shalom, the salem, the intrinsic wellbeing for all precious life and land. Reverend Sally Apokis, South Melbourne Hamas is the intractable obstacle Rabbi Daniel Rabin (' Israel is painted as the villain ', 30/5) is correct about the terrorist instigator, Hamas. Unfortunately Hamas is being written out of the narrative and all blame is falling on Israel. Hamas says it wants a Palestinian state. Very commendable but it also wants the elimination of Israel. Until recently Israel championed and worked for a two-state solution, but its right-wing government no longer supports this ideal. How can one support a solution in which the other side denies your right to exist? Les Aisen, Elsternwick THE FORUM Senseless omission A dearth of safe refuge for women and children escaping family violence is the single greatest factor for why women stay in abusive relationships (' New high-security shelters for women in crisis to sit empty during family violence epidemic ', 29/5). That the May state budget omitted $3.9million in operational funding for high-security units designed to shelter women at high risk of death by family violence (or the $9.6million in ongoing funding requested by Safe Steps), is senseless. Dr Anne Summers in 2022 stated that for many women experiencing family violence (who are simultaneously trying to protect their children), ″the choice: violence or poverty″, is the stark reality, including homelessness (ie couch surfing, sleeping in their car). The state government allocating $727 million for 1000 new prison beds and 88 youth justice beds – 'when money spent on services for child family violence victims' could break the cycle of children exposed to family violence 'using violence in their relationships later in life', is a false economy and short-term thinking. Whereas breaking the complex intergenerational cycle of family violence requires long-term strategic thinking, planning, evaluation and government investment. Jelena Rosic, Mornington
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
Keeping power in check: The Age as a watchdog
In their feedback and correspondence, subscribers to The Age constantly make clear to me their desire for our journalists to hold society's powerful people and institutions to account. There is nothing new or innovative about the watchdog function of publications such as ours, indeed it is something people expect. But if you will allow me a small boast, I have to say I think we're quite good at it. In recent weeks our reporting has revealed: * The Victorian government is seeking to save $2.4 billion by delaying funding increases promised under the Gonski reforms, embedding the status of the so-called 'Education State' as the nation's poorest funder of public schools. * An outlaw bikie gang has been linked to a spate of firebombings targeting construction businesses across the state, and building industry insiders are concerned that government and law enforcement are not doing enough to stop it. * A dispute in the Victorian Liberal Party following a faux pas about Gina Rinehart has spilled over into a Fair Work matter. * Victorians' lives could be saved by mandating that defibrillators be registered on a public database. * A state government payroll tax touted as a salve for our ailing mental health system is overdelivering financially, but the state hasn't yet met a commitment for 170 new mental health beds. Most of these stories seek to hold our elected officials accountable along with the people they appoint to public roles, but our watchdog role extends beyond government to power in places such as sporting codes, business, schools, hospitals, the courts, society and the media. Of course, watchdog journalism doesn't cover everything we do, but it's at the heart of our purpose.
