Contrary to the impression conveyed by Sally Neighbour (‘All About Cory’, Dec/Jan), Cory Bernardi enjoys great respect in the community and among his colleagues. Bernardi was one of the first in the Liberal Party to strongly oppose Kevin Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. He had to persuade very many in his own party that he was right, and he did so. If he had not succeeded, the Coalition would be nowhere near government but rather two or three terms away. Many of the colleagues who opposed and derided Bernardi owe their political survival and future prospects to...
Letters to the editor
The Monthly publishes letters to the editor in the print edition as well as online, though longer offerings may be published on our website only.
How to submit a letter to the editor: Email letters "at" themonthly.com.au. Letters must include the writer's full name, daytime phone number and home address (for verification only), and may be edited for clarity or length. If you do not want your letter published, please mark it 'not for publication'.
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February 2012
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February 2012
While women play a significant role in our armed forces, whether they should be deployed in frontline combat situations is quite debatable. The underlying premise of Anne Summers’ ‘The Lady Killers’ (Dec/Jan) is that gender equality should ignore biology. But you cannot afford to throw biology out the window, particularly in a life-and-death combat situation. Summers’ comments on the threat of rape in war zones is unfortunately trivialised. Since it is a strategy we know is routinely deployed by many insurgents and rebel groups, women captured in war zones face a real...
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February 2012
To my great delight, Don Watson (‘Comment’, Dec/Jan) referred to Halldór Laxness’ novel Independent People. Having lived some 20 years among the modern-day crofters of Iceland, I understand that Laxness’ social commentary was highly critical of the ignorance and abject poverty that plagued his remote countrymen, many of whom were deeply offended by the novel and resentful of his depiction of their lives. However, since the 1930s the Icelanders have prided themselves on their high rates of literacy and, until the recent economic embarrassment, have enjoyed a...
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February 2012
Nick Bryant’s statement that Queensland is “Australia’s most conservative state”(‘Can Do?’, Dec/Jan) needs challenging. Joh Bjelke-Petersen was voted out of office nearly 25 years ago and Queensland’s had three Labor premiers since then.
Jedda Bradley
Dulwich Hill, NSW
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December 2011 - January 2012
Peter Hartcher had to dismiss “four press releases” by the Greens advocating raising the top marginal tax rate from 45% to 50% on incomes over $1 million a year to conclude that “nobody heard about it” (‘Left Behind’, Dec/Jan). Hartcher, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Canberra top notch, never wrote the Greens policy up and, apparently, doesn’t attend press conferences where the Greens advocate tax policy. Seems he also doesn’t listen to the Senate or...
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December 2011 - January 2012
In Quarterly Essay 40, ‘Trivial Pursuit’, George Megalogenis sounded off for more neoliberal reform; in Megologenis’ November cover story he promotes a similar line, this time in sizing up Paul Keating (‘Leader of the Pack’, November). With the powerful and pervasive backing of News Limited’s financially flush media outlets, the neoliberal extreme growth position has no lack of space. These outlets daily flick off the Greens, and other environmental voices, despite the accumulating evidence of creeping planetary degradation. Keating, too, has shown in his...
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December 2011 - January 2012
Having been a participant in the ‘Freedom Ride’ with Charles Perkins, I wish to correct Peter Robb’s description of “the big stop” in Moree (‘Dreamland’, November). The pool’s entrance was blocked not by the crowd but by Charles and the students. We formed a queue with Aboriginal children and refused to budge unless the management agreed to permit the entry of Aboriginal children to the pool. After some time – it was a hot afternoon – the management relented. Days later we learnt that again the pool was refusing admission to Aboriginal children. At the second...
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December 2011 - January 2012
Lindsay Tanner suggests that “changing the voting age to 16 would grant political rights to an age group that has less connection with the world of adult responsibility than any previous generation of that age” (‘Window Dressing’, November). The median age of first-time mothers has steadily increased to around 29; for men it is slightly older. Full-time employment opportunities for teenagers have steadily declined over the last few decades, pushing the starting age of full-time work to later in life. Young people typically buy their first home in their early thirties....
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November 2011
Gail Bell’s article on Aids in Australia was as interesting as it was thought provoking (‘A Quiet Anniversary’, November). I did, however, find the dearth of information on HIV, and other blood-borne viruses, within Australian gaols (due to the fact that prisoners across Australia have no access to needle exchanges), a little disappointing. If HIV does rear its head again, it will begin in these sad places of confinement.
Cameron Ljubic
Bethania, QLD
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November 2011
In Gail Bell’s article (‘A Quiet Anniversary’, November) ‘Jodie’ of Newcastle states that she doesn’t bother “with ACON [formerly the AIDS Council of NSW] because it’s all about the gays in Darlinghurst”. The subsequent quote attributed to me – “it is difficult for an organisation established for a sexual minority to be a general service provider” – could be misconstrued as affirming this view.
What I tried to communicate over the course of a lengthy discussion with Gail Bell is that many people find it difficult to accept that an organisation established by a...
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Friday, 3 February 2012 - 3:43pm
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