Archives: Letters to the Editor

For some time, my teacher mate sang the virtues of the US system where the president got to tap into the expertise of highly credentialled people from all around the country when appointing heads of departments and I must admit that I didn’t disagree with him.

Then came Trump who unashamedly appointed mates. So much for that idea.

In Australia, with its ongoing war against anything old that works, we too started to appoint highly paid (unlike with workers where qualifications and capability are not portional to the amount you’re paid) experts as heads of departments on contract.

It then became normal to renew that contract with a pay rise just before each election so either your head of department with your political bias stayed on when you were re-elected or stayed on as a thorn in the side of the incoming government or the taxpayer footed the bill to terminate the recently signed multimillion-dollar contract.

Perhaps “Yes Minister” wasn’t a comedy, it just worked, successfully controlling the democratically elected career parliamentarians at a significantly reduced cost to taxpayers.

Gerard Gill’s statement: “intent being determined by multiple statements from officials” is legal fantasy. Intent is established by acts or omissions, not by words.

If a reasonable person would understand that there was a strongly probable, indeed, near certain consequence of an act or omission, that establishes intent. She who deliberately puts death cap mushrooms in the beef Wellington commits murder, (allegedly). The act proves intent.

If a reasonable person would understand that a near certain consequence of Israel’s obliteration of Gaza, cutting off water, food, medical supplies, the use of starvation as a means of warfare, the destruction of the entire health care system, rendering Gaza an uninhabitable, toxic wasteland, would inevitably lead to the destruction of the Palestinian People — in part — that establishes intent. No words are necessary.

It would be oh so nice if supposedly educated people got themselves tossed in the nick for 10 minutes, so the barely literate boys inside could explain mens rea to them. It would alleviate much of my frustration with the media and its wilful ignorance of basic elements of criminal law.

Just remember, it’s about acts, not about words. Acts establish intent.

I have been banned from X and am unable to peruse any five-minute scroll items.

X claims I have sent prohibited comment to it for which I am banned. I have never used X.

I responded to their ban email by saying I have never wanted to be treated as a user of X and am happy to be excluded by them.

However, if the five-minute scroll continues to use them as material, I will not be able in future to be able to access it. I have been a user of P&I for over 10 years contributing to it until retiring in 2023 and surviving on the age pension thereafter.

What if China decided to fund the organisations (humanitarian aid, climate change support) from which Trump has withdrawn support? What a coup this would be! How would Trump react?

I feel the Chinese are now rich enough to take this up. If they did so, how would the Western powers react? It would really change the world’s perception of China.

Contrary to Barb Dadd’s pessimism, I believe there is a real choice at the coming federal election and that is the Australian Greens. The Greens have policies which address all the issues that concern the author and I encourage your readers to check the Australian Greens website for a thorough summary of Greens’ policies.

The Greens have been criticised by many commentators for blocking Labor-initiated legislation in the Parliament, but in all cases they have been trying to improve that legislation so that it is more effective and delivers greater benefits to the community as a whole and particularly to those struggling with housing affordability.

The Greens have also tried to strengthen the national environmental laws so that they really do deliver positive outcomes for the environment, and they have the strongest policies on transitioning to a carbon-free economy. And the Greens are the only Party to reject the AUKUS arrangement on the grounds of threats to sovereignty, issues with nuclear waste and the absolute waste of precious financial resources at a time when so much is needed to address other issues.

Like Larry Stillman, most of us don’t want to see a rise in hate towards any group of people here. But for Donald Trump to reiterate a plan during Netanyahu’s visit that Palestinians should just vacate Southwest Palestine is unhinged. What can that do but create even greater tensions, with their spillover in Australia and elsewhere?

What then will he propose for Northeast Palestine?

Hitler’s plans for Poland to provide Lebensraum have an eerie echo in Trump’s statements. Jewish organisations in Australia, which are hopefully fundamentally driven by moral imperatives, would be best served by proposing a much more humanitarian approach.

In my admittedly limited experience of trying to engage reasonably with them, one problem seems to be that some of those organisations don’t seem to want to engage with their fellow Australians on ways to ameliorate the situation.

“The response to DeepSeek was predictable. It is stolen, it is untrue, it is expensive, it is a psyops exercise and, if not any of these, then it is a threat to Western civilisation that deserves to be blocked immediately.”

And in a typical response, the CIA promptly did a massive DDoS attack on it using Vault 7, its cyberwar weapon.

I watch as the US rushes towards the abyss, taking the Western world and the planet and democracy with it. With limited news coverage, I admire what China and the Chinese system of government has achieved.

The world cheered at the fall of the Soviets and their communist system, not realising that the US and its ongoing worldwide wars and capitalism was in decline.
Some thought that a benevolent dictatorship was the ideal government; the US is racing towards dictatorship without benevolence.

I have no doubt that the rise of Chinese manufacturing and technology has had a positive impact on China and its population. China built on the knowledge and technologies that went before, as all civilisations built on ancient Chinese innovation, gun powder to name but one.

With all the ramblings coming out of the US, I am yet to see any hope of fixing the problems facing the planet or its populations. I’m only seeing the mega-rich linking up to get richer

For what it’s worth, I think we should be looking at what elements of the Chinese system work for us and adapt and adopt them.

They didn’t come to pillage, claims the woman who “pillaged” thousands of taxpayers’ dollars.

It is inaccurate to use the popular and populist formulation “all politicians — or parties — are the same”.

Labor may have been disappointing on international matters – continued AUKUS expensive folly, failure to stand up to the ruling Israeli false narrative etc.
Yet it has achieved many reforms: prescription costs, improved bulk billing support, after-hours medical centres, childcare costs, childcare training, apprentice training, numerous industrial relations reforms, housing developments (after a long Greens delay), support for renewables, moves towards Gonski levels in public education, reducing HECS debt, WFH right to disconnect etc etc

Populist anti-political thought fosters political alienation and supports the mainstream and marginal conservative parties, just like the absurd Trumpist Dutton term “common sense”.

Let’s recognise a government active in reform — with some significant exceptions — even as it remains a target of the Murdochracy, and has failed to successfully communicate its achievements.

Growing up in a Protestant Christian household, I have been unable to understand the emphasis/equal billing given to the Old Testament teachings at church.

Christian teachings such as those mentioned get barely a mention in and out of churches while the vengeful god of the Old Testament is often quoted. “Eye for an eye”etc I see the big players in the Old Testament as the “Who do you think you are“ class. So often the real Christian, caring, sharing, non-judgmental people remain working hard, at the bottom, caring for the needy, wearing their old suits and dresses, never qualifying for the fancy vestments and mitres of the upper echelon.

Perhaps if they were less political and more Christian we would have less wars and more compassion and better church attendance.

In connection with Ross Gittins important article “Want more economics students? Drop the obsession with maths” the more fundamental question is the utility of this approach in the social sciences to ape the “gold standard” for being a science — assumed to be physics — by describing the area under study via mathematical relationships.

The blog of Real World Economics Review, as well as posting items on current economics matters, also has those that address the weaknesses in mainstream economic mathematical modes.

Lars Syll is a regular and pertinent contributor on this issue; most recently “How evidence is treated in mainstream macroeconomics“.

As background to Keith Mitchelson’s timely alert about the recent NYT article, P&I readers will find a report from April 2024 by Yuval Abraham in +972 magazine (online) of great interest.

Interviews with IDF members who had served in Gaza detailed the use of two software systems used to murder Palestinians. “Lavender” collated data from numerous sources to provide target lists, while “Where’s Daddy?” provided location detail for the actual attack.

As with the NYT report the full article should be read by all.

“The fate of nuclear energy in a hung parliament” is just one more article that fails to address the “forever” problem of nuclear waste.

Until such time as nuclear proponents can 100% guarantee safe and forever disposal of nuclear waste, they shouldn’t bother to leave their drawing boards.

Watching a variety of economists on a variety of TV shows, I have my doubts if economists know anything about the economy or if any two economists or politicians agree on anything.

None of them seem to understand even the most basic concept that if you don’t have an income you can’t build / do / supply / repair anything.

Take it as a given that nobody wants to pay taxes and everybody wants services . No matter how you dress it up, whatever you promise has to be paid for either by taxes, loans or substandard services.

Australia, a would-be wealthy country, has substandard services because it has too many economists with opposing opinions, too many career politicians and increasingly too big a gap between the haves and have-nots, too few paying a fair share of the needed income. All talk, no action.

We haven’t always been like this; take a look at our aging infrastructure most of which was sold off to keep taxes low and now need as much government assistance to upgrade as they did to originally build.

Like almost all your articles, this one deserves a much wider readership than it will probably get. However I’d like to mention that it is in error in its claim that the NYT were the first to report this.

It may be true they were the first to interview those particular anonymous IDF soldiers but the claims made have been reported in a number of independent media outlets. In particular, I remember reading such reports in +972 magazine [www.972mag.com], an Israeli publication run as a co-operative with both Jewish and Palestinian staff and contributors, who were also the first to report on the “Lavendar” AI software that the IDF was using to determine targets without consideration of civilian casualties.

I suppose many people dismiss certain reports as unreliable until they appear in major MSM outlets. It’s a good thing especailly when the NYT finally does, given its appalling record of how it has reported the IDF’s actions in Gaza and the Occupied Territories.

Your correspondent from Gladstone Park informs us that hackers got into his Centrelink account and stole his pension. He postulates that this would not have happened under a conservative government.

We all sympathise with him and lament the stress this crime has caused him; but, has he forgotten Robodebt where the Conservative government itself did the stealing, leading to the suicides of far too many?

We don’t live in a democracy, we live in a capitalist society and have done since the beginning of the illusion of democracy.

There have been short-lived periods of democratic waves of revolution barely tolerated by the old money. The climate revolution is drawing to a close as the oligarchs take back control to defend their mega money income streams. The old money media and mining moguls of the past have integrated the modern day Internet and tech moguls. We are yet to see which tech billionaires will survive .

The rapidly emerging Trump dictatorship is all part of the plan. The King is wearing no clothes and people will only tolerate him as long as he suits their reset agenda. We are yet to see if he will join the list of presidents who die in office. Will he and his family join the upstart jinxed Kennedys and fade into oblivion?

Winston Churchill sang the praises of democracy; what he didn’t say was that democracy can only survive while the have-nots can dare to dream. That time is rapidly passing for a variety of reasons.

In 1969, those who watched the “one giant leap for mankind” witnessed the end product of America’s determination to outsmart the Russians. Exactly how did “mankind” benefit from making that eternal shoe print on the moon? It was a huge engineering undertaking, but as Peter Sainsbury points out, nothing like the feat we must pull off to keep Earth habitable.

With no adversary to compete against except our greed, Rupert Murdoch suggests those living in areas of coastal erosion and rising seas simply retreat. Musk has given up on Earth and is going to live on Mars. Trump promises to deliver the “cleanest air and water”.

These fantasists think themselves immune, to hell with the rest. But we are all on the same collision course. Our human footprint on the planet was already a problem in 1969. It seems the rapacious nature of capitalism will not be curbed even to save itself. We could use our collective brain power and enormous physical resources to make the necessary giant leap for (wo)mankind. But the world’s political and corporate leaders are, as Sainsbury suggests, “too ignorant of the science or too selfish to care”.

It is politically expedient to argue children should be punished for their crimes. But more needs to be studied on the reasons those children behaved they way they did. Too often those studies are dismissed for being “soft” on those kids – that more discipline is needed.

But the environment in which they begin life may hinder social development and the acquisition of goals (not gaols). More studies could gain knowledge on their family life, community life, education that reaches out to them, inclusively, and health services that also ensures they eat well. Were any of the children belted at home or saw their mother belted? That affects children’s outlook on life. The children’s actions are not genetically derived, nor is it in their DNA.

They are products of the opportunities allowed in our society. Some are very limited. The question can be put: how can society provide opportunities for them to develop positive life goals? The answer is not easily agreed upon, but in a fair and decent society it is one that should be searched for. The existing punishment-focused approach is unlikely to change the mindsets of those individuals.

Reading Jenny Hocking’s article about positive achievements of the Labor government, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps one of its positive achievements has been to make it easier for criminals to hack into the my.gov.au site and steal the money of pensioners.

Last year on 7 November, my Centrelink account was hacked and my aged pension was stolen. By contrast if I were to take an extra dollar from Centrelink that I was not entitled to, I could be certain that I would be caught. But the hacker can be sure that he will never be caught . He can remain in a state of tranquillity and enjoy the money he has stolen while I bear all the consequences of his actions, including increased anxiety and depression from which I already suffer.

Perhaps that’s one of the positive achievements of the Labor government: making it easier for criminals to hack into powerful government computers and steal social security money destined for Australia’s most vulnerable people. I suspect this would not have happened under a Liberal government.

I agree with Sue Barrett’s article. I have felt for some time that we seem to be approaching an apocalypse such as was seen in the Great Depression: a tiny majority controlling the world’s wealth (spoken a a whitey who is comfortable!).

I have been saying for years that there needs to be another compassionate change in society such as was seen during the ´Flower Power´ revolution of the 1970s. During that time, we established Medicare, free tertiary education, and many other social reforms that since seem to be openly derided (whilst the commentors still accept the largess of the system). The only recent positive change I can see is the NDIS, that currently both parties seem intent on winding back (as they have also done with free education and Medicare).

I feel we forget that both of the major strands of politics are conservative based, with the LNP seeming now to go ultra right. No wonder the Teal movement is gaining strength.

We seem to be in a time where foreign influences dictate most of our major policies. We seem afraid of the Chinese, when the current aggressors seem to be US based. Time for change?

In their article on DeepSeek, Wanning Sun and Marina Yue Zhang fail to understand the most important aspect of DeepSeek – it is open source.

They repeat the irrelevant criticism that as it stands, politically sensitive words and questions seem to be no-go areas. As it is open source, its source code is available for anyone and the updated versions will simply remove this problem.

What terrifies the American elite most is that DeepSeek yet again shows that the Chinese economic model can out-perform the American proprietary form of capitalism. DeepSeek is the latest example but the writing has been on the wall for some time. See, this for example:

I just read Sustainable Population Australia’s latest newsletter which aptly included a repeat of Julian Cribb’s climate information in P&I, on 30 December 2024.

Cribb’s list of 10 catastrophic risks ranged from forest loss to misinformation.

He summarised the list essentially as too many humans wanting too much from our planet Earth.

He also urged us to specifically agree to survive; and to consider updates on the Earth System Treaty which will be issued in P&I during 2025.

How wonderful to have such help; it may be our very salvation.

1. The author says: “… the taking of [Aboriginal] children from their parents by governments [continued] into the 1970s.]”

If only that were true. It continues to this day.

2. Jacinta Price (for so she called herself when she sent me a text during the referendum) proves that every group has fools in its midst.

How she can think British colonisation “has had no lasting negative effects.” is beyond me. I’d have thought the numbers of Indigenous children in out of home care and jail and having a shorter life expectancy than their non-Indigenous counterparts might have been worth noting.

This analysis by Brian Lawrence puts Labor’s position on the lowest paid workers in a clear light. They don’t seem to care about them.

This is disturbing for 2 reasons.

Firstly, Labor seems to have abolished roots, i.e. the low paid workers for the more lucrative middle class. I suppose: Labor no more.

Secondly, this looks exactly why the Democrats got such a flogging in the USA. Apart from being immoral it also seems to be utterly stupid. With an attitude to its former base like this Labor doesn’t deserve to win.

Some time ago, author Jarred Diamond wrote a book about why colonialism worked. The books title is “Guns, Germs and Steel”.

If indigenous people in Australia had their own guns then Phillip would have sailed back to England. It was the guns, germs and steel that enabled white people to colonize others and to feel superior to all other indigenous peoples around the world.

The only time colonizing did not work was when the invader went to a new country only to discover that another white colonizer was there before them and could put up a fight with their own “guns”. Of course you will never hear the likes of John Howard say that as it interferes with his view of white supremacy.

It is for me, and I imagine for many, many others, a matter of by now well-matured grievance and anger that we are STILL having this same discussion after so many months.

That Dutton and the LNP and also the Zionist Lobby continue to screech invective at every opportunity and at ever-increasing volume, is a given – this is part and parcel of the socially divisive and politically opportunistic Eretz Israel industry. No doubt, dividends would be paid from grateful investors in prime beachfront development of the Gaza Strip when those pesky Palestinians have been eradicated forever.

Business is business.

But for we old Laborites, the Albanese government embrace of the Zionist agenda in all its multivarious forms is a treachery. There simply has been no attempt to present a fair and balanced view, both in governmental expressions nor of course MSM reporting.

Albanese, wake the f##k up. Your condemnation of Grace Tame’s t-shirt on Australia Day is an example of abject stupidity – that statement was exactly what Australia needs to do to restore the vaunted ‘fair go’.

The Jewish Council deserves an award and government support for having the guts to fight the Murdoch scourge.

Jack’s articles are informative, but In the end, I would hope that public servants are there to support the community, or public or society rather than the state. Following “the state” just allows people to say “ I was just following orders”, don’t you think?

I appreciate, also, that if you accept that point, it gets complicated because different people have different ideas of what makes up a community, and what sustains it.

Andrew Hitchman

At last, someone has mentioned the unmentionable – the third possibility. I have been astonished and irritated that, till now, nobody else has dared to mention it, but now, finally, Paul Heywood-Smith has put his head above the parapet.

It has been seven weeks since the Adass synagogue fire, and at least according to the public record, the AFP and VicPol have made no arrests and appear to have few clues as to who was responsible. Or if they do, they’re not willing or able to say. If the perpetrators had been either bumbling amateur neo-Nazis, or bumbling amateur pro-Palestinians, ie. possibilities one and two, then you might expect that the police would be onto them pretty quickly. On the other hand, if the perpetrators were highly trained professionals, then they would have the means to melt away undetected, and chances of apprehending them would be small. This is where the “overseas actors” might come into the picture.

Who benefits most from deliberately fomenting the rancid anti-semitism pot in Australia?

Paul’s last sentence contains one crucial, and probably carefully considered word – “Let us hope that the police, unhindered, will get to the bottom of the matter”.