Premier and Australia deserve so much better
Credit:Illustration: Jim Pavlidis
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OLYMPIC GAMESPremier, and Australia, deserve so much betterJohn Coates demanded compliance from Annastacia Palaszczuk at a press conference in Tokyo by asserting his authority as deputy chair of the candidature leadership group. He demeaned and humiliated her, and implied she was ignorant of what was involved in the Games’ opening ceremony. This to the Premier of Queensland who has oversight of all the complexities and challenges of running the state.
Coates’ statements and the tone he used reveal much about his attitudes. If the Olympics and government authorities do not call him out for his atrocious treatment of Palaszczuk, they are complicit by acquiescence. He represents Australia on the international stage and he has embarrassed us all. We deserve better. So did Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Tiffany Lovegrove, Croydon
Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates’ behaviour towards Annastacia Palaszczuk was arrogant and abusive. His disgraceful dressing down of her was utterly out of line. Would he have taken that tone with a male premier? Even if his statement that it was the correct thing to do for the Premier to attend the Games’ opening ceremony, he should have told her in private, not at a press conference and in the manner that he did.
Steve Pickering, Beaumaris
John Coates’ display of arrogance and male entitlement to the Queensland Premier was one of the most egregiously rude public displays I have seen for years. It epitomised the arrogance and “take no prisoners†style of the International Olympic Committee and deserved to be called out.
The IOC is an unelected franchise manager for a fading project, which has bullied Tokyo into continuing with the Games despite the risk of further inflaming the pandemic and the majority of the Japanese population not wanting them to be held. Annastacia Palaszczuk, an elected official, was trying to balance her responsibilities, principally around the pandemic. She should have told Coates where to get off. As should we.
Dr Andrew Watkins, Olinda
How dare John Coates speak to the Premier of Queensland in such an intimidating and demanding way? This man spoke to a more senior woman at an international press conference with complete entitlement in order to get her to do what he wanted. It is clear that powerful men have learnt nothing. Call it out and sack him.
Lynda Newton, Woodvale
Let’s give some real meaning to the Olympics’ medal count this time by weighting the tally with some meaningful factor. For example, the amount of government money pumped into elite sport or some measure of a country’s poverty.
Graeme Rose, Stanley
Much as I can cheer Brisbane’s win to host the 2032 Games, come on, people. Brisbane was the only candidate that stuck up its hand up for it. The “preferred†host indeed. Let us hope that by the time the Games are held, Fortress Australia will be a distant memory.
Ivy Harris, Black Rock
Congratulations to Australia’s flag bearers for the Tokyo Olympics, Patty Mills and Cate Campbell. It is just unfortunate they do not have a better flag to bear than the current one with its critical quarter taken by a foreign land’s symbol. Let us hope that before the world comes to Brisbane in 2032, Australia has a new standard and has become a republic. This will free the Olympic Games from being officially opened by an obscure member of that inbred, ignorant, do-nothing “royal†family.
Jack Burchall, Carlton North
Universities are crying out for support during the pandemic and lockdown so they can retain their teaching staff and reinstate subjects they have cut, yet the federal government can contribute $7million to the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne (The Age, 22/7).
Worse, it will be stacked with right-wing figures such as Peta Credlin, David Kemp, Georgina Downer and Geoffrey Hone. It is another example of rotting public money, like the $100 million “sports rorts†scheme and $660million car park fund.
Ivan John, Eltham
Opaque arrangements
It is surely ironic that the Morrison government has put up $7million to fund the Robert Menzies Institute. No government in living memory has been more hostile to universities. Conversely, there has been no greater champion of public universities in this country’s history than Sir Robert Menzies.
Even more ironic is the appointment of Peta Credlin to the board of the institute and Georgina Downer as its executive director â€" two people whose adherence to the dogma of neoliberalism is the antithesis of everything that Menzies stood for.
That there should be a Robert Menzies Institute is a no-brainer. Moreover, it should be in the University of Melbourne which was his alma mater. However, the opaque arrangements for its establishment are worrying as far as its academic integrity is concerned.
Allan Patience, Newport
What unis really needThanks to inadequate government funding, academic standards at Australia’s universities are threatened, but establishing the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne, with its board of Liberal Party-connected and right-wing apologists, signals a new low.
Rosemary Kiss, Rippleside
The absurd and heartless remarks of federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley in response to Justice Mordecai Bromberg’s grim and visionary verdict are shameful â€" “No duty to children on climate: minister†(The Age, 22/7). The eight brave teenage litigants who stood up to the government’s catastrophic policy failure on climate change are to be honoured. We Australians are not fools. We know our children come first in this debate and time is running out.
Annie Mullarvey, North Fitzroy
I thought I had heard it all â€" and now Sussan Ley is arguing that she does not have a duty of care to protect Australian children from climate harm. Fury, disappointment and sadness to say the least, even an unexpected laugh because surely this must be a joke. I cannot believe that with our current state of scientific knowledge anyone is arguing about the issue, let alone a federal minister. Goodness knows what Ms Ley’s attitude to future generations is.
Greg White, Balwyn North
It is very disturbing to learn that Sussan Ley, a minister of the Crown, believes she has no obligation to future generations for decisions made in relation to our environment. Presumably, then, she does not accept she has a role in protecting our waterways from pollution, the air we breathe from contamination, and protecting our land from degradation â€" the very things that sustain life. I wonder what she thinks her role as the Minister for the Environment actually entails, apart from appealing the court’s decision.
Barry Mitchell, Williamstown
“No duty to children on climate: ministerâ€. I hope the children remember this heading when they are old enough to vote.
Kerry Rieve, Brighton
The government, often reluctant to spend any money on climate initiatives, somehow rustled up enough cash for the Environment Minister’s recent trips to UNESCO member states so that she could convince them not to endorse “in danger†status for the Great Barrier Reef (The Age, 22/7).
Apparently such a classification may impact tourism and the local economy. How telling that the Liberals are more willing to fund a campaign denying the internationally recognised status of the reef, than they are to invest in actually saving it. There are no jobs â€" or tourists â€" on a dead planet.
Catherine Reidy, Reservoir
How can billionaires justify their childish pursuits to go to space while the world is in the fight of its life with a deadly virus? I was angry and sickened to see the high fives and hugs of delight in the same news reporting the horror of the spread of the Delta variant in poor countries. Reports of an overrun and ill-equipped hospital having to choose between a mother with severe COVID-19 symptoms and her unborn infant as they did not have the resources to manage both. The mother died and the baby survived. It seems too much to hope that the money spent on these indulgent games could be donated to those in desperate need. This pandemic is revealing a lot about the state of the world and it is beyond unedifying.
Sue Hearn, Brunswick East
Thanks, Jeff Bezos, but I am an Amazon customer and I would have preferred to have got my product cheaper, or postage-free, rather than pay for you to travel in to space.
Darryl Annett, Northcote
Recently, our school staff was updated on the code of conduct for Victorian teachers. Among the requirements for teachers is that we are paragons of virtue in the community, both in our personal and professional lives.
However, there is no code of conduct for MPs. On Ms Represented (ABC TV, 20/7), we heard of alcohol-swilling lechers making lewd remarks to elected women whilst they were delivering speeches. These days, any alcohol on school property is totally frowned upon. When will a code of conduct be imposed on those whom we elect? How is it that they are not held to the same standards as those of us who have been teaching online during this endless pandemic?
Anne Stephens, Notting Hill
The public is being given a false impression by Scott Morrison of what the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is set up to do. It is an independent body that provides advice to the government on immunisation.
It does not dictate government policy or respond to “appeals†by the government or Prime Minister. The government is free to accept or reject the advice. It has no right or expertise to criticise or demand changes to that advice and the people who are making it. The government is in control, or should be, of the immunisation program. It seems that the Prime Minister must find someone to blame for the government’s shortcomings.
Greg Tuck, Warragul
Are we suppose to be pleased that the Prime Minister has repeatedly asked our medical experts to review their advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine in order to accelerate the program (The Age, 22/7)? I find it quite scary, reminiscent of the situation in societies that are more authoritarian than ours, at least until now.
Chris Watson, Ivanhoe
I commend the Victorian Department of Health for including in its online list of exposure sites the capacity to filter by suburb. However, when a positive case takes public transport, the suburb is listed as “public transport†rather than the suburb that the person embarked or alighted from at the start or end of their trip. Someone could diligently search for exposure sites in their area but still miss out on a key piece of information. Surely this simple issue can be fixed.
Bradley Serry, Balaclava
I believe Martin Newington’s argument (Letters, 22/7) is back to front. The reason Victoria had “fewer than 20 daily COVID-19 cases during the lockdown coupled with no deaths and minimal hospital admissions†is because we went into lockdown. Sydney proves this theory.
Patricia Earnshaw, Ashwood
The Prime Minister has finally realised his comment that the vaccine rollout was “not a race†was not acceptable to the majority of Australians. They care little for the fact that other parts of the world were in dire straits and more in need of scarce vaccine supplies than us here in Australia at the time he made the comment.
Dr Lawrence O’Halloran, Balwyn North
It was great to see our Prime Minister “man up†and apologise for the slow vaccine rollout. I am sure this came after an assessment that it would be politically in his best interests to to so. It is a shame he cannot do and say the right thing in the first instance.
Geoff Phillips, Wonga Park
Please, Anthony Albanese, swallow your pride and graciously step aside to allow someone more electable to lead Labor into the next election. Quite simply, Australians deserve better than another four years of this inept, morally bankrupt government.
Audrey Stewart, Geelong
If the question on religion in the census (Letters, 20/7) is only a measure of religious identification, it prompts the question of what we mean by the word “religionâ€. If it does not have something to do with faith, hope and trust, then what does it mean?
Richard Collyer, Korumburra
I get angry every time I see those skimpy bikinis on our beach handball women. Who decided they were an appropriate uniform for professional women? Great for voyeurs watching those magnificent barely clad bodies but exploitative in the extreme.
Layla Godfrey, Mount Eliza
Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding
COVID-19So Morrison “constantly appeals†to ATAGI about AstraZeneca. If he’d constantly appealed to Pfizer last year, we might have a better vaccine supply now.
Peter Curnow, Ashburton
Is the O’Brien who says we were too slow to close our border the same one who said we locked down too soon?
Geoff Schmidt, Richmond
The opposition’s position: We went in too hard and it wasn’t tough enough.
Denny Meadows, Hawthorn
Michael O’Brien, go away. Come back when you have something relevant or, God forbid, intelligent to say.
Virginia Mullumby, Flinders
Morrison takes responsibility for mistakes made. Time to soften us up for an election. Too little, too late.
Julie Carrick, Leopold
This is the Ruby Princess all over again.
Wendy Poulier, Ferntree Gully
The next vote-buying rort: COVERT-19, promising Moderna for marginals.
Ken Machin, Grovedale
Did Brisbane do a Bradbury?
David Sumner, Barwon Heads
Now we have a date when our international borders will be open.
Denis Fielding, Geelong
Coates is a repeat offender in the sports of self-importance and rudeness. Send him home.
Alan McLean, Queenscliff
Cheers to Brisbane. With any luck, we might be mostly vaccinated by 2032.
Terry Kelly, Fitzroy North
Would I be correct in assuming women’s beach handball is administered by men of a certain age.
Stewart Monckton, Mont Albert
Why Barnaby will lose New England (22/7). For women voters, he doesn’t cut it.
Rosslyn Jennings, North Melbourne
About the only thing Morrison has going for him is Albanese.
Donald Hirst, Prahran East
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