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Put training to good use
In 1979, I witnessed a military medical evacuation of a non-critical patient from a Greek island as a training exercise. An army helicopter landed on the beach, two armed soldiers leapt out to guard the aircraft, while armed personnel and stretcher bearers ran to a house about 100 metres away to collect an elderly lady.
She waved to the gathered villagers as she was loaded onto the helicopter, which departed at low altitude across the harbour.
The army benefited from a near-real operation, while the patient enjoyed a fast and exciting trip to the mainland: Win-win.
A lot of money is spent keeping our military well trained, but if they could treat civilian emergencies in this way, i.e. as a “pretend” conflict situation, perhaps we could all be better off.
Yianni Banikos, Fish Creek
Fundamentally corrupt
Your investigation into another land planning and development scandal gives an insight into the mayhem on Melbourne’s outer fringes (“Flipside of passing the bucks”, Extra, The Sunday Age, 6/3).
You have done a great job exposing cases of illegal behaviour, but the entire system is fundamentally corrupt, with the possibility of massive profits creating a shady nexus between developers, financiers, lobbyists and local and state governments.
The outcome for those who buy on the city’s fringe is often substandard housing in inappropriate locations with inadequate services.
It is utterly unacceptable that any private entity should ever be in a position to make a “windfall profit” when land is rezoned and developed. Rezoning should be controlled entirely at state government level, with decisions made according to agreed need, and profits in excess of fair return collected by the state – ideally to be used to boost social housing.
This “system” requires fundamental legal and governance reform.
Richard Barnes, Canterbury
Picking your targets
Once the election result is known, there will be the opportunity for fascinating analysis of the success, or otherwise, of the amount of advertising money spent and the selected advertising focus of the different candidates (“Independents in advertising spree”, The Sunday Age, 6/3). It is strange that the amount spent by one candidate or party should have such power to unnerve the others.
The federal government has demonstrated that with any political purpose, the amount spent is far less relevant than the extent to which spending is appropriately targeted.
Ruth Farr, Blackburn South
Filling a vacancy fairly
The tragedy of Senator Kimberley Kitchen’s early death should not disguise the fact that her entry into Parliament was as a result of a corrupt system that happens to suit the major parties.
Having been elected to serve a full term, senator Stephen Conroy chose to resign in 2016 to pursue a presumably lucrative career. He was not ill, there were no extenuating circumstances.
Mr Conroy should have been replaced by the next in line in the election, presumably from an opposing party. This would stop the contempt exhibited by some senators on both sides of politics who seem to treat the upper house as a stepping stone to personal career advancement.
Dick Davies, North Warrandyte
She will be missed
With the shocking death of Kimberley Kitching, we are all seeing how much she accomplished in six short years in Canberra. A champion of the NDIS and for those shunned or forgotten by the system, Senator Kitching was a constant thorn in the side of the Coalition in Senate debates.
The dedicated and diligent care she gave to the cause of those who were denied their entitlements, as with her strong support for upholding human rights globally, seems a rare quality today.
She will be missed.
Anders Ross, Heidelberg
Make the call
Your correspondent laments that there is no public comment sought before duck shooting starts in Victoria (“Slaughter of birds”, Letters, 12/3).
If enough Victorians wrote to and/or phoned the Premier’s office, surely he would see reason and stop this unwanted cruelty. There’s still time.
Jan Kendall, Mount Martha
Old way is not working
An excellent article by Tony Wolfe (“Coal communities need certainty, not sympathy”, Comment, 10/3), who has worked at Loy Yang power station for more than 40 years and also is a board director for the Gippsland Climate Change Network. He can see both sides of the issue of phasing out coal and wants to be part of the solution.
If such people were consulted and made part of a collaborative approach by the federal government to working out a transition plan, that plan would be well informed, realistic and more inclined to be accepted by coal industry executives, the workers and environmentalists.
Indeed, such bipartisanship would mimic the consensus of the Accord, crafted by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, between business and unions referred to in your editorial (“Albanese needs bold ideas to make his case”, 10/3).
There are numerous reports in your paper and elsewhere that Australians are disheartened by partisanship and carping by the major parties at the expense of creative and courageous action on major issues. We need a new way of doing things.
Jan Marshall, Brighton
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