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When will accountability mean something? The Israeli military’s decision to close its investigation into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six colleagues, without criminal charges, should disturb every Australian who believes that international law applies equally to all (″Wong outraged as Israel clears soldiers″, 20/8). Australia’s own independent review commissioned by the federal government and led by former Australian Defence Force chief Mark Binskin found a “significant breakdown in situational awareness” and serious failures to follow IDF procedures. Yet, more than two years later, the soldiers responsible face no criminal prosecution. In effect, Israel has investigated itself and declared that there is no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.
This is not merely about one tragic mistake. It is about what happens when institutions responsible for accountability are allowed to define their own failures as insufficient to warrant accountability. The same pattern of euphemism and institutional self-protection is evident in the wider catastrophe in Gaza. We should not allow words such as “mistake”, “failure” or “complex conflict” to obscure the human reality of thousands of civilian deaths.
Silence is not neutrality. Nor is demanding accountability by Israel’s government and IDF. When will we all feel free to speak out as humanitarians without being targeted as antisemitic?Chris Trueman, Southbank
Israel is no friend of Australia’s
Australians have every right to feel outraged by the whitewash of the killing of Zomi Frankcom, along with several of her colleagues, by Israel’s IDF. As Penny Wong noted she learnt of Israel’s decision on World Humanitarian Day moments before it was announced – a fact that was “especially insulting to Zomi’s loved ones, humanitarians and all Australians”. The constant refrain from the Israeli IDF, ″nothing to see here″, is not surprising when one considers the overwhelming numbers of so many innocent lives, aid workers, medicos, journalists, civilians killed in Gaza with little or no accountability. It is not the first time the Israeli ambassador has been called to account for unacceptable treatment of Australians given the humiliating and appalling treatment of those Australians attempting to deliver aid to Gaza as part of a flotilla. When are we going to wake up. This morally bankrupt Israeli government has shown it is no friend of ours. Stern measures must be imposed. Sending the Israeli ambassador packing and imposing sanctions must be considered and not before time.Anne Moorhouse, Inverloch
More than a slap on the wrist needed
Every Australian should be outraged by the Israeli Defence Force’s decision not to pursue a criminal investigation into the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in 2024. This deserves much more than a slap on the diplomatic wrist by Penny Wong.Reg Murray, Glen Iris
Send the ambassador home
The response by the Israeli Defence Force investigation into the death of Zomi Frankcom and her six colleagues defies comprehension. With hundreds of bullet holes found in the car, just what does the IDF think was going on? It is about time the State of Israel be sanctioned, and the ambassador sent home.Peta Colebatch, Hawthorn
Outrage is a good start, now action
Penny Wong is outraged that Zomi Frankcom’s killers were cleared of criminal conduct. Well that’s a good start. Outrage by itself achieves nothing though, it is what comes next that matters. And what did come next? The Israeli ambassador was called in for a rebuke. A rebuke that will also achieve nothing. Outrage needs to be channelled into decisive action. Australia must step up.Lorel Thomas, Blackburn South
THE FORUM
A service faltering
The 4 Corners program on the parlous state of the aged care system was concerning but no surprise. The current government and minister are not wholly responsible. It’s been all downhill since My Aged Care was introduced in 2015. An out-of-touch bureaucracy and workers bogged down in endless, tedious reports have clogged the system.
The insensitive and inefficient algorithm introduced last year is just the final insult.
I worked for an Aged Care Assessment Service for 15 years, and the daily grind of filling out the pitiless documents was a constant source of frustration. When I started working in hospitals
35 years ago, the ACAS forms were two pages long; when I finished last year, they could come to 76 pages. More thorough reports have not enabled any older person to get improved or quicker services. Quite the opposite.
4 Corners highlighted the issue whereby the system, including the algorithm, was seemingly designed by public servants and not tech experts with expertise in complex system design and was also not trialled satisfactorily before being introduced.Terry Kelly, Coburg
Right priorities
I have heard the government is rolling out cuts to the NDIS. I have also heard of the idea of a 25 per cent gas tax on companies that are making extraordinary profits.
Here’s an idea: Let’s have the gas tax and use that money for the NDIS.Bill Proctor, Launching Place
Change and risks
We can only hope that as the state election draws nearer, those toying with the idea of voting for One Nation will give serious attention to where their vote actually goes. With a lack of serious policies, and some questionable candidates (″Zero policies and a blank page: Is Pauline Hanson serious about Victoria?″, 20/08), One Nation poses a real threat to governance in Victoria. It is easy to tell a pollster that you want change for its own sake. It takes much more effort to seriously consider what that change would actually mean.
Be careful what you wish for.Judy Williams, Beaumaris
Labor still a chance
Resolve Political Monitor polling shows primary support for Labor has fallen two points to 25 per cent since the elevation of Ben Carroll to the top job (″New leader fails to lift Labor’s poll slump″, 19/8). However, primary support for the Coalition is only at 27 per cent,
7.4 points below what it achieved at the 2022 election. The indicative preference flows from Labor and One Nation voters to the Coalition might give it a 53-47 lead over Labor, but clearly on primary numbers, Labor is not without a chance of securing a fourth term.
Other positives for Labor are the 17 per cent drop in support for Jess Wilson as preferred premier from last month’s RPM survey and the 43 per cent of respondents undecided on their preferred premier. Labor should be encouraged by these numbers. Voters will be aware Liberals have had a cavalcade of leaders (Wilson the ninth since Jeff Kennett) and have shown themselves wholly unfit for government. Labor needs to keep reminding voters that a vote for the Liberals is a vote for infighting and dysfunction.Neil Hudson, East Melbourne
Food security needed
While Europe bakes and burns, and penguins struggle to keep a footing (“Fears for future over shrinking sea ice”, 20/8), we’re reminded daily that change is here. In the face of change, China yet again reminds us of the importance of agency over key fundamentals – our energy, housing and food (“China’s breakneck plan to safeguard its food future”, 20/8).
China views “food security on par with defence as an existential imperative for national survival”. The push to energy and food dominance as China’s Politburo seek to “reach 70 per cent or more of the world food (and energy) market in less than 15 years” serves to remind us of our own food and energy sovereignty.
With recent experience of the perils of relying on others’ oil, the time is nigh for us to fast-track our plans for energy and food independence and export. With half of our energy now coming from wind and solar, we’re powering up, but what’s our 15-year food security plan?Karen Campbell, Geelong
Heeding unpaid work
I would like to see the Australian census asking more detailed questions about unpaid community work. The current form features only a single yes-or-no question about whether a person volunteered for an organisation in the past 12 months. It does not measure the actual hours spent, unlike the detailed weekly data collected for paid employment.
Unpaid work makes up an enormous part of our economy and contributes to our productivity.
The contribution by older people, the unemployed, young people, and others who cannot work or are on the margins of society is not adequately acknowledged. This information would also assist in the development of policies that support volunteers and community-based organisations, and include them in our mainstream economy, particularly relating to environmental outcomes and social services.
We should not be replacing paid work with free labour.
Volunteering often allows us to recognise and develop our full potential when paid work does not tick these boxes.Jennie Epstein, Little River
Regulating gambling
The regulation of gambling is not just someone else’s problem. We all need to ensure that politicians take proper responsibility for control of an industry that has such potential to harm vulnerable members of the community.
In spite of the recommendations of the Murphy report, it seems the government is not listening and has got things badly wrong.
As other letters correspondents have noted, opting out is not an option. There is no need to advertise gambling; the only people who benefit are the vested interests who are never satisfied.
The industry should be required to acknowledge its harmful effects and invest in rehabilitation programs. Public opinion is clearly sending a message that must be heard.Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
Preschool lessons
In response to columnist Sally Rawsthorne (“Has play got in the way of learning?“, 18/8), as a parent, grandparent and paediatric occupational therapist, the preschool years are about learning through play-storytelling, measuring, making everyday objects work, sharing in the playground and classroom.
Children do the formal learning at school but need the motor skills to control a pencil, use their imagination to tell a story with words, objects or in drawing, sit on the floor, open their lunch box, and get to the toilet independently.
Forget the photograph of Sammy the Sloth and printing it off – draw it together.
Less technology leads to more joy in parenting. And keep the lunch box contents simple.Debbie Isaac, Hawthorn East
Different forums
Your correspondent (Letters, 19/8) highlights the modern scourge of anger and outrage everywhere on social media, and writes that he thinks it’s worse than gambling advertisements.
Recently, I dipped my toe into this murky world of commentary on politicians and made a few negative comments on YouTube clips that were overwhelmingly pro-One Nation and hostile to the federal Labor government.
What struck me was the vehemence and aggression in the commentary. The plethora of conspiracy theories and homophobia was startling.
I couldn’t wait to extract myself from the netherworld of hate and bile. I think I’ll stick with the pleasant and civilised Age letter-writing community.David Fry, Windsor
Driving south
Good to hear that Sydneysiders aren’t rev-heads like us Victorians, Chris Harrison (Comment, 19/8). Down south, if you venture into the right lane to overtake someone while doing the speed limit, you’re likely to be tailgated. And good luck getting back out of the right lane – you’ll have to dodge between a phalanx of tradies’ utes weaving and zooming past.Susan Yell, Warragul
Taxing encounter
I recently rang the Australian Tax Office and was apprised via a recorded message that it was introducing voice recognition technology to replace identification procedures.
I’m not convinced that, given the combined sophistication of deep fakes and AI, this is a step in the right direction or that the ATO is as technologically competent as it thinks it is.
I was even less convinced after ATO staff successfully disconnected my call twice and then struggled to manage the ″on hold″ function leading to several three-way conversations with a confused help desk and ″escalation″ manager.
Fortunately, unlike my right to gamble, voice activation is opt in. I think the ATO is taking a gamble on this. Stephen Farrelly, Donvale
Fear of banning
Your correspondent (Letters, 20/8) highlights the success of Australia’s ban on smoking advertising. That is exactly what the gambling industry is afraid of.Peter McGill, Lancefield
The Wright stuff
I have read Tony Wright’s columns for longer than I can remember. The Age should publish a collection of his articles over his extensive career. It would become a journalists’ handbook for wit and grace. May he enjoy retirement from daily duties, watching gannets plunge, brolgas dancing and riding his motorbike through western Victoria.
But please don’t stop writing.Luke Mills, Richmond
AND ANOTHER THING
Gambling
Who in the Canberra political class believes that a problem gambler has the necessary willpower to take the opt-out option in the new gaming laws? The ads are part of the addiction.Peter Roche, Carlton
After the watered-down gambling bill I opt-out of voting for Labor, the Coalition and One Nation.Greg Malcher, Hepburn
Re gambling reform, as Bill Shorten would say, “The Big End of Town” has won. Pity all the little blokes.Warren Thomas, Ivanhoe
Furthermore
Israel’s finding of no wrongdoing into the death of Zomi Frankcom should come as no surprise (″Wong outraged as Israel clears soldiers″, 20/8). What possibly could that country have done wrong?Julian Druce, Balaclava
A standard line of my upbringing was – parent to child – ″We don’t want to hear what you want″. Voters are saying the same thing to what are fast becoming the two major political parties of Australia’s past.Ruth Farr, Blackburn South
You don’t even need to be a Rhodes scholar to see potholes are a big issue for drivers in Victoria.Robin Jensen, Castlemaine
It’s time Australia had a distinctive national flag. A competition should be held for people to suggest designs and then a panel to select six and then those six to be voted on in a referendum.John Walsh, Watsonia
Best way to end a drought in the UK? Schedule a Test.Bryan Fraser, St Kilda West
Donald Trump’s overture to North Korea overlooks the assistance, in both military personnel and weaponry, provided by Kim Jong Un to Putin’s war on Ukraine.Garry Meller, Bentleigh
Finally
Thank you Tony Wright for your humour, warmth, decency and clear-sighted analysis. We’d love more of your entertaining columns, if only now and then.Tim Durbridge, Brunswick