To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT
The main issue that Premier Ben Carroll has to deal with is not the legacy of alleged corruption of ‘the Big Build’, nor the spectre of One Nation and a weakened Liberal party coalition. It is not even the unions such as the teachers and CFMEU, nor is it the budget blowout.
It is time. That is his enemy. An election is just months away, and he has to convince Victorians that the ship can be righted and that it can head in a different direction.
Imagine if the SRL had a different push. Imagine the priority became the western end and the airport rail. Imagine if money was actually spent on infrastructure in the western suburbs where it was desperately needed. Imagine if Warragul got the hospital it was promised over 30 years ago. Imagine if public housing and school upgrades were deemed essential and were funded.
Let’s hope Ben Carroll has some imagination and will deliver on any promises he makes, unlike previous premiers.
Labor deserves a kick in the pants. Does Victoria deserve a bickering Liberal party and a right wing One Nation coalition instead? That is the choice at the moment. Only time, Carroll’s enemy, will tell.Greg Tuck, Warragul
The airport rail that got away
Victorians recall with regret the Allan government’s announcement postponing the Airport Rail project. It was in the same 2024 budget that affirmed a $26 billion price tag for the North East Link, after its $10 billion blowout was revealed in December 2023. It doesn’t take much imagination to conclude the one followed directly from the other.
Had someone asked the Parliamentary Budget Office how much could be saved by cancelling the North East Link and downing tools right then, I’m sure they’d have dutifully tallied the billions in hypothetical, avoided construction and operating costs over subsequent decades.
It would not have un-bulldozed 20,000 trees or restored the open wounds sliced through the Yarra and Koonung valleys - but maybe we’d have got airport rail on its original timetable.
When it comes to stopping fiscal and environmental loss from big projects, there really only is one right time, and that’s at the original decision to proceed or not. For these decisions to serve the public interest it’s necessary that they tick all the ‘process’ boxes but as we’ve seen, not sufficiently enough.
There must be a transparent assessment of their merits, including in comparison to good-faith alternatives.Tony Morton, president, Public Transport Users Association
Not too late to provide statewide tree measures
I read with interest the article ″I cried when the council cut down the tree by my house″, 30/7. Trees, whether they are located on public or private land are valuable assets and play a vital role in cooling our cities in a warming climate.
In ‘Plan for Victoria’, the state’s blueprint on how Victoria will grow over time, the state government has set a target of 30 per cent tree canopy cover in urban areas.
That isn’t an arbitrary number; it’s widely accepted nationally and internationally as the minimum amount of cover necessary for human health and wellbeing.
In September 2025, the state government introduced statewide provisions over the protection of trees. Whilst welcome, it was disappointing that in July this year the state government removed a long-standing Significant Landscape Overlay - Schedule 9 (SLO9) in the City of Whitehorse which was a proven, readily enforceable local protection of trees on private land.
From a legal perspective there is no reason why both statewide and local provisions cannot co-exist and complement one another. Whitehorse Council is confident that SLO9 will not undermine housing supply targets. I urge the state government to reintroduce SLO9 in the Whitehorse Planning Scheme.Yvonne Bowyer, Surrey Hills
THE FORUM
Carroll’s conversion
As our new premier moves with lightning speed to disassociate himself from his two predecessors by promising a government of integrity, fiscal prudence and a constructive relationship with business, some of us remain to be convinced,
If he had such strong beliefs and convictions, one could ask why did he continue to serve as both a senior minister and deputy premier committed to advocating the policies implemented by those from whom he now distances himself.
A politician of true conviction would have resigned from cabinet and retreated to the backbench. The cynic would suggest the imminent election, with the prospect of being consigned to opposition irrelevance without the rewards of office, are responsible for Carroll’s “road to Damascus” conversion.
Bob Hawke said any politician who underestimates the intelligence and common sense of Australian voters is a fool: we await November for confirmation or contradiction of that statement.William Vickers, Melbourne
Tim Wilson’s past
I was interested to read Deborah Snow’s profile of my local member, Tim Wilson “Second Coming”, Good Weekend, 1/8. I was unsurprised to read that “his superpower is shamelessness”; though the most shameless episode in our member’s life went unreported.
During his years at the Institute of Public Affairs, Wilson several times in writing criticised and ridiculed the Human Rights Commission and the then Human Rights Commissioner.
However, when the Abbott government came to power and George Brandis offered him the position of Human Rights Commissioner, he took it straightaway.
Not just that, but he spent a couple of years gallivanting around Australia and elsewhere at enormous cost.
At the time, many people simply couldn’t believe he had taken the HRC job and thought it was a joke. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.Tony Adami, Caulfield South
White Australia’s end
Apropos George Brandis’ column ″Tony Abbott recalls a whiter Australia than I do, Menzies rejected his version, as do many Liberals″ (3/8), I recall at the start of the 1961 election, Melbourne University students decided to put repeal of the White Australia policy on the agenda.
As usual, prime minister Bob Menzies was to give his policy speech at Kew Town Hall. The students decided to attend the meeting to raise the issue. Some of us in the Eureka Youth League, heard about this so we joined in, and dressed well as Young Liberals, to not arouse suspicion, and many of us occupied the back of the hall. When Menzies started we all began chanting about repeal of the White Australia Policy and Menzies was drowned out.
After that, he said he would never again give his policy speech in a public hall.
I acknowledge the part played by Menzies, Holt, followed by Malcolm Fraser, as important, but those students finally got the disgraceful policy onto the agenda in a big way, with wide media coverage, as this was the beginning of the end.Max Ogden, Fitzroy North
Albanese’s timidity
Anthony Albanese’s gambling reforms demonstrate a timidity in leadership. While arguing that Labor’s proposed reforms balance the need to protect children from gambling ads while preserving adults’ freedom to bet, it actually smacks of dancing to the tune of vested interests.
Australia is caught up in a pernicious web of gambling, and governments of all persuasions have become partners in the social harm gambling causes by its reliance on gambling tax revenues. Gambling is a regressive form of taxation. The current level of gambling undermines the country’s social fabric. It redirects “wealth” from broad-based society into the hands of a few who continue to manipulate all levels of society and government.
It’s not about preserving an adults’ freedom to bet. You do not need advertising to be able to bet, and you certainly don’t need gambling advertising blatantly recruiting children for its future market. All 31 recommendations of the Murphy inquiry should be accepted.David Conolly, Brighton
Two state impasse
Your correspondent (Letters, 3/8) is right, Netanyahu doesn’t want a two-state solution, but not for the reasons your correspondent thinks. On multiple occasions, Israel has offered the Palestinians generous offers of statehood – and every time this was rejected for one simple reason.
Hamas, indeed many Palestinians, do not recognise Israel’s right to exist, in fact, the terrorist group’s constitution stipulates this.
Even the more moderate Palestinian Authority rewards terrorism via their Martyrs Fund.
Israel is fighting an existential threat from Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah, while Egypt and Jordan decided long ago they preferred peace rather than war.Julie Krousoratis, Bulleen
Pump price ride
With the fuel excise now fully restored, the fuel stations have been warned by the treasurer (3/8) that the ACCC will monitor pump prices for any unwarranted increases.
What has the ACCC actually done to ensure “fair” fuel prices over the years? I would suggest very little because over the past 30 years, I can recall prices increasing astronomically just before every school holiday, every long weekend, each Easter and Christmas and, way back in 2000, rising steeply just before the Sydney Olympics.
So what has changed, that will now see the ACCC bring the fuel industry to account?Phil Mackenzie, Eaglemont
Expert urgent care
The front page headline in the Sunday Age (″Doctors pan urgent care clinics″, 2/8) almost had me choking on my cornflakes. I had been bitten by a dog the night before and had been persuaded by my family to get some antibiotic cover. As it was Saturday night, and my wounds weren’t severe, a first-time visit to a nearby urgent care clinic seemed a sensible idea.
There, after having my medical history recorded and checked against the government record, I was triaged by a nurse, then seen by the doctor, given a tetanus injection, the script for an antibiotic and even the address of the nearest late-night pharmacy. So that they didn’t miss out on anything, I was also advised to see my GP for a check-up in a few days. I was out the door in 95 minutes.
When I had arrived, there had been nine people in the waiting area. When I left, there was a new group. For the GPs’ organisation to say that urgent care clinics are ″doing absolutely nothing″ to ease the pressure on hospital emergency departments, can only be described as ridiculous, or in self-interest.Jeffrey Newman, Ivanhoe
In your dreams
Two letters (3/8) from dreamers for flying cars. Perhaps they should do a small course in energy used to get from A to B compared with a mass transit system.
And, while modern cars are quite efficient at reducing passenger trauma in a collision, it’s hard to imagine a system that protects the flyers from a fall from the heights needed to get the necessary travel corridor flow.Laurie Comerford, Chelsea
Fires made worse
I’m tired of people blaming arson, lack of back burning and other marginal factors for bushfires clearly driven by an escalating climate crisis (Letters, “Europe on fire”, 3/8). These arguments come straight from the fossil fuel company playbook to delay action. Researchers at World Weather Attribution found that climate change made the recent hot, dry, windy conditions in Spain around 20 times more likely. They also concluded that the recent extreme European heatwave simply would not have occurred without human-driven warming. That heatwave killed 20,000 people.
The blame sits squarely with the coal, oil and gas companies and the governments who enable the continuation of the damaging pollution they cause. Shame on them.Amy Hiller, Kew
Fires harder to stop
Whilst your correspondent is correct that human activity started most of Europe’s recent wildfires, it should be noted that Australia’s 2019-2020 Black Summer forest fires, whose scale was unprecedented both in an Australian and global context, were primarily caused by dry lightning.
The reality is that regardless of their cause, once started wildfires are now likely to be harder to extinguish due to ongoing climate change. Thus, particularly in the extratropics, there have been dramatic increases over recent decades in the area burned by wildfires, in their intensity, and in the length of the fire season.Geoff Feren, St Kilda East
Abbott’s exclamation
When will Tony Abbott do the right thing and publicly admit that he was wrong to denounce climate change as ″absolute crap″ in 2009? Shame on him and the party that appointed him its chairman.Juliet Flesch, Kew
Keep it beautiful
Living in rural Victoria, I watch in horror as the litter piles up along roadsides.
Having grown up in the 1970s I recall the Keep Australia Beautiful campaign, which made me believe that change is possible.
I wonder why there appears to be no effort towards managing this current, calamitous situation that I realise is complex, but history has proven can be rectified. Please can we have immediate action?Sharyn Cook, Wimmera
AND ANOTHER THING
Real estate
″Property price slump deepens: Melbourne remains the weakest market in the nation″ (3/8). Well, I’m no economist, but surely that can be rephrased as: ″Housing becomes more affordable in Victoria″?
Caroline Williamson, Brunswick
Am I the only reader sick of seeing articles about the lives of Antony Catalano and Luke Sayers?Ann Maginness, Beaumaris
Furthermore
I don’t trust any Trump-declared Gaza deal. I don’t trust Hamas’ promise to completely disarm. I do trust the likelihood of Israeli PM Netanyahu breaking the deal on some imagined or concocted provocation, however flimsy.Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Using AI and a bit of luck, the SRL could do a left turn out to Tullamarine airport – a loop so near and surely it’s not too late ?Margaret Skeen, Ocean Grove
If poorer families can’t allow members to go to uni, perhaps those with excess money made from property could help out?Bruce Dudon, Woodend
I’ve just seen Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey. Still a bit unsure. Were they from Los Angeles or New York?Philip Henseleit, Glenlee
The best consequence of an Australian republic? No more shrill demands for ″royal” commissions!Peter Bennett, Clifton Hill
Gina Rinehart is a flesh and blood person, not a punching bag. Shame on the ABC TV for the comments aired on Race Around The World, which were outrageous, hurtful, demeaning and frankly, disgusting.Sally Dobson, South Melbourne
Re youth crime: perhaps it’s time to take a leaf out of the US justice book and lock up irresponsible parents.George Stockman, Bendigo
Finally
Growing up in Ashburton in the 70s, my family was fortunate enough to be under the care of a new, young dentist, Lesley Aisen. And today (Letters, 3/8) my suspicions were confirmed – he is the regular contributor to The Age. I am now basking in some reflected glory!Julie Blackwood, Chelsea
The opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.