Premier, it’s time to act on the Big Build

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The Age’s investigation into the Big Build continues to expose more situations where Premier Jacinta Allan hasn’t confronted them and ensured that they are properly investigated and, where appropriate, legal proceedings undertaken. As your correspondent (Letters, 22/7) says: ″⁣The refusal to call a royal commission into the Big Build – despite persistent concerns about governance and culture – is indefensible. The call for a royal commission will not go away.″⁣
In early June, the premier conceded the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission needed to be empowered to investigate the Big Build money trail with a broader remit to investigate corruption in state institutions. However, the increased powers would not be available until the end of 2027. If she acted now and brought forward the legislation for an additional remit for IBAC (with proper funding), it may prove to be an acceptable alternative to a royal commission. It would take months before IBAC concluded its investigation, during which there will be matters that emerge that may be embarrassing to government. However, it would show that she has begun a substantial process, and perhaps start to recover some validity before the November election.
Bill Pimm, Mentone

Trying to defend the indefensible
As the chorus grows louder for a royal commission in Victoria on the Big Build, it has become an almost comic spectacle watching the premier basically trying to defend the indefensible, using any tactic she can find – verbalising when she shouldn’t, casting doubt on expert opinion and using evidence to support her claims without authority.
And we learnt that at a recent cabinet meeting to head off any concerns within her own party, she enlisted the support of three senior ministers to shut it down and “grind it out”.
Watching this unnerving experience leads any reasoned person to ask, what actually is the premier hoping to hide? Why do 70 per cent of Victorians, as quoted by The Age, feel the need for a royal commission but the premier constantly ignores this? Surely, this constant frowardness accounts for her unpopularity levels being off the Richter scale? Most Victorians, I think, feel it’s time to reveal all.
Tony Davidson, Glen Waverley

A minister who can’t read the classroom
Victoria’s Education Minister Ben Carroll does not seem able to read the classroom. Three times now, rank-and-file teachers and support staff have rejected his department’s offers on pay and conditions. Carroll has had nearly three years to halt the rundown in Victorian public education resourcing and consequent escalation in teacher and education support staff stress and burn-out. The underfunding of public education is at the core of the problem, and with everything that’s going on, Carroll still cannot commit to bringing Victoria up to the same level of funding as other states.
Attempting ″⁣sweetheart″⁣ deals with the Australian Education Union leadership that in no way addressed the crisis was a big mistake. It demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what is going on in his own department. Next, his attempt to go around the union with a direct offer to education workers failed when confronted with the organised opposition of union rank-and-file members.
Surely, it’s time to ″⁣talk turkey″⁣ and strike a deal that fundamentally addresses the funding shortfall, and improves teaching conditions and the quality of public education in Victoria.
Mike Naismith, Clifton Hill

Mixing demographics for housing needs
Thanks to your correspondent (Letters, 16/7) for calling out deliberate segregation of housing occupants based on affordable versus higher-value homes. This is an ugly and divisive feature of our competitive and aspirational society. Housing policy at all levels of government must ensure a more even demographic mix. And a chance to get along with others.
Nina Earl, Mordialloc

THE FORUM

Grandeur gone
Thank you, Rob Adams, for the article, “What makes Melbourne special is its unique CBD. One building could bring it all undone” (22/7). This part of the Metro train development makes my blood boil. When one stood in Federation Square and looked towards Flinders and Swanston streets, the city looked spectacular – St Paul’s Cathedral, Young \& Jacksons, Flinders Street Station and Clements House. The train development should not have added anything above the height of the buildings they demolished. But instead of seeing a wonderful heritage-listed building, now we will have an ugly, 40-metre, imposing office building (of all things) by the corner.
Heaven forbid if they extend the height to 76 metres. This corner was one of Melbourne’s greatest assets. Who is responsible for destroying it?
Owen Jones, Williamstown

A city’s human scale
The factors that influence urban growth change over time. Limitations may be imposed by climate, topography, geographical location and other “environmental” considerations. The pace of technological change is ensuring that cities can no longer evolve organically. Many traditional urban design strategies seem increasingly irrelevant in the light of changing communication, access and transport realities. Rob Adam’s’ plea for respect of human scale and the 1985 Melbourne Strategy Plan (Comment, 22/7) reads a trifle wistfully, 40 years on, but there may yet be hope.
Such factors as increased working from home, aided by revolutionised communications and powered by AI, may well result in the sort of decentralised development pattern that urban planners used to wish for.
Melbourne needs to take a longer view: human scale is vital for the city’s health, and developers need to look more creatively at the ways their current economic models may be influenced by the likely pace and direction of change.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor

Just like firewood
I agree with the call to ban wood fires (Letters, 22/7) especially in urban areas. Even before the findings that the smoke increased risk of dementia I just cannot believe that it is reasonable for one household to inflict their smoke on neighbours. It stops me opening my windows in morning to air out house, or putting my washing on the line.
Helen Day, Torquay

Next, the flat Earth
I read with incredulity the article, ″⁣Early images of deaths during pandemic were staged″⁣ (22/7), in which One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts claimed that images of deaths in Italy and China in the early stages of the pandemic were fake. That a member of parliament indulges in such a ludicrous conspiracy theory is not just laughably ridiculous, but disrespectful to those people, and the millions of others around the world who died, to the families who grieved, and to the medical workers who in some cases also gave their lives to help the victims. It is gutter-level politics.
Do we need a person of this calibre to hold a position of responsibility in our parliament? I await his views on a flat Earth and faked moon landings.
Bruce McClure, Middle Park

Joyce, we have a problem
Re Barnaby Joyce’s suggestion that illegal immigrants be targeted through doctors’ visits (″⁣Joyce goes from lighting the fires to carrying the bucket″⁣, 22/7): First problem is Medicare, which is available for refugees, humanitarian entrants and eligible asylum seekers, but not for illegal immigrants, so a government of any persuasion could not use Medicare to flag their attendance.
Second problem: Identification. GPs and hospitals see and treat many people without Medicare cards. Most are on visas, some are illegal entrants or overstayers (we don’t distinguish, or indeed ask, or need to know). Each is a patient with a health issue, some very serious or acute. We treat a medical problem, not a visa status.
Third problem: Confidentiality. If patients thought we were about to report them to authorities, they wouldn’t present. Doctors are bound by confidentiality unless someone is in danger. We look after people, we don’t demonise them.
Dr Will Twycross, Mansfield

Barking up wrong tree
It’s a sad reflection on our political maturity when a command to stop a dog barking becomes the key talking point in the national political discourse. Surely, there are more important issues to yap about.
Martin Newington, Aspendale

Premier, act for teachers
Teachers care for and educate our children. We cannot do without them. It’s shameful that they have to go on strike to secure better pay and working conditions. Jacinta Allan, if you want our respect and votes, respect our teachers. Speak to your people and make this happen. Make it so that teachers never again have to go on strike.
Merron Cullum, Cremorne

Take independent path
Your correspondents are right to despair about the Victorian Big Build (Letters, 22/7). It sits alongside rising debt, rogue native forest logging, and continued support for duck shooting as some of the many concerns in our state. These are all issues that Jacinta Allan has struggled to address.
As one correspondent noted, however, under Labor, Victoria’s progress on a Treaty as well as the state’s commitment to renewable energy targets has been commendable. Jess Wilson’s Liberal Party has signalled it would drop both of these positives. One Nation candidates would almost certainly do the same. Come November, I hope many of us can support independent or minor party candidates. They might be able to hold onto the positives and confront the challenges with integrity and transparency.
Amy Hiller, Kew

AI’s opportunities
The first industrial robot, Unimate, began work at General Motors in the United States in 1961. Kawasaki licensed the technology, producing its own versions by 1969. By the mid 1970s, Europe had developed advanced industrial robots, but there was resistance to their adoption. Japan embraced them, especially in the car industry, helping its rise to global leadership in motor manufacturing. Today, all motor manufacturers have adopted robots to remain competitive.
AI is no different. It is another technology that will reduce the need for human labour in certain areas. We can choose to be dragged along, or to be at the forefront in adopting technology safely and to the benefit of all.
Automation is accelerating. We welcome it in our homes, yet often discuss its social impact only in terms of lost jobs.
The question is not simply, “How many jobs will disappear?” but, “How should life and work function in an automated society?“
The debate must be about how to reshape our social structures, the ownership and governance of key technologies and the means of production, and how to make sure everyone (not just the few billionaires that own these companies) benefit from technology.
Ravi Corea, Macleod

Pause data centres
Residents at Plumpton, West Footscray, Geelong, Port Melbourne and elsewhere have every reason to be alarmed at Jacinta Allan’s determination to hasten and expand data centre construction in Victoria (″⁣PM right to pump brakes on data centres″⁣, 18/7). The reasons are well-documented – immense energy and water demands, land misallocation, incessant noise, fire risk, pollution and ugliness. These downsides are plain to see in Melbourne.
Away from the cities, plans are being hatched for data centres in remote country in the Northern Territory, using gas from the Beetaloo Basin for energy generation and water from the Great Artesian Basin for cooling.
Each of these proposals is deeply problematic. The use of gas exacerbates global heating and the extraction of vast quantities of water from the Basin is a reckless exploitation of one of Australia’s natural treasures. Until the pros and cons are clearly spelt out, the case for a moratorium on new centres is compelling.
Tom Knowles, Parkville

Security of a home
What is a house worth? To those with one, everything. To those desperate to secure one, everything. So why does a government that promises everything put its funds, resources, time and effort into everything else?
Housing satisfies a basic need for people. Everyone should have the opportunity to own one if not rent one. Why is the government still saying that it’s OK to have many while some have none? They are still, despite the changes, funding people to build property portfolios rather than allocating that money for social housing for the neediest in the community.
A home provides safety and security in most cases. It is more than just a monetary asset. It tightens family and social bonds. It holds memories. For many people, it is something that they can pass onto the next generation.
We have forgotten that for most people, a house is a lifetime commitment not something used for a quick turnover. Governments are so keen to analyse the housing market in terms of financial implications. Perhaps it is time that they looked at them through a social lens and discovered what home ownership means to people.
Greg Tuck, Warragul

The world game
There might have been more people at the Collingwood-Carlton game at the MCG last weekend compared with the World Cup final, but more then 2 billion fans watched the game on TV. AFL remains a national game while soccer is truly the world game.
Nick Toovey, Beaumaris

Positively perplexing
When was the last time Pauline Hanson said something positive about anyone or anything? I’ve drawn a blank.
Peter Heffernan, Balaclava

Photo: Matt Golding

AND ANOTHER THING

One Nation
Barnaby Joyce shows that if you want a friend (to shout at), get a dog.
Malcolm McDonald, Burwood

I suggest those aligned to One Nation vote for the dog.
Margaret Skeen, Ocean Grove

I, for one, am more interested in what Barnaby Joyce’s dog has to say than what Barnaby has to say.
Paul Caine, Glen Huntly

Should Barnaby Joyce post-politics consider starting a dog obedience school?
Paul Miller, Albury

God help us all if Malcolm Roberts reaches a position of power. He’s even starting to look like RFK jnr.
Pauline Walden, Brighton

The Coalition and Labor don’t seem to realise that Pauline Hanson, like Donald Trump, is too different from other politicians to be defeated by the usual rules.
Tony O’Brien, South Melbourne

Your correspondent (Letters, 21/7) suggests One Nation change its name to White Nation as a better reflection of its values. How about One White Nation? No ambiguity there.
Patrick Alilovic, Pascoe Vale South

For Pauline Hanson to say Gina Rinehart had “done it tough” is somewhat exaggerated. Rinehart attended boarding school at St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, an elite private school in Perth.
Suzanne Palmer-Holton, Seaford

Furthermore
I am having some difficulty following the logic of Donald Trump when he complains about the meddlesome and fraudulent voting system, under which he was elected twice.
Graeme Bott, Sandringham

I have a suggestion for teachers of English at our schools. Have a class competition to see if any student can make a sentence without the word “like” in it.
Madelene Alford, Richmond

Finally
I got so excited to see the words “hyperbolic paraboloid”, (Letters, 21/7), that I had to reach for a Pringle.
Graham Bridges, Wodonga

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