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Credit:Illustration: Megan Herbert

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POPULATION

Apart from business, who wants this growth?

In 2006 it was projected that Melbourne would reach 5 million people by 2030, yet that milestone was reached in 2019. Various government reports have found that Melbourne cannot accommodate that level of growth. Living standards have been getting worse, and there is chronic housing affordability problems and sub-standard builds with cracks and leaks as developers scramble to house all the new arrivals.

Now we learn that the federal government’s Centre for Population expects Melbourne’s population to reach 6 million by mid-2031 (The Age, 5/1). There has been no discussion about the swelling of our population via mass immigration. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that the majority of Australians do not want this level of growth.

The issue is not discussed to keep vested business interests happy, but with no consideration of the costs involved to our communities or to the environment. All in the false belief that we need population growth for economic prosperity.
Kieran Simpson, Blackburn North

The world’s biggest problem is too many people

So, Melbourne is on track to become Australia’s biggest city – and we are expected to be excited about the city’s population reaching 6 million? In the 50s, the population of our entire continent was less than 10 million people and what a happy place it was to grow up in. When will our leaders acknowledge that by far the biggest problem in the world today is that there are too many people?
Margaret Smith, Point Lonsdale

We need room for all species to live and reproduce

Spot on, Ian Penrose (Letters, 4/1). What the pro-population growth lobby never tells us is how many people we will have when growth eventually stops, as it must. Nature shows us that growth is a temporary phenomenon, whether it is for an individual or a population, and always comes at the expense of other living things.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says “migration policy is economic policy”. It is very much social and environmental policy too. His colleague, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, recently said the government had an aim of no further species extinctions. The myriad other species we share Australia with also need room to live and reproduce. If we perpetually fill Australia with ever more humans, surely it is obvious that many other species will become extinct. Plibersek needs to have a chat with Chalmers.
Alex Judd, Blackburn North

Bring in the truly needy and desperate first

With the expected dramatic increase in migration to Melbourne, it would be nice to think that priority would be given to those who actually need to be here – such as Afghani refugees, especially persecuted women, and climate refugees – rather than those who come here as a lifestyle choice.
Vicki Swinbank, Northcote

Train our own workers rather than import them

For decades, Australian universities have produced highly trained graduates such as scientists. And for decades these scientists have had to go to countries like the US to get a job because there were none in Australia. Now students are unwilling to pursue science due to lack of job security. Rather than the easy option of importing skilled workers such as scientists, we should heed Jim Chalmers’ advice to train Australians and provide them with secure jobs.
Leigh Ackland, Deepdene

Great cities have more than just tourist attractions

The notion that Melbourne’s population will soon overtake Sydney’s instantly goads NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to remind us once more that Sydney is always three “ours ahead; our harbour, our bridge, our opera house”. More than 50 years ago I arrived in Melbourne because it offered a secure job and a nice place to live. I did not need a tourist attraction…and I have never once looked back
David Elias, Sandringham

LETTERS

All power to the unions

Angus Thompson’s article regarding the future of unions (The Age, 7/1) struck a chord with me. Forty years in education saw me receive an average wage and a generous superannuation scheme (now not available). That average wage was fought for by the teachers’ unions. So, do not rely on governments, particularly conservative ones, or the goodwill of all employers to achieve better conditions. It just does not happen.
Ian Todd, retired principal, Leongatha

High cost of wood heaters

Lesley Hughes says that air pollution in Australia “is responsible – every year – for more deaths than the national road toll. This is a national emergency, even without climate change considerations” (Comment, 6/5).

It was disappointing there was no mention in her article of recent studies showing smoke from the 10 per cent of households burning wood as a main heat source produces more air pollution in our cities than all cars and other power sources combined.

Wood-heater use in built-up residential environments, particularly, comes at a serious health and economic cost. It is also one of the most easily tackled causes of air pollution. Improving our air quality will benefit community health and save lives
Karina Kanepe, Northcote

Rows? What else is new?

Welcome to the real world, Harry. Your story of family conflict is not unique. What makes it unusual is that through your sense of entitlement, you think it is unique.
Ruth Davis, Carrum

Taliban’s outrage ’rich’

It probably is not a great idea for Prince Harry to brag about his war record in Afghanistan. But moral outrage from the Taliban (Sunday Age, 8/1), one of the most brutal and immoral regimes ever to gain power in a modern country? That is rich indeed.
Lindsay Zoch, Mildura

Danger of speaking out

Harry, Harry, Harry, what have you done? You have just endangered the lives of your children. All in the name of a quick buck and a cheap shot at your family. I hope it is all worth it.
Lance Wilson, Brighton East

Facing the brutality of war

Whatever Harry’s motives for revealing his Afghanistan kill count, I am glad he did. It brings home the awful truth that war involves real people killing and real people dying.
Patrice McCarthy, Bendigo

Just show them the money

The legendary Randy Newman was more than 25 years ahead of himself in writing a theme song for Harry and Meghan. It’s Money That Matters exemplifies the soap opera the world is enduring. One thing on this facile story is that monarchists remain strangely quiet. Maybe they want to be “Spared” from further indignities. I suppose it makes the circus proceedings in Washington appear normal.
Rob Park, Surrey Hills

Show us the figures, please

I am sorely disappointed in The Age for the lack of coverage of new COVID-19 cases in Australia. All of the media seems happy to pretend that we are back to “normal” but more than 12,000 new cases and 108 deaths last week in Victoria alone would indicate that we are certainly far from normal.

Why do I have to trawl through the news and then Google to find the latest figures? We get more coverage of China’s situation than our own, while the biggest threat would appear to be the variant sweeping through the US, although that might be inconvenient to highlight during our current diplomatic tango. COVID-19 has not gone away, so please keep us better informed.
Margaret Stead, Frankston

Why shunning of maths?

Adam Carey’s article – “Fear of a brain drain as students turn away from advanced maths” (Sunday Age, 8/1) – was very interesting. And troubling. And unfortunately the situation is worse than his article states. In 2005 there were 5711 enrolments in specialist maths. So there has been a 32per cent decline in enrolments over the last 17 years. Hard questions need to be asked of the Victorian education authorities.
John Kermond, South Blackburn

Sacrifices are required

Re “Andrews urges PM to fund more free GPs” (The Age, 5/1). Yes, but from where does the funding come? Every day there are valid requests for more funding: the National Disability Insurance Scheme, aged care, schools, visits to psychologists etc.

I am sure Anthony Albanese and his government want to supply all the funding that these services require, but the public needs to be reminded that paying more tax and legislating a more equitable tax system is the only way to fund these services.

Are you prepared to pay more tax, get rid of negative gearing and franking credits, pay tax on earnings in your superannuation fund once you are over 70, pay for emergency department visits for non-urgent care and so on?
Sandra Ashton, Beaumaris

Park scooters correctly

Recently I was travelling from Richmond along Yarra Boulevard/Swan Street. Along the footpath on the left-hand side were nine Lime e-scooters. Several were lying on the footpath, others were propped up at odd angles. To my horror, a middle-aged man and his guide dog were caught up in this, with nowhere to go, except onto the road into oncoming traffic or maybe to turn around and find another way. I stopped and put my hazard lights on and guided them around the tangle of e-scooters. Poor form from users who do not park the scooters properly on shared footpaths.
Carol Coghlan, Camberwell

A menace to pedestrians

I visited Docklands last week. I was almost bowled over three times by e-scooter riders while I was walking – by a child who had limited control showing off on one side, a parent allowing that, laughing, on my other side, and a 60 to 70-year-old hippie who did not care how close he came – eyes glued firmly ahead. The e-scooters have no warning sound and they are too fast, unnecessary and a menace on pathways.
Bruce Watson, Clifton Springs

Please, ring your bells

Your correspondent (Letters, 7/1) says e-scooters should have bells. That’s fine if anyone used them. I regularly walk on shared paths in the northern regions of Melbourne. I find most bike riders do not use bells, although some do call out. Bells are there for a reason. Riders, please use them.
Lesley Taskis, Kingsbury

Reassess Liberals’ values

Victorian senator Jane Hume says the Liberal Party is a “membership-led, grassroots organisation” (Sunday Age, 8/1). A genuine grassroots organisation of disenchanted voters sent Monique Ryan to Canberra as our MP for Kooyong. The Liberal Party’s consultation with community has been minimal and its values and actions not reflective of community standards as evidenced by the results of the federal and Victorian elections.

Hume has called on the party to introduce a fundraising levy for all MPs, forcing them to contribute to a women’s network to boost the number of women in the party. But she also says “people join the Liberal Party because they largely don’t like being told what to do”.

If the outcome of the review by Hume and Brian Loughnane involves accommodating the values of the party rather than examining the applicability of such values, then I suggest the future will hold more of what we have come to expect from the party.
Jennifer Quigley, Balwyn

Breaking point? Really?

Between 1942 and 1945, the US, under a war footing, produced roughly 300,000 aeroplanes, 192,000 armoured vehicles and 77,000 ships. Now they tell us our eight nuclear submarines that are suspected to take two decades to manufacture risk stressing America’s industrial base to “breaking point” (The Age, 7/1). Oh spare me.
Craig Belkin, Mornington

Gains from cancelling deal

US senators are protesting against the AUKUS deal on the basis that it will harm their industrial base. If we are lucky, they will cancel the deal and we will be able to put the money to better use. A few long-range missiles would cost less and leave plenty of change for fixing other holes in the national ship of state.
David Lamb, Kew East

Towards independence

Thankfully the federal government is beginning to think about continental defence (ie, defending Australia) and ordering appropriate missiles. In addition we need submarines that provide a defence capability in our coastal and adjacent waters, not ones that can attack mainland China.
There are several good reasons to abandon plans to acquire nuclear-powered boats, two being the huge cost and the delay in delivery. There are suitable modern, air independent propulsion boats which are available much sooner and they are quieter and much cheaper than nuclear-powered ones. Purchasing these would also allow Australia to retain a degree of independence.
Robin Stewart, Romsey

Human rights hypocrisy

Australians may well deplore the government sales of deadly weapons to countries accused of grave breaches of human rights. We should remember, however, that successive Australian governments stand accused by the United Nations, among other bodies, of serious and continued abuse of the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees.
Juliet Flesch, Kew

Celebrating great writers

Thank you, Jane Sullivan, for your wonderful and insightful article about the lost works of various, now famous, writers (Spectrum, 7/1). Also, your smaller article about writers who passed away in 2022. In particular, you mentioned Raymond Briggs. I remember reading his books to our children back in the 1980s. What a delight they were, and your words about him sum up perfectly why he is so well-remembered, and often quoted, in our family.
Wendy Poulier, Ferntree Gully

AND ANOTHER THING

World

McCarthy has missed out on Kevin 07, but he’s now Kevin 15.
Mary Mandanici, Preston

MAGA has become MALSA: Make America Look Stupid Again.
Denny Meadows, Hawthorn

Russian ceasefire: Oh, how very Christian of you, Mr Putin.
Matt Dunn, Leongatha

I dispute one answer in Superquiz (6/1). From recent reports, the capital of Cuba is hardly any pesos.
Sam Bando, St Kilda East

Politics

Nuclear subs. In defending Australia, be careful we don’t defund it.
Phil Blake, Gisborne South

AUKUS or USUKA (pronounced “your sucker”)?
Andrew Collins, Dromana

Please don’t worry on my behalf, Jane Hume (8/1). As a female voter in Kooyong, I’m well represented by Monique Ryan.
Belinda Burke, Hawthorn

The lack of housing isn’t the issue here. It’s population growth.
Jen Gladstones, Heidelberg

Harry

The only good thing about Harry’s book is that he’s replaced Andrew as the biggest royal idiot.
David Kitchen, Violet Town

Will no one rid me of this turbulent prince?
Harvey Mitchell, Castlemaine

Two brothers have a spat. Please “Spare” me the details.
Lisa Bishop, Macleod

Ash Barty, Vladimir Putin and Prince Harry. The delightful, the despicable and the delusional.
Rob Willis, Wheelers Hill

A startling revelation from Harry: when soldiers go to war, they kill people. Shock, horror. It puts war in a whole new light.
Ian Robinson, Cowes

Could we please have at least one day a week without any news about Meghan and Harry.
Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn

It’s time to resurrect an old tune: I’m Just Not Wild About Harry.
Hank Dikkenberg, Glenorchy, Tas

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