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The other sacking.Credit: Cathy Wilcox

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Shaun Carney’s view of the prime minister’s conduct on campaigning for the Voice (“Limelight waning on leading lad″⁣, Comment 7/9 ) does sum up why the Yes vote is going off the rails. He says the PM “has been passive and reactive, speaking in generalities rather than specifics″⁣, and he points out how the PM has been encouraging a Yes vote for Australians “to feel better about the nation rather than on practicalities″⁣. Peter Dutton and the No campaign have made gains in criticising the lack of specifics. But if the referendum is lost, both the PM and the opposition leader need to take a bipartisan approach to legislating a Voice to parliament. If the No vote succeeds, the referendum will tell both leaders what voters think. They can then proceed with the official position of the Yes campaign: “a consultation process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the parliament, and the broader public to design the Voice″⁣. Neither of them can falter in their stated aims for Indigenous Australians. Des Files, Brunswick

Inertia smothering PM’s message
Anthony Albanese’s first commitment when he was elected was to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full. This gave great heart to many. It is so sad to read Shaun Carney that ″⁣the referendum looks to be lost″⁣. Rationalisations about how few referendums have succeeded cannot compensate for the inertia that characterises the Yes campaign. This would be disappointing under any circumstances, but for an issue which the PM put forward as his top priority in this term of government, it shows a disappointing absence of leadership. This referendum is vital for the spirit of our country, for the unity of our people, and for our reputation as a nation worthy of international respect. For all our sakes, will our PM and his government please fight with all your passion and conviction to pull this referendum across the line? Chris Young, Surrey Hills

The attention should not be on the politics
Such a pity the Voice campaign has become so politicised (“Limelight waning on leading lad”, 7/9). Perhaps we should uncouple the aim of the Voice from the fortunes and opinions of Labor and Liberal leaders and put the focus back on the lives of
First Nations people. When considering how to vote on this referendum, this should be our main concern not how we normally vote in a federal election. Writers in The Age have pointed out that terrible things will not happen if we vote Yes or pass legislation to give Indigenous people more say in matters that concern them.
It didn’t after Mabo when native title was granted.
Jan Marshall, Brighton

Focusing on power is not the way
Spot on, Shaun Carney (Comment, 7/9). Labor and its current leadership have been so focused on re-election that they have done little to improve the mess they inherited. A sense of urgency is needed, not this dawdle to the next election.
Tony Haydon, Springvale

The election campaign is in full swing
I have to take issue with your correspondent (Letters, 5/9) who says of the Voice, “this is not an election campaign”. This is exactly what it is. Peter Dutton has learnt from conservatives in other places as well as Australia (see Tony Abbott) that the way to regain power for an opposition is not to have any workable policies but simply to ensure that the party of government is not able to implement theirs.
As the Voice is one of Anthony Albanese’s priorities – shown by his victory speech in the 2022 election – that is a key position to attack. The attack does not need take the form of sensible alternatives: it is simply enough now to sow confusion and fear. It doesn’t even matter if the No side is itself confused, as it clearly is. That just adds to the general air of confusion and suspicion. That is in itself enough. The campaign for the next federal election began on election night 2022. The No campaign for the Voice is simply the first major battle.
Steve Halliwell, North Fitzroy

FORUM

Strength of saying Yes
In answering a question to her speech at the National Press Club (6/9), Professor Marcia Langton cited the long history of the disconnect between solutions recommended by Indigenous bodies and the cack-handed ones eventually implemented by governments and their bureaucrats. On the face of it, the adoption of the Voice would not solve this – constitutionally established, it would simply be a mechanism without the surety of any specific outcomes.
However, the permanence of the Voice, with its persistent opportunity to resist clumsy and under-informed solutions, would surely act as a powerful deterrent to such misguided policy mistakes, however well-intentioned.
Its persistence would also guarantee sustained pressure against governmental and bureaucratic inertia.
Dirk den Hartog, Smiths Beach

Players, take the lead
Given the AFL track record with Adam Goodes being booed out of the game, why should we expect any meaningful leadership on the Voice being part of the grand final? It’s now up to the players to show it and play with armbands supporting the Voice throughout the finals season — please.
M. Leah Billeam, Portarlington

Go figurative it out
Treasurer Jim Chalmers conjures up an image of “economic headwinds” to explain why people are overburdened by debt and financially stressed (“Australia in per capita recession as bills rise”, 7/9).
His rhetorical use of figurative speech masks a reality that should be expressed in plain English. The reason the “interest bill on mortgages has doubled over the past year to almost $83 billion” is that the Reserve Bank board messed up on interest rates.
The government was warned more than five months ago by an independent review of the bank to put monetary policy into the hands of more competent people. It still hasn’t done so, preferring to wait until July next year. That’s the plain truth of the matter.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills

Protect green spaces
I agree with Kingston Mayor Hadi Saab (Letters, 7/9) that we shouldn’t be losing our green open spaces for housing, but we also shouldn’t be losing our green open spaces for Suburban Rail Loop industrial-scale stabling yard infrastructure (which belongs in an industrial zone). Once we lose our green open spaces, they are gone forever, leading to a less liveable city.
As a resident directly impacted by the planned SRL stabling yard location, rather than living near the long-planned green open space for which we bought in the area, my liveability will plummet as the area becomes covered in concrete and rail infrastructure, with less tree coverage and grass, leading to warmer temperatures around our homes and all the noise, dust, light, and vibration impacts of the construction and operation of the site.
Our green open spaces shouldn’t be sacrificed for developments when alternatives exist that don’t sacrifice our liveability and environment.
Michelle Hornstein, Heatherton

Precious resource
Campaigners who fought long and hard for the protection of Victoria’s native forests and ecosystems will welcome the state government’s commitment to support timber workers to find new jobs (“Paving the way to wind up VicForests”, 7/9). In bringing an end to an era of forest exploitation, the government must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Timber workers and their communities have a wealth of knowledge and experience about our forests and mountain ranges. This is a precious resource that must be honoured and drawn upon for good purpose. It cries out to be redeployed in environmental restoration, fire protection and healthy tourism.
The end of VicForests’ scandalous losses in recent years will free up investment for projects that enhance the wellbeing of both nature and the community.
That’s good news.
Tom Knowles, Parkville

What really matters
It’s not in my world that the cost-of-living crisis is in any real way alleviated by reducing the cost of overseas airfares. What matters – and has for some time – is enabling people to have somewhere to live, keeping kids at school, and getting enough food to eat.
Ross Crawford, Frankston

Qantas favoured
Why does Qantas want to enter the regional airline market? Is there enough market to share? Why is Qantas protected from competition from overseas airlines, when it seems to want to drive a regional air service out
of business?
Competition is good but only when Qantas has the upper hand.
Andrew Moloney, Frankston

Pernicious pokies
Wealthy football clubs who persist with the scourge of pokies at their clubs should be roundly condemned for the ensuing harm and distress they cause to problem gamblers. My club, North Melbourne, got rid of these insidious machines decades ago.
Dorothy Galloway, Mentone

Profits over people
How can AFL clubs justify making enormous profits from venues in some of the poorest postcodes in Victoria (″⁣AFL clubs ‘trade on misery’ as $40 million lost on pokies″⁣, 7/9)? The two highest incomes come from Carlton’s Club Laverton (over $7 million this financial year) and Essendon’s Melton Country Club (over
$8 million), with neither football club geographically close to these areas. One can only assume these clubs put their enormous profit over the welfare of the people in these areas and surrounds.
And those who work to support parents and children in these areas understand the significant social impact of such actions.
Julie Chandler, Blairgowrie

More than consumers
I note the increasing use of the word consumer as a label for people (″⁣Households take a financial blow, any way you slice it″⁣, 7/9). Having spent years objecting to the term being applied to the elderly in the privatised
aged care system, it now seems that the elderly were the thin end of a wedge.
Campaigning against that objectionable term for a human being will have to be extended to younger Australians as well.
Ruth Farr, Blackburn South

Right call on Games
Birmingham City Council has applied for bankruptcy and one of the reasons is the hosting of the Commonwealth Games. Premier Daniel Andrews made the right call in pulling the plug on hosting the Games when he did. Yes, it was unpopular but good leaders are willing to take the hard decisions.
Paul Chivers, Box Hill North

Pot, kettle, black
Pots can look like very black kettles, whether flying or not.
If there’s any suggestion that a country’s human rights record should influence its airline’s access to market share in another country, perhaps Australia needs to clean up its own act before imposing restrictions on others.
Voting Yes for a Voice would be a good start.
Jenifer Nicholls, Armadale

Argument for deflation
Having now dealt decisively with the selfish fossil-fuel guzzling Toorak tractors by deflating all four tyres, I suggest that the perpetrators now deflate two tyres on cars with an engine capacity up to 2.5 litres, and one tyre on motorbikes. Caravans can be left untouched because of their environmental purity.
Mike Pantzopoulos, Ashburton

Division in No vote
Those who advocate a No vote, need to ask themselves this: Would rejection of an Indigenous Voice to parliament – a proposal which, despite some people’s fears, is straightforward and benign, but as an advisory body, not merely symbolic – tend to widen the gap between Indigenous people and the more advantaged (on average) non-Indigenous majority, pushing us further apart?
Given that the Voice stems directly from a thorough consultation process held by and with Indigenous Australians, it is really hard to escape the conclusion that rejection would reinforce long-standing racial inequality.
In that important sense, it would be highly divisive. Claims that a Yes vote would be divisive are, by contrast, little more than a very ″⁣glass half-empty″⁣ view of democracy at work.
Jim Allen, Panorama, SA

Loyalty is earned
My husband and I were in business for more than 35 years, and knew that our good reputation was our greatest asset. It sustained us through the vagaries of economic fluctuations.
Is the Qantas reputation strong enough to survive this current crisis, or is it irreparably damaged?
It would be foolhardy for Qantas to take the loyalty of the Australian public for granted.
Marilyn van Loon, Point Lonsdale

Two things to consider
It is very clear in the referendum question that we are voting on two things only:
1) Recognition of Indigenous people; and
2) A body to be set up to advise government.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart asks for treaty and truth but they are not part of this referendum. They are not guaranteed to happen at all.
Conflating them with this referendum is disingenuous.
Greg Tuck, Warragul

Target foxes, too
Regarding feral predators, why not target foxes as well? The creek near my home in Altona used to be a known bird haven. Now the foxes have cleared it. Foxes hunt for food in daylight in the area. Farmers are required to clear them from their land, why not councils?
Doris LeRoy, Altona

AND ANOTHER THING

The AFL
Will the AFL pull the plug on Kiss if the band attempts You’re the Voice (″⁣Raising a Voice ruled out at grand final″⁣, 7/9).
Phil Alexander, Eltham

So how does the AFL reconcile ruling out the Voice with its action plan to use its reach to proactively promote their reconciliation message?
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills

So the AFL’s support for the Voice goes from Yes to a tick to maybe a cross in line with its ″⁣responsible gambling″⁣ policy?
Bernd Rieve, Brighton

The AFL apology to Adam Goodes included, ″⁣We never want to see the mistakes of the past repeated.″⁣ Is silencing Yes on grand final a mistake?
Geoff Gowers, Merricks North

Qantas
The government believed Alan Joyce when he said Qantas would go broke if Qatar came in. The passengers didn’t.
Barbara Lynch, South Yarra

With Alan Joyce now departed, time to ban all lobbyists from having special access to Parliament House.
Arthur Pritchard, Ascot Vale

Furthermore
Australia fancies itself as punching above its weight in world affairs. Well here we are, a world leader in wildlife losses.
Marie Nash, Balwyn

Why are we still just simply talking about the death rate of animals by cats? Why isn’t it a priority when our Australian flora and fauna is being decimated?
Shirley Purves, Gisborne

Your correspondent (Letters, 7/9) refers to Alfred Deakin as Australia’s “first prime minister”. This would come as a surprise to Edmund Barton, who rather thought that he was.
Dennis Dodd, Wangaratta

Why do people think that they have to add a ″⁣K″⁣ to the word ″⁣nothing″⁣?
Ray Jones, Box Hill North

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