Letters

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday December 11, 2008

Costello's movie review missed a few home truths

It is all well and good for Peter Costello to say that if a child has only one parent, who is a homicidal maniac, the authorities should be looking to take them away ("An Aussie love story that strays far from fact", December 10). However, as anyone who played a little closer attention to both history and Australia will know, they are not removing Nullah for this reason. Rather, they are removing him because he is half Aboriginal and half white and they, as the movie so nicely puts it, want to "breed the black out of them".

Eliza Twaddell Dural

What if the Coalition had won the election and the steady hands of John Howard and Peter Costello had still been on the helm? Would Australia be buffeted by the global financial crisis, or still surfing a wave of prosperity? What would Australia's greatest former treasurer have done to avert disaster? Costello could use his column to tell us, but instead he offers a critique of Australia - the movie, not the country.

John Christie Oatley

Human right to play football

What an odd way the Government chose to mark International Human Rights Day ("Australia $1.5m to support human rights", smh.com.au, December 10). It handed out a measly $1.5 million to be shared among 19 countries to tackle such matters as justice, disability rights, child protection and human trafficking, while announcing it would spend more than $45 million on Australia's bid to host the soccer World Cup in 2018 ("Government tips $46m into World Cup bid", December 10). Where on earth are your priorities, Mr Rudd?

Brian Haill Frankston (Vic)

Tripodi's ships come sailing in

You report that Joe Tripodi might enforce a new arrangement for ships "bringing coal to Newcastle" ("Tripodi warning on coal queue", December 10). Joe, I think I've spotted your problem here. They're meant to be taking the stuff away, not bringing it in.

Karl Ketley Umina Beach

Cheap drugs count, too

Paul Stevens (Letters, December 10) says he and his wife have never collected a welfare payment. So they have never obtained medication under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or made a claim on Medicare. How wonderful to be so healthy.

John Lees Castlecrag

Creation goes bung

OK. This year let the Creationists have their fun with "z-sequential" fireworks, exploding "sun-pods" and thunder-sound effects ("A sparkling preview of the $5 million harbour fireworks show", December 10). But next year, could the Evolutionists be accommodated with a simple theme? All we ask for is the word "bullshit" to be spelled out in plastic letters 10 metres high across the Harbour Bridge. To represent the big bang, one double-bunger would be acceptable.

Max Fischer Scarborough

Spend until we . . . go deaf

Looking at Sydney's CBD and wondering how the big spend is going, you have to wonder why anyone would bother coming in. They have boarded up the Imperial Arcade, demolished Mid City Centre and are ripping the guts out of the upper floors of Myer. Any sound of Christmas cheer is drowned out by jackhammers.

Jim Gentles Coogee

Who grassed on tennis?

"Why tennis is down the gurgler" your Heckler headline states (December 10) but does not answer. We don't have champions because tennis participation has collapsed. Participation has collapsed because tennis administrators are obsessed with creating champions. Never has so much money produced so little.

Our elite players are drawn from an almost empty pool, and until Tennis Australia and its subsidiaries face this, abandon their desperate talent searches and start resuscitating the grassroots, more courts will be lost, the game will spiral further downwards and the memory of Australia's dominance will become ever dimmer.

Margaret Kerr Mona Vale

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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