Hanson’s concept of culture has little to do with Australia

Pauline Hanson has no understanding of the meaning of “culture” (“Hanson demands end to multiculturalism, calls climate change a hoax”, June 18). Australia is multicultural. Sydney has a different culture from Melbourne, from Adelaide, from Brisbane. Catholics are different from Protestants, from Pentecostals, from the Orthodox churches, from Muslims, from Jews. There are ethnic, sporting, artistic and religious subcultures. And most importantly, there are our Indigenous cultures, part of a living tradition in this land going back 60,000 years, one which can truly be called Australian. At its heart, a call for “monoculturalism” is a fear of difference, an inability to expand one’s horizon, to be challenged with the awareness that “our way of doing things” is not the only way. Hanson’s entire political career has been built on fear. Once fear takes over, people seek scapegoats and a society becomes divided between “us” and “them”. We know where this leads. It must not happen here. Neil Ormerod, Kingsgrove

Pauline Hanson might practice a bit more consistency (“One Nation calls for ban on activists after stunt at speech”, June 18). In her press club address, she spoke at length about many Australians living in abject poverty, but questioned pay rises for the lowest paid workers. She claimed to support free speech in politics but expressed outrage at Get Up putting up a poster drawing attention to this inconsistency. Perhaps she could take her own advice regarding another politician who took offence at a verbal attack recently: “Suck it up, sweetheart.” Al Svirskis, Mount Druitt

Simmer down, Australia. This is getting ridiculous. Can we please call a truce and resume normal transmission? I’m prepared to stop saying mean things about Pauline Hanson if she and her angry followers agree to stop whingeing about every little thing. Yes, Australia has the odd problem. But can anyone name the perfect country we’re meant to emulate? The constant moaning and groaning about how unfair life has become is getting us nowhere. It’s healthy to advocate for changes, but crazy to target ethnicity and religion as the culprits for perceived woes. Can we please broaden our minds a little and agree that Australia’s problems are not that great. If you’re healthy, not hungry and have a roof over your head, maybe it’s time to go easy on the anger and be grateful for what you have. Rob Mills, Riverview

I know how to solve Hanson’s problems with the media: all media should just stop reporting on her and her moronic party. Just think of how much nicer it would be as you leaf through your daily paper. Come to think of it, there’s a few other reality-challenged political leaders from here and abroad who could use the same treatment. Russ Couch, Woonona

It’s rich that Pauline Hanson calls workers lazy considering her attendance record at Senate estimates hearing days, absence 88 per cent, and in terms of regular sitting votes, which she has only attended 54 per cent to 78 per cent of the time. The rest of her oration comprised Trump and Rinehardt ideologies, and channelled Enoch Powell’s notorious “rivers of blood” speech from 1968 attacking immigrants, for which he was subsequently sacked from the British conservative government. Heaven help Australia if this woman and her party of social division ever achieves power. Barrington Salter, Elanora (Qld)

Further to the letter from Dr Joseph Ting (Letters, June 18), I wonder if Pauline Hanson, or any of those opposed to immigration, have been to a nursing home recently? A conservative estimate of 85 per cent of the attendants there were definitely not born in Australia. With an increasingly ageing population and consequent demand for such places, a reduction in immigration in this area alone could be a major problem. None of us can know, Pauline, when or if we may require the gentle care of those from other lands. Elizabeth Corbett, Mosman

Dr Ting, thank tou for your selfless contribution to emergency medicine. It is truly appreciated. My GP speaks Mandarin, my dentist Vietnamese, my surgeon Turkish and thoracic surgeon Cantonese. Like Dr Ting’s 97-year-old patient, these men restore my health and dignity, free of pain. Pauline Hanson must never be allowed to make us monocultural. Just because she believes something does not make it true. We must not give her that power. Anne Eagar, Epping

Hanson appears to be deeply bitter about nearly everything. She hates the ABC, SBS, net zero, Muslims, abortion, workers rights, the press, transgender rights and more. Let’s hope most Australians do not adopt her repressive, narrow mindset. Integration is better than disintegration. Say no to her divisive “No Nation”. David Goldstein, Balgowlah

PM Anthony Albanese said he would watch the State of Origin rather than Pauline Hanson’s press club address. This harks back to Hillary Clinton calling followers of Donald Trump “a basket of deplorables”. One disrespects 30 per cent of the voting public at one’s peril. Mr Albanese and his team should show respect and let potential One Nation voters know that Labor is listening to their concerns and where appropriate, will address those concerns. David Huber, Coalcliff

Hanson’s timing regarding the axing of SBS couldn’t be worse. Its coverage of the World Cup is absolutely fantastic, and its demise would be a great loss to millions of sport fans, as well as Australia’s ethnic communities. Eric Sekula, Turramurra

Pauline Hanson had only two things to prove at her baptism of fire at Wednesday’s National Press Club luncheon. She had to show she could handle the heat in a hostile kitchen, and to reiterate One Nation’s controversial plans for Australia. She did both. Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield

It doesn’t require any critical thinking to conclude that Hanson’s energy policy is incoherent. She calls global warming a hoax, opposes wind turbines and solar panels on agricultural land and supports coal-fired power stations, yet then supports construction of nuclear reactors. The question is why? Nuclear reactors are the most expensive form of power generation and their usefulness is in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If she doesn’t believe in global warming, why bother with nuclear reactors at all? Rodney Crute, Hunters Hill

Congratulations to whoever invited Hanson to address the National Press Club. It gave her the perfect opportunity to shoot herself in the foot. Brian Roach, Westleigh

How many is enough?

I tire of all those who continually emphasise that migrants are necessary for the development of our country (Letters, June 18). I believe this is blurring the immigration discussion. Of course we need migrants. As a country and as individuals, we are grateful for those wonderful people who have added richness to our lives. Yet I keep reflecting on the basic economic principle of “diminishing returns”, with the classic example of one ice-cream on a hot day is fabulous, three is too many and five is disastrous. With a drastic shortage of homes for people to live in and schools, hospitals and roads at breaking point, could we please have a non-judgmental discussion about how many migrants is too many without people who want this discussion being labelled as unappreciative of migrants. Michael Walsh, Croydon

I’m the son of immigrants born here who not only continues to speak Greek at home but celebrates many of our cultural traditions. But according to Hanson, she will put a stop to people speaking any other language in the home but English. She wants us to assimilate, forget about our cultural and linguistic roots and become monocultural Aussies. If her party ever comes to power and enacts bans on speaking a foreign language at home, how will they police it? Will it be similar to former Stalinist states that got children to dob in members of the family who uttered anything critical of the state? I have faith in my grandson that he will not snitch on me. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury

Pyrrhic victory

Congratulations to President Trump on a peace deal so lopsided I had to read it twice to work out which country won the war (“The US-Iran 14-point peace deal”, June 18). Let me confirm the terms of this great American victory. We lift the blockade. We waive sanctions on Iranian oil, then scrap all sanctions on a timetable of Tehran’s choosing. We unfreeze Iran’s billions. We help raise $300 billion to rebuild it. And we hand stewardship of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran and Oman, trusting that the country we just bombed will play fair. In return, America secures Iran’s solemn vow that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons”, the same vow it has offered for 20 years. The president says he got “everything we set out to accomplish, and much more”. No argument here. Iran got much more than it dared hope: sanctions gone, assets unfrozen, leverage over the world’s most vital waterway and its nuclear and missile programs untouched. America got higher prices at the pump and 13 flag-draped coffins. And if it all falls apart in 60 days? No worries, the president says “we go back to bombing”. A fine contingency for a war they evidently fought just to give the other side everything it wanted. Raj Kamath, Castle Hill

Unfair system

The figures in Shane Wright’s article reveal that negatively geared property owners ran up $16 billion in losses (“Boomers dominate rental market”, June 18). Who pays for those losses? The property owners? No, they deduct the losses against their income. It’s a rort by which property investors legally exploit the system to gain an unfair advantage over genuine home buyers and shift the burden of funding government revenue to those of us who pay tax on our income without the benefit of negatively geared property. The property sector is now running a self-interested scare campaign to attack the government’s plans to curtail this unfair and discriminatory scheme. Since when did the Australian concept of a fair go involve hard-working income earners paying more tax than those who own property and deliberately manage those properties at a loss to pay less tax and keep first home buyers out of the market in the process? It never did. Rod Cunich, Vaucluse

The orchestrated pushback against the government’s proposed changes to capital gains tax, negative gearing and trust taxation is very similar to the misinformation campaign against Bill Shorten’s 2019 changes to franked dividends. Powerful vested interests and much of the media, including shock jocks, have played a big part. In reality, the vast majority of taxpayers will not be affected because the existing tax regime introduced by the Howard government favours only the very wealthy. Tony Simons, Balmain

Power to the people

Your correspondent says that he is not on the default market offer and his electricity rates went up (Letters, June 18). My first suggestion is to go to the government’s Energy Made Easy website to see if there is a lower-cost plan, which might be with another provider. If customers don’t shop around, they will miss out on better deals. Second, every retailer is now obliged to state on your bill whether you are on their lowest-cost plan based on your actual usage. If you aren’t, then change. The government is now looking to force retailers to not just tell customers this, but to move them to the lowest cost plan automatically. Brendan Jones, Annandale

When it comes to the issue of rooftop solar and home batteries, there are two issues at play (“Clash over new network charges for solar and batteries,” June 18). On the one hand, it seems unfair that only those with the resources to install solar and a battery should reap all the benefits of the energy transition. On the other hand, if we don’t give people a financial incentive to use clean energy, there won’t be any transition – at least not in the time frame needed to reach net zero. Somehow we have to walk a fine line between these two imperatives. Ken Enderby, Concord

No gender agenda

I couldn’t agree with you more, Grace Thornton (Letters, June 18). Language matters when it comes to equality in sport. I have always found it curious on the racing pages where it appears necessary for female jockeys to have the honorific of “Ms” in front of their name, while male jockeys escape having their gender identified. Is this because it is thought essential for punters to be warned that their hard-earned is on a hayburner with a female hoop on board? What nonsense. Female jockeys are constantly outriding their male counterparts. Who won last year’s Melbourne Cup? The job description is “jockey” and jockeys are jockeys, male or female. Bill Young, Killcare Heights

Yes, Grace, you are right – language matters. How heartening it is to see a 13-year-old call out sexism in sport. In addition, describing women by their reproductive capacity (grandmother/mother) in news articles is unnecessary and sexist. The media could start applying the same to men. I can’t imagine this will cease either. Keep your battle going, Grace. Margaret Collins, Terrigal

Danger lurks

The recent calls for a shark cull in response to the Coogee attack ignore both marine and societal realities. Great white sharks are highly mobile apex predators, rendering local culls ineffective. A shark spotted in Coogee today could be kilometres away hours later. If human safety really is the priority, then we need to address the deadliest threats to our community. In Australia, one to three people are killed by sharks each year, while acts of male violence claim a woman’s life roughly every four days. Isn’t it time we prioritise the systemic issues plaguing our communities? Daniela Catalano, Haberfield

No breaks

Ah, to be a fly on the wall at the Sandilands settlement (“Sandilands to keep famous golden microphone”, June 18). It is not the $12 million amount, but how it will be paid. Cash amount upfront in July (convenient new tax year) and regular payments until 2029 (income payments to offset loss of salary). But what about the amount for the non-compete clause? That comes under CGT, and taxpayers and the government will be pleased to know the 50 per cent discount doesn’t apply. Michael Blissenden, Dural

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