In praise of urgent care health service
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urgent care praise
Like Millie Muroi, I went to an urgent care clinic while on vacation when I tripped and suffered a minor fracture to my arm (″How I ended up at a Medicare urgent care clinic and I liked it″, 7/18). When I went to a nearby hospital, I learned that there was no emergency room but an urgent care clinic. I had never heard of them before but my experience was extremely positive.
Within an hour, I was examined, given medications, x-rayed, consulted with a physiotherapist, and taken by taxi to a nearby hotel. My only cost? $10 for a hanger.
I love urgent care, and as a taxpayer, I’m more than happy to foot the bill so others can have the same kind of help when they need it.
Claire WallderMooroolbark
Folks aren’t going anywhere
One Nation has always been the party of choice for climate deniers, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists. This resulted in them having six MPs in the federal parliament, two in the lower house and four in the Senate. After 30 years of effort, this is not a good return for Pauline Hanson. They are now in the public eye as another potential party that can solve the problems created by the other two major parties. However, in doing so, they need to get more votes than they did in the 2025 elections. To attract others, they need to create the appearance of a political party, not actually a protest party full of anarchists.
We’ve seen Malcolm Roberts’ conspiracy theories fail miserably in the last few days as they come to the fore. And in the midst of this confusion, Pauline Hanson was abroad to investigate the facts, meeting with conspiracy theorists and the like, while staying at an Italian resort with billionaire Gina Rinehart. In the coming months, One Nation will compete for seats in the Victorian and NSW elections. Immigration is not on the agenda, this is a federal issue. Unless One Nation acts as a unified party with some sort of positivity, I think it’s going to go nowhere fast.
John Roma, Mt Lawley, WA
Cue this suburb
As a fourth-generation Australian, I feel lucky to live in Point Cook, one of Australia’s most multicultural suburbs. My neighbors come from every corner of the world, and our diversity enriches our community rather than diminishing it. I love living here and I’m equally pleased that I’m unlikely to run into Pauline Hanson.
Louise Lawson, Point Cook
Different perspectives
Waleed Aly (Comment, 17/7) argues that Pauline Hanson is undermining her populist appeal by attacking paid parental leave and complaining about “lazy” workers. He argues that these ideas are not new or expressive of what many people think, but what mainstream parties refuse to say.
But those interested in Hanson may not see things that way. They may view an employee’s decision to have a child as beyond the employer’s responsibility, let alone an obligation to pay. Many people may also like employees complaining that their fellow employees are lazy, incompetent, and overpaid.
Hanson may be operating in a new Trump-like post-logical world that rational analysts like Aly still struggle to understand.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills
Trump logic
According to Donald Trump, the 2016 US elections, after eight years of Democrat Barack Obama, were above all fair and fair. After four years of Trump’s rule, the 2020 election was fraudulent, stolen and unfair. After four years of Democrat Joe Biden, the results were fair and spectacular again. Now it is being dragged into chaos again. I think I see a pattern here, America. If you want fair and democratic elections, make sure there is a Democrat in the White House.
Greg Abramovitch, Portarlington
american history
Before accusing China of interference, Donald Trump would be well advised to look at America’s history of interference, not just through vote-rigging but also by encouraging and financing the overthrow of foreign governments.
Mary Biggs, Yarraville
Look at the highway
I agree with your correspondent (Letter, 17/7) regarding the potholes. This is a problem that has been around for decades. Road freight transport never paid for the damage it caused and managed to provide unfair competition to the railroads, so much so that today only 6 percent of freight goes to rail.
We’ve seen just two freight trains regularly traveling to Victoria’s southwest in the last 10 years, but the number and size of trucks, particularly super-heavy log trucks, have increased exponentially.
Constantly fixing potholes will not solve the problem unless the government has the money to build highway standard roads.
Margery Renwick, Brighton
betting on AI
An interesting side effect of artificial intelligence will be its impact on gambling. If everyone wears their teams, dogs, horses, etc. If it starts using AI to choose winners with access to all past and current information and the ability to make predictions based on that information, this means AI will be able to pick winners much more accurately. Go AI!
Laurens MeyerRichmond
Gold standard baristas
Most of my generation will grow up drinking tea. The only coffee readily available was instant powdered yuk. While drinking tea has sort of gone backwards (tea bags!), drinking coffee has gotten exponentially better. It’s no wonder Sydney and Melbourne are proud of their coffee cultures today. As your correspondent points out (Letters, 17/7), you still need to go to Europe for serious coffee culture.
Of course, you can find bad coffee everywhere: I am grateful that it is now possible to enjoy good coffee.
Good baristas are worth their weight in gold; you know who you are.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
deafening journey
Are we surrounded by so much noise that we become deafening? My wife and I recently treated ourselves to Gold Class tickets for a screening of The Odyssey at the Village Cinema in Werribee. We were looking forward to this, but the unbearable noise of the sound system marred our experience. It was almost a physical attack, and in some scenes the entire cinema seemed to echo. The next morning I still had a headache.
I have seen many letters to The Age complaining about the constant bombardment of screens at AFL matches. Why are such high noise levels deemed necessary?
John Funnell, Truganina
Great leaves the field
The years 1961-64 were my high school years. I spent some of the best summers of my life sitting behind the scouts at Adelaide Oval, huddled together on those days, watching my friend Jenny beat Gary Sobers in the Sheffield Shield competition.
He was undoubtedly the greatest.
Kathy Keech, Beaumont, SA
It’s a pleasure to watch
When I was young I had the privilege of watching Gary Sobers play for Sir Frank Worrell’s great West Indies team. Watching Sobers bat, bowl or field was pure pleasure. He was undoubtedly the greatest all-round cricketer; He was a man who displayed skill and sportsmanship in equal measure. He may be gone, but the joy he gave to a young man lives on.
Peter Loney, Drumcondra
investigation age
Why is it The Age, not the government, that finds corruption in government projects?
Jeffrey Newman, Eastern Ivanhoe
