Charismatic leaders inspire with voices for real change

I’m tearing the bandage
Almost every week we hear that house prices continue to rise, leaving first home buyers to watch their chances of owning a home become a deceptive mirage.
Rising prices work well for those who live in their own homes and those who own one, two or three investment properties. Everyone admits that this situation makes it difficult for the person at the bottom of the property ladder, but we watch this injustice with stony silence. The negative gear is the prosperity of the middle class. How many hospitals, homeless shelters on our streets, or properly funded public schools and improved public services will emerge if the bandage is torn off the festering wound that the negative gear has become?
For many people, entering the market is impossible; What chances are there in the future? Fairness and equity are words rarely heard as investors toast their fortunes courtesy of a lame government that refuses to confront an unfair situation.
Michael Newton, Doreen

Planners’ motivations
Shane Wright’s report on the Grattan Institute’s latest report (6/11) points to the solution to unlocking affordable housing supply in our cities with high-density developments freed from obstruction by municipalities and NIMBYs.
This begs the question: How did we get to a situation where housing needs are ignored for the sake of narrow-minded interests?
The starting point is the state government system, through which planning plans are modified.
Councils are proposing a wide range of new layers of controls affecting the supply of new homes, with appointed panels dealing with them individually. There is no oversight on their cumulative effects or whether they pass the cost-benefit test. The new scheme must be subject to a regulatory impact review, but should not be subject to new planning regulations. There is no incentive for those who plan to challenge this system because this is their livelihood.
It creates a growing number of job opportunities for planners. Will planners help educate people about the need for new housing solutions, or are they too conflicted?
Rodger Gibbins, Urban Economist and Planner, Ivanhoe

Merri-bek’s miserable failure
Adam Carey’s 6/11 report, ″⁣Coburg’s sea of ​​car parks will be replaced by towers up to 18 storeys high″⁣, is news to many Coburg residents. The City of Merri-bek has a history of not consulting with residents. Unlike other councils such as Boroondara, it has not consulted residents on their application for the state government’s Activity Center Plans, which would involve the biggest change to our neighborhood this century.
Shame on our council for not consulting with the people they are supposed to represent.
Michele McKay, Coburg Community Action Group

Liberal Party slip
While it is difficult to understand what is being governed, it is also difficult to find a party leader. What is the Liberal Party really these days? I kind of understood this in the early years of Fraser and Howard, but what are they now? I don’t know, and Ley is having a hard time figuring it out. It’s as if Scott Morrison unplugged the bathtub on his way out and there’s been no one to fill it since.
Robert Stephenson, St Kilda East

Let Türkiye host the COP
Australia and Turkey are locked in a fight to host COP 31, the international climate change conference (″⁣Climate change talks on life support″⁣, 7/11).
While we recognize the benefit of putting Australia on the map on climate issues, hosting the talks seems counterintuitive and somewhat hypocritical.
While Turkey is located at the center of Europe, Africa and Asia, Australia is relatively isolated from most of the world. The extra distance required for international delegates to travel to this part of the world will result in the release of significant amounts of greenhouse gases, which will directly affect the climate, leading to global warming. Another drawback is that the cost is estimated at 1 billion dollars.
John Guy, Elsternwick

evil koala problem
The starving koalas on French Island are just the current example of the koala’s evil problem (‴⁣⁣Terrifying’ mass koala starvation hits island″⁣, 7/11). Almost entirely destroyed by the fedora fashion in the early 20th century, the forests have been cleared for farms, confined to offshore islands, and most are now too small and isolated to support ever-growing populations in mainland areas.
No action seems to solve their problems. The only solution is to plant hundreds of thousands of the several food tree species that Professor Desley Whisson tried in the Otways a decade ago, but which will take decades to become usable as foliage.
Letting them starve to death sucks, shooting them sucks, moving them is impossible because everywhere is already overcrowded, fertility control is horrendously expensive.
It is useless to attack the government for “inaction”. Real action must include restarting farmland to re-establish forests where koalas can survive healthily. The main problem is that in this fragile country humans have taken over so much space and one species is replacing the others.
Robert Bender, Ivanhoe East

power to plug
Having owned an EV for two years the main problem was the lack of proper charging facilities as I moved into a flat. I’ve been in the Yarra Valley before and was doing trickle charging at home powered by solar panels. Currently in the city, I cannot access my private charging facilities in my apartment, even though we have recently installed solar panels throughout the complex.
Range anxiety is no longer an issue for me, it is the location and availability of charging points. If we are to meet the government’s emissions reduction targets, more facilities with multiple charging points need to be available to encourage greater use and convenience.
Denise Stevens, St Kilda

Hold publishers accountable
Giant social media companies are laughing at us all the way to the bank (or Wall Street). However, the solution to reducing the harm that popular platforms cause to our children and social unity is simple.
Governments around the world must coordinate and legislate to ensure that companies operating platforms become “publishers.”
We already have a full and robust set of laws, regulations and case law that will hold broadcasters accountable for what they publish.
Why shouldn’t social media companies be held similarly accountable? They would soon implement the best algorithm: the immediate removal of damaging and often defamatory garbage posted on their sites, for the benefit of our children and our communities.
Graeme Russell, Clifton Hill

Shock the nation
I agree with your correspondent on the Melbourne Cup (Letters, 6/11). The annual celebration of cruelty, consumption and greed reflects the worst of misguided values: short-term thrills and possible gains at all costs, including the exploitation of magnificent, defenseless horses.
I was tired of observing the enthusiasm of the crowd, and especially of those closely connected with the outcome of this race, as the winning horse’s mouth dripped blood and apparently remained unnoticed for some time.
Even then, the bleeding was thought to be attributed to a small lesion. Has anyone asked the horse what victory tastes like? The Race That Shocked the Nation would have been more appropriate.
Peggy Cole, Carlton

love BOOM
My initial reaction of shock to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) new website and hissing at the lack of any warnings or instructions on the new site is now nothing more than an unpleasant memory.
After forcing myself to navigate the new site and seeing what pressing a few buttons revealed, I now appreciate the detail provided. I can now plan my days more successfully with hourly forecasts and have a much better idea of ​​what’s happening around the country in such a simple way. Thanks BOM, but next time a warning and instructions please.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn

AND SOMETHING ELSE

Credit: Matt Golding

Liberal Party
Sarah Henderson’s criticism of Sussan Ley reminded me of that person who didn’t make the school’s B team, shouting advice and curses at the players from the sidelines. In his case, from the safety and security of his Senate seat.
Belinda Burke, Hawthorn

Libs shouldn’t be so grumpy with themselves. They have achieved the net zero goal: net zero reliability. (“Liberal MP angered by Canberra last-minute recall to resolve net-zero emissions row”, 7/11)
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills

Trump world
Did any of the Mar-a-Lago partygoers tell Trump how The Great Gatsby ended?
Libby Cooper, Bentleigh East

I hope Pauline Hanson remembers that there’s an L in the word ″⁣Austraya″⁣ when she’s chattering away at Mar-a-Lago.
Judith Caine, Donvale

Trump almost always exaggerates the announcement of his accomplishments by claiming that it is part of the country’s history. He could certainly make that claim about the government shutdown if he comes to address the issue.
Gerry Lonergan, Reservoir

Hopefully, Trump’s criticism of Mamdani and Pelosi will have the effect of increasing support for Democrats.
John Walsh, Watsonia,

Besides
Tony Mokbel is a free man. However, we must ask who paid the heavy police costs to recapture a man who fled Greece in 2012? Mokbel should be asked to pay for these.
Henk van Leeuwen, Elsternwick

The illicit trade controls almost 50 per cent of tobacco sales across Australia. Quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world: I’ve done it thousands of times (as Mark Twain put it).
Steve BarrettGlenbrook

Recent comments (7/11) about underquoting still don’t fix the problem. Many auction results are not disclosed, just like private sales. In Boroondara, 70 per cent of the results reported in two suburbs a few weeks ago were unknown.
Ian Anderson, Surrey Hills

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