Nation needs to reassess commitment to AUKUS
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The Pentagon’s new submarine boss, Vice Admiral Gaucher (″AUKUS not our priority: US subs tsar″, 22/4), has clearly spelt it out – the Virginia class nuclear vessels Australia is depending on are ″well behind″ production schedule despite the billions of dollars spent, including from Australia, and are not the US Navy’s priority. So why is our government insisting that all is well when clearly that is not so?
Given the precariousness of world peace and the growing disaster in the Middle East, it is surely beyond time that our leaders stepped back, reassessed the situation, and reconsidered our strong attachment to the United States and AUKUS. The American president is a volatile, at times seemingly unhinged, bully who turns on allies and friends in an instant, has no respect for international law, and makes decisions on a whim.
Australia is more than capable of standing on its own feet, developing policies of neutrality, stability and co-operation in our own region and beyond, and taking a major lead in supporting peace and combating climate change. Defence Minister Richard Marles is ″confident″ about the submarines. He’s not only ″dreamin″, but heading in the wrong direction.
Anne Sgro, Coburg North
Sucker punch line on this deal
With the ongoing speculation regarding our chances of ever seeing the hyper expensive submarines promised with AUKUS, perhaps it is time to rearrange the acronym to put Australia last and the US first – it then becomes USUKA. or ″you sucker″. Sounds about right to me.
Dave Rabl, Ocean Grove
Time to look at other defence options
It is becoming obvious that the AUKUS fleet will not be delivered on time nor possibly ever and at a cost well above current estimates. For years, America has had an inefficient production capacity and priority is now being given to Columbia class vessels.
While Australia may be provided with a secondhand submarine ″from 2032″, the facts are that unless there is a substantial improvement in production rates there is little chance of deliveries on time. Even in the unlikely scenario that these submarines can be built, under the terms of AUKUS agreement, the US could still withhold delivery should it determine that America has a greater need.
The Morrison government’s 2021 decision to abandon the contract to build 12 French submarines was a strategic mistake. Australia paid $835 million in compensation for abandoning that contract. We have now paid billions to America as a down payment on AUKUS with the total cost of this project estimated to be in excess of $300 billion over a 30-year period. This will no doubt blow out. As with the French submarines, by the time any vessels are delivered they may well be obsolete.
It’s time to walk away from AUKUS and concentrate more effective ways for the longer term defence of our country.
James Young, Mt Eliza
Government should show some courage
When will the government have the honesty to admit the AUKUS deal is sunk and the courage to cancel it? Vague expressions of confidence by Defence Minister Richard Marles that ″the submarines would be delivered″ inspire no confidence at all. The case for ditching the deal is both well-known and compelling, and only made more persuasive by the erratic behaviour of the US president and the global economic upheaval he has so recklessly caused. If the government needs to cover its back, it should establish a public commission of inquiry into AUKUS in the full knowledge that it would recommend abandoning it. The nation would breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Tom Knowles, Parkville
THE FORUM
Show some restraint
I’m a psychologist and mental health in elite sport is my area of expertise. I’ve worked with sports in Australia and overseas and written dozens of research papers on mental health in elite athletes and coaches, and how we can improve mental health in sport.
Since last Friday, people have asked me, ‘What do you think’s wrong with the Carlton player?’ I reply, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know him and it’s not my place to guess.’I wish other, far less qualified people – many of them in the media – thought the same and exercised some restraint in speculating their non-clinical opinions.
Mental health conditions are not diagnosed via a snapshot of a person’s behaviour. Observing highly uncharacteristic behaviour might pique our interest or concern, but that’s insufficient to draw an informed conclusion about a person’s mental state.
It’s not our business to guess, or speculate or insinuate. And ideally, we should have never been exposed to the opportunity in the first place.
The MCG is our great Colosseum for sport. Reading the news, it feels like there’s a new sport to indulge in. Public speculation, “insider insights”, the “real take” on what’s going on. All about a young man who was struggling, on a terribly public stage.
Let him and his family recover with privacy and dignity. We are not a Roman mob. We should be better than this.
Professor Rosemary Purcell, Head, Elite Sport and Mental Health Research, Melbourne University and Orygen
US stands out, for now
Your correspondent (Letters, 22/4) asks, Could the CRINK alliance (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) dole out any worse treatment than the US has handed to various countries over many decades. That is debatable, but what is unquestionably true is that the US does not murder, imprison, suppress or starve its own citizens on an industrial scale like the CRINK countries have done in the past, and some continue to do. If these countries have no qualms about committing crimes against their own citizens, imagine what they could do against other countries if given the chance. Russia and Iran have already shown what they are capable of, China threatens Taiwan regularly and South Korea lives in fear of its unhinged northern neighbour. Only the US is capable of resisting, and it is faltering badly.
Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully
We are not idiots
As the article ″Arrest Netanyahu? European moves spark new tension″ (21/4) states, the International Criminal Court in 2024 issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli PM “for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza”. Court members, like Australia as across the world, are obliged to act in support of the court.
It is thus shameful, and politically craven, for our prime minister and foreign minister to weave, dodge and dissemble when questioned about their commitment to such action. Others have no problem – but both stay silent.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong additionally affronts our intelligence as voters by claiming such an arrest is a “hypothetical scenario”. Is our membership of the ICC ″hypothetical″ too? Is the implementation of government policy on, say, the NDIS or AUKUS also ″hypothetical″? Indeed, is tomorrow ″hypothetical″?
I’m sick of our leaders treating us as idiots.
Ken Blackman, Inverloch
Hard labour
Forty years ago, the Hawke government introduced a significant aged care initiative that was in line with traditional Labor values.
The Home and Community Care (HACC) program provided government-subsidised home and community-based support services. These services – such as meals on wheels, community transport and nursing care – enabled older people to live independently in their own homes.
Compare that with the Support at Home Program, which the Albanese government introduced last November. Unlike Hawke’s HACC program (which later became the Commonwealth Home Support Program), the Support at Home Program is a transactional aged care system in which users pay a share based on the services received and the participant’s financial situation.
Is this further evidence that the current federal Labor government is the least Labor-like government in the history of Labor governments?
Sarah Russell, Mt Martha
Norway and taxes
Your correspondent (Letters, 22/4) writes, ″No nation ever taxed itself to prosperity″, a line used by the Coalition, yet a quick internet search of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund came up with this: ″Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, officially the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), is the world’s largest, holding roughly $US2.2 trillion in assets as of early 2026. Managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), it invests oil and gas revenues into international stocks, bonds, property, and renewable energy to secure long-term wealth for future generations.″ The ″revenues″ are taxes.
Phil Bennett, Brunswick
A prosperous nation
Re no nation ever taxed itself to prosperity, (Letters, 22/4) Norway begs to disagree. Norway has prospered from resource taxation of its oil and gas sector (78 per cent of total tax revenue) and has invested the proceeds in a sovereign wealth fund, which provides free education, including university, and strong public services such as infrastructure, healthcare, pensions, and public housing.
The fund allows Norway to avoid debt, ensure long-term stability for future generations, and provides a buffer against economic downturns and fluctuations in oil prices.
In contrast, Australia has not managed to secure a high public return from its oil and gas industries.
Chris Ellis, Cygnet, Tas
Anzac biscuit memories
I was delighted to see that the recipe for Anzac Biscuits (“Cheapie wins Anzac biscuit taste test”, 22/4) via Stephanie Alexander was the same one I learnt by heart at Nambour Rural School in 1960.
It was cooked in the Domestic Science Wing using ingredients, including bicarbonate of soda in a twist of paper, brought from home by each Grade 7 girl on the 30-minute train ride.
At the end of the day the results were carried home to Mooloolah in a tin in a knotted tea-towel.
The boys did woodwork.
Ranee Mischlewski, Box Hill South
Half-full or half-empty?
Ross Gittins (“Lovin’ democracy? You’re OK then”, 22/4) reveals a tension between only a small number of people “discontent or disengaged with the system” and the fact that “Australians are increasingly pessimistic, with declining trust in government and institutions”.
I endorse his statement that social trust is a key issue.
I suggest another fundamental consideration is our worldview and our perception, namely whether we’re glass half-full or half-empty people.
Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Key to democracy
Democracy Rocks! Well said, Ross Gittins. The oft-forgotten key to our democracy is the Electoral Commission, adjusting boundaries and overseeing every aspect of our unbiased system.
Greg Curtin, Nunawading
World will move on
I’ve given up on the Strait of Hormuz ever being a free shipping route ever again.
Iran has discovered powerful leverage and Donald Trump is too stubborn and incompetent to admit catastrophic defeat.
The world will move on, absorbing higher oil prices and benefiting from the accelerated development of economically sensible renewable resources.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
April fools us
Is anyone else feeling alarmed by the unusually high temperatures for April? We’re now nearing the end of the month and the forecast continues with maximum temperatures in the middle to high 20s. Does anyone else remember that in April in Melbourne and Geelong we are usually wearing jumpers and coats by this time of year? It is especially concerning that so many people of my acquaintance seem to find the weather pleasant such that it causes no worry about the obvious effects of the warming climate. It certainly makes it much more difficult to encourage action to counteract global warming.
Heather D’Cruz, Geelong West
Transport benefits
The benefits in charging for public transport include the collection of real time data, and that people are more likely to value what they pay for.
The real way forward is to work towards a system that is cheap to use and is at high capacity. The government is working towards this starting with the introduction of seven carriage high capacity Metro trains a few years ago. Now they propose to fund larger trains. Larger capacity X’Trapolis trains, ordered a few years ago, are about to come onto our system.
I also welcome the Allan government’s proposal to provide half price fares from June. They should consider making this a permanent change plus making them even cheaper like the Queensland’s 50 cent fares.
Tim Hoffmann, Brunswick
AI, here’s a thought
Perhaps if AI was known for being Assisted Intelligence rather than Artificial Intelligence, it wouldn’t be spooking all the old fogeys like me!
Mark Hulls, Sandringham
AND ANOTHER THING
Resources
Alas, it seems Australia’s dependence on diesel is the smokescreen for the Albanese government to deny Australians a nation-building revenue from gas exports (″Push for more tax on gas hit by a world of trouble″, 22/4).
Jenny Smithers, Ashburton
It’s our gas, not the multinationals’. Tax overseas exports, PM.
Ross Hosking, Blackwood, SA
Labor didn’t have the ″ticker″ for a fight with the online gambling lobby. It’ll be the same with the gas lobby.
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
Clive Palmer advocates a 25 per cent tax on gas exports. I won’t hold my breath for his ads promoting the same for mining exports.
Tom Stafford, Wheelers Hill
Furthermore
If Defence Minister Richard Marles thinks the US will deliver submarines by 2032, he’s dreaming. We want our money back.
Wendy Brennan, Bendigo
If you want to learn about Australian values listen to the song I Am Australian.
Andrew Neeson, West Launceston, Tas
Could Victoria still claim that it was the most progressive state when 20 per cent of people would vote for One Nation (″One Nation entrenched as ‘third force’ in state″, 22/4)?
Robin Jensen, Castlemaine
With friends like Israel who needs enemies? With acknowledgement to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (″Trump a boost for axis of upheaval″, 21/4).
Dan Drummond, Leongatha
Last year Donald Trump wanted the Nobel Peace Prize. This year he’s decided on pointless bombing.
Tim Durbridge, Brunswick
Finally
There was The Mad Monk, Attila the Hun, Alexander the Great, even Popeye The Sailor Man … What will they name Donald Trump in years to come?
Myra Fisher, Brighton East
