Letters to the editor October 18 2018

Monday night on Q&A, Liberal Senator James Pattison goes as white as the KKK sheets when confronted about the Hanson philosophy, then turns red after Labor’s Terri Butler says “A gay teacher doesn't teach gay maths. They just teach maths".

On Tuesday Morrison, Cormann and co. are backpedalling as fast as they can to distance themselves from their gross incompetence and the subsequent support of bigotry. What were these Morrison muppets doing? Then, they blame Labor for confusing them and displaying their stupidity. 

On Tuesday, Morrison thinks out loud that he is seriously thinking of following Trump's lead in moving Israel’s embassy to Tel Aviv (‘PM considers embassy shift’, Herald 17/10).  Complete frustration, desperately trying to buy some votes from the Jewish 12 per cent of voters in the Wentworth by-election.

I find it desperate and deranged. In my opinion this muppet show is more like a circus act, and Australia is a laughing stock because of the shenanigans of these fools.

WHEN it's apparently okay to be black, but not okay to be white in politics, I believe it shows racism is alive in Parliament, fuelled by modern day political correctness.

How can people trust politicians who won't give everyone a fair go regardless of colour or where they come from because they are afraid to be seen as racists? 

Use of the word racism requires a clear understanding or a definition followed by the politically correct before this madness of misuse goes any further. I believe these two practises are driving a wedge between people who want to be seen as the same.

IT IS disappointing to know that our well-paid Liberal politicians are so attentive to political issues that, like robots instructed by their party, they voted in support of a Pauline Hanson motion and then had to hurriedly withdraw that vote.

Are they political robots or thinking representatives of those who elected them?

THE Coalition endorsed Pauline Hanson's ‘it's okay to be white’ motion in the Senate on Tuesday. This must come as relief for Australians who were thinking being white is a racial problem. Can I rest easy too even though I have olive skin?

Contrasting with the government's rapid response to Ms Hanson, the Coalition seemed divided about whether gay kids should get the boot from private schools along with their gay teachers. Mr Morrison seemed well and truly on the back foot over this issue. Mr Abetz assured us that even though the Coalition's very important report about gays in schools could not be seen by mere voters, no communists or socialists would ever be allowed in the Liberal Party.

Thank you, Mr Abetz, for clearing up this issue, and thank you Ms Hanson, who has let white people sleep easy knowing its okay to be white. I'm still not certain if it's okay to have olive skin.

TUESDAY morning was a wonderful introduction to the start of the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk’s tour of Australia. The sun shone on the Sydney Opera House and it was a warm welcome to the hundreds of well-wishers.

A delightful incidence was when 98 year-old Daphne Dunne was reacquainted with the young couple for the third time and exchanged hugs and kisses from them.

Prince Harry is definitely his mother’s son and with the Invictus Games coming up, this will prove it. The good thing is that Harry and Meghan are expecting a baby next year, will bring to a conclusion the best news ever.

KEVIN McDonald (Letters 16/10) bemoans the millions of taxpayer funds poured into religious schools. Never mind that a considerable proportion of taxpayers are religious school parents and that a clear majority of the population professes religious belief. In fact, tax-paying private school parents have subsidised public education for decades. Mr McDonald, wrongly in my view, sees evidence-based education and religious education as mutually exclusive. Speaking personally, I believe that there is considerable evidence for the Christian God, uncreated and revealed, and I suggest that Mr McDonald’s scientism is no less a matter of faith than my Christianity.

International covenants have long protected the right of parents to choose a faith education for their children, as long as it is not detrimental to the common good.

Many parents would argue that there are harmful secular ideologies being pushed in public education, the brouhaha surrounding so-called ‘safe schools’ for instance.

Mr McDonald’s view of religious education is a Dickensian caricature: students are trapped, can’t escape and dare not question.

Ironically, to stay with Dickens, it is Mr McDonald who echoes the school board superintendent Thomas Gradgrind: ‘Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.’

I FIND it enlightening that maths and English may become compulsory for HSC students (SMH 15/10). These subjects should be mandatory throughout schooling, but please do not include “veggie” maths problems. Comprehension should be a separate part of English.

We have a very grim future if we allow students to enter uni for a teaching degree with a TER of 0 to 20 – and the spokesperson states that they have other attributes. In Telstra, any student that did not get a minimum of 70 per cent in exams over six months was a failure and sent from whence they came. There have been over 50 years of very little maths and English taught correctly, so where are the teachers coming from? With the present education system, I firmly believe that present government officials are educationally deficient for the task.

Email letters@theherald.com.au or send a text message to 0427 154 176 (include name and suburb). Letters should be fewer than 200 words. Short Takes should be fewer than 50 words. Correspondence may be edited and reproduced in any form.