Letters and short takes March 2 2023

I hope the powers that be in the Australian football world are listening to Mr Johnston. The girls and women getting involved is a fantastic boon for the sport. The Matildas are one of our more successful national teams, just as our women's national cricket team is. I'd love to see a football version of the Big Bash to entertain and encourage more involvement from all kids and teenagers, and to extend the fan base further.

Yes, the HAMS (Hairy Ass Male Soccer Supporters) do tend to dominate, and I think it costs the sport. And speaking of costs, as Mr Johnston, says the fees parents pay are becoming a paywall for entry. One of the great advantages football has is that the equipment for a child is not prohibitively expensive. This is a big reason it's the world game. It isn't smart to make the game expensive in other ways.

Lastly, Mr Johnston couldn't be more right in applauding the soccer mums who taxi the kids to games and training sessions, and sometimes all over the state and country if their kids are high achievers. Dads too, by the way, but admittedly it still tends to be Mum more often than not.

Mr Johnston is deservedly a legend of the sport in Australia. A brilliant player who has also long been an innovative thinker. He deserves to be listened to.

A MUCH bigger debate is needed about books being edited, removed or banned because of their content. It doesn't mean condoning content that is racist, sexist or the like, but censorship is not the way to change views. In reality censorship (often with law and order repression) is mostly applied to progressive, left and environmental activism. Changes to outdated views only happen on the back of mass public campaigns.

I think censorship in Australia already exists in far bigger ways. A major media network encourages conservative and far right views that oppress and blame others less economically, socially or culturally powerful. Progressive content is far less seen. Ask any trade union, Indigenous, women's rights, LGBTQIA+, disability, climate activist or clergy abuse survivor whether censorship of information already exists.

A small number of people should not decide what I can read. Who are these people? We must know how far we've come and how far we have to go.

SOME parents may be aware (or not) that NAPLAN testing is running earlier than usual this year. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will sit literacy and numeracy tests.

A simple Google search reveals many reported problems with this assessment regime, including the reliability and validity of results, the utility of data it provides, pressures the tests can place on students, as well as private companies involved in NAPLAN implementation and scoring.

In speaking to educators who actually have to implement the tests, I haven't found one who speaks in support of them. They report that it takes valuable time away from programs which focus on student wellbeing, quality teaching and learning. Further, they report that it doesn't provide information that they don't already have from their more comprehensive in-class assessments.

Pressure can be applied to schools to ensure that their students' NAPLAN results are going up by a set amount. Many schools set goals around this desired growth. Individual students can feel this pressure, particularly in the lead up and on the day of the tests.

If you have a child in the NAPLAN grades, it is your right to withdraw them from the tests despite information fliers about NAPLAN not always making this choice clear to parents. This can be done by writing to the principal of your school indicating your wish to withdraw your child from any or all of the tests. It is your choice.

THE political debate about the definition of Australia's mandatory universal superannuation system has served mainly to create confusion and division.

Simply put, the superannuation guarantee (SG) of 1992 addressed a longstanding inequality between salaried and wage earners in Australia's workforce.

Until the SG, wage earners were denied access to workplace superannuation. It is my understanding that from 1942, coal industry employees were the only Australian workforce with a compulsory universal super scheme. The basic purpose of the 1992 SG was to enable all Australians to have a better level of lifestyle in their retirement. Initially, all employers with over one million dollars of turnover were compulsorily required to pay 3 per cent of each worker's income into approved superannuation funds. The current percentage for payment by employers is 10.5 per cent and, from July 1, will increase to 11 per cent.

Until the hare-brained intervention of the Morrison government in 2020/1 the SG functioned in line with the purpose for which it was created, ensuring Australians as best possible, a better life in retirement.

MONDAY'S letters (Letters 27/2) had a couple of writers expressing concern about the proposed offshore wind farm. It's a valid concern. We should be concerned about all projects that governments sponsor, especially those relating to energy supply which, like gas fracking, tend to be rushed through the necessary environmental checks in order to meet a perceived demand.

But while wind turbines have potential problems they are tiny compared to coal-fired power stations. Eraring power station has in my opinion already put Lake Macquarie at risk with tonnes of heavy metals, and these will continue to leach out of the ash dumps for years to come.

Both our main political parties are obsessed with growth, including record high immigration rates that are the driver of energy demand with its associated risks.

CARL Stevenson ("Referendum due on nuclear", Letters 18/2), expresses the view that the Federal Labor Party underestimates the intelligence of the average Australian.

At present, I believe that the reality television series Married at First Sight is our highest rating program. To my mind, that would suggest Mr. Stevenson could be overestimating the intelligence of the average Australian.

HEY Steve Barnett, (Short Takes, 22/2), my Jack Russell Terrier dog Daisy has taken exception at you poking fun at her name! She wants you to know that she is no wuss, and that before her last 10 years of comfort and love with us she did the hard yards before the good folk at the RSPCA took her in and got her back on her paws. So there, cop that! Growl!

STEVE Barnett (Short Takes, 22/2), to be concerned about male dog names not being masculine enough is woke masculinity fragility. I feel sorry for those that are oh-so-sensitive that a butch male dog name is not enough. A strong modern person does not have fears that they are not masculine enough. The popularity of certain dog names shows the current crop of humans do not have such insensitivity around the outdated mindset that males have to prove themselves to be masculine. The effectiveness of the RTA "little pinky" ad is proof.

IF the Federal Labor Party doesn't shoot itself in the foot, it may retain the confidence of the party faithful. However, while treasurer Jim Chalmers eyes off our superannuation with that Magnum pointed towards his big toe, his future can't be guaranteed.

VAR steps into the Melbourne-Adelaide A-League clash, and I reckon even "victim" Damien Da Silva thought it was an accident. No penalty. Luckily Adelaide clawed back some justice. We seem stuck with stupidity.

IN relation to Brian Hutchinson's letter regarding Services NSW at Warners Bay, (Short Takes, 27/2). Great idea to open an office at Belmont. A friend of mine drove from Swansea last week to Warners Bay to find the office temporarily closed and a redirect to the nearest office at Wallsend!

OFFSHORE wind turbines; no, it is not nuts to build them. What would be nuts is to continue to burn fossil fuels. All these people with their heads in the sand. We are running out of time!

AUSTRALIA Post, you have had a miracle in mail delivery times. On Wednesday last week I posted a letter, mid morning, at Jesmond Post Office to an address in Asquith NSW. Two days later, about 9.30am, we received a phone call to thank us for the letter. A miracle, considering I received a letter from New Zealand on Tuesday that had taken 14 days to reach me by air mail judging by the postmark date.

MICHAEL Gormly, (Short Takes, 24/2), we have repeatedly been told that the Voice will only be an advisory body. If that is true then surely those nasty nasty boys and girls in the LNP will simply ignore the advice making the whole thing pointless. Labor on the other hand, having spent tens if not hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and invested a great deal of political capital in getting the Voice up, will find it almost impossible to reject any advice.