Climate change
We're on the fast track to climate meltdown unless greenhouse gases are slashed 60% by 2050. We teeter on the edge of ghastly feedback loops, as the Arctic soils melt and threaten to spew trillions of tons of methane into the air. So what's Howard planning? A 70% increase. Forget the spin, forget the smoke and mirrors, just read what Liberal Party insider Guy Pearse has to say in his brand new book, High & Dry. I came across it at my local bookstore, or you can check out the website at <http://www.highanddry.com.au>.
Kim Bax
Cedar Vale, Qld
Iraqi refugees
Of the 2 million Iraqi refugees, 1.4 million have made their way to refugee camps in Syria. Syria has a population about the same as Australia. We Australians chaffe at the bit when we receive hundreds of refugees. So how Syria can cope with 1.4 million refugees. The answer is not very well.
Syria, which is not an oil rich country, and is suffering from the effects of US sanctions does not have the capacity to care for this massive influx of refugees. Tensions and crime are starting to spill over. Syria could have done a Johnny Howard, and simply closed the borders, but so far, thank God, they have not.
But help is on its way. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has US$14 million of aid earmarked for refugees in Syria. That's $10 per refugee per year — or just enough to provide food for one day of the year. That leaves Syria with just 99.9% of the overall bill. As a Syrian minister says, "America and the coalition created this problem, and they have done nothing to help".
These refugees need our assistance. As a member of the coalition of invaders who destroyed Iraq, these are our very own refugees. We created the problem and so we own it. We should express our gratitude to Syria for absorbing so many refugees. We should send aid right away.
Stephen Braithwaite
Toowoomba, Qld
Strip club
The story regarding Kevin Rudd visiting a New York strip club has provoked some comments that demonstrate that sexism is not only internalised by conservatives but "progressive" men, or at least men who identify as progressive.
Socialist theorist and feminist DA Clarke once articulated how sexism can infect a male of either side of politics. She observed how conservative males want women to remain "proper" mothers and cooks and "progressive" males want women to remain sexually available for men for money. That money presents a fundamental flaw in the "progressive"
argument because it shows that, contrary to the erroneous assertion that it is "just about pleasure", it is very much so about capital.
Any genuine progressive, whether man or woman, would know that the capital at the core of sex-related labour corrupts the value of consent and this is why thousands of prostitutes and strippers and women working in pornography have, in fact, testified that their work resembles sexual violence.
Any genuine progressive, whether male or otherwise, would also know such work is inherently exploitative and misogynist because it compounds any previous instance of abuse for women involved, whether involved willingly or unwillingly.
Any man who identifies as left but suspends his left ideals to defend a multi-billion exploitative and misogynist industry is no better than sexist men of the right.
JM Blair
Kelvin Grove, Qld
Unemployment
PM John Howard's spin on low unemployment offers little hope to many employed youth today. Why is there so many healthy young males stuck in, often casual, check out chick jobs? What future does this work offer them? Why aren't these young people involved in skills training that will offer them a lucrative future?
Government and employers have been moaning about skills shortage for years but have done nothing to address the problem. Instead many youth have been shafted into retail trade jobs that used to be done by mature women.
Older women were sacked and replaced by young people. The result has been a complete retail trade failure from the customer perspective. Cheerful friendly service was replaced by hung-over, sullen, unsmiling youth who work at half the pace. They don't look you in the eye and are only civil to those in their age group.
Jobs in supermarkets offer little challenge once the initial glow of a first job has worn off. This may be why so many young people working in retail trade look so miserable. It may look good for the government's employment statistics but has grave implications for a future generation of prospective home buyers.
A whole generation has been ignored and wasted by policy makers who have taken no responsibility for training a future skilled workforce. Employers want the easy option — to import workers as they have done in every boom time. Government red tape has made it extremely difficult for employers to take on apprentices. Unions are blamed but who else will see fair play and safety for young workers forced into AWA? The real problem has been created by 10 years of government policy that failed to train young people in skills that the country needs. Shame, shame!
Mary Jenkins
Bibra Lake, WA
Bill of rights
Geoffrey Robertson should be supported in his push for a bill of rights. I was born an Australian-British subject prior to Britain joining the European Union and I found out eight years ago that the bill of rights I had been born under is now considered void.
When the new tax system was mooted I soon discovered I had lost my right to representation — I found when I approached my local MP, Tony Abbott, and explained that as I was employed in the electronic repair service industry (which I could foresee would be inundated by imported throw-away items) that all he was prepared to do for me was to write me a reply where he admitted that I would be comparatively worse off. He did nothing to fix the problem before he voted in the House of Representatives to support the bills on the basis that "no-one would be worse off under the GST".
The ensuing Senate inquiry had its terms of reference reduced so that it would only consider submissions on food and social welfare, so my submission no 1413 was disqualified.
At the time the only people who seemed to care about Australia's lack of a bill of rights were the Aboriginal community. As a "no-one" who has been pushed around by autocratic politicians, I consider that the whole of Australian society should be considered part of the Stolen Generation.
Tony Backhouse
Dee Why, NSW