Life on Planet Barr

As 2024 dawns, a picture of Planet Barr and its clapped-out ministerial asteroids, orbiting ‘yes minister’ bureaucracies, and neoliberal gas rings.

Poverty amid plenty, environmental destruction, mistrust of institutions, rampant urban spread, employment uncertainty, disaffected youth, and financial chaos.

Swarming Planet Barr, 6,000 settlers a year seeking sustenance, shekels and shelter, only to crash-land on government and bureaucratic planning wastelands, packed with superseded billion-dollar transport rattlers and a rainbow roundabout.

Housing scarcity is pushing prices to an average of $1.1 million, units to $700,000-plus, with renters squeezed, 1,800 homeless, and up to a five-year wait for public housing.

Hospitals are beset by staffing shortages and overcrowded emergency departments, with doctors and nurses suffering from burnout. Schools struggle to find and retain teachers and support staff to deal with larger class sizes and reduced individual attention. Green space is being pillaged. Public housing is proof the Labrals and Greenrals on London Circuit think social justice is a nag running in the fifth at Kembla Grange.

An example. A southside Housing ACT complex, home to the elderly and disabled, resembles a garbage dump, a tree branch and bark littered fire hazard, a rodent’s playground, replete with leaking roofs, collapsed brick walls, cracked footpaths, and a sinking roadway swimming pool.

Solution? Either elect independents, abolish the Legislative Assembly and return it to Federal Government advisory bodies, or create local councils, say four, two northside, two southside.

Anything is better than nothing.

• Bill O’Connell, Chapman

Unwarranted bonus for defence personnel

Unsurprisingly, defence personnel have snapped up the offer of a one-off $50K government bonus payment to serve another three years. It was manna from heaven to recipients, it also begs the questions: on what basis was the bonus allocated, was it targeted to areas where it was needed the most, or was it open to all? Will the bonus be paid ‘up-front’, or will it have to be returned in case of unforeseen circumstances resulting in recipients not being able to fulfil their obligations?

It would appear as though all this very expensive bonus offer will achieve is retarding the loss of some personnel, it does not improve our defence capabilities and does not warrant the expenditure of around $400 million.

• Mario Stivala, Belconnen

Keep the Australia Day date

As Australia Day approaches, the tired old arguments about changing the date surface once again for the annual whinge fest, trying to create division rather than unity. From what I have seen, organisers of Australia Day festivities have been very good and proactive at including all cultures on this day, from Aboriginal smoking ceremonies in the morning, locals and immigrants sharing a barbie at the local park dressed in their Aussie colours playing some cricket, to the tall ships sailing on Sydney Harbour.

As for changing the date, no one can agree on an alternate date; this constant bickering would be best put in to making the date we have now even better. 26 January 1788 was when all eleven ships of the First Fleet landed in what is now called Sydney Cove, changing the course of the Great Southern Land and its Indigenous people and those early settlers forever, for better or worse. What is a fact, is that the land would not have continued as it was without some form of non-Indigenous settlement or colonisation. They were very different times 230-odd years ago; no electricity or hot water, no motor cars, no big buildings or bridges, etc. Whilst the Aboriginals had been on the land for thousands of years, they had done very little as far as technology was concerned, and to think they would have continued today without any kind of intervention is absurd.

If the British had not colonised the country, it would have been the French, Chinese, Portuguese, Arabs, or Indonesians; I wonder how that would have worked out? Not as good as what we have today, I would say. That is why so many immigrants want to come to this great country and why we are so happy to live here, because it was built on the basis of the Commonwealth, where we have democracy and things like free speech, unlike some countries, where you can be killed for saying the wrong thing or for being gay or for being female and not being a slave to your husband.

As for labelling 26 January ‘Invasion Day’, that is just plain wrong. The original aim of Captain James Cook in 1770 was to map the Transit of Venus in the southern hemisphere and find the mysterious Great Southern Land. Any meeting with local Indigenous people was to make peace not war, these were specific orders from the British government at the time, the same given to Captain Arthur Phillip 18 years later, as well as finding suitable land for their increasing number of convicts and for further free settlers. If it was an ‘invasion’, they would have sailed into Sydney Harbour with all guns blazing, intending to kill every native they encountered. Compare this to what the Japanese did in World War II when they bombed the hell out of as much of Australia as they could, with the intent to kill as many innocent civilians as they could and then you have an invasion. 

Now, no one is saying that it was all perfect back in 1788 and that the British did nothing wrong to the Aboriginals … but as I said before, the world was a very different place back then and quite barbaric. We cannot change the past; we can only make now better. 

That is why we should keep Australia Day on 26 January and put even more effort into creating a day of unity, acceptance and mourning. The date is very significant because it signified the arrival of Australia’s first immigrants and no Aboriginals were killed on that day. In fact, many years later it was the day of Australia’s first interracial union between an Aboriginal and European person.

• Ian Pilsner, Weston

Celebrate a united Australia

It would seem that the rhetoric from Mr Dutton and his supporters about Australia Day has not only caused division amongst Australians but has now resulted in the arrest of two children in custody on arson charges for their alleged attack against an Australian-owned business for making a business decision. 

This kind of divisive, toxic, ignorant politics needs to stop and we need to have responsible leaders who can debate and discuss ideas, not spread fear, hate and division.

First and foremost, Australia Day is for celebrating a united Australia not a divided one. We have gone way too far down the track of American far right politics. Let’s be proud to be Australians instead.

• Doug Steley, Heyfield VIC

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