What thinking Australians are thinking..
The inquiry into child abuse is now extended to investigate Nauru allegations, then the Flinders University research team who are pushing the so-called Safe Schools program should also be investigated. To expose young children to concepts of gender reassignment surgery and cross dressing in schools is abuse. This is a scandal.
Sue Arnold, Ocean Shores, NSW
Thank goodness for Patrick Smith’s article. His tempered cynicism with regard to the performances of Usain Bolt is a relief from the mindless twaddle that has been written about this man. I long ago applied the plausibility test to Bolt (just as I did with Lance Armstrong, before he was caught) and he came up wanting. Smith correctly drew attention to Jamaica’s lax out-of-competition testing regime (surely grounds for their exclusion from the Olympics).
However, he overlooked the fact that Bolt’s world 100 metres record, well ahead of the rest of the world, is followed by six or seven times all set by drug cheats. A compelling statistic, surely. Assume innocence until proven guilty? Perhaps. But surely we can do without the fawning naivete that constitutes most of the commentary on him.
Graham Clews, Kambah, ACT
GetUp! gets it wrong
(The 3rd point Friedman should make in his note below is that for a bit of honesty and perspective, GetUp director, Sara Saleh, should have declared her Arab background)
If Sara Saleh is genuinely concerned about Israeli indoctrination of the media (“GetUp! director fighting Israel”, 16/8) firstly she would have to concede the Israelis are doing a terrible job, given the anti-Israel opinions promulgated throughout global media agencies. Secondly, she should encourage the overwhelming majority of Middle East media correspondents — who base themselves in the relatively comfortable, safe and free-press sanctuary of Israel — to relocate to Gaza, Syria, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia, where they can see what really goes on.
Robert Friedman, Caulfield North, Vic
This GetUp! board member must be living on another planet. Where is her credibility in boycotting Israel, when Israel is dealing with Palestinian terrorism on a daily basis? Where is the balance and context?
Hamas fires rockets targeting innocent Israeli civilians and continues to encourage the stabbing and killing of Israelis on the street — and not a word from GetUp!. What is the difference between the methods of Islamic State and Hamas? Does GetUp! have the gall to justify Islamic State or are its bizarre views exclusive to one country in the Middle East?
Eric Borecki, Bellevue Hill, NSW