Letters

Higher standards will benefit societyIT IS disappointing to find so little support for Tony Abbott's suggestion concerning two levels of marriage in the civil jurisdiction ("No fault of Abbott's, but big marriage idea gets little support", The Age, 13/7). The right of an injured party to some vindication should not be brushed off with caricatures of flash bulbs and private detectives in bedrooms. Society laments the high divorce rate, and any positive step should attract more support than defeatist measures such as prenuptial agreements.

Surely this stronger demand for commitment would translate into a more discerning approach to marriage than found among the rich and famous, who have become our role models?

In a society where a rights culture outstrips any sense of responsibilities, the option of a fault-based system would be not only a test of commitment but an extra incentive to make, and keep, one's vows in good faith. It may be that with civil society equating common law marriage with marriage, many couples would opt for a stronger statement of their commitment.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn

No justice from no-fault

I WELCOME Tony Abbot's proposal for an alternative system that would recognise fault in divorce cases. No-fault divorce gives no justice either. Victims of domestic abuse have felt this keenly. The Family Court is barely interested in allegations of abuse, unless it can be shown that one parent is abusive to the children. Yet common sense tells us that if someone is uncivil and cruel to their spouse, they are unlikely to be a model of civilised behaviour with their children.

The factors that brought the fault-based law into disrepute would not be nearly so prevalent if we had our no-fault system as the default, and an opt-in fault system that could be chosen at the point of marriage (but not thereafter).

Presumably only those couples who were prepared to be accountable for serious marital misbehaviour would opt in. If a couple later wanted to revert to the no-fault system, this could perhaps be permitted, as long as both agreed and there was no coercion.

Barbara Roberts, author, Not Under Bondage: Biblical Divorce for Abuse, Adultery and Desertion, Ballarat

At the wrong end

TONY Abbott's ongoing meddling in people's private lives comes as no surprise. His arrogance is breath-taking and his ignorance and religious fanaticism continue to colour his view of our society. Instead of making marriages more difficult to end, he should devise a policy that makes it more difficult to marry in the first place.

Mandatory premarital counselling and education would make many couples think twice before making a lifelong commitment based mainly on sexual attraction or a desperation to marry and reproduce as soon as possible.

I may have avoided much unhappiness if, instead of naively walking down the aisle at the tender age of 20, enduring a long and unpleasant marriage followed by an acrimonious divorce, I had been forced to attend such a course.

Perhaps you should have aspired to the priesthood instead of politics, Tony. Less public scrutiny of your hidden agendas there.

Roslyn Bourne, Melbourne

Ignorance and insanity

TONY Abbott, insanity is caused by some mental illnesses, it is not a fault. However, you could add blatant ignorance to the list of grounds for divorce.

Penny Langmead, Altona

What do we really want?

THE disingenuous Abbott wants to bring back fault-based divorce "for those who want it". What next, double prison sentences "for those who want it"? Root canals without anaesthetic "for those who want it"? Hand amputations for those thieves who want it? What a clever and devious man to substitute "for those who want it" for "for those who would like to impose it", and think that we wouldn't notice.

John Henry, Niddrie

Let due process take its course in China

I HAVE followed the issue of the detention of Stern Hu and I am amazed that some Opposition MPs are so quick to jump to the conclusion that due process will not be followed. Some journalists were quick to stir up "us and them" Cold War mentalities.

China, despite faults with its regime and communist system, is trying to improve in many areas of international affairs. In the past 20 years, China has sent many delegations to the West, including Australia, in health, welfare, education, legal and judicial matters. Judiciary professionals and judges have also been sent to Australia.

Those MPs and journalists who demand quick answers are naive. They are carried away with emotion and hidden political agendas. I am not an apologist for the Chinese system. I have been an Australian citizen for 33 years. I have observed, even in Australia, that we are advised to avoid "trial by media".

The best way to help Stern Hu, I believe, is to give him a good lawyer acceptable to China and defend his charges. Reasonable requests like this will be considered favourably. The Federal Government should not interfere with the independent process of the law, just as we don't expect that in Australia. China, however, has to learn to seek justice and truth in the judicial system.

Ka Sing Chua, Mitcham

Red under the collar

STEWART Macfarlane (Letters, 14/7) has revealed the true cause of climate change concern in Victoria - it's to force us into socialism. How obvious. There I was worrying about the permanent drought, desertification of Victoria, dying rivers and lakes, incredible heatwaves and rampant bushfires. Silly me.

David Beattie, Mont Albert

A thinking man

HI, AL Gore, name's Steve, I'm the government of Australia. Look, Al, I've got this great plan for carbon capture. We sequester it in low-taxed alcoholic drinks - the kids love it. Look, I've even got a name for it - "unrepresentative swill". Can't miss, mate.

Stephen Jeffery, Sandy Bay, Tas

Wake in Fright's urban messages

BRIGID Delaney (Comment, 13/7) has hit the nail on the head. Rural Australia has long been divided by distance and opportunity from urban Australia, and Wake in Fright accurately portrays what happens in many country towns after dark.

I grew up in a small country town where if you beat up players on the footy field and kicked 10 goals you were considered a hero. This is also an area where domestic violence is rife, where suicide, of both genders, happens too frequently and the availability of different role models for young males is severely limited. You either drink or you are gay. If you play sport, you are a legend.

However, the excesses of mateship shown in Wake in Fright - pouring beer down a man's throat, stabbing a roo, trashing a pub - are not confined to rural towns. Anybody who has been involved in nightclub culture would have seen people scull until they were frothing at the mouth, all in the name of mateship.

Wake in Fright presents us with uncomfortable truths about who we are, and also a part of Australia that never really went away.

Brendan Ryan, Portarlington

Study and stay

SO, INTERNATIONAL students can pay up to $20,000 for possibly dodgy hairdressing, cookery, hospitality or mechanics' courses ("Audit blitz hits 'dodgy' colleges", The Age, 14/7).

The Immigration Department and the anti-immigration brigade are noticeably silent in their concern that people have figured out how to enter Australia and avoid both a prison in the desert and being called a nasty queue jumper.

Just how many students shedding tears ever had any intention of going home? How many graduates have never gone home? Any chance that we'll be told?

Margaret Callinan, Balwyn

Backing the building

I WAS surprised to read that the proposed $1.2 million building for the bushfire reconstruction authority angered Marysville and Triangle locals (The Age, 14/7). Having attended the same meeting at the Marysville Golf Club on Sunday, I felt that the majority of people were supportive of the project and grateful for the donation to construct such a building.

Also enthusiastically received were plans for a walking, hiking and cycling track linking Marysville, Buxton, Taggerty, Narbethong and Granton. This idea has enormous potential and is a project that could be constructed fairly quickly.

The Marysville and Triangle Development Group are all volunteers and are strenuously working to help the community to move ahead.

Michael J. Wood, Buxton

Our taxes at work

DESPITE Sally Dobson's positive outlook (Letters, 14/7), the reality is that parents and non-parents alike tend to vote for governments that reduce taxes and avoid debt. This explains why we have a legacy of inadequate investment in hospitals, aged care, and the training of nurses, doctors and medical specialists.

Each time I see a poignant story of an urgent or needy case, I wait in vain for the family or politician concerned to say: "And this is why we need to raise more taxation revenue."

Jo Wilkinson, Surrey Hills

Live fast, die young. Let's talk about that

RE " 'SHATTERING' Ferrari impounded after 231 km/h test" (theage.com.au, 14/7), with the knowledge that we recently lost five young lives at one intersection, how can we allow such vehicles to be registered for everyday use on our roads?

If we are at all serious about curbing the devastating loss of lives on our roads we must also become serious about outlawing these toys of the rich boys.

The mere fact that a select group of people can afford to risk our lives while playing with their speed machines on our roads is more than adequate reason to question why our Government is not protecting us from their lust for speed. While I am more than happy to congratulate Mark Webber on his grand prix win, I refuse to accept that I must be road-challenged by Ferrari drivers, who invariably believe that they are cooler than cool, but are most commonly overweight, balding and over-inflated with their own importance . . . and their offshoots, who are usually young, under-experienced "would-be if they could be" emulators pushing ordinary cars way beyond their limits.

Janine Fletcher, Croydon North

Your 'free' lunch will cost us all

WITH Coles and Woolworths already having a majority percentage of the grocery market, the alcohol market, and now the petrol market, my concern is that they will drive smaller, independent retailers out of business. Surely it is time for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to step in and stop, or at least investigate, this practice, which will culminate in Coles and Woolworths controlling the market (and prices) between them.

I do not shop at either of the big two, preferring to use smaller, independent supermarkets and petrol stations and maybe pay a little more for the privilege. I feel that it is vital for the health of our community that shoppers support these smaller businesses, and I certainly won't be taking advantage of this offer. There is no such thing as a free lunch. What shoppers save on their petrol, they will probably pay for in higher grocery prices.

Ron Hayton, Beaumaris

Sounds for the boys

THE absence of female artists from Triple J's Hottest 100 has been well and truly exposed by Clem Bastow (Comment, 14/7), and she didn't even mention Pink, who surely, after a record-breaking Australian tour, might have expected to feature strongly.

But is this new? For a book I am writing about '60s Australian pop music, I have noted a similar phenomenon - lots of male artists who did well and a few girls who looked good on TV but didn't sell too many records. Olivia Newton-John didn't release a single record here before finally succeeding overseas.

Sadly, the results of any such study aren't surprising. The fact is, boys like watching girls, but predominantly like listening to male artists (notwithstanding the occasional token status accorded to "ballsy" women such as Janis Joplin or Chrissie Hynde). Who do girls like? Yep, you guessed it: boys.

Right or wrong, I suspect that's the way it will always be. Meanwhile, I'll keep enjoying listening to Joan Armatrading, Renee Geyer, k.d. lang and Kate Miller-Heidtke, along with all my favourite male artists - they're all there in my top 100.

David Johnston, Healesville