Pokies or pain: a bet each way?

Jeff Kennett said the hotel investment would assist the club's long-term financial security. It might assist in the short term, Jeff, but not the long term. Once pokie addicts have been bled dry, they (and the community they live in) will be so financially decimated that they won't be able to continue supporting your club.

Sue Pinkerton, problem gambling research consultant,

Para Hills, SA

Battering the halo

"I AM well aware of the research and the claims. I see no conflict at all," said Jeff Kennett. "I don't appreciate being called a hypocrite, because I can't change the world." Well excuse me, Mr Kennett, but if that's the case, what are you doing at beyondblue, whose very purpose is to "change the world" by removing the stigma from depression and alleviating the misery it causes?

Or is your chairmanship of the organisation less about removing the stigma from depression and more about removing the stigma of being Jeff Kennett, cynically borrowing their well-earned halo to replace your own rather battered one?

After all, it was your government that turfed the mentally ill out of hospitals to save the state a few bob, wasn't it? Now that really changed the world.

Doug Pollard, Eltham North

Taking care of business

WELL done Jeff! In one fell swoop you've "saved" Hawthorn Football Club and no doubt assisted in creating thousands more depressed people for beyondblue and our communities to then have to help! What a marvellous chairman and president you appear to have become. What a wonderful role model you would become as a future mayor of Melbourne when so many citizens are crying out for pokies to be rolled back to limit their devastation?

I am disgusted, as I am sure are others, in this latest effort that I believe creates grounds for your instant dismissal from one or both of those well-respected community positions.

Libby Mitchell, Parkville

Blatant hypocrisy

SHAME on you, Jeff. It's not enough that you are defending Hawthorn Football Club's use of pokies to raise funds at the expense of communities such as Caroline Springs. The hypocrisy is so blatant that it almost goes without saying. What is even harder to swallow is how you can reconcile this with your role as chairman of beyondblue. Given that you must be aware that there are clear links between the incidence of problem gambling and mental illness, I struggle to comprehend how you can possibly justify this.

James Horton, Essendon

Legal? Yes. Moral? No

YES, Mr Kennett, it is legal for Hawthorn Football Club to set up gaming machines in Caroline Springs but probably more people than you realise do not believe it is moral. Not there or anywhere else in this state. There are too many already.

Penny Ames, Surrey Hills

China lied. Cancel the Olympics

RE CHINA reneging on its promise to give free access to the internet during the 2008 Olympics, AOC president John Coates asks: "But what the IOC can do about it? I don't know." (The Age, 31/7). Simple, cancel the Olympics. Sure there would be much disappointment and some financial losses. But then the Chinese almost certainly never intended to keep their promise.

So unless we want to confirm the apparent Chinese view that all the West says is hot air, something needs to be done. Cancelling the Olympics would certainly send the right message - if we are truly concerned about human rights in China and other countries.

Henry Haszler, Eltham

Surprised? Not me

NOBODY should be surprised at China's broken promise of complete freedom for the world media. Only the naive people of the IOC would believe the pledges of a Communist totalitarian dictatorship that should never have been given the Games.

Alan A. Hoysted, Thomastown

Spoilsports

HOW unethical was the televising of the "sneak preview" of the Olympic opening ceremony on Korean TV! And how much worse was The Age (31/7) to publish the pictures and include the rehearsal on its website! We were all looking forward to being surprised and delighted. Now you've gone and spoiled it.

Max Gange, Heathmont

Too late, Tanner

HOW very brave of Lindsay Tanner to now speak out against former Howard minister Kevin Andrews (The Age, 31/7). During the election campaign, when Andrews' attacks on Sudanese residents and African migration were in full flight and dominating every form of media, Tanner was nowhere to be seen, much to the dismay of many African Australians I spoke with.

As a desperate Andrews cast around for easy targets to vilify, I invited Tanner to join us in speaking out at the very time a prominent defender was most needed. Labor and Tanner opted to stay silent. The damage done by Andrews was palpable and keenly felt.

Why didn't Tanner give his speech during the election campaign? Too many swinging votes in other seats at stake?

Adam Bandt, former Greens candidate for Melbourne, Parkville

Good mental health begins in childhood

THE findings from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute research (The Age, 30/7) highlight the link between parental stress and early childhood mental health problems. The continued underfunding of family support services, particularly early intervention supports, remains one of the key factors undermining improved outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and families.

"Toxic stress" arising from poverty, abuse and neglect, maternal depression and substance abuse needs to be tackled at the early stages to prevent damage to children. The financial hardship being experienced by many families as a result of increased cost-of-living pressures further highlights the urgent need for more State Government-funded early intervention family support services. If not, there is a risk we will see even more children with serious mental health problems during the early years.

Cath Smith, CEO, Victorian Council of Social Service

Not tough enough

YOU are totally right, Catherine Deveny (Comment & Debate, 30/7). Children need to know they are loved, that they are wanted and that they have a place in this world. However, if I were to parent like my child's grandparents, we'd be on holidays all the time, busy painting and attending art society functions, attending weekly lunches with the girls, sleeping in past 8 o'clock every morning, napping every afternoon, getting distracted with the stockmarket on the internet and talking on the phone for two or three hours a day. In short, my child would be neglected.

My daughter knows she is loved because I spend time with her, I teach her what is safe and responsible behaviour, I teach her to respect other people and their property and I teach her that there are rules and boundaries in life and that she needs to be responsible for her decisions and behaviours.

Some parents may love their children but the lack of discipline and number of unruly, ill-mannered kids I see in playgrounds and public areas is disgraceful. Love your children, but don't raise spoilt brats.

Michele Lorken, West Melbourne

How many jobs equal a rate cut?

WITH Qantas announcing the retrenchment of 1200 people, Mitsubishi cutting 800 positions, Starbucks cutting more than 600 and now Don Smallgoods announcing it plans to shed 640 positions, I wonder how much further this trend can go? With all these job losses, and probably more to come, is the Reserve Bank now content that the economy has slowed enough or do we have to enter another era of mass unemployment before it is satisfied?

Craig Cahill, Campbell Town, Tasmania

Time to acknowledge detention was wrong

NOW that the worst of immigration detention seems to be behind us, we call on the Federal Government to legislate recent changes into the Migration Act so that the likes of Philip Ruddock and John Howard cannot again breach our international obligations to asylum seekers.

We should also take time to reflect on the damage done to our community. Howard and Ruddock may think that they can do nothing to help the people they have knowingly hurt through their terrible actions and inactions. But they can do something. They must acknowledge their wrongdoings, and accept that they have a responsibility to contribute to correcting and compensating for the harm done to the thousands (including children) they imprisoned.

If they are brave enough to do so, they can make a major contribution to healing individuals harmed in immigration detention, staff who had to implement government decisions, and the community as a whole.

Jon Jureidini and Claire O'Connor, Adelaide; Julian Burnside, Melbourne

Arguments for constant vigilance

THANK you Petro Georgiou (Analysis & Debate, 31/7) for pointing out that the long overdue changes to laws concerning asylum seekers are to be applauded but that more can be done. No democratic state should maintain laws that might be used by unelected bureaucrats to oppress a minority.

In a curious juxtaposition, Mr Georgiou's column appeared immediately below Michael Gawenda's piece on good and evil and both pieces were powerful arguments for constant vigilance.

Ruth Boschen, Balwyn

Just what the doctor ordered: confusion

AWFULLY glad Dr Nelson isn't managing my health. It's cancer, doctor? Yes, correct. And chemotherapy is the right approach? Certainly, well, maybe. Um, perhaps later. Radiotherapy? Ah, possibly, in fact definitely, although let's see! Alternative approaches? Oh, yes! Just the ticket, but let me think that through. Maybe wait a year or three. Oh dear. Pity about our environment.

Beth Petersen, Croydon

Ready, set, scrap

SO NOW the policies are set. The Government will introduce an emissions trading scheme in 2010. If it then loses the election, the incoming government will scrap the scheme (because it's too early), twiddle its thumbs for a couple of years, then reintroduce it. What was that about Australia the clever country?

Robert Scopes, Koroit

Live by the sword. . .

LAW professor Frank Brennan (Comment & Debate, 30/7) doesn't understand the concept of justice regarding those who "live (and kill) by the sword". Brennan states: "(Drug mule) Scott Rush does not deserve to die. He did not commit the worst of offences." I agree. But is there not a hint in his statement that warrants capital punishment for those who do commit the "worst of offences?" There is, and so there should be.

The Bali bombers are wilful, callous murderers. Instead of focusing on the tragedy of the victims, and the murderers being justly executed, Brennan says it will be a tragedy if Australian politicians endorse their execution. Then there are those who would champion the rights of murderers to be protected, clothed and fed, visited by family; talking, walking, sleeping, breathing and living.

To the 88 families of those who can never do these things again, I hope you and everyone else never see these killers again.

Jason Coghill, Geelong East

NAB the board

THE National Australia Bank board of directors is ultimately responsible for the performance of its chief executive and the business. They recruit and appoint CEOs, always to great fanfare. With the bank's track record for large setbacks, the board must be questioned as to its talent for recruitment. These heavy financial hits must in some part be reflected in the interest rates mortgage holders are paying. This impost is a large penalty to hit innocent bystanders with.

Ian Hetherington, Moama, NSW

Collective action

TOO bad we don't all have the courage of Linda Kelly (Letters, 31/7). After reading her thought-provoking letter, I felt that making change was less about what we stood to lose and more above what we'd gain, if we worked collectively and didn't wait to be told what to do.

Gainore Atkins, Altona Meadows