The commission was right to say no to a pay rise

When will they understand that pay rises do not just materialise? There must exist reasons - proper reasons. Interest rates have fallen. Retailers are doing all they can to entice consumers. Kevin Rudd keeps throwing cash at us. For those who have work, life could hardly be better. For those who do not (myself included), we watch on with envy.

If any workers out there feel they are not being paid enough, let me know. I will happily take over.

Gerard Richardson, Parkville

Path to greed

LET us pray that the Fair Pay Commission's decision is the last insult to decency this nation must endure from the Howard era. The commission was set up by his government, and both have proven to be out of step with the values of most Australians. While the wealthy will enjoy another tax cut this week, the plight of low-paid Australians has again fallen on deaf ears. Unfortunately, the "lucky country" just took another step down the greedy, unkind path.

Jacob Holley, Sunshine

Jobs come first

OF COURSE Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard do not like the Fair Pay Commission's decision. It goes against their arrangement with their union mates. However, they should not despair. That will be fixed when Labor's new Fair Work Australia appointees go to work. Watch how much Rudd, Gillard and the ACTU will gouge out of the system without an independent body to stop them. They simply do not understand that the protection of jobs for all Australians is more important than keeping unions happy.

Eric Willson, Brighton

Exploited workers

THE real minimum wage is lower than business, unions and government would care to admit. It is about $5 an hour and is paid to workers in low-skilled industries such as fast food, hospitality and retail. Discriminatory awards give employers the opportunity to pay workers under 21 as little as half the official minimum wage, and sometimes even less.

Luke Vanni, Wavell Heights, Qld

Tax the well-off

IT IS tough but true that one person's pay rise is another person's job. The Fair Pay Commission made a wise decision. We have only to look at the one in three metalworkers' jobs that disappeared following the wages blowout of the early 1980s.

However, it would be more palatable if there were also curbs or even a "super" tax on the obscene salary packages of top executives. Politicians' and ex-politicians' perks could also be reined in - not to mention the excesses of the fat cats in the bureaucracy.

As in wartime, in a recession the sacrifices must be shared.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn

A biased ruling

JULIA Gillard attacks the Fair Pay Commission's decision as "disappointing". She should have said something with a bit more bite and pointed out that there is nothing fair about it. The commission has a huge bias, heavily influenced by the private sector. Sure, it would not help unemployment if there was an increase. But is it a simple matter of the greed of employers and white-collar workers who, as always, expect the workers to make sacrifices to get the economy back on track?

Jim van Ommen, Taroona, Tas

Is there no end to Rudd's miracles?

FORGET Kevin Rudd promising to fix petrol and grocery prices, take over hospitals and shelter the homeless. Now he has promised to lobby Pope Benedict XVI for the Blessed Mary MacKillop to be canonised (The Age, 8/7).

There are strict requirements for canonisation - and they do not include the candidate's popularity or country of origin, or how hard a prime minister lobbies.

For Rudd to think he can do this is ignorant and insulting. To make matters worse, he is a practising Anglican and, accordingly, does not believe in intercessory prayer. It follows that he does not believe miracles that have allegedly occurred should be attributed to Mary MacKillop.

Instead of wasting the Holy Father's time, there are a plethora of social issues Rudd could discuss. Though why do anything unless you can turn it into a media stunt? As Tony Abbot said, it will fail to impress the Catholic electorate.

Aaron M. Lane, Geelong

Call for asylum

BLESSINGS to the Age and John Garnaut's reporting (7/7 and 8/7) on China's crackdown on the Uighur people of Urumqi, in spite of Beijing's attempts to silence free speech. I have lived in China, and I know the work of the internet police. The Australian Government should grant asylum to the former Uighur prisoners of Guantanamo Bay as a gesture of compassion.

Reverend Neil Tolliday, Hamlyn Heights

When debt is good

JUST when it seemed their bullet-riddled tootsies could take no more, the Coalition parties have shot themselves in the foot again. By dragging out "the debt truck" (The Age, 8/7), they have destroyed any shred of economic credibility they had left. Debt is not of itself good or bad. It depends on the circumstances and how it is managed. Just ask the millions of Australians who went into debt to realise their dream of home ownership.

By trying to hoodwink the populace into believing their simplistic "debt is bad" mantra, Malcolm Turnbull and co have not only stooped to political opportunism, but raised an important question. How could we entrust the country's financial management to the Coalition when it fails to understand basic financial management precepts?

Jan Simpson, Bendigo

Just pay up -

and keep quiet

SHAUN Carney's article (Comment & Debate, 8/7) is very good. I have bitter experience of why the Liberal Party is bereft of ideas. As a once-proud past member, it became obvious that financial members were seen just as that - not a source of ideas.

In 1993 and again in 1996, I presented a fully researched, water conservation proposal and a people's bank proposal to the Victorian executive, only to be told by a federal representative that members were not encouraged to present ideas. "Just leave all that stuff to the experts," he smirked. Eventually I resigned. Some of those suggestions are now implemented (federally) but without acknowledgement, and the Federal Government is being asked to look at a people's bank. This situation is well entrenched in the Liberal Party. If you, like I, think Tim Holding and John Brumby are arrogant, just listen to the Opposition. I rest my case.

Richard Pearse, Hawthorn East

Give Sheeds a go

CAROLINE Wilson is guilty of ageism (Sport, 8/7). If she were in charge of human resources at any workplace, she would be disciplined over her opinions. Kevin Sheedy, like Denis Pagan at North, are elite coaches and prove it by their records.

Melbourne sacked Norm Smith all those years ago because he was too old - and the record speaks for itself. Sheedy and Pagan should be judged on their merits. Both have changed the direction of football once and may do so again.

Les Cameron, St Albans

An old idea

I LOVE the idea of a "state-owned basic bank" as suggested by six influential economists (The Age, 8/7). They are probably too young to remember that we used to have such a thing: it was called the Commonwealth Bank.

Ruth Boschen, Balwyn

Double standards

I AM perplexed. I have heard about how bushfire-stricken areas were cleaned up in three months. I am also pondering the community's generosity in donating $500 million, as well as listening to complaints from survivors about who should get money and who is liable for sewerage tank replacement etc. At the same time, Kevin Rudd is surprised by the lack of progress towards a better standard of living in indigenous communities.

A solution is found in three months for a small number of victims in a relatively small area, and nothing for indigenous peoples for 200-plus years. Now I am despondent.

Victoria Thorne, Bentleigh

Royal commissions

PROFESSOR Brian Costar errs when he states that the Bushfires Royal Commission is "but an instrument of executive government" (Letters, 7/7). Royal commissions have a long history in British law. They are formally established by the sovereign (head of state) with strict terms of reference. Once established, they cannot be shut down by the government, though a termination date is usually set in the terms of reference. They have quasi-judicial powers and can convict for contempt (for example, refusing to appear).

Had the Victorian Government originally intended the commission to be an instrument of executive government, it should have initiated a departmental enquiry. But it did not.

Andrew Farran (former senior lecturer in law, Monash University), Beaumaris

An unfair burden

WHEN it comes to the fire service levy, Michael Pascoe's article - "The bushfire story no one's doing" (Online, 7/7) - told half the story. While Melbourne households pay a 21 per cent levy on their insurance premiums, regional property holders, including farmers, pay 68 per cent. When you add GST and stamp duty, a premium of $1000 ends up costing $2033.

In the aftermath of the fires, the Victorian Farmers Federation, together with hundreds of volunteers, helped to rebuild more than 1900 kilometres of boundary fencing. The latest estimates are that only 8 per cent of fences were insured. Is it any wonder there is a high level of under and non-insurance in regional communities? It is time the State Government acknowledged the impact that the fire service levy has on under-insurance and move to a fairer funding method.

Andrew Broad, president, Victorian Farmers Federation

Desperate plight

I AM 45 and suffer from a mental illness. I have to survive on the disability support pension - $600 per fortnight, including rent assistance. Recently I sought alternative accommodation as I am staying in a supported residence, which charges $900 a fortnight. This includes poor meals, rent and utilities. My father generously pays the rest for the time being.

I am told my options are a private rooming house at $160 a week (living with people with mental illness and/or drug and alcohol issues and/or involved in crime and prostitution) or to live on the street. Do other people have these "options"? Do others daily suffer stigma and discrimination? Where is the "justice" for those with mental illness?

Daniel Martin, Armadale

A simple solution

THERE is a way to get 20 more trams onto the system to alleviate overcrowding (The Age, 7/7). Forty of Melbourne's old W Class trams are sitting in the Glenhuntly depot, of which only 20 are used at any time. They all have doors, heaters and upgraded brakes, and were built to last. They are not used because the department does not like them, and prefers new trams, which require less maintenance (but do not last as long). These 20 trams could be used, for instance, on the scenic city to St Kilda via Clarendon Street line, freeing up trams to increase frequency on busier routes. The only impediment is committing to a larger fleet and paying for more drivers.

Don Gibson, Geelong

Come again?

HEATH Kelly, head of epidemiology at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, says that "of the 73 people who tested positive for influenza at clinics monitoring flu viruses. . . 99 per cent had H1N1 swine flu" (The Age, 8/7). This means that 72.27 people had it. Was the 73rd person 27 per cent infected?

Alan Williams, Port Melbourne