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Matt Golding<\/span>Credit: <\/span>.<\/cite><\/p>\n To submit a letter to The Age<\/em>, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.<\/strong><\/p>\n Columnist Alan Kohler\u2019s hypothesis (Comment, 24\/11) that \u201cunaffordable housing has a political cause and a political solution\u201d and that it is about some of \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d is affirmed starkly by study after study. Jelena Rosic, Mornington<\/strong><\/p>\n Question the line<\/strong> Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s hair-raising<\/strong> Lindsay Zoch, Mildura<\/strong><\/p>\n Hamas must go<\/strong> Keren Zelwer, East St Kilda<\/strong><\/p>\n The price of peace<\/strong> Paul Nisselle, Middle Park<\/strong><\/p>\n Our compassion shines<\/strong> Greg Tuck, Warragul<\/strong><\/p>\n RBA on wrong road<\/strong>
Put simply, those of us who have a home benefit at the expense of those who are locked out because government after government won\u2019t touch housing policy reform.
Alarmingly, the stratospheric price of housing has further cemented \u201cdangerous inequality\u201d (ie, housing is not the lone variable in the inequality mix) that I, as a social worker working in the trenches, hear about directly from clients every day, who literally have nowhere to live.
That is, who couch surf among friends and family (if they\u2019re lucky), live in sub-standard rental accommodation, rooming homes, tents (with their family) or at the end of the line, sleep rough in parks or on the streets throughout our not-so-lucky country.
Indeed, l agree with Kohler that we don\u2019t need more prevarication (another inquiry or a royal commission) and navel-gazing by the government on a hypothesis that has been irrefutably confirmed.
Rather, we need to recalibrate housing as a basic human right and to revisit putting a lid on housing for investment by enshrining both sides of the equation in law.<\/p>\n
Your correspondent misses the point (\u2033\u2063Two protests are worlds apart\u2033\u2063, 25\/11).
The commonality in the Vietnam rallies and the pro-Palestine marches is young people questioning the official narrative and being prepared to protest when they discover another side
to the story and the difference that that can make.<\/p>\n
I foresee a nation populated by long-haired galoots as mortgage holders forgo the monthly haircut.<\/p>\n
Nasser Mashni writes in his capacity as president of the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network about the pain of the Palestinian people, which I acknowledge. It is Hamas, however, who are responsible for the inevitable Israeli retaliation after October 7.
The advocacy network\u2019s response to those attacks can be seen on their social media account displaying the following placard: \u201cYou can not deprive human beings of their basic rights and then call them terrorists when they resist.\u201d It would behoove the Australian public to recognise the advocacy network\u2019s justification of terrorism as a necessary means to achieve the goals of the Palestinian people.
Not only is this glorification of terrorism abhorrent, but terror also has the inverse effect on the dreams for Palestinian statehood. The heinous, brutal acts of October 7 have brought the Palestinian people further from their goals. Indeed, the Palestinian people deserve a life of dignity, but this will never be possible with Hamas at the helm.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t get it. Why is Israel now portrayed as the villain in this war? Hamas indiscriminately slaughtered Israeli adults and children. Hamas\u2019 stated intent is to annihilate Israel. Hamas will never accept peaceful coexistence with Israel. A non-terrorist Palestinian government might. Hamas indifferently uses its own citizens to shield its military centres.
Hamas cannot be beaten if Israel avoids attacking those centres. No matter how carefully targeted the Israeli attacks are, there will be, and have been, civilian deaths. If Israel does not eliminate Hamas\u2019 strength, they will continue to wage war on Israel, now or later.
US president Harry S. Truman made the difficult decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, knowing that the casualties would mainly be citizens. The bombs caused about 200,000 civilian deaths. They stopped the war.
There is no such thing as a \u2033\u2063clean\u2033\u2063 war. There is always collateral damage \u2013 a horrible expression.
Ordinary Palestinian people\u2019s deaths may be the price of peace \u2013 as were the ordinary Japanese people\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n
People are questioning why we have decided to accept Palestinians as temporary refugees when others won\u2019t. It is because we are not like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria or other Middle Eastern countries who won\u2019t. We are Australia and we are a compassionate caring society, although some people would have us not.<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank has again shown that its policy of reducing inflation by increasing interest rates is wrong. Governor Michele Bullock states domestic demand is largely to blame for inflation and justifies this view by nominating hairdressing, dentistry, fuelling costs, and recreational events.
It needs to be recognised that increased prices are generated by suppliers, not people who are under stress from the RBA\u2019s continued increase of interest rates. Examples show gas prices increased due to corporations focusing on exports and demanding that inflated prices should be paid in Australia; insurance companies have increased their prices; food costs have increased due to short supplies due to overseas wars and environmental change; rents have soared due to owners wanting to cover increased interest rates; house prices have increased due to a shortage of supply.
The RBA doesn\u2019t seem to be aware that inflation is increasing around the world and is doing so predominantly by suppliers\u2019 actions not by individual demand levels. The continuing policy of increasing interest rates will not solve the increased cost of living but it will increase inflation levels.<\/p>\n