Age readers respond to the latest developments in the fragile ceasefire in the Mid-East.
Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email.There’s cause for celebration at the ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and prisoners, and the resumption of humanitarian aid.
. There’s also reason to temper that spirit with realism about the fragility of the deal . So much is conditional. In reporter David Crowe’s view, peace can only be secured ”if Israel’s enemies accept its right to exist”. This alone is not enough. There can be no lasting peace unless and until Israel accepts Palestine’s right to exist. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with his extremist cabinet ministers, has declared his implacable opposition to this right, a position that US President Donald Trump has not publicly criticised nor contested. Netanyahu has defied the international community so it’s Trump who must insist that Israel affirms Palestine’s right to exist. Then the real work could begin.To see the joy on the faces of relatives of released hostages alongside the graphic reality of Gazans returning home to absolute rubble has been both heartwarming and heartbreaking.is spot on . US presidents have precedent with going the hard yards then walking away when they needed to stay the course. Donald Trump deserves congratulation for getting everyone this far, but it is nowhere near over, and declaring that he’s ended 3000 years of hate is so misguided that it seems pointless to mention. Hopefully, teams around him can nudge him in the right direction of his 20-point plan, rather than let him say he’s too busy or tired to continue.The cost of rebuilding Gaza is estimated at $50 billion. Leaving aside the infinitely more important cost in human life and suffering, that amount is about one-fifth of the total wealth of Elon Musk, a sobering example of the obscene inequality in the distribution of wealth on this suffering-ridden planet.If the “peace” is sustained with hostages returned, what next? Ambiguous statements from Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu but no detail or timeline. There will be a mountain of issues, such as administration, clearing rubble, rebuilding, and who pays? How will Palestinian ownership of property be decided? Where will the Gazans go during rebuilding? Will illegal settlements be restored to Palestine citizens and farmers? Will new borders be created and accepted? The world is watching and waiting for true humanitarian leadership, not for political exploitation of stateless people as at present.Donald Trump has clearly played a major role in stopping the war in Gaza, but as Michael Koziol writes, ”Having declared his mission complete,the next risk is that Trump taps out” . I, too, wonder if Trump is up for the long game, which is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Trump is making grandiose claims that ”it’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel” and that ”this is the historic dawn of a new Middle East”. His understandable triumphalism on Gaza is reminiscent of former president George W. Bush’s ”Mission Accomplished” speech in 2003, following the United States’ ”Shock and Awe” assault in Iraq.The comment by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen that ”we don’t have an EV sales target because we believe in choice”, while possibly politically expedient, simply makes no sense . Even if we ignore the fact that fossil fuels are heating our planet – the impact of car pollution on our health provides ample reason to get internal combustion engines off our roads. The University of Tasmania’s Centre for Safe Air conservatively estimates that particulate and nitrogen dioxide pollution from cars leads to more than 1800 early deaths a year in Australia. By comparison, the 2024 road toll was 1300 fatalities. Early deaths relate to vehicle emissions causing inflammation that contribute to heart and lung disease, diabetes and asthma. Most Australians live in cities polluted by petrol and diesel-fuelled cars. Until government policies aggressively favour EVs, we actually have no choice but to live in an environment that can have a severe impact on our health.The article, “Government EV road map”, outlines falling income from fuel excise as the number of EVs increase. However, it is counterproductive to tax EVs to replace this income. A better solution is to increase the fuel excise. This could be adjusted each year to ensure the amount raised stays constant. This will provide an additional incentive to buy EVs.The article analysing the results of a car-buyer intention survey is disturbing in that it highlights a continuing reluctance of Australian motorists to embrace EV motoring. Apart from cost, which was mentioned in the article, range anxiety and the ”bushwhacking” spirit of Australians are major factors in hampering the uptake of EV ownership. The distances travelled by motorists in Australia set us apart from Europe and some Asian countries where EV ownership numbers have exploded. EVs are not yet capable of dragging large caravans over thousands of kilometres in the outback, and there is a nervousness about long trips in EVs where charging stations may be sparse. Most families are two-car families so let’s hope that at least one vehicle can be an EV for short to medium trips while a petrol/diesel or maybe a hybrid can be used for caravanning and outback exploration.Last weekend, I attended the third annual Electrify your Life! expo. The message couldn’t have been clearer — as energy commentator Javier Blas also warns, gas is a gamble . In contrast, gas heaters, gas stove tops, and gas hot-water systems are burdening households with rising energy costs and serious health risks. The same goes for petrol and diesel cars — these 20th century technologies are associated with growing health and fuel cost concerns. As more climate change-induced extreme weather is predicted , the question is simple: how much longer can we justify the pollution and climate damage caused by relic fuels of the past?”, 14/10). Let us hope our political leaders make a better fist of overseeing the development of these resources than they did with the North West Shelf gas deposits. The main beneficiaries of that golden egg were the customers , shareholders and employees with only minimal royalty and tax collections. A repeat outcome would be scandalous. The United States wants and needs our rare earths, and must expect to pay up for them and maybe a bit extra to help support a new local industry of value-added products. As we are contributing billions of dollars supporting the American submarine industry, a similar contribution from the US to assist our nascent rare earths industry should be part of any deal.As Justices of the Peace, I and 11 others staff a document-signing centre that to date has witnessed 13,000 documents for nearly 4000 people since the start of this calendar year. There are many other JPs around the state who provide a similar service.A local police inspector told me a few years ago that our services to the public enabled them to keep an extra police vehicle out on the road. As the police chief commissioner is looking for ways to get sworn officers back on the beat, he might suggest to the premier and the attorney-general that the appointment of additional JPs across the state would be a relatively cheap and effective way of helping him achieve his objective.”, 13/10). It’s dismaying to read how far a few will go to oppose the desperately needed upgrade of the 105-year-old Williamstown Swimming and Life Saving Club. I’m a local resident and member, and all I see is a not-for-profit community organisation, run on the fumes of volunteers, and doing everything it can to give back to Williamstown. A club that protects the tens of thousands of beachgoers that descend on Willy beach every year. A community space that brings together both Nippers and “Silver Salties” with swimming and social-strengthening programs. And a provider of essential water-safety skills for local school kids of all cultural backgrounds – who, because of the club, have the know-how to stay safe on our beaches.At the September meeting of the Hobsons Bay Council, a council officer, in response to a public question concerning the redevelopment of the Williamstown Life Saving Club, advised: “The current estimate for the redevelopment sits around the $16.6 million mark although this is subject to ongoing review, as the design is further developed and cost plans are further refined.” He also advised “that council has committed $3 million towards the development”. The Victorian government gave a grant of $11.4 million for the redevelopment, plus the $3 million from the council leaves a shortfall of $2.2 million. It would be a travesty if further ratepayer funds were allocated to the redevelopment when there are several worthy community projects that await funding from the council. One obvious project is the refurbishment of the historic Mechanics Institute building which previously housed much of Williamstown’s heritage, but is now in off-site storage.So the Liberals would scrap Victoria’s First Nations Treaty. That is exactly why the Voice to parliament had to go in the Constitution. The Liberals would have made sure a legislated Voice to parliament wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.Why does the LNP plan to wind back the Treaty? As the people most affected by it have said, Treaty will stop paternalistic whites deciding what Aborigines need, and give them a say in their future. Does the LNP still think they know better, and that paternalistic outcomes will be better for everyone? I’d much rather First Nations people have a say in how money spent on their behalf will affect them. I see this Victorian Treaty as the first step in the right direction to help amend past wrongs.Have we completely lost our ability to perform even simple tasks without IT assistance? AI offers to polish my emails, do my research for me , drive my car, predict my texts and so many other tasks. Now I read that I need an IT toaster to work out how to toast my bread, raisin bread, crumpets and the rest. What ever happened to our brains that we can no longer perform the simple task ofWhat I really want is a toaster that knows I am hungry, opens the fridge, takes out an item, toasts it, butters it and serves it on a nice plate, then takes the plate to the dishwasher and wipes down the bench and table. That I would pay for. Until then, I still have a functioning brain. Save the IT developments for really important and valuable activities such as remote robot surgery to give better healthcare to remote rural areas.The Israeli hostages will be received into Israel by well-stocked and highly functional hospitals with significant allied health supports. The same cannot be said of the Palestinian hostages when they return to Gaza.Great idea , an Orange Guide supplement to corral all the Donald Trump photos and grandstanding. I’d use it as a weed mat.Tony Wright provides an informative perspective on Treaty , including the opposition’s bureaucratic plans to return us to square one.Having just flown Virgin Australia to Perth I wholeheartedly endorse the reduction of carry-on baggage. Enforce those limits too. If the combined weight of most of the ”two bags” we saw was under 7kg I’ll eat my own bag.Why do people comment on people getting thinner and it is considered impolite to comment on someone getting fatter ?I was on a bus to Queen Vic market and seemed to be the only passenger who swiped on. Others just walked on. I suggest announcements be made reminding people to swipe on and off. It might just shame others to do the right thing.
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