. = V E N T = .
Letters to the Editor


From time to time, a commentary on the world will bubble up inside of me to the extent that I'm forced to write a letter to my local, metropolitan, daily newspaper, The Age. This is where I blow of some steam. Feel like venting too? Add your own comment or visit my homepage.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

<     >

A Vision for Docklands

In the past, wandering around down at Melbourne's docks would give you an insight into the workings of our entire nation: bails of wool going out and bolts of cloth coming in, along with grains, livestock, manufactured items, fresh produce, all manner of people bustling about. An interface, a place of connection, with commodities shipped in from across the whole world and more heading out, drawn from across the continent.

For our future, we could have a "digital docklands" or "neural hub", where people can likewise wander around and experience our "creative commons" as it unfolds, with live feeds piped in from around Australia. With so much of our content already online - or soon to be - there's no shortage of digital goods in transit to draw on. A place to showcase a modern nation's cultural artefacts, with contributions from the arts (gigs, exhibitions, multimedia installations), academia (lectures and seminars), commerce (presentations and meetings), politics (interviews, hearings and Parliamentary sessions) and, of course, families and individuals (websites, podcasts, blogs and photo galleries).

This would be the challenge for our architects, planners and designers: to provide an accessible physical space in which visitors and residents could navigate this constantly-changing cacophony of audio, video and text. Melbourne's Docklands would be restored as the place where people can experience Australia connecting with the world.

Vent!         


Friday, July 28, 2006

<     >

Henry Kaye's Legal Broking Business

So Henry Kaye wanted to start a legal broking business (The Age, 28/7/2006)? Makes sense. He has a lot of experience with broken laws and making other people broke, resulting in broken marriages and broken lives.

Vent!         


Monday, July 24, 2006

<     >

Gambling, Taxes and Fair Bets

I welcome the Liberals joining the Greens in having a policy of fewer pokies (The Age, 24/7/2006). However, the raw number of machines is not the issue, it's the profitablity of the industry. As long as two or three big businesses (and the state) can make abnormal profits (and taxes) by milking the punters, we'll have inadequate policies to grapple with problem gambling.

That's why I support the introduction of BetFair and its ilk; online, highly-competitive, person-to-person gambling drains the industry of these profits (and taxes). This means the Government will again be able to act in the wider public interest, not just for the gambling companies.

Vent!         


Wednesday, July 19, 2006

<     >

Collective Punishment for Lebs

Embassy support is reserved for real Aussies. Those Lebanese-Australians didn't seriously think they were going to shirk collective punishment for what they did in Cronulla last year, did they?

Fair's fair, mate.

Vent!         


Tuesday, July 18, 2006

<     >

Grossi Miscarriage of Justice

A high-profile Melbourne restaurateur got pissed and tried to drive home. He went to court and lost his licence (The Age, 18/7/2006). The Age soft-peddles this crime with whimsy, bonhomie, a sympathetic ear and cute kitchen puns.

Publicists must be up in arms at this journalist's blatant incursion into their profession. Can we assume that The Age editorial staff won't be seeing any bills at Grossi Florentino?

Vent!         


Monday, July 17, 2006

<     >

Australian Embassy Under Siege

Some have criticised Australia's embassy in Lebanon for "pulling out" at the first sign of trouble. Sadly, this is to be expected since Beirut is now extremely hazardous.

So we can surmise that Foreign Minister Downer had either a) credible intelligence that Israel was deliberately targeting the Australian Embassy (unlikely), or b) a well-founded fear that Israel's policy of systematically bombing and shelling anything and everything in Beirut jeopardised our officials (likely).

In which case, why isn't Downer publicly decrying such wanton and reckless destruction as illegal and immoral? Speak up, Mr Downer! If it's unacceptable for Australia's diplomatic corps to be exposed to such risks, then it's unacceptable for the defenceless citizens of Lebanon.

Vent!         


Friday, July 14, 2006

<     >

Israel's Moral Calculus

Any armed conflict demands awful moral calculations, weighing up the death and suffering of combatants and civilians from opposing sides. But not for Israel. They have a simpler approach: non-Israeli's (militant or civilian) count for naught.

We've seen dozens of innocent Palestinian civilians killed as reprisals for two Israeli soldiers and scores of Lebanese civilians killed for eight Israeli soldiers. Millions punished for the crimes of a few. Crucial civil infrastructure wiped out in very poor, damaged countries. Israel has regularly - for years now - shown us it is comfortable killing and maiming a dozen civilians to assassinate one militant.

Why on earth should they be trusted with nuclear weapons?

Vent!         


Monday, July 10, 2006

<     >

Ditch The Yarra (Car) Park

The present state of Yarra Park (sadly, better known as the MCG carpark) is a disgrace. Even with the little rain we've enjoyed, almost a quarter of the ground is bare and churned up by vehicle traffic. With the completion of the MCG redevelopment and the Commonwealth Games long behind us, it seems that the slippery, muddy and deeply rutted surface is now a permanent feature. (If not for the traction afforded by imbedded bourbon cans and beer bottles, it would pose a hazard for pedestrians.)

Clearly, the relative merits of public enjoyment of parklands versus subsidised car parking for footy patrons - who willfully refuse to use either train station - has already been determined. The City of Melbourne should bite the bullet and just pave over the remaining patches of muddy lawn and operate a proper - and profitable - parking service. Artificially cheap parking and useless parkland is the worst of both worlds.

Vent!         


Thursday, July 06, 2006

<     >

Israel's Terrible Logic

The Israeli fighter jets over Gaza are not just inducing sonic booms; they're inducing nose-bleeds, panic attacks and miscarriages in the civil population (The Age, 6/7/2006). The logic is supposedly that heavily-pregnant women and young children will rise up and force Palestinian terrorists to stop firing missiles at Israel. That serious Israeli security chiefs would advance such a notion is so fanciful that we can safely dismiss it.

No, far more likely - and sinister - is that this program of collective punishment is designed to pressure the terrorists into giving up out of guilt at what's happening to their fellow Muslims. A strategy based on an appeal to the consciences of psychopathic criminals is designed to show up the complicity of Palestinian civilians - and hence the validity of their continuing punishment.

Israeli politicians must make clear that Israel distinguishes between Palestinian civilians and terrorists; lumping them in together will simply make Israel's defence forces the chief recruiter for Hamas.

Vent!