Want to add value, Angus? Ask around

Ironic, isn’t it, Jacqueline Maley, to have Angus Taylor lecturing us on “Australian” values (“Migrants already sign on to values, so what exactly is Taylor proposing?” , February 22). The Coalition that fought so strenuously against the Voice now has the hide to talk about immigrants and their right to live in the Great South Land. Perhaps he could have a chat to Adam Goodes and other Indigenous people who probably feel that after 60,000 years they might have had a say about who comes to this country. Nola Tucker, Kiama

Since my return to Australia in 1986, I have seen core Australian values in action. Attitude to race is the main one, from Indigenous “jokes” to Pauline Hanson’s recent comments about Lakemba. Then there are Children Overboard, robo-debt and pork barrelling, which were never investigated, so I assume are acceptable. We invited the president of Israel for a state visit then attacked the people protesting against the war crimes his country is committing. Core Australian Values are those we accept without judgment. Like these and far too many other examples. David Neilson, Uralla

Jacqueline Maley is quite perplexed about what’s behind Angus Taylor’s revised immigration rules, but I wouldn’t fret, Jacqueline. Those determined, or tempted, to vote for the Coalition, know exactly what Taylor means. Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield

Our kids deserve a fair go

It was heartening to read about the great work being done by Bernie Shakeshaft and his heroic team at Backtrack (“How to keep kids off the streets and out of jail”, February 22). When will governments learn that if you don’t fund schools and communities properly, then there will always be a lost generation who are without hope, who are angry, and who don’t care what they do. They feel in their bones that society and political leaders will never invest in them and that the cards are deliberately dealt against them. The core Australian value of “a fair go” is a hollow joke for these kids, and it shouldn’t be up to Bernie, or any other charity (including our own), to patch up the cracks in society that governments chose not to deal with. “The current plan is not to have a plan,” as one Elder told me. But another Aboriginal Elder said to me, “You have to work with the clay and not the brick”. At Malpa, we have successfully worked with 2000 nine- to 12-year-old kids in NSW and 3000 more across Australia. High school attendance, no classroom violence, motivated Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal kids reconciled. Government interest? Zero. Please, let’s get fair dinkum (another Australian value). Don Palmer, Malpa director of communications, Gordon

Watered-down policy

Shortsighted and cynical are other ways to describe it (“Floodplain housing is ‘lunacy’, say SES experts”, February 22). It boils down to a government that wants to look decisive but at no immediate cost to its bottom line. This will be housing development that has no regard to the anguish likely to be felt by future residents, not to mention costs of repair and insurance down the track. Is the Minns government so unsure of its electoral support and so lacking in other housing strategies that it has to fall back on such an unoriginal course of action? It’s totally irresponsible. Margaret Johnston, Paddington

I stumbled on a unique floodplain housing solution in Peru when I travelled to Iquitos on the Amazon River years ago. They built their houses on log rafts, so when the inevitable winter floods came, their houses turned into houseboats. Larry Woldenberg, Forest Lodge

I distinctly remember at the College of Law that we (soon-to-be solicitors) were never to allow our clients to buy into a flood prone area or a mine subsidence area. So why is the government allowing housing in the flood-prone Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley? Pasquale Vartuli, Wahroonga

AI shocks to the system

Tim Duggan’s opinion piece following the viral Matt Shumer article this week spells out the disaster AI will be for jobs (“If AI can automate work, what’s the point of a job?”, February 22). But jobs aren’t the worst of it. If you want to understand what the world faces from AI, google “The Adolescence of Technology” by the boss of Anthropic. It’s long, but worth it. The world faces an existential crisis possibly before the end of this decade because tech bros in California aren’t doing enough to make AI safe. And politicians aren’t even talking about it, publicly. Gary Barnes, Mosman

Books, books everywhere

Reading Cherie Gilmour’s confession (“Hoard habit to break: Confessions of bibliomaniac”, February 22), it is comforting to know that one is not alone with the love or obsession of reading. There are 1½ bibliomaniacs in this house. The book titles cover areas of: English (Old, Middle and Modern), railways of NSW and Britain, architectural and social history of Sydney, biblical theology (not just biblical exegesis), children’s books, many crime novels, poetry (in English) from the last 1000 or so years, a smattering of French books, recipes (ignored mostly, sadly), old books, English language development and usage and DA’s book on crosswords. I won’t say which of us fits the various categories. There are no books by James Patterson. The books occupy bookcases, shelves and the floor next to one bedroom wall. There is a “branch library” in a container. And this is without buying repeat books from our local Lifeline book sale. As with Cherie, we will slowly work our way through them. Donald Hawes, Peel

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