Premier determined to spoil city’s heritage suburbs

The forum on housing on Tuesday night had to be moved to a bigger venue, such was the clamour for tickets by a very wide representation of Sydney residents (“Premier declares war on NIMBYs” August 28). Premier Chris Minns can always attract an audience, being a master of the 60-second news grab. Sadly, the opportunity to hear him at length was not an enlightening exercise. Indulging in a rather divisive mockery of NIMBY suburbs like Castlecrag and Woollahra, Minns presented an inconsistent view of why his government must “put our helmets on” to ram through his “vision” of multi-storey apartment blocks housing the younger generation – especially in those suburbs that challenge his vision of housing nirvana. Apparently, the idea of preserving some older, aesthetically pleasing – yes, ritzy – suburbs irks this working-class hero, hence the mockery. The existence of the City of Parramatta, the new airport, the pride our major diaspora groups have in their posh western suburbs enclaves, escape this premier. His government seems fixated with keeping young taxpayers and workers wedded to the city of Sydney, a Macquarie Street delusion if ever there was one. Keeping pleasant districts intact did not hurt Paris, premier, and the younger generation are far more pioneering than the cramped, expensive apartment life you are planning for them. Shirley Prescott, Forest Lodge

Chris Minns has apparently said that “the state’s failure to build more homes had fostered generational inequality”. How can he ignore the blatant generational inequity in the capital gains tax and negative gearing arrangements? If he really wants to do something about generational inequality, he should be taking on the federal government and their spineless approach to tax reform, not those people who just want to look after their neighbourhoods. John Croker, Woonona

Who will be trying to buy a house in Sydney for $1.5 million (“Average wage not enough for first home buyer help”, August 28). Not many people, I would wager. It is far more likely that a family or individual would be looking for the sort of western Sydney two- or three-bedroom, one- or two-car-park units that are available for less than $750,000. Such places are even available in the inner south and inner west. A purchase like this, which would be a highly suitable entry into the housing market, would be greatly facilitated by the federal government’s 5 per cent deposit scheme. The question will be – are there enough properties like this? That’s where more housing needs to be built, especially in the inner and middle ring suburbs. Tom Mangan, Woy Woy Bay

As a Boomer, I almost feel guilty for my fortunate life compared to the younger generations. House prices at seven times the annual wage (not 13 times like today), free university education, cheap rentals with no competition for them, and an abundant supply of houses to buy. As well, so many of us are now enjoying the inheritances from our parents when we sell their deceased estates at huge gains. We live our lives as oldies much more prosperously than our parents ever did. And Geoff Harding (Letters, August 28), many young people in our day who didn’t rush into marriage straight after school went overseas, but they usually took a cruise ship to Europe. I would support any move to make things easier for young people, even if it means giving up a few of the perks I now enjoy. Toni Lorentzen, Fennell Bay

Proceed with caution

I agree with Alexandra Smith that provision for new infill housing is urgently required and needs to be built all over the metropolitan area, but unlike her, I have grave concerns over the proposed site over the currently abandoned Woollahra railway station (“My children have it lucky by the beach. But it comes with a brutal downside”, August 28). I’m a former long-time resident of Woollahra, and my family renovated a house further along from that site. We were told by a Woollahra Council building inspector during a compliance inspection of our property in the early 1990s that there were cracks and subsidence issues coming to light with properties both above and below that site as the tunnelling for the eastern suburbs railway had cracked and undermined the sandstone escarpment. Expensive remediation to stop properties slipping down the hill was needed, in one case at a cost of over a million dollars to the unfortunate home owner. Before the state government gives the green light to this proposal, a check of Woollahra Council records and a careful geological survey are surely in order. No one wants another Mascot Towers situation, however urgent the need for new housing. Marilyn Graupner, Elizabeth Bay

Online danger

The murders of policeman in Victoria and Queensland highlight the fears of police, lawyers and judges in dealing with these people, and their concern about the growth of the sovereign citizen movement (“I’ve worked with so-called sovereign citizens. They all believe they’re special”, August 28). Most don’t threaten violence, but their material on the internet provides false justification for disobeying the law and it fits right in with those, usually males, with a chip on their shoulders and violent tendencies. Conspiracy theories on social media had a field day during COVID but were there before and since. Being “agin the government” has a much more robust history in the US than here, but now with the social media megaphone it seems we are destined to go down the same road. It’s just another example of how social media is damaging us. Donald Trump ran his campaign largely by being “agin the government” – and now he has taken it over. Gary Barnes, Mosman

How is it that a “sovereign citizen” can claim a pension or any benefit from a government they despise and whose laws they refuse to acknowledge? Ted Hemmens, Cromer

Guilt by association

Amin Saikal puts the government’s response to the local anti-Jewish outrages into its proper historical context (“Iran confrontation comes at a cost”, August 28). The key issue is expressed in his final sentence: “It is also now incumbent on the Albanese government to make public the hard evidence for its actions.” There is a regrettably long list of purported threats to our national security that turned out to be little more than rumour, exaggeration or founded on faulty intelligence. It is not enough for the ASIO boss, the PM and the foreign minister to stand outside parliament and just assert that the Iranian state ordered these attacks. Expelling the ambassador makes good political theatre of the “guilt by association” kind. More convincing would be proof of Iran’s belief that hiring thugs to firebomb a suburban delicatessen 10,000 kilometres away could have any practical impact on the conflicts in the Middle East. That evidence might well exist, in which case there must be ways of releasing some of the information without compromising its sources (if they haven’t already been “blown” by the government’s and ASIO’s grandstanding). David Salter, Hunter’s Hill

I believe it is wrong to expel the Iranian representative from Australia. This is a peaceful country and we can tolerate many seemingly objectionable causes. Place some type of restriction on his movements perhaps, but let him stay in a free country. Graham Russell, Clovelly

The Albanese government has taken the significant step of expelling the Iranian ambassador for Iran’s “totally unacceptable behaviour”. Perhaps it could now expel the Israeli ambassador for Israel’s “totally unacceptable behaviour”, including the bombing of schools and hospitals, killing medicos, aid workers, journalists, the indiscriminate bombing of civilians and the mass starvation of a civilian population. Jody Ellis, Thornbury (Vic)

Coalition’s plight

What a brilliant analysis of the plight of the Coalition parties by Shaun Carney (“Coalition: From a hiding to nothing”, August 28). For the Coalition to survive, let alone regain power, the incumbent party “heavies” from a previous generation will have to give up power to a younger cohort who are more connected to contemporary Australia; who can cast aside the old “lost” climate wars; and who can present a positive vision for the future. The Coalition’s “old boys club”, with its tough-guy style negativity and misogynistic view of the world, is waiting like vultures for Sussan Ley to fall over. Ley’s recent bipartisan support of the government’s swift action against Iran for its intrusion into Australian politics must have caused deep anger for those power brokers who adhere to the dinosaur politics of opposing everything. As Carney clearly articulates, these Coalition MPs are the irrelevant backward-looking remnants of this political party which was decimated at the last election. They are not the answers to the Coalition’s survival but whilst ever they cling on to power they are “manna from heaven” for Anthony Albanese and the ALP. Warren Marks, Richmond

While I wholeheartedly agree with Shaun Carney, I have to take exception to his phrase “as the Baby Boomers die off”. Yes, I know we Baby Boomers only have the Silent Generation behind us in the mortality stakes, but perhaps it could be expressed more gently so as not to make us even more aware that our days are numbered, even if they are. Baby Boomers, increasingly long-lived, will have much to contribute to the political debate for some time yet, particularly around the necessity to address climate change. Natalie Mabbitt, Randwick

Shaun Carney could not be more accurate when he compares the state of the Coalition to the famous split of the Labor Party in the mid-1950s. When so many parliamentary members of the Coalition cling so doggedly to climate change denial while supported by their patrons, the mining industry, they have a problem. If the more strident members of the Coalition had their way, it would burden future generations of Australians with power generation even more expensive and more damaging to our environment. When our political representatives operate to benefit their own private interests rather than the Australian citizens they are supposed to represent, our democracy is threatened. Bruce Spence, Balmain

Prices down, customers out

Elizabeth Knight’s article about the differences in results between the major supermarkets is interesting (“Giant is left floundering in supermarket wars”, August 28). Ms Knight notes the crux of Woolworths’ problem as a lack of customer trust in the value proposition. Woolworths has focused on a $100 million investment in bringing down prices on a wide range of products. Clearly the company must think its long-time customers are stupid because, while Woolworths has developed a great advertising slogan, it has overlooked the fact it put prices up so high that we have been deserting its stores. So “bringing down shelf prices” is simply an advertising strategy, not a value proposition. The competing supermarkets seem to have stolen a march on Woolworths with better prices. This explains the downturn in Woolworths trading results. Chris Rivers, Port Macquarie

I cannot understand why some shoppers believe they are “unpaid employees” by checking out their own groceries (Letters, August 28). We adapted to self-service petrol bowsers, ATMs, online shopping, interactive kiosks, automatic hotel and travel check-in and bookings. I’d much rather check out my own groceries than have an employee who has handled thousands of others’ item do so. Elizabeth Maher, Gordon

Profit over people

Shareholders may be crowing over the latest Qantas results, but it really only hides the reality of this once great business (“Qantas lands jumbo profit as strong travel demand continues; shares soar”, August 28). The massive boost in profit has come at the expense of ongoing brand damage to Qantas as it continues to pump up prices, degrade its frequent flyer program under the guise of making it more FF friendly (complete nonsense) and manage a rolling maul of PR nightmares, from the data breach to the recent court rulings and penalties. To be fair, Vanessa Hudson was handed something of a poison chalice, but little has been done to empty that cup and fill it with something more palatable. Fancy ad campaigns that try to frame the company as being about people are completely undermined by a company that seems to only care about a bottom line and not the consumer, without whom it would be nothing. But then in a near monopolistic market, we remain bound to use Qantas (or its sister airline Jetstar) because Virgin is no real competitor and won’t ever be more than a minnow that I have no doubt might, at some time, go under again and be swallowed by the Qantas killer whale. Paul Bugeja, Varsity Lakes (Qld)

Winter’s tale

Can we please draw a line under opinions on Norway’s climate (Letters, August 28). I regularly receive emails from family there saying how they are looking forward to winter – and to spring, summer and autumn. Most people finish work at 4pm so that no matter what the season, they take the opportunity to spend time outdoors. In winter, Oslo dwellers hop on the metro with their cross-country skis for a 30-minute trip to the mountains behind the city, where there is a 430-square-kilometre public park with floodlit trails. When there is no snow, the trails are there for hiking and cycling. Norwegian homes are well-insulated and everyone knows how to dress when going outdoors. The old adage of “There is no such thing as bad weather; only bad clothes” is a mantra taught from childhood. I have never been cold in Norway, even in eight feet of snow right up north. But I was often frozen to the bone, indoors, during the years I lived in Sydney’s Blue Mountains. Randi Svensen, Wyong

Reynolds vindicated

Now Linda Reynolds has been vindicated, one hopes that the Labor ministers who verbally attacked the then senator have the decency to publicly apologise (“Linda Reynolds secures $315,000 payout in Brittany Higgins defamation ruling”, August 28). The members who belittled Ms Reynolds are the same people who called out misogyny in Parliament. Hypocrisy at its worst. Peter Haggarty, Cranebrook

Change of tune

It seems ironic that Senator Jacinta Price, a conservative warrior for Indigenous “economic independence”, is now seeking donations to the tune of $320,000 from her supporters (“Jacinta Price seeks to crowdfund $320,000 by month’s end to fight defamation suit”, August 28). A move, one might consider, reflects a dependence on the generosity of others, mainly donors. Alas, it is difficult to keep pace with the shifting sands of neoliberal economics. Chris Andrew, Turramurra

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