Credit:Illustration: Jim Pavlidis

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Robo-debt inquiry

Alan Tudge’s testimony at the royal commission into the robo-debt scheme shows how hateful his government was to unemployed people (“Tudge part of robo-debt ‘intimidation’”, 2/1). Remember these weren’t the usual unemployed people, they were the ones who did the right thing and worked. You would think a government would pat them on the back. No. They punished them for working.
In his testimony, Tudge said he was aware that the robo-debt program was giving inaccurate results in 2017. But he let the program continue until 2019 when a Federal Court judge found the method used to calculate debts was unlawful.

He then says he only became aware of its illegality years later. Does he not read publications such as The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald, among others, which questioned the legality for years? No he was too busy blaming the poor, ultimately innocent, welfare recipients in the right-wing press. He saw the whole episode as a matter of politics. It’s hard to see much empathy from his actions.
John Rome, Mt Lawley, WA

Tudge’s ‘not my fault’ claims don’t cut it
Alan Tudge claims he “knew nothing” about the lawfulness of the robo-debt scheme when he was the minister responsible, but also seems to know nothing of ministerial responsibility. “The doctrine of ministerial responsibility in the Australian government [is that] ministers are obliged to report failings of departments under their control to the parliament, and to actively seek solutions to problems in their jurisdiction.”

But he said there was no problem (failings) with the robo-debt scheme and defended it when the very legality of the scheme was being seriously questioned. Blaming his department is to ignore his responsibility as minister. “It’s not my fault” just doesn’t cut it.
Harry Kowalski, Ivanhoe

Buck stops at the top
Alan Tudge seems to be primarily interested in supporting his own reputation at the robo-debt commission. When my husband was a project manager in the computer industry he used to say the buck stopped with him: no matter what went wrong it was his fault because he was the top person; it was his job to make sure what was supposed to happened. As per usual, being in parliament you are never responsible, you blame your staff. It just shows they don’t live in the real world.
Rita Reid, Port Melbourne

Vulnerable hounded to what end?
Every additional instalment from the robo-debt royal commission provides further horrifying details about the actions of former federal Liberal governments (“Robo-debt probe told of dole bludger strategy”, 1/2). Despite being warned that the income averaging scheme could be illegal, the government hounded vulnerable people, resulting in extreme stress, considerable hardship and possibly in some cases, suicide. To counter negative publicity relating to robo-debt, the ministers and their compliant departmental staff allegedly devised “dole bludger” stories for the sympathetic “right-wing” media to gleefully recount.

The individuals who turned out to be victims of the scheme were intimidated into silence through the veiled threat of the release of personal information. Minister Tudge threatened, “We’ll find you, we’ll track you down, and you will have to repay those debts and you may end up in prison”. Prison time would certainly seem appropriate in these circumstances, but not for the victims of this shocking abuse of power and process.
Helen Moss, Croydon

Spreading misinformation
It’s bad enough that the Liberal government produced stories about dole bludgers and welfare integrity to promote robo-debt. It is arguably worse that there are apparently sympathetic “right-wing” media outlets willing to publish this misinformation.
Greg Walsh, Black Rock

THE FORUM

Border resources
Nick McKenzie’s excellent report about the AFP’s arrest of international crime figures was like something out of a Hollywood crime saga (“AFP dismantles alleged $10 billion Chinese money laundering operation”, 2/2). I particularly liked the bit about the arrested man’s mother-in-law driving a Lamborghini 4WD up to the Burwood Branch of the NAB with $7 million to deposit. Oh, and the bit about the suspects wandering about with bags “stuffed with millions of dollars in cash”.
But of course none of it is funny. The least funny part is that Australian government has for decades spent billions locking up pathetic refugees, and spreading dark hints about the dangers they present for our culture. And all the while they’ve allowed international drug cartels, money laundering syndicates, migration racketeers and assorted crime gangs to flourish in this country because the relevant authorities have “inadequate resources” to deal with them.
Bernard Slattery, Castlemaine

Peter’s pall
Peter Dutton hasn’t got much going in terms of big ideas or charm but he is often lauded as a pragmatist. What can he be hoping to gain by his relentless negativity regarding the Voice? Will opposing the constitutional change win back any Teal seats? How many Liberal voters might he lose? And that’s before considering how history will judge him.

As Shaun Carney writes (“Dutton is driving the liberals off a cliff”, 1/2), the party Dutton has inherited is a dysfunctional “wreckage”, captive to a right-wing rump that is out of touch with the community. Electoral abyss awaits him. Sadly though, the “double majority” referendum voting requirement might mean that his fear mongering and naysaying could kill this opportunity of a new beginning in Indigenous relations.
Patrice McCarthy, Bendigo

The right remedy
I have heard people disagree with implementing the Voice because it appears to give extra rights to only one section of the community, the Indigenous. In itself that is correct, but it does not acknowledge the bigger picture of how little their voice is heard by government. The non-Indigenous community is heard by government from many powerful sources – the media unions, business groups and religions, not to mention lobbyists. The Voice could help redress this imbalance.
John Groom, Bentleigh

Status quo
I cannot understand the call for including migrants in the Voice. Everyone living in Australia who is not of Aboriginal heritage is either a migrant or a descendant of migrants. If migrants were included we would be maintaining the status quo. The intention of the Voice is recognition of what has been taken from the Indigenous population and the second step (the apology being the first) in beginning to make reparation for this.
Charlotte Brewer, Shepparton

Captures the babble
Julie Szego must surely have a secret life as a teacher in a Victorian government school (“You’ll pay, kids … one way or another”, 2/2). Szego’s hilarious, sarcastic take-down of aspects of state education, replete with Edu-babble phrases such as “flexible learning space experiential module pod”, is so accurate one has to rage, or weep, or both. And no doubt many teachers do.
Deborah Morrison, Malvern East

Unfair outcomes
Julie Szego’s blunt description of our inequitable education system should appal any fair-minded Australian. If more people don’t get angry about this, and demand changes, latent talent will continue to be wasted as students from inadequately resourced government schools will miss out on opportunities. Australia will be the poorer, and our much-vaunted self-image as the land of the fair go revealed as a facade.
Norman Huon, Port Melbourne

Pay subsidies to parents
The private school funding model is flawed. Our Swiss cheese rules allow the wealthiest private schools to receive funding even though there is little evidence they keep fees affordable. If private school funding is meant to take the load off the public school system, the incentive should be paid directly only to parents who are demonstrably eligible for it. The government should offset private school fees by directing the funding to parents via an income and asset wealth test.
Paul Miller, Box Hill South

Private privilege
I could not agree more with Jenna Price on defunding private schools (Comment, 1/2). But where to start? Check the bios of most politicians, Labour included, and you’ll see the bias is baked in from the top.
Andrew Barnes, Ringwood

School refusal
Matthew Bach (Comment, 31/1) you are right when you say that school attendance allows students to take advantage of educational opportunities; full participation usually leads to enhanced outcomes. And as you say, there is no doubt parents have a key role to play in facilitating this. So, it is somewhat surprising that you have omitted a crucial aspect. What advice would you offer parents of an adult sized secondary school student who simply cannot get out of bed, such are the debilitating effects of anxiety? I am sure many of these parents would happily endure some bite marks in exchange for their child actually getting inside the school gates (until we can’t).
The missing element in your picture is the provision of professional help for parents – an offer of practical guidance and emotional support, so they can navigate this difficult terrain.
Trish Thompson, Northcote

Read letter days
The simple solution for a school refusing a child is to say, “If you go to school you could get qualifications as a journalist with the opportunity to spend your working day reading letters to the editor prior to publishing”. A “letters to the editor” position must surely be the best job of all. A job experiencing so much humour and wisdom to enlighten every day and never be short of anecdotes to recall at parties.
David Hassett, Blackburn

A little help
Before the expected influx of students from China arrives, is it not time to reconsider Australia’s responsibility to international students? It’s all very well to accept their fees, but many seem to live in poverty. The report “Tanay slept on a couch for months” (30/1) is merely the latest indication. Should we assist them to find jobs? Provide accommodation? Offer scholarships that cover costs? Should potential students not be accepted if they or their parents cannot pay for their food and accommodation?

One thing is for certain — international students couch-surfing and starving has to stop.
Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn

Cheating themselves
Students who use AI to write essays and assignments are in the end cheating only themselves. All university subjects are designed around learning objectives – not just a list of topics – such as the ability to describe, understand, analyse, synthesise, communicate, work in a team, research, debate and so on. Assignments and essays and the like are designed to achieve these learning objectives and are assessed to ensure the students do the work. If students use AI and do not work through the processes themselves, they do not learn. They are missing out on the very reason they are enrolled.
Louise Kloot, Doncaster

Pell’s legacy
I mentioned Cardinal Pell to a young adult today — she retorted that “they’re all terrible”. Part of George Pell’s legacy is that the Church’s reputation is trashed, for a significant proportion of the population. This is despite generations of social and charitable work by the Catholic Church, to believers and the wider community – parish by parish in Australia, and with aid worldwide through Caritas.

One reason is that an organisation supposedly based on “love your neighbour” actually tended to support sinning priests rather than victims.
John Hughes, Mentone

Poetry every day
While I’m thrilled that we shall have a Poet Laureate, I would like more, some, poetry to appear in The Age, perhaps on a weekly or dare I say, even a “poem for the day”. Just as we all did, I read the poetry of the Anglosphere at school, but to reread them as an ageing adult is a different experience altogether. What a delight it would be to come across a poem, in The Age each day.
Jan Hasnie, Doncaster

Accent cringe
One reason Australian TV fails to punch through internationally is the Aussie accent. It’s cringeworthy. (“Why is Australian TV failing to make global hits?” 2/1). Once our actors head overseas nearly all learn to speak with a mid-Atlantic accent.

Our sunny soaps and comedies are the exception, where the Aussie drawl is de rigueur. If we want to establish our version of “Aus-noir”, we should film in Australian cities that have a cold climate. The best dramas come out of the east coast of the US, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the UK.
Paul Custance, Highett

Musical tradition
“The best things to do in Melbourne this month” (2/2) failed to mention the free concerts in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (February 8, 15 and 18), given by our wonderful Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, attended by thousands of music-lovers every year since 1959. A generational tradition for many families, and a great way to introduce children to classical music in a relaxed atmosphere, with a picnic tea.
Joy Hayman, Blackburn North

National pride
I don’t see why flags are shown next to a player’s name at the Australian Open. It is not the Davis Cup so the country a player professes to belong to has no relevance. Besides, a number of players were not born in the country they represent.
Margaret Collings, Anglesea

And another thing

Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding

Voice to parliament
Dutton’s conundrum: if he uses the voice the PM has given him to resolve his concerns about the Voice, he validates its usefulness. If not he will just look obstructionist.
Joan Segrave, Healesville

You’re wasting your time Mr Albanese; how can you explain the simple concept of inclusion and equality, as written in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, to someone without a heart nor will to do the right thing?
Henry Herzog, St Kilda East

It seems the only Voice acceptable to Peter Dutton would be one with laryngitis.
Phil Alexander, Eltham

Robo-debt inquiry
If only a government would pursue corporate fraudsters with the same vigour they chase so-called “dole bludgers”.
Jack Morris, Kennington

Alan Tudge seems to have forgotten the first principle of leadership; “You can delegate everything except responsibility”.
William Wallace, Ascot Park, SA

Furthermore
Osman Faruqi is spot on (Comment, 2/2). I watch Australian drama out of a sense of obligation but Scandi shows because they are really good.
Neale Woods, Wattle Glen

Does WA Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson not realise that if, “The search groups have quite literally found the needle in the haystack” (The Age, 2/2), the radioactive capsule must still be missing?
June Collini, Diamond Creek

In response to Peter Hatcher’s assessment of the development of AI (Comment, 31/1), I was drawn to recount the 2006 film Idiocracy where a time traveller finds himself in a future of complete idiots.
The door has opened to that becoming our reality.
Jae Sconce, Moonee Ponds

When they finish investing in Geelong wind-farms, will IKEA start paying their Australian taxes?
D. Hughes, South Melbourne

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