Immigration blame game stops us confronting real issues

Ross Gittins is right (“Immigration is too easy a scapegoat”, October 14). Immigration has become the convenient answer to every difficult question in Australian politics. Can’t afford a house? Blame migrants. Cost of living hurting? Blame migrants. Roads congested? Blame migrants. It is politically convenient but it saves us from confronting the harder causes of these problems. Migration adds to housing demand but it didn’t create decades of inadequate supply, poor planning, tax settings that encouraged property speculation, or governments failing to build enough social and affordable housing. Nor did migrants cause workers’ wages to fall behind the rising cost of living. Of course Australia needs a properly managed migration program, matched by housing, infrastructure and services. But the increasingly shrill competition to see who can promise the biggest migration cut is no substitute for serious policy. Watching mainstream politicians follow One Nation down this populist road, rather than explain a more complicated truth, is deeply disappointing. Australians deserve solutions, not scapegoats – and scapegoats seem to be all One Nation has to offer. Denise McHugh, TamworthProposals to cap migration often raise fears about populating the agricultural workforce.Erin JonassonRoss Gittins shows our opposition to immigration is irrational, ignoring the benefits that migrants bring. He sees this opposition as “primordial and deeply instinctive”. I suggest it is xenophobic and immoral. It hurts our migrants, their children and grandchildren. Mark Porter, New LambtonFor once, Ross Gittins has confused rather than clarified things for me. He acknowledges that the majority have always opposed large-scale immigration, which governments have always espoused. So what price democracy? And is the majority right in the long run? After all, many years of “skilled migration” has yielded what? A continuing skills shortage and, shock, horror, an ageing population and fewer children. Could it be (Gittins mentions this, too) that skilled immigration has made skills training irrelevant? And that population increase has increased demand for stuff (and profits) and therefore made investment in better production methods unnecessary, so adding to the lobbying of local- and overseas-owned businesses for more and more immigration? Governments don’t need a population policy; they have an immigration policy – more is better. A lot of us disagree. Norman Carter, Roseville ChaseWith the greatest of respect to Ross Gittins, he appears to be offering no alternative other than to just keep getting bigger. How many people, from wherever in the world, do we have to plug in at the bottom to look after the top? Will we know when too many are enough? Will there be indicators such as the degradation of our natural and human environment? Will we increasingly have to rely on desalination for our basic water needs? It would seem that it is an innate quality of all species to keep growing until we exceed our resources but in the natural world that usually doesn’t end well for individual species! Are there no steady-state economic models out there? Neil Reckord, Gordon (ACT)One Nation, many flawsNSW One Nation leader Mike Newman promises a “palpable difference” because One Nation candidates would be less susceptible to corruption because they “are not former politicians” (“Coalition defectors eye One Nation”, October 14). This proposition seems to come from an upside-down world where removing independent scrutiny and handing greater discretionary power to ministers somehow reduces the risk of corruption. The real effect of One Nation’s policy would be to give the mining industry carte blanche. Curiously, Newman says nothing about the obvious risk of those politicians feeling beholden to One Nation mega-donor Gina Rinehart. The argument that politicians can be trusted with fewer safeguards because they lack political experience is absurd. Ignorance and inexperience do not inoculate you against corruption. Salvatore Sorbello, CampsieOne Nation’s NSW leader, Mike Newman, with its federal leader, Pauline Hanson.James BrickwoodI liked the description by state political correspondent Michael McGowan of a slew of former Liberals finding a refuge in One Nation as a “conga line”. It reminds me of Mark Latham’s use of the term. Looks like the desperate and dateless finding someone to like them. Tony Sullivan, IslingtonIt may be getting hard for renters but it’s turning into a picnic for one-eyed rent-seekers. Phil Bradshaw, NaremburnLee Hanson an adviser to NSW One Nation senator Sean Bell; Vikki Campion now in an advisory role for One Nation’s NSW branch. One Nation certainly places the family first! Graham Fazio, CootamundraUkraine, ahoy!My present disgruntlement with my party of choice, Labor, at state level, doesn’t affect my support for Penny Wong’s foreign policy rhetoric. My contempt for those of our elected representatives who are apologists for Putin’s war against democracy knows no bounds (“Greens split over Ukraine as senator breaks ranks”, October 14). Perhaps Sarah Hanson-Young might defect to Labor. She’s shown she’s not a sycophant aboard what is a party that’s listing alarmingly to the port side … a ship of fools. Andrew Cohen, GlebeGreens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has broken ranks to support arming the Ukrainian army.NineMr Shoebridge has taken his eye off the main game in Europe. The main game is that imperial Russia, backed by China, working together with a nouveau mercantilist USA, is applying a pincer movement to diminish or even crush the European Union. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is their big throw in that game. The EU, for all its faults, remains the only major source of humanitarian or progressive ideology left in the world. It ill-behoves self-styled progressives in Australia to effectively back Russia while uttering mealy-mouthed provisos about a never-will-happen UN sanction. Tom Mangan, Woy Woy BayIllustration by Megan Herbert Poor executionThe proposed live broadcast of the execution of former US Army major Nidal Hasan, championed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, risks playing directly into the hands of Islamist extremists (“Live execution trashes US values”, October 14). Hasan, a Muslim who claimed religious justification for murdering 13 fellow military personnel at Fort Hood in 2009, committed an appalling crime. His guilt is not in question. But what does America hope to achieve by turning his execution into a public spectacle? Hegseth’s proposal risks transforming a convicted murderer into a martyr and handing extremist organisations powerful propaganda to fuel resentment against the United States. America’s reputation has already suffered from how it exercises economic, diplomatic and military power. A televised execution would hardly restore its moral authority. Chris Rivers, Port MacquarieTalk about the pot calling the kettle black (“Oman raid fuels political firestorm”, October 14)! “She comes from a country where … they shoot each other.” Josephine Piper, MirandaIf the US administration’s approach to allegations of misconduct is that the accused should quit (“Trump’s ambassador to Greece resigns after allegations of misconduct”, October 14), we can only wonder why Trump is still there? Prue Nelson, Cremorne PointPete Hegseth, pictured in September, is also known as the US Secretary of War.APMP’s rhetoric is just shamefulShame on Liberal National Party MP Angie Bell for using such evocative and violent language during a session in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (“Small business minister says she’s had 19 death threats this week”, smh.com.au, October 13), when she called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Small Business Minister Anne Aly to be “shamed and stoned in the square” regarding (of all things!) ATO credit card payments. Apart from taking into account the biblical saying, “He who is without sin cast the first stone”, let us stop and consider for a moment the reality of this scenario being played out. There the two are, pilloried in the public square, and conveniently provided is a large basket of stones. Would she be prepared to put her money where her mouth is and throw one? Or would she demur, expecting someone else to do her dirty work for her? Alicia Dawson, BalmainSmall Business Minister Anne Aly during question time on Monday.Alex EllinghausenA member of parliament declares that Small Business Minister Anne Aly should be “stoned in the square”. As a direct result of this attack, Ms Aly has had 19 death threats this week. In light of the recent data from Sydney University and other agencies that show a sharp, prolonged rise in violence targeting women and girls in Australia, is a whispered withdrawal of this malicious comment enough? Perhaps Liberal MP Angie Bell needs to educate herself on this most serious of society’s problems? Mark Paskal, AustinmerWrong directionI share the fury expressed by the arts sector (“Fury at Powerhouse over $440k role for Kwong”, October 14). With the former chief executive’s departure, I had hoped for a resurrection of this institution’s raison d’etre as a museum of applied arts and sciences. But a cooking ambassador? Kylie Kwong’s eye-watering $440,000 new role takes the cake for diversion of scarce arts funding. One consequence of this largesse is the uncertain fate of the already gutted Ultimo Powerhouse, whose future is already threatened by talk of the sale of the heritage former tram-sheds on this site. I’m old enough to remember the cost issues associated with the construction of the Sydney Opera House. This world-class building was completed with funding from the Opera House Lottery. I would willingly buy tickets in a Powerhouse Lottery, provided that the funding went towards resurrecting the Ultimo complex to its former glory as a museum, not a party palace. Elizabeth Elenius, PyrmontMarching in: Fire ants are known as one of the world’s worst pests.Invasive Species CouncilDelay disappointmentAgriculture Minister Tara Moriarty’s explanation for the delay in announcing that fire ants were in Sydney cuts no mustard. Knowing the country of origin is academic when we should all have been out in our yards checking for their actual presence. We need same-day announcements. Dick Clarke, Elanora HeightsTech thatI see in your article (“PM meets Taylor more often as One Nation nips at heels”, October 14) that the big tech companies are still whingeing that our “copyright laws are blocking investment”. I wonder how they would react if someone were to get hold of their algorithms and code and copy them, or dismantle their chips to see how they work – “just for training”, you understand. I think you would hear the screams on Mars. Ron Wessel, Mount Saint ThomasConcept images of the data centre, logistics and commercial hub planned on the site of the former Kogarah Golf Club site.NSW Department of Planning If data centres are unstoppable – as seems to be the case – our politicians must insist on full payment for our valuable resources through a data centre resources rent tax. With no market or benchmark price for these resources, it could simply be calculated at 10 to 25 per cent of a data centre’s capital cost, payable annually, into a Norwegian-style sovereign wealth fund. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT)Exam failThe article “Students braced for curveball but got a ‘gift’” (October 14) shows a school delighted that they got “an adaptable question that could be moulded to prepared essays”. Prepared essays, edited and assisted by parents, teachers, tutors and god knows who, should be considered cheating. Instead, our goal should be to challenge students to understand an idea presented to them and react on the spot with a coherent essay relevant to the question. Being able to parrot back a prepared essay does test the memory but does not tell a marker who wrote the prepared essay or that the student can think and write on the spur of the moment, an extremely valuable skill. With prepared essays they might as well be using AI in the exam. The point of English essays should be that there are many points of view that can be valid but need to be argued with evidence. This is what students should demonstrate in the HSC, rather than the stress-causing memorisation of a prepared essay. When in their whole life – if they don’t become an actor – will they need this memory skill again? Judith Wheeldon, Roseville ChaseOh, the humanitiesLast century I completed a four-year career-oriented applied mathematics degree. A few years later my sister completed a three-year humanities degree. It was clear that I was one up because four is bigger than three. My sister responded that I was trained while she was educated. Gaining experience in my career soon demonstrated that my sister was right. So I went and did a humanities degree and found that many more doors were opened in both career and life. Consequently I am a strong advocate for early exposure to humanities (including drama, Letters, October 14), together with work skills training. Brian Eastoe, Black HeadPlate them up? Cars move along the main street of the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan. BloombergRoad (user) signsThe practice of identifying older drivers, as suggested by your correspondent (Letters, October 13), has been around for nearly 30 years in Japan, where the Koreisha mark, displayed on a car, indicates that an older driver is at the wheel. Anyone over 70 and whose driving might be affected by their ageing is encouraged to display the mark on their vehicle. All drivers aged 75 and over are legally required to display the Koreisha. Inexperienced drivers display a yellow and green Shoshinsha mark, similar to our red and green P plates. William Galton, Hurstville GroveI remember when there were some cars displaying GB in black on a white oval background. Apparently these were cars that had returned from Great Britain. Others would say it meant the drivers were just “Getting Better”. Stanley Yan, ThornleighTo submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here.