At no point in his references to the future government of Iran has Trump acknowledged the existence of or work done by the Iranian resistance headed by Maryam Rajavi, which can be attributed to his and his advisers’ insouciant thoughtlessness for the Iranian people (“Australia deploying aircraft, weapons and troops to Middle East”, March 10). Surely, Penny Wong, that attitude cannot be shared by Australia in the face of the support provided to the National Council of Resistance of Iran by the Council of Europe and even the Tasmanian House of Assembly? For more than 20 years, President-elect Rajavi has articulated the NCRI’s 10-point plan for an Iran in which the elected parliament is supreme, nuclear weapons are rejected, the death penalty is abolished, religion and state are separated and a modern legal system is adopted. Stuart Littlemore, Potts Point
Team Australia
It is pleasing to see the Australian government offer asylum to the members of the Iranian women’s soccer team, and technical help to our allies in the Gulf states that are being so unfairly targeted by Iran (“‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’: Cheers after five Iranian players granted asylum after escape”, March 10). These are sensible and humanitarian decisions that have been co-ordinated with the US and the UAE. It would also be pleasing if the progressive cohorts in the media refrained from unrealistic, isolationist criticism of our alliance system. We are acting as allies should in a volatile and fearful situation. Vivienne Parsons, Thornleigh
Strange, isn’t it, how there is an overwhelming sense of pride with Australians wanting to protect the Iranian soccer players from returning to their country by offering them asylum to remain here. If these same players had arrived by boat with the same fears about returning home, we’d be refusing them any safe asylum and sending them off to languish in an offshore detention centre, ensuring there was no opportunity for them to have any sense of freedom. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury
Thank goodness the government acted quickly to offer protection to the Iranian women’s soccer team. Let us hope they will do the same for refugees stranded in Iran. There are several hundred refugees who have been awarded humanitarian visas but have not yet been able to travel to Australia. They require evacuation just as Australian citizens trapped in the Middle East. Marilyn Lebeter, Smiths Creek
You have to wonder who in their right mind advised the Iranian football team it would be appropriate not to sing their national anthem at this highly volatile time. By so doing, they have subjected themselves and their families to possibly life-threatening repercussions. This decision also places Australia firmly in the headlights of a predictably cruel and revengeful regime. Whatever the government decides, the possibility for unpleasant consequences due to the backlash and fallout are very real. Elizabeth Kroon, Randwick
No plan for NAPLAN
More than 30 years ago, teachers in NSW warned about the introduction of what was then called the Basic Skills Test (“NAPLAN boss issues warning to parents on ‘horrendous misuse’ of student results”, March 10). It was obvious that the results of these tests could be manipulated and misused. Since then, a coaching industry has mushroomed, parents have been pressured, children are being stressed and the whole school system has suffered. These tests were supposed to indicate where students’ weaknesses were so that the teacher could address them. Now, to hear children are being coached for NAPLAN, it is completely invalidating the system. Coaching for selective opportunity tests and selective high schools has already invalidated the entry tests for those, and now NAPLAN coaching is following the same route. When will our education leaders decide it’s time to admit introducing these tests was a big mistake? Mary Lawson, Marrickville
Open-book approach to AI
Ed Cavanough’s solution to the problem of AI use in educational assessment in schools and universities is sensible and obvious ( “Allow students to use this ‘sneaky drug’, just not at assessment time”, March 10). As a response to COVID, many universities introduced “at home” assessments, including final exams. Once lockdown ended, the fiscal benefits of not having to rent additional spaces or employ invigilators were too seductive to give up. Ever since universities morphed from institutions of learning to corporate behemoths, education became a byproduct of budgets and marketing. Every young person I ask about the use of AI tells me that of course they all use it, and are smart enough to avoid detection by simple techniques. Many students find it helps them summarise content and create study notes, grade revision tests and organise exam material, creating the “private tutor” that Cavanough recommends. But unless universities adopt his sensible solution to AI cheating, the reputational damage to Australia’s tertiary sector will result in greater financial losses than expenditure on invigilators and exam spaces. Irene Nemes, Rose Bay
As a tertiary educator who has witnessed how students’ use of ChatGPT has resulted in the once useful open-book online exam becoming a valueless exercise in showing that students can cut and paste, I welcome Ed Cavanough’s recipe for solving the conundrum – namely, use it to aid learning and ban it from assessments. However, even its use to aid learning must be accompanied by a rethink of the nature of education and knowledge. Education involves being personally immersed in the pursuit of knowledge, a matter of the heart as well as the head in acquiring knowledge and the hand and tongue in exhibiting this gained knowledge. An over-reliance on AI depersonalises education, the student becoming merely a passively reporting keyboard operator, with outcomes being purely quantitative rather than qualitative. Education involves a living student-teacher-content triad, with AI being an adjunct, not its essence. Paul Casey, Callala Bay
Release the hounds
Like you, Max, I’m a retired school teacher, and like you, I’ve got plenty to say (Letters, March 10). But really, I write to “get it off my chest” and so save my marriage. I unburden myself to the letters readership. That way, my husband doesn’t have to struggle under the weight of all my strongly held opinions. Prue Nelson, Cremorne Point
No doubt Max Redmayne is correct in his assessment of retired teachers, but additionally we now have the ability to speak our mind without being accused of political bias or being constrained by red tape and government bureaucracy. The letters page is our freedom of expression. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach
Max Redmayne and I met as students at Tamworth High School in 1962. We went our separate ways via university and ended up as mature-age retired school teachers. We would very occasionally meet at events such as school reunions, but it was via the letters pages that we re-established our friendship and have met face-to-face more recently.
Our letter-writing styles are different: there are those who refer to Max’s as “intellectual”, whereas the same friends describe mine as “more vaudeville than intellectual”. Paul Hunt, Engadine
The Herald’s letters not only forge connections but also bring unexpected happiness. Back in the 1960s, my father mentored a beginning teacher, Peter McNair, thus beginning a friendship that lasted more than 50 years. Shortly before my dad’s death, the last thing I read to him was Peter’s Herald letter about a “euphoric” ocean swim. I can still see the smile that it brought to his face. Cath Hunting, MacMasters Beach
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
Crikey, Amy Fallon, don’t we all, to a greater or lesser extent, sound just a little bit like Pauline Hanson (“Margot Robbie and I started out with ‘bogan’ accents. I’ve still got mine”, March 10)? Just listen to the prime minister speak. It’s a broad Australian accent, though, to be sure, he’s given it a touch of a polish. Glenn Johnson, Leura
Dollar dazzlers
Not long ago, Australia was led by another rich man, namely Malcolm Turnbull, who had a somewhat fraught political career (“How rich is Angus Taylor? The A to Z of the opposition leader’s portfolio”, March 10). So wealth is not a reliable barometer for the quality of leadership. Derrick Mason, Boorowa
I am no supporter of the current Liberal Party or Angus Taylor, but I can’t see the relevance of an in-depth investigation of his personal assets unless they are not all publicly declared. In America, success is applauded and honoured. In Australia, with our tall poppy syndrome, it is castigated, as if the individual needs to be brought down a peg or two. Whether this response is related to our convict past or simple jealousy, I’m not sure, but it is not our best characteristic as a nation and people.
Rowan Godwin, Rozelle
Housing crisis going up at every level
The coverage in the Herald regarding developers using the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) to “upsize” projects in areas such as Concord West tells only half the story (“Revealed: The developer supersizing tactic rewriting Sydney’s skyline”, March 10). While community groups point to increased density as a “choice”, the reality is that current state bureaucratic processes make lower-density projects economically impossible.
As a developer, I can confirm the “fast track” promised by the premier is, at present, a myth. To even lodge an application, we must navigate a pre-lodgment phase that often takes six months. This includes a wave of “new age” consultant reports that were never previously required. Once you factor in the army of architects and consultants required to attend, the bill for the State Design Review Panel process alone frequently climbs towards $50,000.
By the time we hit “submit”, a developer is often $1.5 million in the hole just to ask for permission.
Once approved, the burden shifts to levies. Between council and state contributions, fees range from $6 million to a staggering $35 million per project. When you combine $1.5 million in upfront costs with $35 million in levies, a 12-storey building is no longer viable. We are forced to propose 30 or 40 storeys just to pay the government’s own entry fees.
Furthermore, the “fast track” isn’t fast. The Housing Department has set a nine-month assessment goal that it is already failing to meet. For example, we have a proposal in Parramatta that includes 15 affordable dwellings which has been sitting with the department for more than nine months. Despite draft conditions being issued in December 2025, we still lack a final determination. When you add six months of pre-lodgment prep, nine-plus months of assessment and another six months of onerous post-consent conditions, you are looking at nearly two years before a shovel even hits the ground. These front-end expenses and levies act as a significant fiscal hurdle that is ultimately reflected in the price paid by homebuyers and renters. We all share the goal of solving the housing epidemic for future generations, but to deliver “attainable” housing, there must be a more balanced approach to assessment fees and timelines. By streamlining these processes and reducing the financial burden at the planning stage, we can ensure that density is driven by the actual needs of our community, rather than the cumulative weight of the project’s tax and fee bill. Michael Akkawi, chief executive, Conquest
Funding a new railway or highway to Sydney requires capture by the developers of the bulk of the uplift in the value of the land made accessible for commuter housing. Think the chequerboard development scheme behind the development of US railways to the west. Compulsory acquisition by the state government of land suitable for new towns west of Lithgow would radically improve the business case for a road and rail tunnel through the Blue Mountains. The current narrow-minded incrementalism has resulted in a decision to permit further housing on the Hawkesbury floodplain, with untold future cost penalties and probably lost lives. Michael Britt, MacMasters Beach
Tony Simons’ letter says everything that is wrong about attitudes to solving the housing crisis. It’s the old story about house values v necessity. Apparently it’s all right to build high-rises in so-called less desirable suburbs such as Bankstown, Blacktown and Penrith, but not at Concord Station, which has obvious transport-adjacent development benefits. The reason? Overshadowing and wind turbulence. God help those who can’t find somewhere to live. Ian Adair, Hunters Hill
Bridge too far
Thanks, Bruce Clydsdale (Letters, March 10). What a disgrace that successive governments have allowed the Great Western Highway to disintegrate to such an extent that Victoria Pass is now shut for the foreseeable future, due to cracks at the nearly 200-year-old Convict Bridge! Any person with any engineering knowledge could tell you it was never built to withstand the current heavy truck traffic. We’ve lived in Blackheath for 45 years. Throughout that period, successive Liberal and Labor governments have spent a fortune investigating and planning innumerable alternative solutions. The latest proposal for a tunnel from Medlow Bath to Hartley was canned. The government can commit billions of dollars to buying the possibility of AUKUS subs yet claims there are insufficient funds to build a workable road from Sydney to the west. Katriona Herborn, Blackheath
United Circus of America
Peter Hartcher has broken the first and second rules of Fight Club – you do not talk about Fight Club (“In Trump’s chaotic theatre of war, there’s only one lead role”, March 10). The Oval Office to be used as the UFC fighters’ entrance to a ring created on the White House lawn is hardly protocol. Nor is the Trump/Netanyahu Whim War on Iran. Now we know Cuba is next; expect to see billboards announcing its box office starting date, coming soon. The problem is that Trump is not just breaking conventions, he is breaking international laws. As Hartcher asserts, Trump has in a non-presidential way publicly fantasised about violence since 2016. Trump has few boundaries, his ethics don’t fit with standardised views and his morals are questionable. Anyone who holds the power of life and death, as he does, needs to be accountable for his actions. Geoff Nilon, Mascot
That Donald Trump is to host a UFC fight at the White House confirms that the US presidency is now a three-ring circus worthy of the legendary Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey. Unfortunately, for the rest of the world, Trump does not perform the role of ringmaster but rather that of Bozo the Clown. Tony Heathwood, Kiama Downs
Gas guzzle puzzle
Where is the oil shock plan for Australia (“Some regional servos run dry as petrol set for yet another price spike”, March 10)? Surely there’s more to it than senior federal politicians urging people without an EV not to panic and lightly taxing the gas corporations who will profit hugely as the Gulf region closes down due to a senseless and reckless war instigated by an “ally”. You would think there would be a plan for a contingency like this, given there have been plenty of warnings. If it exists, why isn’t it being explained to the public now? Jim Allen, Panorama (SA)
Before car drivers complain about petrol pump prices and shortages, perhaps they can turn their attention to the surge in SUV purchases and their hefty gas consumption. Hopefully, buyer regret will turn this into a more sensible return to the regular economical sedan market. Stephen Saks, Bellevue Hill
Please, be seated
I knew that somewhere on my bookshelf there was a letter to the editor that provided the right reply to Mustafa Erem’s letter; “Grave shortage? Bury them standing up.” (Letters, March 7). After much searching; “If we have to be buried upright, can we at least be given a chair to sit on?” Alicia Dawson, Balmain. Source: Pardon Me For Mentioning … Unpublished letters to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, 2013.
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