Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.
Monday September 7
“Reading ‘Grattan on Friday: economic life won’t get much better until Australians climb that productivity mountain’, I couldn’t help but think of what I saw Alan Kohler say on ABC TV News (more than once). Kohler considered the poor state of productivity and showed a graph on business investment in it. The graph showed businesses on a kind of capital strike, failing to put new money into their enterprises that would lift (‘hike’!) productivity. No-one else has mentioned this in my news sources.”
Kym Houghton
“Advertisers and marketers understand that keeping a brand in the forefront of people’s minds is a good strategy for potential sales and influence. Even when there is little substance to ‘products’, if you’ve heard of a brand, you might purchase it ahead of another. One Nation receives a lot of media coverage. There appears to be little political debate in what they offer, save trading insults and hyperbolic, extreme comments.”
Stewart Stubbs, NSW
Tuesday September 8
“Reading last week’s article ‘As global heating heads to 1.8C, is it time to consider the ‘Voldemort’ of climate policy?’, we can always hope that technology will fix our climate threat. The most effective way we can diminish this threat is to stabilise and gradually reduce our population. There is a direct correlation between population growth and CO2 emissions, declining wildlife populations, energy and fresh water use, food security and much more.”
Jennie Epstein, Little River VIC 
“The text of this article ‘Is Australia’s school system ‘anti‑boy’?’ does not even begin to address the question whether the school system is anti-boy. It focuses solely on whether consent teaching is anti-boy. What about the rest of the curriculum? What literature is taught? Does it include books and plays and movies that boys will engage with? Or geography or history? Or does consent teaching limit all of those options? How is the STEM curriculum arranged to engage boys? Boys are different from girls and current gender ideologies. They need to be engaged for the whole curriculum through different strategies than those which enable girls to prosper. Both are essential to our future.”
Joanne Blackburn
Wednesday September 9
“How heartening to read this article ‘How Indigenous Protected Areas became a vital way to protect nature in Australia’. It is uplifting to hear of not only the welcome effects this program is having on both Indigenous and non indigenous Australians in different ways but to the country itself. Thank you for this ‘good news’ on our back doorstep.”
Alison Moore
“While reading ‘Australia has a housing shortage. So why are Bathla and other home builders collapsing?’, it made me think who is really financing our new homes? Small builders often pay for materials, labour and subcontractors before receiving progress payments, effectively providing working capital to construct someone else’s asset. Consumer protection is essential, but it shouldn’t transfer an unreasonable amount of financial risk to builders, particularly when disputed payments create cash-flow pressure. Victoria’s payment system is being reformed, but we should ask whether the way we contract and pay builders is contributing to builder collapses. We can’t expect small builders to construct more homes, absorb volatile costs and carry significant risk, then wonder why so many fail.”
Nicole DiCiero
Thursday September 10
“Thank you for the response to this new exhibition in your recent article ‘The Margaret Preston retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria is a revelation’. Preston appears as a successful Anglo-Australian who was a person of her times! With all the struggle and growth in her work, her appropriation of First Nations originals is acknowledged. She was no better than her contemporaries and she produced art for us all.”
Kym Houghton
“In your article ‘The ‘core’ of One Nation’s super proposal is sound, says former Grattan Institute chief John Daley’, One Nation’s proposal to allow people to access their super for housing has many downsides. Previous financial incentives, such as the first home owner grant, have only created greater purchasing power, higher demand and higher house prices. Less superannuation in retirement means a lower quality of life and more money spent on pensions which puts more pressure on the budget. The short-term ‘fix’ gains votes but costs society plenty in the long run. We need politicians who think long-term. They seem to be in short supply.”
Mark Penman, Greenslopes QLD
Friday September 11
“Referring to yesterday’s article ‘Why health insurance cuts for the over‑65s won’t swamp public hospitals after all’, many seniors have worked continuously for years, only to face rising living costs and the loss of the health insurance rebate they were told they had to go without for 12 years. Private health insurance is becoming unaffordable, while public hospitals are already under enormous pressure, with dangerous waiting times and limited access to essential care. The situation is real, and the consequences are real – do we really want to push even more seniors into an already struggling public healthcare system? Where is the common sense and clear priority? Healthcare should come before urgently expanding data centres when our hospitals, doctors and patients are already under such stress.”
Nancy Bogg
“While reading your article ‘A court will decide the future of Yuraygir’s feral horses. That matters for native plants and animals’, I find it is a monstrous distortion to refer to Yuraygir’s horses as Brumbies. The unsustainable numbers roaming Kosciuszko National Park may have a tenuous link to the historic Brumby but the relatively recent arrivals in Yuraygir are ferals, pure and simple. I spent 40 years of my life living alongside Yuraygir National Park and remember well the many days spent roaming, diving and fishing without seeing humans or horses. Today’s tourist numbers are the inevitable consequence of population increase. The horses are environmental vandalism.”
Terry Flanagan