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 June 15
Brushing your teeth in hospital
“I found it disconcerting to read that a special initiative was required to prevent hospital-acquired pneumonia. It reflects very badly on the nursing profession, or is this another impact factor of a nursing shortage? We need to make nursing contributions visible by mandating the adoption of standardised nursing terminology in systems as detailed in the Australian College of Nursing’s position statement. This allows hospitals to analyse nursing data, generate best practices, and increase the body of nursing knowledge. In today’s world nursing care only becomes visible when preventable adverse outcomes are identified. This needs to change!”
Evelyn Hovenga, Melbourne VIC
Tuesday June 16
The world game
“Following the euphoria of the World Cup win, it might be worth advising Pauline and her no-immigration followers of where the Socceroos’ grandparents come from. I reckon that Australian immigrants would be well represented.”
Kay Paton, VIC
Shark safety
“It seems ridiculous with all the available technology and equipment that such a bizarre concept as a wild animal eating humans in a supposedly safe patrolled area still exists. The head of shark management in the NSW claims ‘We can never be protected 100 per cent at every beach, every day, all the time.’ Why not?”
Guy Forsyth
The caring profession
“Nurses today are not given adequate training in basic nursing care. University education is all very well, but the art of nursing requires more than the ability to write an essay or research a drug on your phone. It is about caring for people when they are at their most vulnerable; they want a nurse to help them wash and clean their teeth, to keep them comfortable and most of all, to care for them.”
Andrea Cohen, Registered Nurse 
Wednesday June 17
The sharks are hungry
“No one seems to be emphasising that the sharks are hungry. The gross mismanagement of Australia’s marine parks, where trawling and gill-netting are permitted on a commercial basis, has reduced fish populations dramatically. If we were to have genuine marine parks, the sharks may not be hungry and people may not be attacked.”
Carmel McNaught, VIC
One Nation’s stance on abortion
“Not surprising that One Nation has jumped on board the anti-abortion right wing movement. As always, they can be counted on to add a complete lack of nuance or knowledge to a complex issue. For each termination there is a scared, grieving or overwhelmed woman or girl who needs appropriate health care without judgement or fear. In the USA women are being reported by health workers to police and charged for having a miscarriage. There are many reasons to fear the rise of One Nation. The rights of women and girls should be enough for anyone to ensure they are never in power.”
Jane Davis, VIC
Thursday June 18
Shark culling
“It seems that every time a shark attack occurs, there are calls for technology or culling to reduce the frequency (or stopping) of shark attacks. From my simple observation, most attacks seem to occur during animal feeding times, i.e. around sunrise and sunset. Instead of placing blame for the attacks on what sharks are doing naturally, why are humans not being taught to not swim/dive/surf during these times? Humans do these things for pleasure while shark activity is generally for survival.”
John Maschke, QLD
Auditing agencies should not be selling
“Government audit firms should not be allowed to hold other government contracts - full stop. When the same Tier 1 firms (KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, EY) are auditing agencies and competing for major consulting and service projects, the potential for conflict of interest is obvious. Even with safeguards in place, the influence auditors can have over future buying decisions is significant. Australia needs stronger guardrails to maintain integrity in public sector decision-making. Public trust in procurement depends on clear separation of duties. If a firm is auditing, it shouldn’t be selling. It’s that simple.”
Scott Draffin, VIC
Social media ban
“As a parent, I would much rather see the addictive, attention-harming elements of social media removed for under-aged people, with optional removal for adults. The ever-scrolling reel of shorts promotes hours of daylight or sleep loss and visible reduction in the ability to concentrate on long form content which is so integral to our education system and future work tasks. I would happily supervise my child’s social media chats, content sharing and interactions with friends online if only we could remove these dangerous elements of the tool.”
Emily Morgan
Friday June 19
Disinformation on social media
“Adults also need protection from the disinformation on social media, but also the outrage algorithms effect on the general level of anger in society, of which the rise of conspiracy theories is only the most obvious result. Populist politicians find an angrier populace fertile ground and know how to harvest it. Hopefully the recent polling showing that now young people and women support Pauline Hanson won’t last but it emphasises the importance of the eSafety Commissioner’s attempt to force social media to be ‘safe by design’ rather than, as now, harmful by design.”
Gary Barnes, NSW
Putting a price tag on AI use
“‘But the cloud is not really a cloud. It is someone else’s computer’. Seyedali Mirjalili’s excellent article stresses a reality that many people do not think about. Surely we need to price AI to reflect these costs.
Kathy Avram
Addressing Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club event
"Michelle Grattan asked about Hanson’s quoting of Tim Fischer calling her ‘a witch’. It was pointed out there is no documentation of that charge and Hanson merely indicated that she had read it ‘somewhere in the paper’. It seemed such a slight thing to make an opening comment on, but was indicative of the duplicity of Hanson. No evidence was used to prop up her grievance that she is constantly maligned. I was somewhat disappointed that Grattan had not come back to press the point.”
Susan Groundwater-Smith