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 29
Elon’s free islands
“Gina Rinehart wants the Queensland government to GIVE Elon Musk an island so he can launch rockets. GIVE? The richest man in the world needs a handout? Why do these large corporations constantly need billions in government funding? Corporations expect us to pay our bills. Why can’t they pay theirs?”
Mark Penman, Greenslopes, QLD 
Is soft power the way forward?
“In the article on what survival lessons Australia can learn from the Iran war, the author suggests alternative military strategies. What was not sufficiently discussed is soft power. We spend vastly more on defence than on soft power, not taking into account what we intend to spend on nuclear submarines. Soft power projection would provide far more security, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, than military options. We should reach out to Asia, especially Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, and be accepted as part of it in both cultural and economic terms.”
Ranjan Yagoda
Tuesday June 30
The gift of generosity
“David Kilcullen’s article from last week looked at military tactics to prepare for potential future threats, but we never talk about giving to our more populous neighbours as a way forward. Look at our vast natural resources. Instead of making corporations wealthy, what about sending our gas to Japan, coal to India, and renewable electricity to Indonesia and Malaysia, at cost recovery prices ie. at a fraction of the current defence budget. Giving back to our neighbours, large and small, would gain us so much ‘soft power’ for a fraction of the defence budget currently spent on already outdated technologies.”
Tom Danby, Campbells Creek
NDIS reforms
“There are two reasons for the overwhelming outcry about slashing the NDIS - the system was not set up properly to restrict fraud, and the NDIS has provided services to a huge number of people with a disability who have never had a support service of any kind previously. The proposed changes will mean they are yet again without any support to assist them have a meaningful life. Senator Jenny McAllister should note that disability is a lifetime condition, and the NDIS provides services for adults as well as children. The government should certainly control fraud, but not by making all NDIS participants pay.”
H Douglas, Brisbane
Dying with dignity
“I also support the idea of voluntary assisted dying, without having a terminal illness to ‘qualify’ for dignified death. My final years should be spent living comfortably, as I currently am. I would like to think that when the time is right, there will be a humane way to pass away. As it is, I’m weighing up each painful, violent, lonely and terrifying alternative. Hopefully in ten years’ time we’ll have different laws.”
Louise James
Wednesday July 1
Research vs reality
“I appreciated the recent article on isolation as a disciplinary strategy in schools. It was balanced, thoughtful and reflected much of the current research on behaviour management. However, it also highlighted what I see as a persistent gap between educational research and classroom practice. Research necessarily isolates variables. It asks what interventions improve the behaviour of an individual student. Teachers, by contrast, must constantly make decisions about the wellbeing and learning of an entire classroom. A serious behavioural incident affects not only the student involved but every other student, the teacher and the climate for learning. This is not a criticism of research. Schools have benefited enormously from advances in neuroscience, developmental psychology and behaviour research. The difficulty arises when evidence gathered under simplified conditions is translated into policy for the far greater complexity of everyday classrooms. Research can readily measure suspensions, behavioural incidents and attendance. It’s much harder to measure teacher confidence, classroom predictability, the cumulative impact of repeated disruption or the learning lost by compliant students whose education is repeatedly interrupted. Evidence tells us what was measured. It cannot, by itself, capture everything that matters. Perhaps the challenge is not producing more research, but strengthening the dialogue between universities and practitioners so that policy reflects both scientific evidence and the professional judgement of those who work daily in complex human environments.”
John Frew
Thursday July 2
In Wednesday’s newsletter, we published an article busting five common myths about migration. Many of you shared your thoughts. Here is a selection.
“The current febrile political environment is awash with such myths and they are central to Pauline Hanson’s appeal. Why Hanson has such appeal at the moment is best explained by her comment at the National Press Club that she has not changed in 30 years but Australia has caught up to her. That unfortunately is correct. Australians have become an angrier people this century and a significant part of the reason may be social media algorithms feeding outrage, as detailed in Ed Coper’s new book Angertainment. That is very fertile ground for hard-right political parties to campaign on and many see that as a serious threat to Australian democracy.”
Gary Barnes
“Thank you for publishing Louisa Jones’ article debunking common myths about migration. Given that many people these days get their "news” from influencers on social media, or such sources as Sky News and the Murdoch press, how do you get reasoned, logical arguments such as this into public notice? I suspect that most One Nation supporters don’t read The Conversation!“
Bobbie Oliver
"Your article regarding the five myths on migration was an eye-opener. Personally, I’m not against migration and your article only confirmed this. What I can’t understand is why politicians of the opposition and Hanson keep telling lies about it, which people believe. The government needs to enlighten the public and journalists of the facts so that all the myths can be busted.”
Trina Grist
Friday July 3
Population problems
“I grew up when there were fewer than 13 million Australians and it was a good time. I could go fishing or surfing and we would see dingoes on the beach and dolphins in the water at the same time. Now there is a carpark with overflowing rubbish bins. For all the people added to the population, Australia is no better off for it and the environment and the infrastructure is worse off. The only ones who want immigration are the politicians and major retailers and capitalists. With one stroke, you can increase your tax income, suppress wages and increase demand without having done anything innovative or interesting. Overpopulation is our biggest danger, it is here already, but the powerful are diverting our attention with trivial distractions.”
Geza Kovacs
What’s our aim?
“It is basic to first answer the question of what migration is actually for. While Alan Gamlen’s article gives an excellent rundown of those answers, an even more appropriate kickoff question might be: what is our overarching population policy, and specifically, what is the desirable population size for the country in the long run? Once that target is established, migration policy can serve as the primary mechanism to deliver the necessary flow-ons to hit the goal. Without a foundational population policy at the top, any Tom, Dick or Harry can throw out arbitrary annual migration numbers and argue until the cows come home that they are right. Ultimately, the nation ought to first agree on a long-term population size for Australia.”
Ang Ung
Heads in the sand
“Is anyone (government or otherwise) actually doing anything about the massive elephant in the room? Ice is melting at both poles of the planet at a rate never seen before, while Europe is seeing temperatures equivalent to an Australian summer – for days on end! The noise of powerful people playing stupid games and causing the whole planet to lose sight that our planet is getting hotter. My mind boggles why people in power have their heads in the sand about this.”
Fiona McPherson