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 8
The US accuses Australia of modern slavery
“Your article on modern slavery made for interesting reading. The outrageous hypocrisy of the USA is breathtaking! Employers in the US have always taken advantage of their non-existent labour protection laws – what other advanced economy depends on hospitality workers working for $2, $3 or $4 an hour and tips (without which they couldn’t survive)? What other country (Western/advanced) is happy that maybe half of its citizens can’t afford health cover – and no, they don’t have Medicare!”
Stuart Kennedy, Oatlands NSW
The troubles of on-street parking
“We visited Japan about 5 years ago and our guide in Kyoto told us that a car could not be registered unless the owner could show that they had off-street parking. This certainly led to some strange alterations to small houses to accommodate this requirement.”
Annette Waterworth
Tuesday June 9
Off-street parking wishes
“Your article blithely observes that kerbside parking is unnecessary for statistical reasons. [But] kerbside parking is essential in areas settled prior to motor vehicles when dwellings were largely built without driveways or garages. Our largest population centres are Sydney and Melbourne. Inner city areas are short on any off-street parking. In fact, North Sydney Council has resident parking permits because of this. There must be some fairy godmother somewhere who can magic up some off-street parking. We would really welcome her.”
Julia Bovard, North Sydney
The trouble for bookshops
“Bookshops in Australia are a tricky subject. As much as I would like to support local bookshops, they simply don’t, and probably can’t, carry a wide enough range of books to meet the interests of many readers. They focus on best-sellers (that is, trash), new releases and Penguin ‘classics’; anything else is pretty much ignored. The reality in Australia is that the market for quality books is tiny and to survive bookshops can’t serve those people. Australia can’t be compared to France or Italy in terms of reader interest in quality books. Sadly, a bookshop in Australia that sold only books on sport would probably be highly successful.”
Gavin Oakes, Melbourne
One Nation’s housing policy
“One Nation are proposing that people who are not citizens or permanent residents would be forced to sell their properties. Would this apply to Rupert Murdoch who took up American citizenship several years ago?”
John Upham
Wednesday June 10
Why do we value uni more than trade skills?
“Vocational education, or in my school days, technical and commercial education, has a long history of living in the shadow of university education. It is a legacy of an approach to schooling transported here during the early years of European settlement. Being skilled at doing and making was devalued compared to abstract thinking. In the modern era, and indeed basically forever, doing, making and thinking are inextricably linked. The relentless push to increase higher education participation rates and to use them as the dominant indicators of national educational achievements and status has largely contributed to a vocational pathway being second prize. It simply makes no sense to ascribe greater value to one type of education and training over another.”
Dr John Halsey, Emeritus Professor, Flinders University
Should students be separated on ability?
“Imagine that instead of selecting the best players for an inter-school sports team, students were assigned to teams regardless of ability. Those with less ability are likely to have a miserable time (speaking from experience), those most skilled will be frustrated by the impact of the bumblers on their team’s performance, everyone loses.”
Peter Tuft, Kettering TAS 
On street parking
“It is all very well to talk about kerbside parking being unnecessary, but try telling that to anyone with three or four adult children living at home because they can’t afford the extortionate rents and house prices we all face today. Mum and dad still working – have to with the cost of running a home, still mortgaged. Kids with social lives and jobs need cars. Public transport is not up to par generally. Where are we supposed to park five or six cars?”
Kim Ter-Horst
Thursday June 11
Are student streams like sports?
“In his Your Say (Wednesday June 10) this week, Peter Tuft uses the wrong sporting analogy to describe ‘streaming’ in education. Learning a sporting skill occurs during training. The question from an educational perspective is: does it benefit everyone for beginners to work out in a gym with proficient gym users so they can be immersed in an expert learning experience? The streamers believe we should leave the bumblers to struggle on their own and put all our efforts on the elite sportspeople so they can maximise their potential.”
Dr Peter Kandlbinder, Adjunct Fellow, University of Technology Sydney
Independent booksellers need our support
“I was so disappointed to read Gavin Oakes’ Your Say (Tuesday June 9) this week stating that local bookstores don’t carry a wide enough range of books. They may be limited by physical space, but their range of books available is outstanding. I can’t speak highly enough of my friends at Gleebooks in Sydney, as well as my local Berkelouw store (Balgowlah), Roaring Stories in Balmain and Bookoccino in Avalon. Authors (and illustrators) suffer when books are purchased at discounted prices. If a book is offered for sale via an independent bookstore, the author usually receives a royalty of 10% (halved when it has to be shared with an illustrator). This is already an insufficient reward for the time and talent invested, but if books are purchased from a discount retailer, the royalty is based on the discounted price rather than the full retail price and is often less than half.”
Jennie Orchard
Friday June 12
NDIS changes
“I wish that the government, review panels and the media would consider the experiences and views of people like ourselves on the NDIS. Our severely disabled 37-year-old daughter Sarah is smack bang on the target for who the NDIS was supposed to help. As her parents and guardians, we are very miserable about the management of the NDIS for some glaring reasons including the following: disabled people are mostly portrayed as people who NDIS funding can ‘improve’, by gaining social skills or employment etc. There are people like Sarah who have so much developmental delay or brain damage that they can’t ‘grow’ through therapy or activities. In many ways, caring for Sarah is just about keeping her safe, entertained, fed and healthy. It doesn’t make them any less worthy of funding but we feel that people like Sarah are unreported and ignored because there’s nothing exciting about them. We worry that the government will prioritise funding to people who can improve and contribute to society, and that funding for people like Sarah will be disparaged as ‘glorified babysitting’. (Yes, we’ve had a provider say that to us in the past!)”
Andrew Von Berky, Bellthorpe QLD
Discontinuation of Zoladex
“Thank you for publishing the article by Dr Nial Wheate about Zoladex being potentially discontinued in November. I’m really concerned. For me this is about quality of life but for patients with cancer this may be life and death. I have been prescribed Zoladex for 2+ years by my gynaecologist to treat endometriosis, PMDD and complex regional pain syndrome. The prescription is somewhat off-label as you’re only meant to be on it for six months but because of my age (nobody seems willing to perform a hysterectomy on a 38-year-old without children) and CRPS (surgery can exacerbate pain) I’m highly reliant on Zoladex for quality of life and management of debilitating, constant pain. I’ve tried absolutely everything and suffered a lot, Zoladex is absolutely making life bearable for me. I’m currently researching how I can draw attention to this issue and ensure continuous access to women like me in Australia. Although I have chronic pain and fatigue, I potentially have more bandwidth for activism since I’m not battling cancer like some other patients. That’s why I want to take up this cause with urgency.”
Laurel Fox