Shame young hoons not to drive recklessly
The shocking events in Newcastle last Saturday (“Newcastle’s shouts of joy turn to tears as fans grapple with crash”, October 4) should prompt the NSW government to revisit the highly effective “Pinkie” campaign from the early 2000s. The advertising targeted young male drivers, aged 17 to 25, but instead of using traditional, graphic scare tactics, the ad relied on social shame and peer judgment to challenge reckless driving. The tagline “Speeding. No one thinks big of you”, combined with a well-known gesture indicating a small penis, struck a chord with those young males which other approaches failed to do. Perhaps this could help compensate for the lack of a fully developed prefrontal cortex.
Tim Parker, Balmain
What happened in Newcastle last weekend is obviously devastating for Novocastrians and devastating for the fans, players and people like me keen to seek out something that was joyful, community centred and just celebrated a cornerstone of what it is to be Australian – sport. Is this an opportunity for the government to start thinking about compulsory community service for our young? I’m pretty sure it’s not only me who is exhausted, shattered and shocked that with every passing day/week we see or hear about our young (men in particular) shooting, murdering, beating up or raping someone; running them over with a hotted-up e-bike, hooning in cars or filming someone doing same and hoisting it online. Two years of part-time compulsory community service would instil routine, discipline, help to develop skills and give young blokes an opportunity to participate in our society in positive ways, build character and resilience and make them realise that being a citizen is an actual thing and that everyone benefits when we all pull together. Can someone please look into this?
Dorin Suciu, Eleebana
Breed, don’t buy, players
How right is Brad Fittler that premiership titles and the like are not bought (“Kerry Packer offered me some advice, but I wasn’t buying his logic”, October 4). Rugby Australia has tried that approach, “buying” certain players, and it has not been successful. A team is individuals playing for each other and not always about the money. A team is not individuals playing for themselves and about the money.
Jenny Greenwood, Hunters Hill
Same old Hanson mantra
One Nation is not saying anything new, in fact, it’s been the same old mantra for decades (“One Nation’s silence speaks loud and clear”, October 4). So why has it become such a threat to the major parties? People are hurting at the moment and, at times like this, they blame the government. Normally, the opposition is the party that people will turn to but the Coalition under the leadership of Angus Taylor has become a disaster and thus people are now looking to Pauline Hanson and One Nation. Since its birth, One Nation has been a disorganised rabble, its tactics mirroring Donald Trump through populist appeal, blaming foreigners and attacking the press. Just as the world is waiting for the midterm elections in the US, many Australians will nervously await the success of One Nation at next month’s Victorian election.
Peter Miniutti, Ashbury
Article leaves us in the clouds
Parnell Palme McGuinness (“Australia has to be smart about AI”, October 4) provides readers with yet another challenge to understand her position. As our resident expert on business behaviour and everything else, she rails against leaders in the AI industry in the US becoming very concerned about their industry inventing agents that can breach databases around the world. The delayed revelations of data break-ins reinforces their concerns, and ours. Their joint call for over-arching regulation can hardly be considered “a conspiracy against their competitors”. To rely on Georg Zoeller as an “international AI expert” when he is a merely a co-founder of a boutique non-profit training centre for AI leadership (C4AIL) in Singapore, is drawing on a very minor player in the complex AI universe. The article fails to explain how data centres “would keep us safe” – surely a catch-cry of floundering politicians – nor how AI regulation “would keep us weak and backward”. This article leaves us no further advanced in our understanding of the complexities of dealing with AI.
Bill Johnstone, Blackheath
Flagging fervour
The mention of the Australian flag (Letters, October 4), reignites the pride factor we should all have in our flag, even if a new flag eventually adorns our poles. New Zealand tried to change its flag by referendum, aimed at removing the Union Jack, and it was soundly defeated. The Union Jack remains on its flag. Back in the 1980s, my son belonged to the Scout movement, becoming a Queen’s Scout and eventually a Leader. All scouts are taught flag protocols, especially that the national flag must never touch the ground. Then a newly elected politician presented a new flag to my son’s group and almost allowed the flag to touch the ground when handing it over, missing by millimetres. The whole troop erupted as one with “Woes”. After the ceremony, the new MP was privately educated by the Scout Leader.
David Sayers, Gwandalan
On a high note
Kate Ceberano may have said “No” to a Strictly Ballroom part but has since excited us all with her undeniable energy and fabulously strong voice for decades (“Ceberano winds back clock for encore 40 years in the making”, October 4). Her live gigs are always exciting, but the sultry Ceberano jazz plays in the comfort and background of my home and car hold long moments of intimacy for ever. I hold Kate Ceberano close, and she wouldn’t even know my gratefulness.
Janice Creenaune, Austinmer
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