Good cop, bad cop: let’s not scapegoat one female police commissioner

Thin blue line

Dr Deb Campbell writes: Is Katarina Carroll capable of changing the Queensland Police Service’s entrenched racism and sexism (“ ‘Failure of leadership’ in Queensland police let misogyny, sexism and racism flourish”)? Or should we be asking: are we — in Australia, the Western world, the whole world — recruiting the wrong people to be police officers?

Do police today need to be young, intellectually unremarkable, emotionally untested, physically fit and (relatively) large men? Maybe for some jobs we allocate to police — or rather pass off to them — then yes. But are those the jobs we most need to be done effectively and well? Given the plague of domestic terrorism evident in Australia I would say no. I would recruit women and men who are older, more experienced in life, more curious, not dogmatic and less rules-focused. Fewer of those who are most comfortable with “oneness and sameness”, as Dr Karen Stenner would put it, and more of those happy to embrace change and difference. These are the people we need to be in charge of most of the complex, nuanced criminal investigations.

So let’s not scapegoat one police commissioner who happens to be a woman. Rather, let’s question all police commissioners — and their political masters and mistresses — about redefining the shape and texture of the people who could make up the police services we need. 

Ripped off

Peter Mair writes: The buy-now-pay-later innovation (BNPL) illustrates market and regulatory failure on a grand scale (“Regulation is coming for the buy-now-pay-later scam — but will it be enough?”). Treasury’s civility in confronting the issues so politely is noted — luckily BNPL is failing. The review should not obscure the realities of such a fundamentally defective product being offered — let alone endorsed — by confused regulators and misled investors. The “executive summary” goes on to recite a litany of “possible” defects and inexplicable regulatory forbearance in respect of BNPL schemes.

Fairly considered a racket, BNPL promoters leveraged both another racket, parading as global credit card schemes, as well as the plain nonsense of nominal interest rates ever being set at zero. The complete regulatory book should be thrown at BNPL schemes. The eventual, belated regulatory response should be so comprehensive that it pulls the chain on a product to be taken away.

It’s a man’s world

Ray Schriever writes: I really enjoyed the informative and lively “The ABC of gender pay parity: no transparency leaves women powerless”. It seems the Old Boors’ Club is still trading after hours in its rooms. People have been conned across the board with these secret social commitments within their work contracts.

My wife was working at one of the lowest-paid jobs in Australia, aged care, and was threatened along with other staff about discussing their pay among themselves. They had been trying to compare their incomes in relation to the earnings of contract workers from agencies. We boast about being in a free and open society yet governments and employers have managed on very dubious grounds to restrict the free flow of information. We see this in the persecution of whistleblowers, the termination of anyone who expresses discontent (though discontent isn’t cited as the reason), and cloak-and-dagger wage mysteries.

Crocodile sweeter than Spud

Anne Atkinson writes: A choice between crocodile meat or Peter Dutton? Give me crocodile any time (“Dutton addresses crowd of journos tucking into BBQ prawns and crocodile meat”). An interesting alternative offering an exciting experience to one and all with a follow-up lifelong tale to tell. Anything but Dutton.

Bilal Cleland writes: The choice between two reptiles is no choice at all. Neither could be halal.

Barry Welch writes: Given her anti-union bleating, it seems we have Lambie dressed as Dutton.

Going Lowe

Byron Hunter writes: Thank you for “Philip Lowe’s world of growing volatility — and why you, not those responsible, will pay the price”. This should be the biggest headline in every news outlet across Australia. The Reserve Bank has failed the Australian people and an immediate response from the federal government is necessary. 

The RBA is hyper-focused on the Australian market and appears to be oblivious to the fact that the current inflation issues are global — no mention of the US printing trillions of dollars in the past year. It is also astonishing that it continues raising interest rates despite it having no material impact on inflation. Regardless, how is raising home loan repayments by nearly double in six months a good solution to an increase in inflation from a 3% target to 7-8%? The cure is certainly worse than the illness. 

Thankfully I have always only ever purchased modest homes and the numbers don’t significantly change my lifestyle, but I feel sincere compassion for young people buying their first or second homes in the past 12 months being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by an incompetent RBA. We won’t hear the voices of the victims — they will be too ashamed to ask for help or tell their story because they will see themselves as a failure for being unable to make their repayments etc. Please continue your coverage.

Fools Russian in

Malcolm Harrison writes: The Russian economy is not failing and Russian forces in Ukraine are not losing the war; nor does it seem the Russians are running out of missiles, ammunition, tanks or other materiel (“Diplomacy with Putin is neither intrinsically moral nor strategically wise”). Moreover, Vladimir Putin has never threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. His most recent statement on the subject was that he had no intention of doing so, nor had any reason to do so. That Foreign Policy should say otherwise is hardly surprising since it is the mouthpiece for the Atlantic Council and the neocons in Washington, both of which are ardent supporters of the proxy war the US is fighting against Russia, as well as being core believers in American exceptionalism and US hegemony over the planet earth.

All of this raises the question: why does Crikey keep reprinting articles from such a partisan source? Why does Crikey think that anything being promoted from this source is in any way beneficial to Australia’s interests, or consistent with our supposed values?

A dim view

Peter Skinner writes: Like the unloved and angry denizens of the “involuntarily celibate” culture, Nick Cater wants to blame young, educated and single women for finding the Liberal Party politically unattractive (“The right’s woman problem is bigger than ‘single young females’ and they know it”). The man doesn’t need an exit poll; he needs a mirror. 

A sorry lot

Matt Cook writes: I’ve just read “The media is regarded as Australia’s least ethical sector and that should ring alarm bells” and Crikey is very much a part of that “least ethical sector”. Many would rate Crikey as one of the worst and its tone deafness in this article is on full display. Crikey has long been understood to be partisan, slanted strongly to the left, and pushes unbalanced and duplicitous narratives. That is why I rarely read Crikey or trust it to present the news or provide comments fairly.

Out of his tree

Alison Bussell writes: Well, I can’t vote for Dan (“Crikey’s cheat-sheet guide to the Victorian election. Today: climate change“). How can he allow forestry workers to keep cutting old-growth forests, the very forests of ancient trees cleaning Melbourne’s drinking water? I’d rather money went to public transport than massive spending on roads. We need people off the roads ASAP. For me, that rules him right out. Sorry, Dan, I know that will give you sleepless nights.

As for Matthew Guy, it’s important to have respect for a state premier and I can’t respect a man with a tiny brain, few ethics and little professional ability. Besides, he never fought for Victoria to have a greater share of anything when Scott Morrison put us on rations through sheer malice.

So I’ll be looking carefully at the Greens who have climate credibility, and the teals, checking carefully where preferences go. We need to get right out of coal, gas and the fairy story about carbon capture and storage and a gas future. Hopefully we’ll find someone who’s had a real job, is intelligent — able to understand the science — and demonstrates skills to move us towards a greener future. Victorians — especially our children and grandchildren — deserve a great leader.

Peak period

Tony Williams writes: After reading in Crikey about Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ enlightened new election promise, I feel compelled to alert you to this “initiative” being a national policy for the Greens for well over two years (“Men on Twitter are losing their shit over Andrews’ free tampons announcement”). It is a travesty that free period products have not been implemented in Australia. (Well done to progressive Scotland in achieving this.) Thank you for promoting this important social and health policy initiative.

Business as usual

Barry Welch writes: Once again we have big business running a campaign to destroy workers’ wages and conditions (“Business says wages growth is back and there’s no need for IR reform. They’re lying”). The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Hitting where it hurts

Miles Malone writes: Above and beyond Bernard Keane’s points (“Women, regional Australians ignored as public health lobby moves to curb pain relief”), the Therapeutic Goods Administration has for some years been reducing the number of repeat scripts that GPs can issue on most drugs, and in particular painkillers … Where many commonly used painkillers used to be issued with four or more repeats, often now only one repeat is allowed. As such, in combination with the gradual death of bulk billing, the GP fee is now often the largest cost involved in buying necessary scripts, defeating the purpose of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) entirely.

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