Letters To The Editor – July 26, 2018

Love the game

Dear Editor,

Across the state last weekend, elite and community AFL clubs put aside traditional rivalries to unite in our love of everything that makes footy great.

Things like skill, talent, loyalty and fun, competition, team spirit, MVPs and extraordinary or memorable moments.

Seventy-five per cent of teenagers today believe that gambling is a normal part of sport, which is not surprising, given the huge volume of sports betting advertising.

But the promotional hype does not acknowledge that there are risks and harms associated with gambling.

We as a community need to do that, which is why all 10 Victorian AFL clubs and more than 300 community clubs signed up to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s sporting club program, many of which participated in the love-the-game-themed round.

The weekend was an ideal time for families to attend a local match and for adults to remind the kids in their care that sport and betting don’t have to go together. Whether a player or a fan, it’s about loving the game, not the odds.

For more information, head to lovethegame.vic.gov.au or share your thoughts on social media, #LoveTheGame.

Craig Swift
Acting chief executive officer
Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation

---

Wage cut obscene

Dear Editor,

How can this be legal?

In this day and age, how can it be legal to just decide one day that low-paid workers are getting a decrease in their wages.

Too bad about barely getting by on the wage you’re on, now you’re going to get less.

Who made this obscene decision?

Is it the same slugs who are giving themselves a wage increase?

Politicians are parasites, they do not live in the same world as the rest of us, and they never will.

And to pick on the most vulnerable workers in our society rather than some fat-cat workers in high paid job who could easily handle a wage cut, is just even more obscene and horrific.

I demand to know who made this decision so I can lodge a very real protest.

This is wrong.

I don’t believe for a minute it is actually legal.

You simply can’t say to low-paid workers “you’re now going to have to exist on less”.

Who is responsible for this outrage? We all want to know.

Deb Clutterbuck
Anglesea

---

Korean War veterans remembered

Dear Editor,

Sixty-five years ago, the armistice ending three years of fighting on the Korean peninsula was signed.

Within days of the invasion of South Korea by North Korean forces on June 25, 1950, the United Nations (UN) Security Council had the support of 21 member nations to defend South Korea, including Australia.

The Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force committed forces to the United Nations effort in Korea within a week of the war’s beginning, Australian ground troops arrived in September 1950. The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, the last troops did not leave Korean shores until August 1957.

Approximately 18,000 Australian service personnel served in Korea between 1950 and 1957, including Army and Royal Australian Air Force nurses. Australia suffered some 1,500 casualties, including over 350 who lost their lives, and 30 who were taken prisoner. More than 40 Australians are still listed as missing in action.

The Korean War marked the first collective UN military action and Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen won international respect for their courage, endurance and combat skills.

Sadly, looking back on the Korean War, one Australian soldier remarked that “most Australians of the Korean War regard themselves as the forgotten veterans of a forgotten war”.

In this, the final year of the Anzac Centenary, it is my sincere hope these words are no longer true and that the men and women who bravely served in the Korean War know that Australia honours their service.

Each year on July 27 we observe Korean Veterans’ Day and I encourage everyone to honour the service and sacrifice of those who served in the Korean War so they know they are not forgotten.

I will also have the honour of attending the commemorative service for the 65th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice on Anzac Parade in Canberra to meet with and thank veterans of the war and their families.

I encourage those in the community to attend the service or watch it live on the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Facebook page.

Lest we forget.

Darren Chester
Federal Minister for Veterans’ Affairs