June 22, 2026 — 8:00pmCathy WilcoxTo submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.EDUCATIONWhy should principals be burdened with a problem whose source almost certainly lies in the home and with the parents? (″⁣Victorian public schools suspend about 150 students a day″⁣, 22/6).Some years ago, waiting at my sons’ school – one with an excellent reputation – a teacher appeared, driven to tears by pupils’ obnoxious behaviour. Shouldn’t parents be answerable for their children’s behaviour – maybe compulsory family counselling intervention, supported by court enforcement – as the UK has had to resort?This poor behaviour should be solved by the people who are the cause, not the victims.Adam Thomson, CollingwoodSchools lack resources to affect changeRe “Victorian public schools suspend about 150 students a day” (22/6). It’s interesting that a university professor notes suspensions rising and the ineffectiveness of what schools are doing.What is not mentioned is the lack of resources for state schools to provide adaptive programs for more challenging students and the over emphasis on the academic pathways to the very institutions they work for.Peter Baddeley, PortlandValid reasons to suspend studentsAs a retired school principal, I know that suspending a student from school is not a decision taken lightly.For serious misbehaviour, it provides a break from school and an opportunity for teachers, school leaders and parents to develop strategies to address the behavioural issues.Peter Hendrickson, East MelbourneState schools need more fundingThe missing fact not mentioned in your article (22/6) is that state schools must take all enrolments, including students who are “low socio-economic″⁣ who are affected by trauma or who have disabilities, whereas private schools can refuse to enrol difficult to educate students.As your masthead has pointed out in the past, public schools are seriously underfunded by the state government while private schools receive a federal government top up, as well as high fees from parents.In order to help our public schools deal with these children, such schools need better resourcing: more welfare staff and programs and time release for staff to visit and discuss successful programs run by other schools.Jan Marshall, BrightonNon-unionised teachers not heardHow disappointing it is that that hardliners in the Australian Education Union (AEU) have hijacked the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) negotiations.Rather than let members decide on balance whether it was a good deal or not, they bombarded AEU members and social media with grievance-style tactics through their potent ″⁣no″⁣ campaign.Given it was only the hardliners pushing an organised agenda, the absence of a ″⁣yes″⁣ campaign was telling and demonstrated how poorly the AEU leadership managed this whole process.For something as significant as an EBA, it’s unfair that thousands of teachers and principals who are not members of the union are ignored and their voices not heard.The government should put the deal to all government school staff so everyone can choose for themselves. I suspect that the no campaign would not want this as they know the result could be very different.The deal is not as bad as they make out, and whilst not perfect, it has many positive aspects that address teacher concerns and offers a decent pay rise.Michael Cormick, Carnegie THE FORUMHanson’s emotive pullSean Kelly’s opinion piece on Pauline Hanson (22/6) is surely right in pointing to the ″⁣simplicity″⁣ of her appeal and the failure of our political class to adequately address the real world that voters actually face.Even so, the question of why she leads in the polls remains largely unaddressed, not just by Kelly but in most commentary on her. In too many ways we are now a two-tier society: housed, employed, insured, hopeful versus declining living standards, uninsured, lacking hope.The latter group resent the former for depicting them as racist Neanderthals for their views on immigration. While objective circumstances matter (our current immigration levels are too high for sustainable, equitable growth), what’s overlooked is the emotional tide behind her success. If you marginalise and humiliate people eventually there is a response. As much as our political class wishes she would simply disappear, Hanson and Hansonism are now firmly entrenched in our political landscape. Have the parties of the centre got the narrative to withstand this tide? On current performances, not likely.Greg Gardiner, BrunswickWorking class heroesWhat an irony. Is Albanese our first prime minister brought up in poverty? Peter Hartcher (Opinion, 20/6) remarks on Hanson’s ″⁣image as the champion of the battler″⁣. Not since train driver Chifley have we even had a ″⁣blue collar″⁣ worker in charge. Albanese wouldn’t accept Gina Rinehart’s plane, even if she offered it to him. Who really believes Hanson (and Gina) are on their side?Come on Victoria! Our ″⁣culture″⁣ has always been the reasonable, educated, logical one. Leave the marketing and media hype to Brisbane and (gulp) even Sydney.Yes, politics has let us down. If you want a change, try the Greens – they’ve never denied climate change and have welcomed asylum seekers.Virginia Lowe, OrmondTest case VictoriaI fear that Victoria might end up being the sacrificial lamb on the altar of political populism. With any luck, 18 months of what would undoubtedly be a chaotic One Nation-led minority government will bring the rest of the nation to its senses before the next federal election.Brian Collins, CardiganWeird politics of envyMy mother volunteered for the Childhood Cancer Association to provide families with the kinds of support that weren’t available to our family when my brother was ill in the 1970s. This desire to make the world a better place for those who come after is a common motivation for public service.In contrast, One Nation promotes a weird politics of envy that fuels resentment of anyone who is perceived to be receiving a benefit that she and her supporters have not.Didn’t get the support you should have when you were the target of gendered abuse? Tell a current victim to ″⁣Suck it up, princess″⁣. Didn’t have access to paid parental leave in your child-bearing years? Try to deny it to future generations. Aren’t getting welfare payments because you are not, in fact, one of the most disadvantaged members of society? Imply that those who are receiving it are accessing it by fraudulent means.Rather than striving to improve society, Hanson advocates for a meaner, less equal world that belongs in the past.Jennifer Andersen, PrestonLaw enforcementThe investigation ″⁣Supervision failures: sex predators caught offending despite being monitored″⁣ (22/6) raises an important issue that often goes missed during public discourse on re-offending.Whilst there are normally calls for tougher laws as a result of a serious failure or breach that has reached public attention, there is the opposing issue of how existing laws are being enforced and to what standard.When the system becomes overwhelmed, meaningful interventions are undermined yet public expectations remain high. We have heard from the frontline that the issue has gotten ″⁣so big that it’s almost like we’re setting ourselves up for failure″⁣ and that ″⁣there’s too many people (on the register)″⁣.Offenders often see the conditions of an order as laughable and as providing little deterrent to further offending because of the obvious flaws in detection and enforcement.For a judge to openly acknowledge the little regard an offender might have to an order is also telling. Further conditions and harsher penalties are not the solution. All bodies tasked with monitoring and enforcement need adequate funding, investment and an injection of confidence if we want to see a genuine adherence to sentencing orders.Anna Radywonik, Moonee PondsPlease hit pauseVictoria’s energy planners may be updating forecasts to account for energy hungry data centres, but it feels like they’ve already missed the boat (“Data centres force planning rethink”, 22/6).Currently, Melbourne hosts 63 data centres. Last year they used 2per cent of Victoria’s electricity and 0.2 per cent of our water. By 2030, that load is expected to quadruple.Can we hit the pause button? It feels like tech giants are surging ahead with their ugly centres that drain resources local communities rely on.At the very least, the Allan government should require that data centre companies supply their own renewable energy and recycle their water use. It’s time for our leaders to ensure that industries don’t take more than they give back.Larni Dibben, Glen IrisWork from homeRather than passing legislation that penalises employers who do not offer working from home for their employees, perhaps we should offer incentives to employers who do provide working from home as an option, such as a payroll tax discount.John Stanton, Fitzroy NorthEscape to the countryI was walking down High Street, Armadale, and couldn’t believe how European the arcade was with delightful small business owners who were proud to promote artefacts from local Greek-Australian designers and had delicacies of salami and olives to entice customers.Some conservative parties are trying to eradicate this vibe. If people want some type of monoculturalism, go live in the country, but leave the rest of us to enjoy some culture please.Jenny Smith, East MelbourneMarket vibe shiftRe ‴⁣⁣What’s going on with Prahran Market?′ Debate rages over food icon″⁣, 20/6). I’m a regular at both Prahran and South Melbourne markets. Three times a week to the latter less so to the former.I’ll never drive to Prahran Market and prefer a two-kilometre walk as being less stressful. South Melbourne has ample parking, is close to two tram routes and has a better “vibe”.The difference between the two can be summed up thus: Prahran has an ″⁣exclusive″⁣ vibe, while South Melbourne has an ″⁣inclusive″⁣ vibe making it a bustling, multicultural mix of happy shoppers, who are too busy interacting to be thinking about exclusivity.Ian Muldoon, St KildaStyle before substanceThe Prahran Market article (20/6) almost made me choke on my morning cuppa. In the 1950s I started going to the Prahran Market with my thrifty aunt who shopped there regularly. Returning to Melbourne after living in Europe for decades, I delighted in rejoining this unique shopping area so close to home. Over the years I have heard and read so many complaints about the deteriorating relationship between the market stallholders and management. Abrupt refusal for lease renewal has meant that long-term stallholders have been squeezed out taking much of the unique patina out with them. The over-standardised and stylised tiled array of shops now reflect a more expensive, boutique style shopping precinct rather than the name of the Prahran Market.It is lamentable when an institute that holds so much cultural significance in our multicultural Melbourne seems set to continue to lose the aura it has developed as an essential part of the community.Judith Hudson, ElwoodForgotten peopleIf ever there was a people forgotten after a conflict, surely it is the Palestinians. Not only were their homes bombed rendering them unliveable, but so were hospitals and health centres and schools and universities. Water and electricity is rationed, as is food supply. And we ignore it.Rod Oaten, North CarltonHands on the wheelCalls for regulatory changes to cover self-driving vehicles are premature, while Tesla’s claims of the performance and safety of its ″⁣Full-Self Driving″⁣ Supervised system are overstated.Tesla’s consumer FSD is currently certified only as a Level 2 partial driving automation system under the Society of Automotive Engineers standards, falling short of requirements for Level 4 fully autonomous driving.EU authorities have dismissed Tesla’s self-published safety numbers as marketing rather than verified evidence.Only 25 unsupervised Robotaxis operate in Austin, where Tesla has self-certified the vehicles as Level4 under a Texas law, thus taking on all legal liability for the consequences.So far, this fleet has logged 14 crashes across 1.3 million kilometres driven – roughly four times the US human driver benchmark by Tesla’s own metric. There is no credible evidence that Tesla’s FSD is safer than a human driver, nor for any change to existing road rules requiring a human be in control of the vehicle.Mark Summerfield, NorthcoteAND ANOTHER THINGTrump worldWho knew that Trump’s ″⁣drain the swamp” was a literal reference to the White House reflecting pool?Greg Curtin, NunawadingThe Donald blames vandals for the state of the Lincoln Monument reflective pool. A moment’s reflection identifies who the vandals are. A sad reflection on the state of the United States, where the vandals are inside the gates and sacking the Capitol.James McDougall, KynetonThe Trump square dance: one forward aggressive right step; one right side shuffle; one step back; one left side shuffle, and finish with one forward aggressive right step. Then repeat.Wendy Brennan, BendigoThat war, President Trump, you claim to have won against Iran? Well, sorry, but it seems that that’s another victory that was stolen from you.Henry Herzog, St Kilda EastIf Hezbollah doesn’t see itself bound by any Iran-US peace treaty, how can Israel?Les Aisen, ElsternwickFurthermoreYour correspondent (Letters, 22/6) maintains that ″⁣there’s a dire need for a new political party to counter One Nation″⁣. However, this seems quite unnecessary, as such a party already exists – viz One Nation itself.Peter Drum, CoburgPauline Hanson’s popularity reminds me of the proverb ″⁣The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe; for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them”.Mark Hulls, SandringhamI wonder when ‘My mate and I went to the game’ became ‘Me and my mate went to the game’.John Sheldrick, Peppermint Grove, WAWhat a novel idea – parents looking after their pre-school children at home. (“Families opting out of childcare as cost, scandal drive unease”, 22/6.)Marie Teague, Ocean GroveThe opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here. More:LettersAnthony AlbaneseGina RinehartPauline HansonTrump's AmericaAntisemitism royal commissionFrom our partners