Peter Hartcher’s call to “wise up” after the assault on Helen Haines MP demands action, not just outrage (“How to save us from ourselves”, October 24).
asserted
call → wise → ourselves
Let’s start in our schools.
asserted
’s → start → schools
We cannot legislate compassion but we can teach it.
asserted
we → legislate → it
Our democracy depends on it.
asserted
democracy → depend → it
Mental illness and a breakdown in respect to people serving the public has been around for several decades.
asserted
illness → serve → decades
In 1983, at the Redfern branch of the Social Security department, we experienced an upsurge in verbal abuse from people having problems getting urgent welfare payments.
asserted
we → experience → payments
Several of these people had been released from psychiatric hospitals thanks to the Richmond report that had recommended it, but on the proviso they also be assisted by community health centres, of which there were too few and even fewer resources to cater for everyone.
asserted
they → release → everyone
On one occasion, when most of our office took strike action for more staff to assist the increasing number of claimants, we had a homeless man who thought he’d help our cause by making and throwing a Molotov cocktail through the front window.
asserted
he → take → window
Luckily, he was tackled before he had time to chuck it.
asserted
he → tackle → it
Soon after that, our office became the first in the department to get a permanent security guard stationed.
asserted
guard → become → department
Con Vaitsas, Ashbury
In 1946, the German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers wrote.
asserted
Jaspers → write → 1946
“Let us learn to talk to one another.
asserted
us → let → one
That is, let us not merely repeat our opinion, but hear what the other person thinks.
asserted
person → let → what
Let us not only assert, but reflect in context, listen for reasons, remain prepared to reach new insight.
asserted
us → let → insight
Let us inwardly attempt to assume the position of the other. ”
asserted
us → let → other
While these words were intended for a country facing internal conflict and fragmentation brought about by World War II, Jaspers’ lessons deserve to be learned by all of us and are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.
asserted
they → intend → us
Let’s not waste this horrendous attack on Helen Haines; let us fund mental health services adequately.
asserted
us → waste → services
I also suggest we have a national “one hour of no social media” day.
asserted
we → suggest → day
Like Earth Hour, people agree to turn off their devices and play a board game.
asserted
people → agree → game
Maybe someone could invent the kindness game?
uncertain
someone → invent → game
I’d buy that.
asserted
I → buy → that
Peter Hartcher calls for our politicians to reach across the aisle in the spirit of bipartisanship to bring healing to our bitterly divided nation.
asserted
politicians → call → nation
But beyond the hallowed walls of federal parliament, Hartcher claims that while we share in both the pleasures and pains of the same country, we can all contribute to improving it in this dire moment.
uncertain
we → claim → moment
In other words, the responsibility of what happened to Helen Haines falls to us all – violence is not only rising against our politicians at an alarming rate, it is rising against our ambulance paramedics, our teachers and among ourselves in the privacy of our own homes.
asserted
it → happen → homes
Indeed, the sooner we place the infinite worth of our common humanity above all else, the sooner will such violence that was directed at Helen Haines no longer be a deadly scourge upon our fragile democracy.
asserted
that → place → democracy
Julia Baird (“From Queen Victoria to Lambie and Haines, the unspeakable pain women are expected to endure”, October 24) writes of “our long history of insisting that women quietly endure”, of the society’s general dismissal of women’s pain.
asserted
women → expect → pain
Writing on political violence, Allegra Spender notes that, “It’s not just politicians who are abused and in danger – it’s teachers, nurses, supermarket workers”.
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it → write → danger
Indeed, the most abused professions are documented to have mainly female workforces.
asserted
professions → document → workforces
Melbourne psychologist Evelyn Field OAM, who specialises in bullying, has described “the so-called caring professions as bullying hotbeds: teachers, nurses, social workers, doctors, welfare workers”.
asserted
who → specialise → hotbeds
The law and codes of conduct can say one thing while, in practice, the opposite can occur, with empowered perpetrators being protected while voiceless victims bear the brunt of injustice.
asserted
victims → say → injustice
The broken windows theory contends that unless damage is promptly repaired, those responsible will be emboldened and further vandalistic destruction may well follow.
uncertain
destruction → break → ?
Similarly, the failure to take strong action against bullying and harassment across society, especially in sectors with mainly female workforces, is surely a key factor in more extreme manifestations arising.
asserted
manifestations → take → workforces
I dispute Mike Mrdak’s account of the decision to build Western Sydney International Airport (″Time, turbulence, take-off: city’s new airport finally lands″, October 24).
asserted
airport → dispute → Airport
Mrdak, then secretary of the infrastructure department, says Sydney Airport’s rejection of the Commonwealth’s offer in May 2017 surprised him and prompted him to suggest the government build the airport itself.
uncertain
government → say → airport
However, as late as February 2016, his department recommended Sydney Airport receive a massive subsidy, including a $4 billion, low-interest, 40-year soft loan and cost-overrun indemnities.
asserted
Airport → recommend → billion
I was appalled: the Commonwealth would take most of the risk, own none of it, and Sydney would have two airports that are owned by one company.
asserted
that → appal → company
So, with Paul Fletcher, we devised a zero-subsidy offer Sydney Airport was sure to reject.
asserted
Airport → devise → offer
In November 2016, Cabinet approved that offer and decided the Commonwealth would build the airport itself through a new company, WSA Co.
asserted
Commonwealth → approve → company
Sydney Airport’s rejection was expected, and the government immediately announced it would proceed.
asserted
it → expect → ?
Malcolm Turnbull, former prime minister
In my opinion, having led the airport planning, engineering and environmental consulting team for the joint Commonwealth/state “Sydney Regional Aviation Capacity Study” (SRACS) under the overall leadership of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development starting in 2010, Western Sydney Airport stands as the finest example of bipartisan political cooperation seen in Australia in many a year.
asserted
Airport → lead → year
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
