The issue with Pickering is denial and transparency

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The real issue in relation to One Nation’s Warren Pickering is not so much his history of drug taking but his initial denials and non-disclosure of this illicit past. Of course it can be argued that anyone who had gone off the rails, particularly at an early age, but has genuinely rehabilitated since deserves to be congratulated and not condemned. However, we expect honesty and integrity from our politicians, particularly when they seek our vote. Pickering has now admitted his initial denials of the allegations of serious misconduct and that he had deliberately concealed them when he sought to run for One Nation. It appears that knowledge of his ex-partner going public about this past misconduct, combined with that misconduct being documented, at least, in Australian Army records, may have prompted his public mea culpa. This now leaves open the question as to whether Pickering is a fit and proper person to justify our vote.
Edward Combes, Wheelers Hill

Forget the past, it’s his views
Perhaps Chip Le Grand is right to opine that One Nation voters would not be bothered by Warren Pickering’s colourful past (″⁣Pickering’s confession was sad and, bizarrely, uplifting″⁣, 9/9). Illegal drug use, multiple drink-driving offences? Who are we to judge? What should alarm voters in the seat of Pakenham is his spouting of crazy conspiracy theories, such as the debunked nonsense that globalist bureaucrats want to control where citizens in this country live. These are not the words of a serious person. If this is One Nation’s answer to serious matters like city planning, it deserves contempt, not support.
Richard Aspland, Rosanna

A refreshing conference
So Warren Pickering used drugs, got drunk, and drove, and was unfaithful to a partner in his younger days. Sound familiar? It will to many people. As a Boomer, it is convenient for myself and other people I know to forget about past bad behaviour. I am no One Nation supporter, far from it, but Pickering’s press conference where he confronted all questioning head on was refreshing.
John Rawson, Mernda

How can voters bestow their trust?
I am left aghast at Chip Le Grand’s analysis that, somehow, in these extraordinary political times, it is virtuous for a political candidate to recant when caught out lying and then to be forgiven. Targeting and discrediting of the person who revealed Pickering’s lying to the public is irrelevant to Pickering’s actual indiscretion. I would like to hear more from Le Grand about why a candidate running for parliament can be trusted after demonstrating they will do or say anything to become elected.
Denis Liubinas, Blairgowrie

These are strange times
What an extraordinary political cycle we’re in. Warren Pickering’s ″⁣confessions and transparency″⁣, rather than being career ending, could well end up career enhancing. Are One Nation reading the zeitgeist with aplomb, or are we dropping into some existential funk and about to reward the once ″⁣unelectable’? We do live in Trumpian times, now spreading like a pandemic to all corners of our world.
Maurie Johns, Mt Eliza

He gets my vote
I never thought I would say it, but One Nation you have my vote. My son has a similar history to Warren Pickering and he is an outstanding citizen in his older life. Well done Mr Pickering – you have my vote.
Amanda Wallace, Bentleigh

The course of a one-track mind
The way One Nation works is that it cottons on to anything it may feel is a grievance with some in the community. So for an issue such as racism they know some will follow them, as with other issues such as being anti-climate change and immigration. For some single issues are strong for them, so One Nation appeals. It may sound simplified but some have a one-track mind. Put all the grievance groups together and you have a groundswell in the community.
Nola Cormick, Albert Park

THE FORUM

Online safety first
The federal government is to be congratulated on its reforms to the online world (“Social media giants will be forced to offer choice”, 9/9). When we buy a car or an appliance for the home, they come with safety standards. If they didn’t meet them, they would be withdrawn from sale; so it should be with online content.
If it’s not safe, it should be banned. We have been playing catch-up for too long.
Samantha Keir, East Brighton

Go west? No thanks
Possibly suspecting the foul play of pretentiousness, your correspondent notes, there is West Footscray, North Melbourne, North Fitzroy, East Melbourne, and South Melbourne, and asks, “why Malvern East?” (Letters, 9/9).
Salubrious pretentiousness? Maybe. After all, a section of what is now “Malvern East”, was “Chadstone” until 1991. Apparently the change was due to local residents successfully petitioning Malvern Council for a boundary and postcode shift, preferring the “social cachet” and higher market value of a “Malvern” address rather than that associated with a heavy commercial or retail trade zone.
Curiously though, while at least 10 other Melbourne suburbs end in “East”, and others end in “North” or “South”, not many end in “West”. Negative “Wild West” connotations perhaps?
Whatever the reason, residents of the erstwhile “Chadstone” clearly preferred the staid, “Malvern East” to a potentially more exciting, “Chaddy West”.
Deborah Morrison, Malvern East

Effortless move
I grew up in East Bentleigh and, without moving, now live in Bentleigh East.
Mark Herrmann, Bentleigh East

Focus on big picture
As a Baby Boomer from the western suburbs, my life’s goal was to become a doctor. At that time, the late ’60s, two universities offered medicine – Melbourne in CBD and Monash in the south-east. Daily travel to Monash was not practical by public transport and ″⁣living in″⁣ was not a financial option. Had the Suburban Rail Loop been operating, my options would have changed. As it was, I studied science for a year at Melbourne and transferred to medicine the following year. My good fortune.
The SRL will give opportunities to many people by improving public transport access whatever their travel needs may be. We need to consider the big picture.
Lynn Hall, Hawthorn

Importance of audits
Following the so-called “sports rorts” scandal in 2019, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie was forced to resign over a grant to a gun club of which she was a member. In 1993, then-Labor sports minister Ros Kelly resigned after the sports rorts “whiteboard” affair. Now the auditor-general is to probe two Albanese government programs with a combined
$730 million in Commonwealth grants after revelations that about 80 per cent of the funding went to Labor-held electorates (″⁣Audit office to take a look after Labor accused of sports rorts″⁣, 8/9).
The job of the auditor-general is more important than ever in exposing government malpractice in grants programs.
Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully

Think of others
Is the recent news that house prices are dropping in Melbourne and other cities good or bad news? Treasurer Jim Chalmers seems embarrassed, trying to explain it away. But isn’t better housing affordability for younger adults what we have all been screaming for these past few years?
Now in my 70s, I own a modest home and little else. It is my wealth. For goodness sake, though, if a drop in my wealth makes Victoria a better place to live for my nieces, nephews and all younger people, bravo!
David McRae, Kangaroo Flat

Losing faith
Ross Gittins (Comment, 9/9) outlines reasons Australians are feeling despondent about our economic and political malaise. It is now obvious that Australians no longer believe the mantra that market forces will foster a booming economy and lead to wealth trickling down to the poorest in society.
We also no longer believe that essential services such as health, transport, education, aged care and childcare and disability services are best run by the private sector (and just look at the outrage generated when it was suggested FIFA be privatised).
People are seeing the fact that economic levers to control inflation are hitting middle- to low-income earners disproportionately and that the wage system is failing to ensure that real wages keep pace with inflation and the cost of living.
There is a belief that large companies are not paying their fair share of tax and that our endeavours to tackle climate change are being stymied by the government’s sweetheart arrangements with fossil-fuel companies.
Is there a theme here? It would seem our faith in capitalism and, more recently, neoliberalism has been shaken and only time will tell if it can be restored.
Graeme Lechte, Pascoe Vale

Good times, bad times
Chief economist of the National Australia Bank, Sally Auld, has said that it will take a generation to fix the housing crisis (″⁣Housing crisis set to take a generation to fix: economists″⁣, 4/9).
That’s wishful thinking. The leader of the National Party, Matt Canavan, has already said that neo-Liberalism has been a failure. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, from the get-go in 1996, has been critical of economic rationalism (aka neo-Liberalism).
The Greens are not fans of conventional economics. Then there are the 15 per cent of the population who told Redbridge-Accent in January that the political system needs to be burnt down so we can start again, and the additional 44 per cent of us who think major reform is needed.
We are living through the final years of the Howard-Keating era of economic policy. It promised that freer markets would deliver economic prosperity. They didn’t. After 40 years, we find ourselves limping along, with near zero economic growth apart from the stimulus that population growth provides through migration.
And 110,000 are homeless.
Alun Breward, Malvern East

What is out of control
The daily reporting of crime may give the impression that violent crime is “out of control” in Victoria. However, Crime Statistics Agency data shows the changes in rate of crime against another person has been insignificant over the past decade.
The Crime Statistics Agency produces graphs to show the type of crimes committed. These graphs clearly show that minor theft remains the main increase.
This suggests that economic disadvantage causing alienation is “out of control”, not crime. It also suggests the importance of early intervention and social cohesion in preventing crime.
Sarah Russell, Mt Martha

Kindness of strangers
News at the moment is not heartening. World leaders behaving like four-year-old brats – Mine! Mine! Teenage brats stealing cars – “Look at me! Look at me!” Potential world leaders?
But, occasionally, a heartening gesture is made. My wallet, lost who knows where a week ago, crammed with credit cards, ID and healthcare info, was placed in my letterbox. Thank you, kind, civilised person.
Margo Teschendorf, Toorak

An uncertain future
The argument is simple: younger Australians are being asked to lock away their superannuation today and sacrifice their quality of life for a retirement that may not deliver the security promised to previous generations.
Climate change, unaffordable housing, insecure work and rising living costs are making the future increasingly uncertain. This uncertainty is creating fertile ground for political opportunists such as One Nation, who can turn fear, anger and social insecurity into political support.
Labor has not been able to provide a convincing national vision of wellbeing, economic security and climate resilience.
If governments cannot make the future feel safer through their actions, not just their words, it is understandable that younger people may question why they should wait until retirement to access some of their superannuation to improve their lives now.
Paul Caine, Glen Huntly

Is this fair?
Semaglutide, the drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, slows the progression of chronic kidney disease, delaying the day I will need dialysis or a transplant. However, it’s not on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and I am not in prison. My semaglutide costs me $400 each time I get a script filled.
That someone in prison has the same drug paid for by the taxpayer (″⁣Carroll defends weight-loss jabs for Patterson″⁣, 9/9) enrages me and makes me question if this is the land of a fair go.
Julie Moffat, St Leonards

It’s simple, really
As I understand it, inflation is a measure of the cost of living. To fight its rate of rise, we automatically put up interest rates. Doesn’t this create its own rise in prices across the board as producers and providers recoup this extra cost?
In simple terms, aren’t we fighting the rise in inflation by using a means that is part of its cause?
When I was young, inflation was hardly mentioned and if it was, it was something just sitting right over there in a corner.
Now everything, good or bad, negatively affects it — even full employment, for goodness sake.
Maybe I’m being too simple, but why don’t we just measure what is “actually” spent by society instead of measuring prices. A $10 price tag on a cup of coffee won’t affect anything if we don’t buy it.
Gerry Lonergan, Reservoir

AND ANOTHER THING

Politics
Warren Pickering’s mea culpa for his chequered past is fine (″⁣One Nation’s Victorian leader admits to having used drugs, drink-driving″⁣, 9/9). It’s his inane fear of 15-minute cities and other beneficial moves to making cities more liveable is what scares me.
Peter McGill, Lancefield

Warren Pickering admits that he is not a politician and has no experience in politics and yet some people see him as our next premier. What could possibly go wrong if One Nation wins the election?
Michael Brinkman, Ventnor

Pauline Hanson, memo to self: check the references.
Peter Russo, West Brunswick

I wouldn’t consider running for One Nation without the use of drugs.
Bryan Fraser, St Kilda West

While we can agree with Barnaby Joyce that he is not the messiah, it should not be too much to expect some level of understanding of his own party’s policies, given there are so few evident.
James Ogilvie, Kew

I think I’ve got it, use your super, then later in life borrow at a higher rate. One Nation will be really happy.
Bruce Dudon, Woodend

$6 million awarded to a golf club in Anthony Albanese’s electorate doesn’t pass the pub test.
Reg Murray, Glen Iris

Furthermore
Stony Creek (″⁣Forgotten Tottenham″⁣, 9/9) always remembered. Forbidden to us kids but we went – snakes, dead cats in hessian bags, tadpoles and thistles. It was the Amazon and thrilling.
Margaret Skeen, Ocean Grove

Never mind Lake Ontario being changed to Lake America. Will the lake’s migratory Canadian geese have tariffs imposed if they fly into the US?
Alan McLean, Queenscliff

Finally
Forgive me, I’m very old. Is ″⁣The Algorithm Method″⁣ a time when a couple can have safe sex?
Myra Fisher, Brighton East

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