Your views: on new housing infrastructure and more
Today, readers comment on the real cost of greenfield development, Pacific mining, uni merger, arts policy and poetry.
Commenting on the story: City fringe housing costs taxpayers $75k more
If this is in fact the case, then state governments could contribute to the existing local and state infrastructure charges or even to purchasers in greenfield developments on the fringes? – John Bannister
Commenting on the story: Speirs ‘quite sceptical’ about uni merger push
David Speirs is quite right to be sceptical of the proposed university merger/takeover, especially given the Government’s admission that it did not insist on reviewing the business case for the merger before (apparently) committing nearly half a billion dollars to the idea.
I strongly encourage Parliament to defer the debate on the enabling legislation for the establishment of the new Adelaide University until the Commonwealth’s review of higher education is completed in 2024.
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And in the meantime, perhaps the Auditor-General could review the process leading to the financial commitment? – Stephen Trenowden
Commenting on the story: Centrex signs up for Pacific phosphate plan
Anyone aware of the history of Banaba knows that there is no responsible way of doing further mining there. The whole island was so ruined that its original inhabitants were forcibly removed to another island in Fiji.
The beneficiaries of that mining – the UK, Australia and New Zealand – have done nothing to restore it. The few Banabans who returned to live there are not able to live sustainably on an island which has lost 90% of its soil and had its water sources destroyed.
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I’m ashamed to think that a South Australian company would even contemplate trying to extract more from a site of devastation. – Mandy Treagus
Commenting on the opinion piece: South Australia has become like a house with no books
As Rainer Jozeps shows, the arts in South Australia are woefully underfunded relative to other states. From 2017-2022, states and territories cumulatively increased arts funding by 22 per cent, while SA was the only state to head in the opposite direction.
I think it is the inordinate spending on defence, driven by the federal government, rather than on sport (with the exception of the immoral LIV) that deprives our State of its previous place in Australia’s arts world. As nation,we are losing our social cohesion and democratic spirit.
I am not against fair funding to sport. A healthy body and a healthy mind is a decent motto. The recent response to the Matildas showed how people can be thrilled by sport when it is in the context of a grand cultural performance.
Imagine what cultural projects, trainers and venues could be funded with the budget committed to AUKUS preparation. Look at vehicle number plates, where The Festival State is giving way to The Defence State. Not the Sports State.
Unbelievable funding is committed to the even more unbelievable AUKUS , driven by the federal government’s Defence strategies controlled by the USA, as former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said at Adelaide Writers Week this year. The profits of the military industrial complex could be reverted to both cultural and sporting needs of the community, with profound results .
Imagine a new Performing Arts School , proper funding to libraries and smaller cultural initiatives in regions and suburbs, as well as to major venues and institutions. They all survive on a shoestring. There is more money spent on armaments than on music teaching, with all the benefits that instills in students for careers. More playing fields and assistance to families for club expenses will allow more healthy outdoor participation .
This is a debatable response,I know, because the tricky question of funding priorities leads to the answer that funding the human right of housing rises above all else. So let’s say that once there are no homeless in SA, there should be deservedly increased funding for the arts to restore those number plates to The Festival State. – Julanne Sweeney
Commenting on the Poems: Sundries & Grandfather
He’s lived a good life in the bush and met some wonderful characters. Love it! – Trevor Holst
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