Our leaders are failing us all
I am the father of a daughter who was sexually assaulted.
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I only found this out recently, 35 years after the event. I have just lost a cousin who was raped when he was 11 years old. While my daughter did not let the assault define their life, my cousin struggled for much of his.
I closely followed the Royal Commission into Institution Response to Child Sexual Abuse. I attended one of the schools that was subject to hearings by the Commission.
For some time I have struggled to understand how we can raise our children to be more resilient, and about how we can educate and inform them in a way that allows them to safely navigate life.
However, recently I have come to the view that we should not have to do this. What is needed is deep societal cultural change. That change can only be bought about by our leaders and recent events reveal they have failed us abysmally.
Accounts of sexual harassment and rape have now emerged from our state and national Parliaments. In these institutions, people's lives are summarily destroyed in the pursuit of maintaining power and entitlement for a few.
Our leader's response to adverse reports is invariably political; hold yet another inquiry and spin the issue away until after the next election. They do not appear to have the insight to understand that this is a cultural issue and they are the people who must lead the required change. The most recent example is Anthony Albanese who says he is unable to do anything about complaints of sexual harassment within the ALP because they are anonymous.
He fails to understand the issue is not the complaints, it's the culture that led to them.
Women marched on our Parliament this week. They are demanding the basic human rights of respect, gender equality and equal opportunity.
I don't expect it will change our leader's views in the short term but it will hopefully encourage more readers to look closely at what they are doing to bring about cultural change. I encourage all voters to join me in future election by reviewing our representative's actions in supporting the changes to make our society safer for our women and children
Name withheld, Port Stephens
Reduce speed, reduce risk
Jet skiers doing the right thing go unnoticed while the hoons are blatantly obvious.
A speeding jet ski pounding through choppy water can be heard for hundreds of metres.
I have seen jet skis travelling at ridiculously high speeds in choppy water and narrowly miss people on several occasions. While jet skis do not have exposed propellers, a high-speed hull strike could cause serious injury or death. Do we have to wait for the inevitable incident before action is taken?
If the speed limit is limited to 10 knots to all vessels in the bay, it has to reduce the risk to people and wildlife.
Now is the time to end the problem.
G Smith, Anna Bay
Little Beach upgrade lacking
I hope people have seen the proposed upgrade for Little Beach amenities.
It's like bulldozing a house and replacing it with a tent.
Judy Archer, Nelson Bay
Overpass could be option
John Donahoo has a valid point in separating pedestrian safety and traffic flow at the junction of South Street and Medowie Road (News, Examiner March 11).
I recognise that there maybe a flooding problem with an underpass, so close to the nearby Campvale Drain.
Perhaps replacing the $4.5m traffic lights with a well designed pedestrian overpass could be considered, which could also serve as the gateway to our rural township Medowie, a place of tall trees.