I'd like to pay tribute to Richard Scolyer. I'm sure he'd like it, being known as good old Richard, the bloke next door. He was also the bloke who was a bit more qualified than you and I, and the bloke that went to work, did his bit and became Australian of the Year, committing his life to save yours.
Good people of Australia, Richard is an inspiration. He's a humble bloke with a bit more upstairs than most, especially a doofus butcher like myself.
Richard committed his life to our national disease, skin cancer. It's easily our most dismissed form of cancer because yep, that happens to old wrinkled dudes. The fact is it doesn't. It kills teenagers, mums, dads, girlfriends, boyfriends, cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and best friends. Age isn't a factor, but negligence and vanity are.
We all want to be accepted in society, which can be an unhealthy thing when it comes to body image or self-esteem. If you think that's how to be accepted by your peers, having the tan or having people look at you., well people will look at you one day for the same reason they look at me: scars.
They attract attention and they also tell a story of a life in the sun: fishing, surfing, beach bum stuff, running around like a lunatic as a kid luckily living by the beach. They also tell of how it will bite you on the arse like a great white shark one day. That day happened to me at age 38, when I was diagnosed with melanoma on my face.
A lucky thing happened for me. I cut myself at work and the doctor stitching me up noticed an unusual spot near my nose (I'm not that bad of a butcher that I cut my nose). A referral and surgery diagnostics led to "hey Steve, you're 38 and you have a 50 percent chance of being here in five years".
Well my balls finally dropped that day. Life was great, and I was about to be castrated by melanoma. Thanks to good luck, great doctors, plastic surgeons, pathologists and the fact I'm still here because I cut myself at work being a useless butcher 20 years later.
I'd like everyone to know about Richard and Richard's legacy. It needs to be taught in school at cricket training, surf school, everywhere we go today. I'd like us all to pay respect and be proactive. Take care of yourself and your skin. Do it for Richard, and it'll be a job well done. RIP, Richard Scolyer AO, you gave it a fair dinkum crack. Thanks mate.
The major political parties are concerned about the rise of the One Nation party, portraying them as a protest and grievance party. Support for One Nation isn't about voter protest, it's about voter concern regarding what's emanating from most of our political class. For them to fix it would be antithetical to the manner in which they function. If support for One Nation shifts the political focus back to our nation's future and its people, we'd all be better off.
Unfortunately there are those who don't understand that good governance can mean having a change of mind on important issues. As the changing climate demands, a government may have to change. Just look at how our economy has been affected by critical incidents occurring around the world. There's wars in the Middle East, with closure of the Straits of Hormuz affecting oil supplies. Then take Trump's tariffs and the war between Russia and the Ukraine. Australians need to start thinking outside the box. Congratulations to the Albanese government for its leadership and flexibility.
With AUKUS and all that, why haven't we gifted some quantity of Sydney's problematic brush turkeys to the UK and the US, the latter, in time for their 'Thanksgiving' holiday dinners? Personally, I look forward to the impending clash of bin chicken vs. brush turkey, over local food sources and their contribution to more adventurous inner city cuisine. Many gardens overseas are adorned by colourful peacocks wandering the grounds, so perhaps it is time for Sydney gardens to get used to having the blue and red brush turkeys strutting their stuff?
Jonathon Carroll's photograph on the letters page last Tuesday (reproduced below) appears to show a swimmer accompanied by a ghost in the next lane. Spooky.
Energy security is rightly a major concern, so it might come as a surprise to many that the sun still shines and the wind still blows irrespective of what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz or any other flashpoint.
If we want to improve our national security, we should be sourcing as much of our energy as possible in Australia, and not from gas or coal. Renewable energy is already the cheapest way to generate electricity and has the added benefit of costs going down every year. When combined with grid-scale batteries and home storage, it will allow us to fully decarbonise the grid sometime during the next decade. Today, on Global Wind Day, let's embrace the opportunity for a cheap and secure energy future.
Niko Leka has correctly identified the main barrier to social cohesion, the frequently forgotten part of the current royal commission's brief ("Global reckoning: Zionism the greatest threat of the Jews", Opinion, 9/6). Like him, I fear that the strong focus given to Zionist submissions at public hearings is likely to overshadow the principal cause of anti-Semitic behaviour. The failure of the commission to allow Palestinian voices to be heard may skew the results of the inquiry. It is the actions of the Zionist government of Israel that fuel most of the anger, not opposition to ordinary people of the Jewish faith. All perspectives on the causes of anti-Semitic actions must be explored.
Niko Leka ("Global reckoning: Zionism the greatest threat to Jews", Opinion, 9/6), says the royal commission into anti-Semitism and social cohesion must recommend ways to promote the distinction between Zionism and Judaism. Yet musician Deborah Conway told the inquiry that to remove Israel and the idea of being a Zionist from being a Jew is a "false narrative" and a "convenient lie" for people who want to throw slurs at Jews and hide behind it. She said discussing whether Zionism, the belief that Jews have an eternal and profound relationship with their ancient homeland, is valid is a "genocidal impulse". Has Dr Leka considered some Bondi victims were perhaps Zionists as well as Jews?
