As a student about to enter grade 6, I am outraged that, along with no written reports, I will not be able to go on camp or have a graduation celebration or fete.
I am very upset that teachers had to go to such measures to get a pay rise. I have sent an email to Mr Baillieu and I am asking my classmates to do the same. They agree this is just outrageous!
We wanted to end grade 6 the same way students have done before us, but now we cannot. We will leave grade 6 feeling angry and disappointed that we did not get to have as much fun as the grade sixes before us.
I am also very upset that my sisters have just finished prep and have no written records about their first year.
Due to a production error, Senator Brandis's name was changed to "Senator Barmaids" in an article in The Australian yesterday. The Australian apologises to Senator Brandis.
While rural communities burn in potentially the worst fires NSW has ever seen, a courageous activist called Jonathan Moylan has used a hoax to expose the companies adding fuel to this fire (''Environmentalist's hoax triggers $314m Whitehaven share price fall'', January 8).
On Monday, Moylan issued a fake ANZ press release outlining its disinvestment in Whitehaven Coal. This action exposes an inherent problem in our system where we are allowing the continued expansion of coalmining despite the horrific implications such as extreme bushfires.
It seems like we are stuck in a beginners' science class with the petulant political leaders who refuse to connect the dots on climate change and their addiction to coalmining.
So, while we witness the bushfires raging, companies such as ANZ and Whitehaven are continuing their campaign to burn fossil fuels for profit.
Nicola Moir Randwick
On New Year's Eve I watched the fireworks from a public vantage point. I saw backpackers sending text messages to their friends urging them to come to Sydney. That is, the few million dollars spent on the event will result in many millions worth of tourism.
Yet every year there are letters from people insisting we cancel the fireworks because of (take your pick) global warming, war, poverty, bushfires or the expense.
I saw young children amazed, I saw grown-ups holding hands and I saw thousands of Australians having a fantastic time. It really takes a special kind of killjoy to want to cancel that.
I wonder if the asylum seekers on our offshore processing centres will be gathered around a TV (if there is one) to watch the fantastic fireworks display on Sydney Harbour on New Year's Eve (''Revellers set to get climate-friendly bang for their buck'', December 29-30)?
I am sure they will be delighted to see thousands of Sydneysiders enjoying the display of $6.5 million going up in smoke - albeit beautifully coloured. But perhaps they may wonder if they have been mistaken in trying to gain admission into a country where such a blatant waste of money is accepted.
Wendy Hunter Rose Bay
Another reader picked up on my previous observation:
The New Year's Eve fireworks celebration wouldn't be the same without the annual carping letter about where the money could be better spent. I wonder if Wendy Hunter (Letters, December 31) forgoes all of life's pleasures, no matter how small, and donates the saved sums to good causes? Gerard Kirwan Cremorne
Am I the only Sydneysider who's a bit over the fireworks?
Every year, we are promised they'll be 'bigger than ever' and newspapers report the latest 'firework innovation'. This year: Fireworks that look like koalas. Exploding shells just don't work that way. If they actually looked like koalas, it would be a surprise, like the 'bridge effect'. This way, people get to see things they would otherwise ignore, like shapes in the clouds.
As always, Clover Moore gets to swan about taking credit for the Harbour setting (despite it being God's work) and carry on about our 'diversity' and villages. Bleech.
It could just be that I've seen it for too many years and the 'waterfall' is getting a bit stale. I'm sure first time visitors to Australia, for example those aboard the monolithic cruise ship which moored itself right in front of Point Piper, would be amazed.
But have a look at London's effort. I was always cynical towards the 'fireworks synchronised to music' but they seem to have done it perfectly. Watch it in full screen glory and wince at those holding mobile phones to capture it.
WE ATTENDED New Year's Eve in the city. I cannot fathom why, at Federation Square at 7.30pm, early 1980s music was being blasted and the stage lay empty. Duran Duran and Van Halen? Did the organisers just whack on the golden oldies radio station? At Flagstaff Gardens between 11pm and midnight, at least 2000 people soberly waited for fireworks, bereft of an MC or live entertainment. A 90-second countdown video and a DJ was embarrassingly lame.
Here were missed opportunities where Melbourne could have shone and put on local acts. Many underemployed performers would have jumped at the gig. Let's put some effort into the experience, not just crowd management.
Fiona Jackson, Frankston
