(C) The Conversation
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Your say: week beginning July 7 [1]
['Judy Ingham', 'Notes The Conversation Newsroom']
Date: 2025-07-06 20:52:15+00:00
Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at
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Monday July 7
Concerned about B6?
“If you’re worried about high dose B6 my suggestion is to swap over to a European product with lower levels of B6. European regulators limit how much B6 is allowed in multivitamin preparations and some of these are available in Australia in supermarkets at levels below the daily recommended dose.”
Roger Lord, Senior Lecturer (Medical Sciences), Australian Catholic University
Effects of trauma
“Tara-Lyn Camilleri’s article on the effects of trauma and how we should understand them as changeable responses shaped by context was really interesting. It gives hope for those who have come from trauma that if they can change the environment that surrounds them, they have enough plasticity to make a change. Perhaps that means generating the strength in your mind to begin that journey!”
Robyn King
For-profit childcare
“We need to move away from the for-profit childcare model. We’ve seen it with the aged care sector — only harm can be done when profit is the goal.”
Mary Snodgrass
Tuesday July 8
Grade inflation
“As an employer, we included practical ‘trial days’ during our hiring process and it didn’t take long to notice a wide variation in capability of graduates from different schools with similar grades. Passing a student who has not achieved the required skill level can be deadly in medical, paramedical and other professions. Grade inflation only sends the problem further down the employment line and degrades the reputation of the school among employers.”
Karin Mogg
It’s on the government
“In the wake of Melbourne’s childcare abuse allegations, I felt your story about what parents can do was a terrible choice and very reactionary. It places unfair onus on individual parents to stop their children being abused! It’s not up to individuals, it’s up to governments to strictly regulate childcare centres, childcare workers need to be paid more and be expected to have higher levels of education.”
Sarah Howlett-Sands
Time to rethink for-profit child care and aged care
“I think providing high quality child care and aged care aren’t compatible with for-profit business models. Both these industries are very labour intensive and therefore, their ability to provide safe environments is compromised because mostly they’re understaffed, despite receiving government subsidies. To maximise profit in these industries and still make them affordable for the general population, labour costs would need to be kept as low as possible. Safe, enriching environments for both children and the elderly are only possible in care settings when they’re sufficiently staffed.”
Lynne Pantaur
Wednesday July 9
Consider counsellors, for counselling
“I’m just curious as to why your article on boosting mental health services only focussed on the high cost of professionals like psychologists and psychiatrists but didn’t consider counsellors who are trained specifically in counselling, and generally cost far less. They could be a very useful piece of the jigsaw puzzle.”
Verity Grace
Women heroes
“What an excellent article by Rebecca McNaught and Jo Longman on the largely unrecognised role of women in disaster recovery. It didn’t make the news (unlike the ’tinny army’), but anyone who was involved in the Northern Rivers flood event of 2022 witnessed the monumental work of women in those first few weeks, and the community support and recovery work that they continue to lead three years later.”
Kaylene Henry
Let’s get on with the job
“After decades of ignoring climate change scientists, demonising environmentalists and punishing governments for seeking to act on evidence of the impact of global warming and climate change, now we hear the call for the government to ‘fix’ the predicted devastation communities are faced with. Surely it’s time to put an end to the climate wars and begin to work collaboratively.”
Melanie Carter
Thursday July 10
Teachers can’t be replaced by AI
“I was saddened by Patrick Dodd’s article AI is driving down the price of knowledge.
Firstly AI cannot do genuine research – trawling through archival files to find what is of relevance to one’s topic, or undertaking interviews. AI just takes from work already done and ‘summarises’ it, usually in poor English.
Secondly, the skills that Dodd suggests should be taught are already being taught. In studying History, students should learn all the skills that Dodd mentions, backed by a knowledge base.
Thirdly, AI does not discern. If all our knowledge comes from AI generated sources, how can we trust anything we read? A well researched piece of writing will, of course, always contain some personal bias, but a discerning reader will analyse the argument and decide whether it stands up, or not.”
Associate Professor Bobbie Oliver, Director, Centre for Western Australian History, The University of Western Australia
Friday 11 July
An observation on Gaza
“As the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza continues, aided and abetted by the US administration and diverse corporations profiting from war, it comes as no surprise that the real Israeli agenda is emerging in stages. How do they reconcile now being the perpetrators of massive and blatant ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people, while still celebrating surviving their own ethnic holocaust at the hands of the Nazis and complicit others? The victim has chosen to become the unrelenting perpetrator, in true Old Testament fashion.”
Marjorie Simmons
The promise of truth
“I loved Nicola Redhouse’s article on the standard of truth in memoir. Why the gnashing of teeth and the wringing of hands? Paul Simon nailed it in ‘The Boxer’ - ‘a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest’ (albeit he was singing about promises, but what is truth if not a promise). We live in a kaleidoscope of meaning and understanding and reading The Salt Path is not compulsory.”
Māris Bruzgulis
Thanks Glenys!
“Waking up each day to read your factual and informative news in its succinct and truthful style is a breath of fresh air. I often share articles and appreciate this option as a free publication. Thankyou, from a happy donor.”
Glenys Perri
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