The Travails of English, DNA and the Many Wrongs Done to George Pell

Sir: Many years ago, I was an examination assessor in VCE English and Literature, and active participant and presenter at VATE conferences. Those sessions were informative, enjoyable and stimulating, and I was able to return to school with some good ideas and materials.

Conor Ross (“English: A Discipline in Search of a Purpose”, July-August 2023) ought to be applauded for his wit and courage in his depiction of the most recent VATE conference. I doubt if I would have enjoyed it.

As noted by him and not a few correspondents, the acknowledgment of country was meaningless, in that Deakin University will never give up its properties at Waurn Ponds or the Waterfront to a rogue entity. It’s a ridiculous piece of theatre but fraught with danger, especially if the so-called Voice to Parliament, or its Victorian equivalent, were to gain executive powers.

Then there was the sad spectacle of A/Prof. R. Misson’s fashionable promotion of students engaging in “capacity building” and “establishing their own hierarchy of truths”. Misson’s preoccupation seems to be with “post-humanism” and sexual aberration, not with the art (Ross’s felicitous term) of English as a school subject: a far cry from Leavis and Eliot.

There is hope, at least on the VCE Literature list where I can find texts that would entertain and challenge students: Aeschylus’s The Persians, Shakespeare’s As You Like It and The Winter’s Tale, Murnane’s The Plains, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Stoker’s Dracula and Heaney’s selection of Yeats’s poetry.

I do hope that Mr Ross persists in his chosen profession as a teacher, and continues to write perceptive and entertaining commentaries on the slings and arrows assailing his colleagues, students, and long-suffering parents.

E. Reilly

ABC Classic’s Decline

Sir: In “The Rising of Music’s New Dawn” (July-August 2023), Alexander Voltz is spot-on in his analysis of what’s wrong with the contemporary music scene. I make this judgment as a once-upon-a-time music student, and a devotee of the ABC’s classical music radio programs for many decades.

In recent years, I’ve witnessed a growing deterioration in the quality and mindset of ABC presenters and presentations. There was a time when we were graced with distinguished presenters, such as John Cargher and Marian Arnold, whose firm grasp of fine music and clear, literate analyses offered their audiences deeply pleasurable learning experiences. These days, the ABC’s Classic platform afflicts us with jokey presenters who sound like disc jockeys, spouting dumbed-down explanations and causing a gritting of my elderly teeth. The promotion of contemporary pieces, whose inane, pretentious titles are only outdone in their dullness and silliness by the music itself, is another source of dental and mental irritation.

There are, of course, honourable exceptions among the presenters and the contemporary music presented, which is why I haven’t stopped my ears altogether to ABC Classic; but I think it’s fair to say that the past is another country as far as ABC programmers are concerned. I assume it’s a quest for audience numbers that explains such innovations as chasing and broadcasting listeners’ text messages, an ephemeral pursuit that is no substitute for the quality in music presentation which was once the hallmark of ABC programs.

With all that in mind, this ageing curmudgeon is delighted to read of Quadrant Music, and looks forward with eager anticipation to articles as good as Malcolm Gillies’s “Fingerprints of Musical Genius”. Peter Stiles’s poem “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” is a joy to read.

Helen Jackson

The DNA Solution

Sir: With an increasing number of benefits available to Aborigines, it is reasonable to ask: Who is an Aborigine? (I shall use the term “Aborigine” to encompass Torres Strait Islanders as well). Of the three Mabo criteria the first two (“identifies as” and “is accepted by”) are clearly manipulable. Only the third, “has Aboriginal ancestry”, is objective, but this too is subject to the vagaries of documented pedigrees.

Science offers a definitive and readily accessible solution to this problem. DNA, extracted from a small saliva sample, can be genotyped for up to a million genetic markers to give a detailed analysis of ancestry to the nearest percentage point; such tests are readily available from providers such as Ancestry.com or 23andme.com. Many people in Australia (myself included) and millions around the world use these tests for interest in their own ancestry and for increasingly useful knowledge about genetic risks for medical conditions. The cost is modest—about $100 to $200 depending on provider and the level of service. Given the sums spent on Aboriginal programs, it would be a relatively minor budget item for government to bear the cost of testing any person wishing to establish Aboriginal ancestry in this way.

The question then arises as to how much ancestry is enough to claim Aboriginality—is it 1 per cent, 10 per cent, 50 per cent? This is a discussion Aboriginal people and society as a whole need to have. Americans, long before the age of DNA testing, came up with a definition of Native American ancestry of at least one sixteenth (6.25 per cent), equivalent to one great-great grandparent. This hardly seems an onerous criterion and perhaps it is a place to start the discussion.

I am not advocating compulsory testing, just a voluntary option for those wishing to establish their ancestry scientifically.

Nick Martin

The Pell Injustice

Sir: Frank Brennan’s piece (July-August 2023) arguing that the criminal proceedings against Cardinal George Pell should never have been brought is troubling for anyone who values the integrity and independence of the police, prosecutors and judges; for anyone who values the presumption of innocence; and for anyone who values the right to a fair trial.

The two Pell trials were conducted in secret. Even today, the transcripts, the exhibits and the interlocutory decisions of the trial judge are unavailable. By contrast, the sentencing of Cardinal Pell was broadcast around the world, and is readily available in full on the internet.

Secrecy in court proceedings always diminishes justice.

There should be a public inquiry by an experienced criminal judge into the proceedings against Cardinal Pell. Such inquiry has broad significance, not only for Victorians, but for all Australians. Some of the issues which should be considered include:

1. Did the media respect the presumption of innocence, and the right to a fair trial?
2. Was the police investigation conducted in accordance with proper professional standards?
3. Does legislation in Victoria restricting investigation of a complainant’s background, and restricting cross-examination of a complainant, work against a fair trial?
4. Does the absence of provision in Victoria for a judge-alone trial on occasion work against a fair trial?
5. Ought the proceedings against Cardinal Pell ever have been brought? Did the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions act with the integrity and independence we expect of it?
6. Should the proceedings have been conducted in secret, particularly having regard to the very public sentencing?
7. Is the legislation in Victoria sufficient to ensure the independence and integrity of police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and judges?

Differences of theological perspective are to be encouraged as they encourage a richness of understanding. As St John XXIII said, unity in what is essential, freedom in what is arguable, charity in all things! Although Corinthian-style differences between Cardinal Pell and Fr Brennan may be thought to enhance rhetorically the Brennan thesis that the proceedings ought never have been brought, logically that is not the case. The media pile-on and the facts of the two secret trials, as well as the appeal to the Victorian Court of Appeal speak for themselves.

My experience of George Pell is that he spoke his mind, on occasion with humour, but always with concern for the person he was addressing. Cardinal Pell was a stout supporter of the Church’s magisterium, as I am sure is Fr Brennan.

Michael McAuley