Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.

Monday November 17

No treaty

“This treaty and the creation of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria are a vanity project of the Victorian Government and represent a disastrous unravelling of democracy in Victoria. Only a tiny minority of the population of Victoria was entitled to vote and of that minority an even smaller number actually voted. Now we have the bizarre spectacle of less than 1% of the population holding the state to account.”

Andrew Smallman

Build better

“Lost amongst the net zero wars are the real issues impacting the cost of power for most Australians: the ever-widening gap in our wealth and most of all, poor insulation/unsustainable building designs, none of which are discussed or addressed in policy by either party.”

Jane Davis

The value of the arts

“An acquaintance of mine worked for a merchant bank which hired two types of university graduates: those with an arts degree and those with business/economics degrees. When the GFC hit in 2008, many from the arts degree team became supervisors of the business/economics team. The arts team could deal with changes and look outside the box for solutions, whereas the business team considered the system as it was. Arts degrees require independent thought, not rote responses. Job readiness limits graduates; open-minded learning prepares graduates for meeting changes and adjusting throughout life.”

Dalton Dupuy

The Conversation