On the productivity commission

Jackie French writes: Re. “Kim Williams’ dystopian nightmare of the future of copyright” (Friday). The Productivity Commission has a broad remit. Some of its suggestions are superb. Some, such as  proposing a copyright scheme that would allow a condom manufacturer to use Diary of a Wombat in one of their advertisements, or abolishing  the ability of Australian and overseas authors to license the publication of their works in Australia, are so misguided it is difficult to understand how they could be seriously considered.

Don’t lump all of their recommendations together. The good ones are still superb, despite the ones that misunderstand Australian publishing. But the ability to see some issues clearly sadly had not meant that the Commission is equally able in all areas.

Cut our Olympians some slack

Niall Clugston writes: Re. “Gold for Americans’ bad behaviour” (Friday). Australia’s medal tally has been in decline since the Sydney Olympics, and now it’s back to the level of Barcelona in 1992. Are we going to be told every year how disappointing this is? For ever?

Adrian Jackson writes: As of Friday evening, Australia’s Olympic athletes have won 27 medals, in many sports, out of a population of only 24 million people while the USA have 100 medals out of a population of over 300 million. On a per capita basis Australia is superior given our smaller pool of potential talent. The similar comparison can be made with other nations higher up on the medal tally. However the best nation, on a per capita basis, will probably be one of the small island nations with only one gold medal like Fiji.