If the Australian people decide on marriage equality today, then we are a progressive country ("Face the facts Australia, NZ is lapping us on every front of progressive politics", November 14). But our parliament does not reflect this. As so many ordinary Australians lament: "I wish they'd just get on with it." We are at a turning point: we either allow the negative naysayers to continue and further erode respect for politicians, or we change our electoral system so that our representatives co-operate and solve problems. So let us hear from our best minds on the NZ MMP proportional representation system, the German and Scandinavian systems, in fact any electoral system that encourages co-operation and diversity in our representatives, and solving problems for the benefit of all Australians. We cannot continue as we are.
Sue Young Bensville
Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
I was living in NZ when the parliament passed the same-sex marriage equality law. Next day the sun rose at the expected time, children went untroubled to school, on Sundays churches were open as usual. To the vast majority of the population it was a non-event. Yet Abetz, Abbott and Bernardi are hysterical about the social disaster we face if we allow legal marriage for same-sex couples in Australia. They're demanding solutions to problems they've created.
Vincent Matthews Warriewood
Illustration: John Shakespeare
The Coalition's same-sex marriage survey asks:'Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?'. The Oxford Dictionary's relevant entry for the word 'couple' is: 'a pair of opposite sexes eg. a wedded or engaged pair'. As the question's apparent incorrect usage favours a 'yes' response, the survey could be considered an $122m push poll and of doubtful validity.
David Brabet North Carlton
The proposed bill by Senator Paterson to exempt business owners such as bakers opposing same-sex marriage from anti-discrimination laws on the ground of religious freedom is both unworkable and misleading ("Same-sex prejudice bill gets cold reception", November 14). If a baker can refuse to bake the wedding cake, can a printer refuse to print the invitations? Can a postie refuse to deliver the cards? Can a hotelier refuse to accommodate the honeymooners? Second, what does baking a cake have to do with religious freedom? The baker is free to hang up the Ten Commandments on the shop window, or even put out a sign that says, "Being gay is sin." But baking a wedding cake is not religious expression and not free speech. Being asked by a same-sex couple to provide a cake is not being asked to endorse their values or sexual orientation, it is simply to provide a commercial service in a commercial transaction. On this momentous day when Australians overwhelmingly vote to remove discrimination against same-sex couples in the Marriage Act, we should not allow conservative politicians to simply move the goal posts and transfer their prejudice and bigotry into other areas of daily life.
Han Yang North Turramurra
For those who have forgotten or have never read the satirical novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift it seems relevant to today's politics. In that tale Gulliver meets the inhabitants of two countries who are in dispute over which end of the egg to crack open first. When there is talk of making laws that allow bakers to refuse to bake wedding cakes for a gay wedding, but would be acting against the law by refusing to make a birthday cake for the same couple it appears we are actually living in the world of Swift's political creation.
Joanna van Kool Crows Nest
How the west was won
The University of Western Sydney was one of the important motivations for Baird's decisions to move the Powerhouse to Parramatta ("Powerhouse chases deal with UTS to retain Ultimo ties", November 14). It beggars belief that it took this long for some people to realise that the Powerhouse precinct is almost already a part of UTS's campus. The "curatorial expertise in science technology transport and engineering" is the very essence of the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo, it is not a transportable concept. The University of Western Sydney and Parramatta deserve to have their own museum. MAAS has a vast collection in storage, MAAS can help stock any museum. The elephant in the room is, as always, how much will the government require raised from developers for the partial or total sale of the Powerhouse precinct.
Garry Horvai Pennant Hills
I was trying to explain to a friend from London that the Powerhouse Museum was being moved from Ultimo to Parramatta ("Powerhouse chases deal on Ultimo ties", November 14). She was puzzled for a few minutes, but then said, "I get it. It'd be like moving the Victoria and Albert to Slough."
Patricia Farrar Concord
Trees gone but lofty promises were all bark and no bite
You are right about the apparent futility of protest against government transport construction projects ("Bringing Parramatta Road back to life", November 14, Herald editorial 13th October 2017). I know about this first hand, after being arrested and prosecuted for trying to stop historic trees being destroyed on Anzac Parade for the Light Rail – they're gone. But the public should question promises about the value of these projects to the community. For instance, when the Cross City Tunnel was being spruiked, we were told that William Street would become our "Champs-Élysées." I'm pretty sure the real Champs-Élysées isn't wind swept and grid-locked with a huge empty gravel building site and work depot half way along where the tunnel shaft was sunk. It's untouched after more than a decade. Are we to expect the same half-baked vision for the Light Rail and road projects? These projects have ridden roughshod over the interests of local residents and businesses, on the fake promise of better services and amenity. The benefits remain illusory after years of disruption and destruction. We should expect a better urban landscape rather than just wider roads for this huge investment of our money. Sydney needs to be better, not worse off. Parramatta Road, beware the Champs-Élysées effect.
Nick Murray Centennial Park
Joanne Strauss laments the wholesale cutting down of trees along Sydney's railway lines.(Letters, November 14). Sadly, it is not limited to beside our train lines. There was scarcely a ripple of protest recently when bureaucrats sanctioned the removal or heavy lopping of 53 mature trees to allow for the passage of the B2 buses from Newport to the city along Military Road in Cremorne and Neutral Bay. Absolute lunacy.
Nedra Orme Neutral Bay
Lambie a breath of fresh air in Canberra
Jacqui Lambie will be sorely missed as one of the best senators to represent Tasmania. ("Jacqui Lambie to quit after learning she is a dual citizen", November 14). She was like a breath of fresh air compared with the rest of the cardboard cutouts we have had to put up with. She did great work looking after the returning veterans who were getting a hard time by the military. Let's hope she returns to politics sometime somewhere and we see more Jacqui Lambies in politics, we need them, rather than the bankers, millionaires, accountants and party hacks that sit in Parliament at present. Good luck in the future, Jacqui.
Robert Pallister Punchbowl
So Jacqui Lambie's citizenship allowed her to spend more than 10 years in the Australian Army but not to sit in Parliament.
Miranda Korzy Clareville
If not now, but in the past and the future, there will be federal parliamentarians who do not know who their parents are and would be unaware of any citizenships they hold other than Australian ("Turnbull seeks to rally uneasy Coalition MPs", November 14). There are those who have been adopted, have been born through the donation of sperm anonymously or have had their father's name withheld on their birth certificate. A simple change to our constitution so that people standing for election have merely to be an Australian citizen would overcome all the complications inherent in Section 44. With the current fiasco, this is one referendum guaranteed to pass.
Tony Re Georges Hall
I am waiting for the government of Kazakhstan to confer citizenship on all Australians, forcing Parliament to dissolve.
Brian Martin West Wollongong
A divided One Nation
Pauline Hanson likes to present One Nation as the alternative to the political machinations of the major parties but recent events have demonstrated that One Nation is just as chaotic and divided as the rest ("Inside the shock collapse of One Nation Senate bloc", November 14). There is no guarantee that voting for the major parties will ensure an effective and stable Parliament but the public has a right to know that the person they vote for truly represents who and what they stand for. Otherwise, the candidate should stand as an independent.
Philip Cooney Wentworth Falls
When electors go to the poles, it is expected the elected representative will pursue the policies of the party they have claimed to represent. It is now becoming obvious some of our political animals simply use the major parties as a conduit to defection to enable them to follow their own agenda. Without using the system in this way they would never have ever been elected. While we may ponder safe sex marriage, and spurious nationality connections, surely this trend is vastly more important to the governance of our country. If this trend is permitted to continue we could be faced with our country being run by a hydra-headed monster.
DÁrcy Hardy North Turramurra
Worshipping false idols
Holy suffering Moses! Reading Vivienne Reiner's article ("I put my teens on a digital detox-with surprising results", November 14) particularly about her daughter's erstwhile obsession of checking what her thousand "friends" were up to on Facebook, made me think of a pre-electronic tablet, some 4000 years old now, that warned against worshipping false idols. Insightful, to say the least.
Pasquale Vartuli Wahroonga
Buyer beware on Amazon
Let the buyer beware ("Really close: Amazon confirms local launch", November 14). I recently ordered an electric polisher/buffer through Amazon only to discover on its arrival it was rated for a 110 volt system. I contacted Amazon by email who very readily advised me to return the item (to Lexington, US) and a compatible replacement would be forthcoming. The cost of posting the item back to the US was around $85 although in fairness, Amazon did quickly credit my account with $110 as a gesture of "goodwill". I was delighted when my replacement polisher arrived until I discovered it also was for use at 110 volts. Hopefully when Amazon's launch takes place it will come with a realisation that here in Australia there is a different electrical system. I have since sent several emails to Amazon pointing out the repeat of the problem and asking what should I do but to date I have received no reply. As this stage I'm up the river without a paddle!
Brian Roach Westleigh
Can't wait. The more competition, the better.
Peter Miniutti Ashbury
Silence on Manus Island
Why do we not hear more from the ABC's correspondent on Manus Island, Liam Fox? This is the most serious human rights violations visited on people by Australia. Condemned by Amnesty International and the United Nations, what we are doing is largely unknown to the people of this country. We need a human rights revolution in this country and a Human Rights Act to stop people being treated like rubbish, our Pacific neighbours being treated like rubbish. There is a chant on our marches, "Turnbull, Dutton, hear us say, bring them here, let them stay". Better to my ears would be "Turnbull, Dutton, hear us say, you will be facing court one day".
Stephen Langford Paddington
McMadness: ferry name is disrespectful
I am devastated that our latest Sydney ferry is to bear a ridiculous name, a weak imitation of a recent British ferry, with a neologism that has no vernacular Australian reference ("If it's Ferry McFerryface it must be April Fool's Day", smh.com.au, November 14). It will join new ferries named after people we are proud of, such as Victor Chang and Fred Hollows. This name is shameful, and must not be allowed to happen.
Marjorie Sutcliffe The Rocks
Call me young at heart, but I just can't wait to jump aboard Ferry McFerryface and boaty floaty on the shiny briny under the ridgey didgey bridgey. Toot toot!
George Manojlovic Mangerton
So Andrew Constance, the naming of the ferry Ferry McFerryface is one for the kids. So are the new tollways smokestacks slated to be near schools, also one for the kids?
Deb Little Bexley North
Secret message
I reckon Donald Hawes (Letters, November 14) should be more careful in his assumption that places like Tamarama derive their names from attempts at anglicising authentic Aboriginal place names. When the great Burnum Burnum came to our school in the early 1990s, he took great delight in reporting that the seemingly colourful Indigenous place names for many Australian localities translate to "Bugger off!" in numerous dialects. This flawed process of attribution and translation is cleverly satirised in the 1986 film Babakiueria (pronounced "barbecue area"). Hope this helps.
David Grant Ballina