Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size I am relieved that the Liberal Party failed to get its candidates on the ballot paper for so many council elections (“ Liberal HQ calls urgent meeting on council fiasco ”, August 16).
Council elections should always be fought on local issues, and not follow divisive party politics. Genuine independent candidates who are involved in the community and know what the local issues are will always get my vote ahead of those candidates bound by the ideology of a particular party. Bridget Sant, Hyams Beach Natalie Ward, Mark Speakman and Damien Tudehope fronted the media on Thursday demanding their party’s state director resign immediately.
Credit: Kate Geraghty I suspect the lack of Liberals in local government will have zero effect. After living in many municipalities over the years, I suggest we would all be better off by replacing councillors with just one competent, suitably paid administrator. On every street corner, it seems, someone has an incompetent, laughable council story to tell.
It’s a farce that democratised councils produce better outcomes. Tony Lewis, Mount Victoria Ever since the political parties infiltrated local government elections there has been much unsettling ado involving party politics within councils. There is no place for councillors’ political affiliations.
All councillors should be independent and focused on the purpose behind the position they will hold. They should not be worrying about aligning with their party line. Councillors should be making decisions based on their role as a representative for ratepayers, working for the betterment of the local area: providing fundamental services in the local region, fixing issues that arise in the local area, ensuring things run smoothly in the council offices, streets, facilities and worksites, and working co-operatively with council general managers and staff.
Please save us from politics locally. Peter Singh, Dubbo It’s hilarious that the Liberal head office administration couldn’t even work out the nomination cutoff timeline for 128 local government elections when the information has been available for months. Especially as one of the main selling points of this organisation historically has been the primacy of rights and responsibilities of individuals.
So why didn’t any of the potential candidates for whom head office missed the bus take matters into their own hands and ensure everything was ticked off? Tony Doyle, Fairy Meadow Richard Shields has blamed a lack of resources for the nomination debacle (“ Richard Shields sacked as NSW Liberal Party state director ”, smh.com.au, August 16).
Maybe it is the result of the Liberals’ favourite “answer to everything”: privatisation and the outsourcing of resources. On a positive front, anyone who misses a deadline on a local council payment may now get a bit of sympathy from any Liberal councillors, instead of the usual threat of a fine or penalty for late payment. Mark Nugent, Lugarno Advertisement Since when is the deadline for submission of just about anything midday? In a 35-year career involving the lodgment of dozens, if not hundreds, of tenders and other submissions with state and federal government agencies, as well as business entities, I can’t recall one that had a deadline of midday.
It was always 5pm, or close of business, which was so common that it became known by its acronym: COB. I do feel for Richard Shields, who one expects was of the belief that the deadline was in accordance with normal government and business practice. Malcolm McEwen, North Turramurra While I understand the sentiment behind it, your correspondent’s reference to the feelings of garbage bins – “red, yellow or green lidded” – to the political leanings of local councillors is, surely, a descent into gutter politics ( Letters , August 16).
Pasquale Vartuli, Wahroonga Unsympathetic stance should hurt Dutton too Through the mouth of Alfred Doolittle in Pygmalion , George Bernard Shaw mocked the distinction that some people made between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor (“ Coalition wants a review of visa rules ”, August 16). Peter Dutton, in his call to ban entry to all immigrants from Gaza, seems to be going down the same route. In Dutton’s world, if you are a Ukrainian bombed by Russia, you are a refugee.
If you are an Afghan threatened by the Taliban, you are a refugee. But if you are a Gazan, bombed, shelled and shot at by Israel, you are “undeserving”. Some refugees, it appears, are more deserving than others.
Mike Reddy, Vincentia Matt Golding Credit: I am more afraid of Peter Dutton than I am of refugees from war-torn Gaza. Refugees who have been subjected to the same security scrutiny that has built a successful multicultural society. It is Dutton’s treatment of refugees that puts our social cohesion at risk.
Like Trump, Dutton succeeds in gaining media attention to poison political communications and opinion. It drives his every word. Anne Eager, Epping Thank you, Zali Steggall, for calling out the deliberately divisive behaviour of Opposition Leader Dutton (“‘ Stop being racist’: Row erupts in parliament over Dutton’s stance on Gaza visas ”, August 16).
Her powerful – and timely – rebuke of our hard-hearted opposition leader stands with Julia Gillard’s famous misogyny speech to Parliament in 2012. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT) Advertisement Will Dutton also seek vetting of returning citizens who fought in the Israeli armed forces in Gaza without formal approval from the attorney-general? The actions of the IDF in Gaza are hardly to the benefit of Australia, as is required for such permission to be granted. Peter Wotton, Pyrmont Dutton advocates for a total ban on Palestinian refugees from the smashed remnants of Gaza, and still retains voter support of nearly half the population (“ FM PM risks voters tuning out ”, August 16).
What a crappy nation we have become: what a selfish, shallow, fearful mob. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Jon Fogarty, North Avoca Unfortunately, attacking foreigners – whether they be migrants or refugees fleeing war zones – has always been able to win over votes.
Fuelling xenophobia is dangerous, and those who do it know this. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury The opposition leader’s proposed ban demonises all Gazans as terrorist sympathisers, displaying no empathy for the plight of a people relentlessly attacked since the atrocities of October 7. It shows no respect for Home Affairs to risk-assess and manage Palestinian visa applications.
Sadly, it reveals a leader in our country who is politicising the plight of a group of people who deserve far more from Australia. I am ashamed of his stance. Gerard Mowbray, Warners Bay We live in a land of the unfair delusion In 2004 Andrew Denton hosted the Enough Rope program, which included one episode interviewing homeless people.
This painfully and powerfully featured the confronting range of different individuals and their unrelated circumstances who found themselves rejected and forgotten in our so-called “lucky”, “fair go” nation. Here we are 20 years later, reminded of this delusion by Jacq Gallagher’s heart-wrenching personal story ( “My home became a holiday rental, so I slept in a cemetery” , August 16). Since 2004 we have perfected the globalisation and commodification of our housing “market”, become a haven for money laundering through property, prioritised outrageous tax breaks for unproductive property investment, dismissed the homeless, and destroyed the futures and hopes of countless precious young people.
Then falling birth rates are blithely reported, while no dots are joined. We spruik our success as a fair multicultural society, “punching above our weight” at the Olympics, under successive governments claiming to “represent all Australians”. We have excelled in our collective delusion.
Today I turn 70, and while immeasurably grateful for getting here, for my beautiful family, and being so fortunate in life, I cannot celebrate my unfair nation, now so profoundly unrecognisable to me. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville Jacq Gallagher’s plight is both heartbreaking and all too familiar here on the NSW North Coast. Homes that were previously available for community members to rent are being turned into short-term holiday rentals.
Hotels and motels are now crisis accommodation for people facing homelessness. People forced to live in cars or sleep rough are being constantly harassed and moved on. The strain of sheer numbers of homeless people is killing local charities and homelessness support services.
Safe shelter is becoming a precarious privilege for many people who have made their lives here. That’s the other side of the coastal paradise we live in. At some point, we need to acknowledge that the level of homelessness we are seeing is not isolated or unavoidable.
It is an epidemic that was caused by neglect, indifference and poor policies. At some point we have to accept that the right to safe shelter trumps the privilege of high investment returns. Until we do, we are just shrugging our shoulders and looking away.
Tony Judge, Woolgoolga Advertisement That Jacq Gallagher found herself homeless is a shameful indictment of the failure of government policy. Clearly, we have a deep housing crisis that requires massive and brave government intervention. A policy intervention that could make an immediate impact is to make short-term letting (Airbnb, etc) highly unattractive.
Returning the approximately 60,000 Airbnb properties in NSW to the conventional long-term private rental market (in 2021 there were 830,579 private renting households in NSW) would immediately increase the vacancy rate by around five per cent and could be a game-changer. Alan Morris, Eastlakes Jacq Gallagher became homeless when her home was put up for short-term holiday rental. Credit: Eve Gallagher Jacq Gallagher’s story stirs compassion and frustration.
Will homelessness ever be addressed in this country? Could we ever look forward to a day when rather than being regaled with irreverent images and information of the uber-rich’s frequent exchange of obscenely overpriced harbourside and other mansions, we could instead view images of well-designed, comfortable and urgently-needed public housing with residents enjoying a secure lifestyle? Heather Johnson, West Pennant Hills Could there be a more grim reminder of the tragedy of homelessness than Jacq Gallagher’s story? Not only the relentless search for shelter but the need to find that away from the fear of attack from strangers. How shameful. Vicky Marquis, Glebe Metro mania Remember we once had the town planning strategy of “city of cities”, with jobs in these cities and shorter commuting distances (“ Metro to open on Monday ”, August 16).
By increasing the rail capacity to the CBD in a super-expensive new metro, the opposite is being done: a CBD-centric piece of infrastructure for yet more long -distance commuting (most in standing mode) with equally expensive mono-directional traffic flows. Sydney drowned in metro-mania. Matt Mushalik, Epping Advertisement Good advice Fifteen years ago I felt the twinges of pain and “crackling” of my knee bones that heralded the onset of osteoarthritis ( “How Tom walked away from knee pain without expensive surgery” , August 16).
Before considering relief through replacement surgery, I decided to consult a local London-trained physiotherapist whose blunt advice was “join a gym”. Since then, through 90 minutes of gym exercise taken four to five days per week, plus sensible walking shoes, I have retained everyday gait and mobility, with prescribed medication controlling occasional pain. More importantly, given my age, the exercise also benefits prevention of falls and keeps other joint pain at bay.
Readers, heed the advice in the story: it’ll be worth it. John Williams, Balmain No decency If I want to express my opinion in a letter to the Herald , I have to supply my name, address and contact number so that the paper can verify my authenticity ( “‘Pretty devastating’: Raygun breaks silence on Olympics controversy” , smh.com.
au, August 16). And, with very few exceptions, I have to consent to my name being published below my letter. This is not the case with the so-called “social” media.
With the appalling Raygun pile-on as the latest example, the gutless trolls can heap abuse upon whomever they like and remain anonymous. They have no sense of human decency or responsibility. Rob Phillips, North Signal loss Stomaching Telstra’s higher prices is difficult, especially when its mobile service is non-existent ( “Customers will accept price rises: Telstra boss” , August 16).
Chief officer Vicki Brady is invited to accompany me for a walk through the fantastic northern section of Yuraygir National Park, just 5km south of Yamba. PS: VB, leave your mobile at home – there’s no service. Col Shephard, Yamba Advertisement Postscript “Peter Dutton’s latest contribution to world affairs is morally repugnant.
Palestinian civilians seeking to escape death and dispossession should have the same rights to safety as anyone else. Any standard less than this is simple discrimination,” wrote Peter Bishop of Marayong. Very few of the hundreds of letters which flooded our inbox on this subject disagreed.
Many, like Peter Gibson of Wentworthville, wrote that the opposition leader was “not fit to be a leader in this country”, and “his weaponising of vulnerable refugees” was the latest example of his “divisive strategies”. John Bailey of Canterbury recognised that there might be political advantage in opposing the Voice, and refugee visas for Palestinians, but “at their core, these positions show a lack of empathy”. “Toughness in a political leader may be desirable, but so too is compassion,” he wrote.
There was more trouble for the Liberals on the letters pages when it was revealed the party had failed to nominate 140 candidates across 16 local government areas for September’s council elections. In this case, however, writers found a silver lining. “So, some councils in NSW won’t have a Liberal voice.
How deserving this is for the party that nationally scuppered the Voice referendum. Now, if the party machinery can repeat this brilliant tactic at a national level – especially with a no nomination for Dutton – this would indeed be liberal justice,” suggested Russ Couch of Woonona. Loading The ire of letter writers wasn’t exclusively for the Coalition.
The federal government’s reluctance to ban gambling advertising infuriated correspondents. Richard McLean of Neutral Bay provided a different point of view: “Growing up in England in the 1950s, before television, all I knew about Australia was that Robert Menzies was prime minister (which he was), Waltzing Matilda was the national anthem (which it wasn’t) and Australians would bet xxx on two flies walking up a glass window. Gambling is obviously part of our culture and banning advertising (which I agree with) won’t make much difference.
” That may be the case, but many readers were calling for the PM to “be brave and do what the overwhelming majority of Australians want – ban all gambling advertisements.” John Brown of North Sydney offered this insight into how strongly readers felt: “Would I change my vote if the federal government doesn’t abolish gambling advertisements? You bet I would.” Pat Stringa, Letters editor To submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald , email letters@smh.
com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here..
