Our complaints were obviously not listened to – we are still receiving multiple letters/brochures and phone calls on a daily basis, even after we have told them we have already voted.

Who is paying for all this – and, more importantly, how do they know our mobile numbers?

Greg McKie, Mont Albert North

A different sort of space invader

I empathise with Jennifer Quigley ("Polling space invaders", Letters, 9/5). We, too are in the Kooyong electorate. For our part we have been invaded on a daily basis for at least the last two weeks by flyers from our local member all sent through Australia Post. In fact, we are now receiving them at the rate of two a day.

I assume the trash they constitute will be set off against the 34 kilograms saved by Qantas recently.

Graham Devries, Balwyn

No escape from the onslaught

We have also had our letterbox filled with letters and flyers from Josh Frydenberg, Hilary Lamacraft (Letters, 11/5) and I can't go to any local shops without being offered a blue shopping bag by one of his supporters.

It has never been like this in the past. Signs of desperation or panic maybe?

Tony Healy, Balwyn North

A heavy toll on the trees

You know when a sitting member of Federal Parliament is a bit worried about the competition in the upcoming election. Residents of the Kooyong electorate have been the beneficiary of Liberal Party scaremongering propaganda in their letterboxes, the like of which has not been seen in previous elections. Flyers, authorised by the Liberal Party, have photos of Bill Shorten, Julian Burnside and Oliver Yates depicting them as smug and sneaky. The so-called facts on the flyers are obviously negative, as you would expect, but also appear a bit loose with the truth.

It is clear the environment is not a consideration to the sitting member, as my very rough estimate of the total number of flyers delivered to date, throughout this electorate, is probably around 200,000. That does include the prolific propaganda from the current member. That is a lot of trees and there are still many more days to go. One thing in the Liberals' favour is that it appears the flyers were printed in Melbourne rather than overseas.

Unfortunately the No Junk Mail sign on my letterbox has not been a deterrent.

Ron Dretzke, Deepdene

THE FORUM

Illegal here for a reason

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia because of the moral problems and demonstrated risks for exploitation associated with the commodification of babies, gametes and women's bodies involved when money is exchanged for the purpose of forming families.

These are essentially the same reasons that private adoptions were banned in Australia last century, as introduced in Victoria's Adoption of Children Act 1964.

It is easy to empathise with people who are unable to have children naturally. However, it is difficult to empathise with those who deliberately travel overseas to avoid Australia's appropriate surrogacy laws and subsequently get exploited by shonky commercial surrogacy operators – such as Australian couple V2 and V3 in Florida ("Australians caught in US surrogacy 'deception"', The Sunday Age, 5/5).

Penny Mackieson, Richmond

Our suburban fixation

Erin Stewart's article about street parking ("Streets should be for people, not cars", The Sunday Age, 5/5) is interesting reading but perhaps misses the underlying driver of our situation – low average urban density that actively encourages/necessitates the use of cars for a large portion of the population.

Ultimately this is down to the fixation with stand-alone housing on relatively large allotments, setback rules etc over such large fractions of our urban areas.

This is a grotesquely inefficient use of residential land that leaves Melbourne with about half the density of Los Angeles (a very, very spread out city itself) and effectively forces people into cars as the only practical option.

Stewart's article mentions Paris and Tokyo but the major difference there is population density coupled with very effective public transport. The same applies to many other cities.

Mike Seward, Launceston

A long way to go

I disagree with Jane Caro that boys/men wear women's clothing with social impunity ("Show Some R.E.S.P.E.C.T", Sunday Life, 5/5).

It has always been permissible for the larrikin Australian male to dress comically as a woman without scorn, but I wonder what life is really like for the boy in the tutu. What contempt might he attract should he continue dressing this way in adolescence?

To Caro's point about women being held in greater respect since #MeToo, while I agree some progress has been made I think it's excessive (and erroneous) to declare that "serious headway" has been made. It has taken a movement with global momentum to achieve minimal change for women. A cursory look at rape charge and conviction statistics, as well as the recent sentence in the Ristevski case that many regarded as not commensurate with the crime committed, shows that male privilege has not fallen far from its recent height. #MeToo has assisted in some way but material change for oppressed groups is inevitably slow.

And as always let's be careful not to congratulate fathers for being playful with their children when mothers thanklessly do that and more every day.

Alison Barton, Thornbury

Knock, knock ...

Watching Josh Frydenberg and Mathias Cormann critiquing the ALP election promises funding on ABC TV reminded me so much of opening the front door to find two earnest Mormons using the gravest of tones trying to save me from damnation.

Terry Martin, Benalla

We had a great run

As one of the earliest Baby Boomers (1946) I feel entitled to give some gratuitous advice to my cohort.

Most of us have enjoyed the easiest run in life of any generation, ever, full stop. We obtained jobs without much difficulty, created a new moral code, had the chance of owning our own homes and only worked one job at a time.

We also created more waste, discarded more consumer goods and burnt more fuel than any previous generation. The good life created expectations that it could, should and would last indefinitely. We shaped our world and continue to try to.

But now that I am a grandfather with a horizon that is only one quarter of what it once was, my expectations have shifted from what lies ahead for me to that of what lies ahead for my five grandchildren. The past has been ours but the future is theirs.

On May 18 I urge my fellow Baby Boomers not to be influenced by the crumbs being tossed at us and vote not for ourselves but on behalf of those who have upwards of 80 years ahead of them. We should hope when they do have a vote they don't exact from us some price for our self-indulgence.

Michael Feeney, Malvern

Taking us for a ride

I'd like to ask the new Parliament to reform the rules governing the use of taxpayer-funded travel during election campaigns.

The rule that parliamentarians can travel at taxpayer expense until after their party's official campaign launch is an abuse of trust, and leads to the farce of the Liberals holding their launch a mere six days before the actual election.

It should be changed so the parties pay for their own travel from the day the election is declared. For too long our politicians have been taking us for a ride by requiring that we take them for a ride.

Robert Niall, Fitzroy North

Focus on big picture

White noise, as one voter (Jacqueline Maley, The Sunday Age, 5/5) described the plethora of political promises being made in the election campaign, is drowning out the fundamental significance of this election. It is a stark choice between continuing as things are or changing up to a different future.

However, promises to build roads, netball courts, car parks, CCTV cameras, lights at football ovals and the like from federal taxpayer dollars are hedged by requiring state government or local councils to provide matching funds. Often, there has not been agreement or even consultation with the governments or councils ultimately responsible for the projects. When the promises are not met, the excuse is that the state or council did not follow through.

It would be better if the federal government provided adequate funding to states and local councils to build and run the desired projects. This would remove much of the current nonsense of "promises, promises" followed by "excuses, excuses" so loathed by the voting public.

Let the national campaign be on the big issues such as climate change policy, the NBN, NDIS, removing tax rorts, energy policy, foreign policy, aid to the Pacific Nations, etc. There is plenty of scope for a real contest of ideas and that is what the voting public wants to hear.

Ken Rivett, Ferntree Gully

Invisible me

I'm not wanting political bumph mailed to me but cannot understand why our Josh Frydenberg has posted three letters to my husband but not to me. I do vote so why am I invisible?

Megan Peniston-Bird, Hawthorn

Broaden the recognition

"Behind every great man is a great woman" seems to be getting quite a good dusting off this election. On the front pages of this weekend's papers, we have the two main contenders, Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten, with their beaming wives by their sides.

We've had Bill Shorten speak movingly about his mother, precipitating a flood of commentary from others about their own mothers, the challenges they had to face and overcome, and the impact on their children.

Such tributes are moving and particularly appropriate this Mother's Day weekend. However, manufactured focus for pragmatic election purposes can make the woman seem rather like a useful political election prop.

Although in general, most women in Australia have many advantages, the recognition and appreciation of not only "great" women, but the ordinary women among us, would be more genuine if it more widely permeated politics, industry and society – and was not predicated by some relationship to a man.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East

Thanks, Gough Whitlam

The discussion around opportunities for women in the past neglects to credit the Labor Party and Gough Whitlam for enabling a generation to catch up.

Free access to university meant thousands of women fulfilled their dreams. Like so many of my female peers, I was at work by the age of 16. Mature-age entry and no fees meant that in my 40s and over 10 years part time I finished a degree.

I became one of the hundreds who were founding managers, therapists, social workers et al in the human services industries.

Geraldine Colson, Mentone

It really is like that

Good on Merle Mitchell (Comment, 11/5) for saying it like it is. I work in aged care, everything she says is true, let's hope this royal commission creates true reform.

Milly Hutchinson, Pakenham