Rod Wise, Surrey Hills

We are at a crossroads

Are we Australians fair-weather flakes in the face of election outcomes we don't like? I don't believe so, but we're living in times that profoundly test our democratic resolve. Democracy is not simply for the good times. Now is surely the time to persevere, yet, perversely, it's times like these that our human impulse to seek better outcomes elsewhere, or just disengage, kicks in.

Tim Soutphommasane (Opinion, theage.com.au, 1/6) rightly calls out the reactions of some groups to election outcomes that leave them distraught or feeling disenfranchised. But his point about our cherry-picking, consumer-esque behaviours in response to our citizenship rights and responsibilities applies to us all. Some long for greener pastures across the ditch. Others opt out of voting altogether or spoil their ballots. Others will invoke their preferred citizenship of the moment.

All different, but all help fray the edges of our democracy. We're not in political crisis but we are at a crossroads, as we painfully confront what kind of Australia we want to be. Whether or not we spiral into crisis depends on whether we hold the line on our democratic system at the heart of our shared citizenship.

Anna Ridgway, Abbotsford

More fool them

If independent NSW state MP Alex Greenwich is right, and the reduced voter turnout among younger voters was because the major parties did not include them in the national discussion and those voters saw more relevance in "marriage equality" than the Federal Parliament did, then more fool the young, who are paying higher taxes to meet the cost of government services provided to retirees who pay no income tax on their superannuation drawdowns for, almost certainly, such generosity will not be available to those young voters when they eventually retire.

Maurice Critchley, Kenthurst, NSW

Young people are up for the debate

Analysis of voter turnout presented a concerning picture of significant disaffection with mainstream politics among the under-30s. Apparently the major parties are to blame.

A more nuanced analysis would uncover an increasing, and highly worrisome, discord between old and young in this country – a discord based around the increasing intergenerational debt being carried by our younger generations, and the ensuing dissatisfaction that that inter-generational debt generates.

The young (and I have been engaged with them for more than 50 years) demand a contest of ideas, a contest articulated convincingly by, and mediated through, a shared vision for Australia. They want to participate in the forming of these ideas, and they want those ideas communicated in terms accessible to them. Understandably, they demand to contribute.

If we wish to minimise future social dislocation, we must ensure contemporary debate both identifies those historical matters about which we are rightly proud as a nation – and a debate that directly challenges those matters that strike at the key principles of fairness and inclusion.

The young, through their overwhelming participation in the same-sex marriage issue, are clearly up for the debate. It is high time for the elders in our society to give them the voice they quite legitimately seek.

Peter White, Mount Eliza

THE FORUM

Not good enough, PTV

A Sunday night train to Sunbury: Every station is announced one out of sequence – that is, when we arrive at Sunshine it is announced as Tottenham, and when we arrive at Albion, it is announced as Sunshine.

Some of us are familiar enough with the route that even on a rainy night we get the sense that the announcements are out of sync. What about others who aren't that familiar with, firstly, the Sunbury line and, secondly, the notion that a transport system will propagate actual disinformation? People alight at the wrong stations, strike out into the night in unfamiliar environs.

I call PTV information and encounter a young man with a list of questions from which he cannot deviate and which are not geared towards solving such systemic glitches. It actually doesn't matter what station I got on at, and no, I don't want someone from PTV to call me back (they haven't in the past, anyway).

We're paying top dollar for this system and we deserve better.

David Nichols, Albion

Defend the secular state

Thomas Jefferson argued in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom of 1786, "that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever ... "

Freedom from compulsion is the "religious" freedom essential to public and private life in a modern democracy. It requires an unequivocal statement of the secular nature of our nation-state, and needs to be followed by some appropriate policies.

The first of these would surely have to be the repeal of any tax exemptions and other secular privileges for religious organisations, followed by the withdrawal of all public funding from private religious schools.

Instead, what we are likely to get from this authoritarian regime is a regressive protection of Christian religious privileges and prejudices preceded by a completely unnecessary debate in lieu of the myriad policy debates we should be having.

Adrian D'Ambra, Dingley Village

A bob each way ...

Free speech warrior Eric Abetz had a contrary view about free speech on the occasion of Yassmin Abdel-Magied's controversial tweet in 2017 regarding Anzac Day.

On that occasion, he called for her to be sacked from a government board because of her tweet.

It seems like Mr Abetz's support of free speech is limited to when he agrees with what has been said.

Garry Meller, Bentleigh

Dismiss him at our peril

Nicole Hemmer's article, ("Making some people not count", Comment, 3/6), is a corrective to those who caricature Donald Trump as a simpleton.

The grim reality is that, as President, he is entrenching a malign arch-conservative control over the US political and legal system whose impact will, potentially, resonate over the next half-century.

As Hemmer details, his Republican Party administration is effectively aiming to revive, on a national scale, the discriminatory southern states' Jim Crow laws, which, from 1870 to 1965, denied African-Americans their voting rights.

A "white nationalist" agenda, until recently only espoused by extreme fringe racists, has now become a mainstream presidential obsession. Together with his increasing ideological grip on the US Supreme Court, it is now imperative that Donald Trump be taken seriously.

As the early 20th century showed, ridiculed demagogues can over time prove their naive critics tragically misguided.

Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza

Path of least resistance

More disingenuous sophistry from Richard Wynne (Letters, 3/6) regarding the Corkman site. The government had a range of options from the start and chose the wet-lettuce path.

The "2½ years of legal tussling" was the outcome of this lack of intestinal fortitude. And what happened to the mandated rebuild? Under a carpet somewhere? It's been softly softly all the way.

Note the minister writes "charged", not "paid" in relation to the fines. Presumably the rogue developers can defer payment until they reap their profits from the site. How nice for them.

We, the public, are not on the "sidelines". We are central to the liveability of our city and Mr Wynne should remember we are also central to his existence in Parliament.

John Laurie, Newport

Time to get tough

It is easy to inadvertently creep 5 or even 10km/h over the speed limit while driving, or by poor judgment or misplaced optimism to blow a smidgen over .05, but to pick up and use a mobile phone while driving is a purposeful deliberate action for which there can be no excuse, but from which research now indicates fatal consequences may follow. Our road safety authorities are searching for a more effective antidote than advertisements.

Here it is: Anyone caught using a mobile phone while driving receives, in addition to current penalties, a one-month automatic driving licence suspension, three months for a second offence.

The current fine and demerit points are painful, but one month of serious personal and family inconvenience, even job loss, should teach compulsive mobile users (addicts?) a salutary lesson.

John Dennis, Black Rock

Change the goal rule

The issue of deciding goals that may have been touched off the boot or on the goal line is a tough one – just ask any Collingwood supporter.

One solution is really simple but, admittedly, radical: any ball that makes it through the posts is called a goal. That includes balls that hit the post. This would save time and end these arguments that rely on grainy, jumpy vision to decide if a fingertip or post was touched.

There is another benefit: defending teams will fight to keep the ball in play, instead of the current killing of the ball by rushing a behind. The result would be more excitement every time the ball is near the goals, or when it bounces off the post and back into play.

David Mansford, Concord West, NSW

When is a free not a free?

Overheard on Friday night, an umpire telling a player who was throwing his elbow into a player's midriff (reportable in round one, mind you), "If you keep doing that we'll have to pay a free kick."

So it is a free kick only after you "keep doing it?" That's akin to an umpire telling Ash Barty, "If you keep hitting the ball into the net, I'll have to give your opponent a point." How about just implementing the rules – no warnings, and most of all, no coaching. That's not the umpires' role.

Brendan, Coyle, East Ballina

Newsworthy?

Is Jobe Watson's new mark in life really newsworthy (The Age, 1/6) or is this just an advertisement for Watson and his new venture as a director of Infolio Property Advisors?

If only other people who have struggled to get a job after suffering a life-changing event could get major daily news coverage for their efforts in seeking employment. It seems that with Watson's overseas business interests, including cafes and a gym in Manhattan and Williamsburg and his new partnership with Lauren Staley at Infolio, he really doesn't need the help of the media at all.

Graeme Wishart, East Geelong

Thin credentials

Australia's claim that we "punch above our weight" in many respects is looking thin. For example, our shrinking foreign aid budget has moved us from 13th to 19th as a donor – this from one of the wealthiest countries on earth.

Pacific island leaders are openly disappointed at our lackadaisical approach to climate change. Our reputation as an egalitarian society is not supported by the data on disparities in wealth and income.

On the other hand, we lead the pack in the degree of brutality we use to discourage maritime, as distinct from airborne, refugees from entering Australia. There seems little chance of positive change over the next three years.

Norman Huon, Port Melbourne

We need a national plan

David Blair (Letters, 3/6) makes clear massive changes are required to avoid catastrophic climate change. However, we have no effective national transition plan.

Lack of a plan will lead to social, economic and climate disruption. The evidence is that we have at the most about a decade to be well into the transition. Industry and employees cannot plan with any certainty unless scientific evidence is given priority over misleading federal promises on climate action.

Our federal Resources Minister appears willing to ignore not only science but the urging of major fossil fuel companies who acknowledge the need for a carbon price. He is in denial and incorrectly believes in business as usual continuing. That will not be the case with inadequate federal and global action on climate change. Initial action requires no further development of new fossil fuel energy resources.

Unless we shift from business-as-usual fossil fuel extraction we will pay a high price in coming decades as our collective actions destroy our habitable world.

Keith Altmann, Woodend

A matter of survival

Landline's depiction (ABC, 2/6) of the animosity between animal activists and farmers over the treatment of animals in the livestock industry was disturbing. Not least because of the outbursts of outrage and threats raining down from social media. This brouhaha raises the issue of uncivil, "lawless" media and its place in our community. It's a kind of ever-swelling riotous mob.

That aside, an issue overlooked in the concern over animals was the impact of the livestock industry on the environment of this country. Deforestation, soil degradation, run-off into the Great Barrier Reef, for example. Worldwide, cattle farming contributes significantly more to global warming though methane gas expulsion than carbon dioxide.

Eminent scientists agree that to lessen environmental shock we need to eat plant-based diets and consume less generally. Ultimately, the industrial-scale raising (and slaughtering) of cattle herds for food production would have to go. A matter of human survival.

Carolyn Ilsley, Brunswick East

AND ANOTHER THING

We voted for this

How can we complain that the Australian government is not doing anything to truly mitigate the global warming? We voted for it.

Jerry Koliha, South Melbourne

Richard Boyle

Richard Boyle could always be found guilty and given a suspended sentence of 161 years.

Les Aisen, Elsternwick

Richard Boyle deserves compensation from the Australian Taxation Office, not jail.

Susan Munday, Bentleigh East

Politics

Last week, Clare O'Neil was a rising Labor star. This week, she is not in the shadow ministry. Please explain?

Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick

If the government of Australia amends the anti-discrimination laws with regard to freedom of religion, it is to be hoped that the legislation includes a truth in advertising clause.

Peter Roche, Carlton

Anthony Albanese would be better off with one less person on the Labor frontbench, or for that matter in the caucus. And we all know who he is.

Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills

Dear Josh Frydenberg, I don't wish to think you ungrateful, but an avalanche of mail through our letterbox during the campaign and not a single thank you note after it?

Matt McRobbie, Mont Albert

No winners here

Kristina Keneally in the left corner, Peter Dutton in the right. No punches withheld: unfortunately, the prize is not releasing refugees on Manus Island or Nauru. Sometimes, fights are pretty pointless.

John Rome, Mount Lawley, WA

Finally

Clever and salient juxtaposing on The Age front page on Monday: China defending its 1989 crackdown and the ATO whistleblower facing 161 years' jail. Each a repression and intended as dire warning.

Gail Greatorex, Ormond