It is enough that we are forced to vote through the compulsory voting laws (most countries manage to operate successfully without having to compel their voters to cast ballots), but this latest proposition by NSW Labor takes the cake (“NSW Labor in push for voting system change”, January 20). The only reason any politician favours the introduction of compulsory preferential voting is because they perceive a potential advantage for themselves, or their party, at the polls. But compulsory preferential voting, in fact, devalues the individual voter’s preferences if they do not want to record a vote for a major party candidate, or the candidate who may be perceived as the most popular in their electorate. The compulsion disenfranchises those voters who simply want to cast a ballot for their preferred candidate, and no other, by forcing them to nominate preferences that many do not wish to be associated with, thus distorting the perceived popularity of the “successful” candidate. Chris Rivers, Port Macquarie
If there are to be changes to the NSW voting system, it must be done by involving the voters in a state-based referendum. After all, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters is seeking to find ways to increase voter engagement. Deciding on changes by referendum is an excellent way to engage the electors. The electoral system is not the property of the politicians or their parties, and they have no right to fiddle with it for their own advantage. Let the people decide. Simon Chance, Richmond Hill
NSW Labor has recommended the introduction of compulsory preferential voting. Credit: Getty Images
End this hatred
Paul Hewson’s letter regarding the attack on the former home of Alex Ryvchin is chilling (Letters January 20). It implies that Australian Jews are somehow personally responsible for every action of the government and military of Israel. If one applies the disturbing logic being used here, it would be acceptable for me to deface Russian Orthodox churches in Australia and harass people of Russian origin because I’m distressed by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Or maybe it would be reasonable for me to terrorise people of Chinese heritage and destroy Chinese-owned property because I oppose the persecution of up to a million Uyghurs in China. This senseless hatred being expressed in Australia has to be addressed. Anthony Mitchell, Forest Lodge
Policy-free zone
Supporters of Peter Dutton were invited by the letters desk to write in with their views. Well, they’ve had their go – sadly without evincing any policies that would convince me to vote for the Coalition (Letters, Jan 20). John Christie, Oatley
Your correspondent Jenny Greenwood from Hunters Hill may find her Liberal candidate for Bennelong refreshing (Letters, January 20), but the party and its illustrious leader will have to come up with more refreshing policies other than nuclear reactors that will never be built and tax breaks on long lunches. Jennifer McKay, Ashbury
Surprisingly, in my experience, one reads proportionally more pro-Labor letters in The Weekend Australian than pro-Dutton letters in what your correspondent called “The Socialist Morning Herald” (Letters January 20). I like Peter Dutton and enjoy all the Dutton-bashing because there’s no such thing as bad publicity. It’s widely acknowledged that negative publicity in the US media ultimately added to Donald Trump’s popularity. William S Lloyd, Denistone
I’m happy to continue with my Herald subscription when I see the letters editor attempting to encourage right-leaning letter writers (Postscript, January 18). Although I’ll never cough up for those publications that push a one-dimensional conservative agenda, I’ll happily support media like the Herald and the ABC, which promote political balance. John Anderson, Macmasters Beach
American tragedy
As an expat American, I feel a great sense of sadness and anger at the events unfolding in Washington this week (“Golden age or carnage?” , January 20). An unqualified, undeserving and unacceptable criminal has been given the honour of being the president of the most powerful nation on Earth and is about to be inaugurated for a second term. Hate is a most corrosive emotion and it should not be wasted on Donald Trump. He is just a petulant child misbehaving because no one has disciplined him. Instead, our outrage should be aimed at the spineless Republican Party, which should have disowned Trump from the very beginning but has consistently failed to do so. My American parents who were very active in local Republican politics would be mortified at how low the GOP has sunk in order to keep their privileged positions. But our anger and disgust should mostly be aimed at the MAGA voters. Out of wilful ignorance, naivety and a large measure of stupidity, millions of Americans have ignored many years of evidence of Trump’s appalling lack of character and voted for a false messiah who offers nothing but lies, conflict and disaster. America will be lucky to recover from this. That so many people could be seduced by the blatant false promises of a convicted conman is the real tragedy in a once-great America. That so many gullible people exist is truly frightening. Richard Keyes, Enfield
Donald Trump dances at a rally ahead of his inauguration as US president.Credit: AP
A chilling yet apt reminder of “cause and effect” in the decline of civil society – the January 20 top front-page heading “On with the show for Trump 2.0” and “New laws to hit hate” in bold immediately underneath. Sue Dyer, Downer (ACT)
Land of the long lunch
So fringe benefits deductions are back as proposed by Peter Dutton in the form of long lunches and all that goes with them (“Dutton pledges tax breaks, as Mundine camp declares ‘war’ over failed Liberal preselection”, January 18). Won’t Justin Hemmes be licking his lips? Meanwhile, my daughter struggles to pay $200 a day for daycare for her only child while she works full-time to pay the mortgage. Having had to wait until she was in her 40s to afford a child, she will not be having another. The cost, if not her age, has put paid to that. Clearly it’s the people who invest in childcare, not parents, childcare workers or taxpayers, who benefit the most from the sector. Janet Cook, Waverton
Sean Kelly makes the common mistake of confusing tax cuts with tax reform (“Win the election. Then what, PM?” , January 20). The former is tinkering, the latter is structural change. The deductible lunch announcement served up by “back to good times” Peter Dutton shows that neither leader has the gumption to tackle tax reform. Kelly missed the chance to point out John Howard’s reform of capital gains; alas, we are still paying. If Anthony Albanese wins, let’s hope he steps up and does better. Michael Blissenden, Dural
Something fishy
Richard Flanagan’s article (Albanese’s inaction drives his party towards extinction, January 18) brought back the horror I felt after reading his book Toxic – The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry. On my first visit to Tassie, I took a Gordon River cruise. There were five fish pens in the middle of Macquarie Harbour and I thought what a pristine environment to be farming fish. On my last visit, I was dismayed at the proliferation of fish pens in the harbour, and also on Bruny Island. Finding out that the three Tasmanian salmon companies are 100 per cent foreign-owned, with woeful environmental records, added to my disquiet.
Then I read John Storer’s letter on the many difficult and expensive hoops he has had to jump through as an owner-builder (Letters, January 18). This disparity of one government body’s stringent regulations, compared to how the Tasmanian salmon industry has been allowed to go rogue to the point of destroying a pristine environment just beggars belief. Is there still a Foreign Investment Review Board? Helen Phegan, Maroubra
Grey blight creeping into old suburbs
I’m glad to see that the recent plethora of grey box houses crammed together in newly built outer suburbs is getting some attention (“Forget the latte line – a grey blight divides our city in two”, January 20). However, I must point out, that even in older, developed suburbs like ours, single houses with a bit of open space around them are being demolished, usually resulting in any tree on the property being chopped down. And what is built in their place? Usually two grey box houses, cheek by jowl, with little architectural merit, large windows, narrow, if any eaves and one small garage, ensuring that our streets become default parking zones for the ute and the other car. Lyn Fletcher, Eastwood
Greenfield development in Sydney’s Marsden Park.Credit: Brook Mitchell
The grey housing mentioned in your article was caused by a couple of grey men – former premier Dominic Perrottet and Liberal veteran Anthony Roberts. Former NSW planning minister Rob Stokes introduced a raft of new design principles, light-coloured roofs, walkability, transport links, etc. The aim was to build sustainable, environmentally friendly housing. Unfortunately, before he could do too much good work the grey men struck and he was replaced by Roberts, a more developer-friendly minister. Paul Doyle, Glenbrook
Cheap, grey and nasty housing, like unaffordable rental prices, are merely symptoms of a far bigger issue. Governments fail to treat housing as a part of widening home, income and asset inequality in Australia. It’s all laid out in the Productivity Commission report. The wealthiest 20 per cent are getting richer at the expense of the rest, particularly the young and the nation as a whole. It is surely no coincidence that household inequality and the chronic housing shortage have risen in tandem over the past two decades, not helped by the ridiculous inability of federal and state authorities to sensibly and holistically plan for liveability. The federal election slogans “Building Australia’s future” and “Getting back on track” both carry eerie overtones of Margaret Thatcher’s infamous quote: “There is no such thing as society.” As voters clearly hate tax reform and house prices soar, maybe she is right. Peter Farmer, Northbridge
Snake oil
Peter Lane says it’s OK to produce fossil fuels because “people want to buy them, invariably to burn” (Letters, January 20). This is the classic drug dealer’s defence. James Hardie continued to sell asbestos and used the same argument, despite all the damning evidence. It’s the same for fossil fuels. It took decades of legal action to stop asbestos, and time is running out for fossil fuels. The number of cases filed against fossil fuel companies each year has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015. The Columbia Law School Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law in the US holds 2761 cases in its climate change litigation database. Shareholders take note and get out while you still can. Ray Peck, Hawthorn (Vic)
The number of cases filed against fossil fuel companies each year has nearly tripled since the Paris Agreement was reached in 2015.Credit: AP
Peter Lane blaming consumers for the fossil fuel industry is a bit much. Does he know that General Motors had a viable working electric vehicle back in the 1960s? It could have started the EV transition, but that was withdrawn and trashed because of interference from the fossil fuel industry, which was protecting its market. Alan Stanley, Upper Corindi
The kids are alright
I loved Tony Moore’s letter about our younger generation (Letters, January 20). It’s no surprise based on my experience with them. They are our country’s future, so it is time to listen with our hearing aids in and our glasses on. Articles about how they think now and about future ways forward (“Forget the latte line – a grey blight divides our city in two”, January 20), combined with their varied educational qualifications, knowledge and experience, means all sides of politics need to listen, learn and act because they are coming through – whether politicians like it or not. Cecily Chittick, Wyong
Near retirement, I recently attended a celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Marrickville Legal Service. My straw poll of the attendant 500 or so young lawyers, all gorgeous and dressed to the nines, revealed that they had jobs involving long hours but still found the time to volunteer to help more than 65,000 clients last year. Like your correspondent Tony Moore, I echo his sentiment: “Don’t worry about the younger generation.” Andrew Cohen, Glebe
Fire hazards
Thank you to David Lindenmayer et al for their article on the scientific evidence against prescribed burning (“Can we really fight fire with fire? Why pre-burning is no magic bullet”, January 20). For too long we have relied on hearsay to agree with this practice. We need to take on new technologies to detect and suppress early, small fires. This includes the newest research from the ACT regarding the use of drones, a cheap and effective technology. In doing so, we would not only be protecting native fauna and flora, but also avoiding the collateral damage of ill health and deaths associated with smoke inhalation. It’s a win-win situation. Clare Sydenham, Kirribilli
The recent fires in Victoria and California had me wondering if a system of smoke detectors rigged up throughout dense areas of bush and forest connected via satellite would allow first responders to react more quickly before they morph into larger, uncontrollable fires. Has anyone heard of any such system anywhere in the world? Les Herbert, Concord
Snagged by imagery
Next time the Herald runs a story about the risks of processed meats, I suggest you do not add a picture of delicious sausages sizzling on a barbecue (“Higher dementia risk is the snag with processed meats”, 20 January). I’m definitely calling in at the butcher when I go to the shops today. Julie Robinson, Cardiff
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