Last Post, January 10

Saudi Arabia faces international scorn over runaway teenager.

Independent senator Fraser Anning’s spokesman says his travel to attend a rally in Melbourne was within parliamentary entitlement rules. Thank goodness for that because one might think his business class flights to support a group of right-wing extremists to be extravagant and inappropriate.

Aaron Taylor, Greenslopes, Qld

Surely the UN Human Rights Council will be interested in the case of a young Saudi Arabian woman who claims to be escaping from her abusive family in her home country that has a record of severely oppressing women and carrying out death sentences by beheading. Unfortunately, the head of the council is Saudi Arabia.

Brian Whybrow, Wanniassa, ACT

Mokhles Sidden (Letters, 9/1) questions what saving one Saudi girl would do for millions of other women in danger. Actually it does a lot to shame Saudi Arabia for scorning the safety of its women. Asylum is not only a humanitarian act; it can also be an international expression of moral values.

James McDonald, Annandale, NSW

Australia should not require the imprimatur of the UNHCR before granting asylum to this Saudi teen fleeing a repressive homeland. Don’t our immigration officials understand that under sharia law the penalty for apostasy is death, and that having renounced Islam, her life is forfeit?

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

The women on the crossbench claim to be from the centre-right of politics. I guess it depends on where you place the goalposts but that is not the impression they give. On immigration, same-sex marriage, climate change and every other vote of recent times they have locked on to an agenda from the Left.

Tony Hennessy, Casino, NSW

Governments must resist the pressure to test substances that some young people are unlawfully willing to consume. Civic authority cannot, with integrity, provide allegedly safer means by which people break the law. That would be akin to government providing burglars with free gloves in case they are injured while smashing and grabbing.

David d’Lima, Sturt, SA

Peter van Onselen is wrong to claim that “universal healthcare is all about equality of health outcomes, not equality of opportunity”, in Liberal philosophy. Liberals commonly justify universal healthcare on the basis of it being fundamental to equality of opportunity alongside other enablers such as education.

Michael Murray, Randwick, NSW

How disheartening it must be for our Test cricketers to be told they are not good enough. Self-confidence is built by positivity not negativity.

Diana Vale, Bradbury, NSW