Letters

Rorts at Barangaroo explain why business heads overseas

Why is this a surprise (''Unions, crooks and Barangaroo'', January 28)? It is unfortunately a part of the Australian business landscape - ask any business that moves overseas.

Goodes the right ambassador and we must face up to our sins

Carol Dearling (Letters, January 27) accuses Adam Goodes of hypocrisy. But in accepting his award as Australian of the Year, Goodes has shown humility, tolerance and honesty.

Goodes' tactful balancing act shows he's worthy of his honour

I had a dream: that we took off the white blindfold and saw what we are historically ''celebrating'' on January 26. People were full of remorse and flocked to Yabun in big mobs.

Urgent cables

The bushfire threat to 1 million homes comes from the rickety, failure-prone power poles and overhead wires.

JANUARY 25

Darkest of dividends due from PM's blue

The breaking of the traditional amnesty on political sledging while on the global stage as Prime Minister is very sad (''PM uses global stage to take swipe at Labor over financial record'', January 24). There is the contradictory image of a conservative man leading the charge on throwing out conventions on the foundations of prime ministerial speeches.

The big question is: what compels young people to get drunk?

If doctors, psychologists and other groups succeed in convincing the Prime Minister to call a summit to tackle alcohol-related violence they need to come up with an answer to the basic question - why (''Push for national summit on violence'', January 23)?

JANUARY 23

Changes were essential, but hotel industry cries in its beer

The O'Farrell government's initiative on drunken violence should finally assist in three long overdue outcomes (''Premier's pledge'', January 22).

Stop criticising and understand the complexity of teaching

No, minister, the main factor damaging the status of the teaching profession is not ''the perception that anyone can get into teaching'', (''Selection of teachers must improve: Piccoli'', January 21).

JANUARY 21

Respect both ways, not confrontation, needed for solution

Our relationship with Indonesia should be respectful as Greg Loder suggests (''Stop the nonsense: naval infringements weren't accidental'', Letters, January 20).

JANUARY 20

Stop the nonsense: naval infringements weren't accidental

I could understand one, or perhaps two, accidental infringements of Indonesia's sovereign borders by our navy or customs vessels (''Apologies all round but more questions need to be answered'', January 18-19), but given the high precision available with modern navigation systems, it is very hard to accept as accidental the five infringements reported in the same issue (''Jakarta demands: stop your boats'').

Pension fears

We have returned the Conservatives to power and as pensioners it appears that we may have done the wrong thing.

Free speech should not trump individual rights

The fact Australian naval boats have sailed into Indonesian territorial waters without permission is not surprising (''Scott Morrison admits Australia breached Indonesian waters during boat operations'', smh.com.au, January 17). The Scott Morrison/Tony Abbott crusade to stop the boats is uncompromising.

First Word: Letter of the Morning

Tribute to Ironman challenger, much loved daughter

On Saturday, January 11, my daughter Casey Kinnaird was involved in a cycling accident at Waterfall, which ultimately cost her her life. She passed away on January 13 ("Entrepreneur Casey Kinnaird killed training for Ironman challenge", smh.com.au, January 15).

Premature review of curriculum will be messy and unfair

Having been involved as teacher, submission writer and program writer with various curriculums over the years, I have seen the process follow the traditional logical steps.

JANUARY 16

Politicians need to put on the gloves and stand up to hotels

If only Danny Green could patrol our streets I'm sure the cowards would soon disappear (''Boxing champ weighs in with TV ads to fight 'coward's punch''', January 15). However, I don't think his presence will deter the real cowards in all this - the politicians who consistently duck and weave as they bow to the demands of the hotel industry. Bravo to Green for showing some leadership.

JANUARY 15

Seeking proof of biased views is no basis for a serious debate

Tom Switzer is correct that the story of the Turney expedition has become a "comedy goldmine" (''Game finally up for carboncrats", January 14). Unfortunately, such facile treatment of the issue has been endemic to the climate change debate. Both activists and deniers have seen this as a fight for confirmation of opinion and ideology rather than a topic for serious discussion.

First Word: Letter of the Morning

No mandate for ignoring climate realities

Tom Switzer's article demonstrates why conventional politics has rendered itself irrelevant to solving the major issues which confront us, says Ian Dunlop, former oil, gas and coal executive.

O'Farrell wise to take measured approach to street violence

Am I alone in supporting the O'Farrell government's cautious approach to the alcohol-fuelled violence problem ("Crackdown looms", January 13)?

JANUARY 13

Too much of a Cross to bear in absence of forceful action

Brian Jones Leura The state government's assertion that introducing Newcastle-style restrictions on the availability of alcohol would penalise responsible drinkers is absolute rubbish (''Time to Act'', January 11).

JANUARY 12

No excuse

I thought I had already heard every lame excuse for inaction on Sydney's alcohol-related violence ... not so.

JANUARY 11

Call it for what it is: punch by a coward

It's great to see the Prime Minister adopting the term ''coward punches'' rather than ''king hits'' to describe the one-hit assaults causing death and disablement on Sydney's streets (''PM enters debate on drunken attacks'', January 10).

JANUARY 10

Frock horror at SCG as outrage lingers over legs before wicket

It was very upsetting to read of the unfair treatment of Lynda Reid by the SCG Trust (''Fees refunded but no apology from SCG'', January 9). Not only has she been a member since the age of five, not only is she a corporate lawyer, but her father is a platinum member of the SCG Trust and she was wearing a tasteful (although short), especially chosen designer dress for the occasion.

January 9

Plan to give lifeboats to people smugglers is taking on water

The idea of giving people smugglers lifeboats to return refugees to Indonesia is wacko (‘‘To the lifeboats: Abbott plans to secure turn-backs’’, January8).

January 8

Parents missing piece of puzzle when schools tackle brutality

Thank you Brandon Jack for your intelligent and well-reasoned article on societal violence (''Moral sense skewed by an intoxicatingly violent culture'', January 7).

JANUARY 7

Don't have yourself on: Gen Y didn't invent alcohol-fuelled biff

Please letter writers give it a rest with the tiresome Gen Y diatribes. To take just one example, Eric Groszman's letter on Monday which implies that in the halcyon days prior to Gen Y there were

6 January

Gen Y's selfishness, narcissism main reason for viciousness

The rising number of unprovoked physical attacks and their dreadful consequences won't be reduced by playing with the liquor laws and imposing harsher penalties for assaults (''Pressure grows for tougher sentences'', January 4-5). What we are witnessing is simply an extreme example of so much that is abhorrent about Gen Y behaviour.

Cut booze hours

It is with great concern that lives are being needlessly lost as a result of alcohol-related street violence.

January 4

Harsher penalties unlikely to work

I have, of course, full sympathy for the families and friends of the recent victims of unprovoked attacks on the streets of Sydney