I was 27 before homosexuality was decriminalised here: just under half my life. Before then, if caught I was exposed to criminal charges. If some found out, blackmail. If people generally knew, discrimination and ostracism. So there was a time when it was impossible to be myself at home, with family and friends; or in church, school, work or volunteering. A long-term relationship, let alone marriage, was an "impossible dream"; so I soft-wired my brain to act accordingly. The prejudice and discrimination has declined; but I know I am not alone in still being hesitant about being "out". The psychological effects of the closet are only now being researched; but I know it affected me. The outcome of the plebiscite is unlikely to matter (individually) to me; but the debate does. I'm already feeling retraumatised. If the government really sees us as people, it will stop delaying with a negatively framed, non-binding, divisive public vote and just do what it knows it can: amend the Marriage Act.
David Brown, Glen Huntly
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No right to judge us
I'm a gay man who has had a wonderful life with my same-sex partner of more than 40 years. In our early lives we experienced bullying, vilification and prejudice but just got on with our lives. Why should those very people, who called us an abomination, now get a vote in our final victory for equality? It's an unnecessary, expensive exercise and the no campaign will try to divert the debate to areas that have nothing to do with marriage because they know if they stick to the subject, a yes vote will be inevitable.
Terry Sheehan, Wentworth Falls, NSW
A Christian, I am feeling threatened
I am a year 9 student and find it increasingly difficult to voice my opinions without being judged. While it seems like the vast majority of the public supports same-sex marriage, I doubt this is the case. The media are constantly shoving same-sex marriage propaganda down our throats. In school, we are always studying articles on what Parliament is doing to try to establish marriage equality. I had to listen to a teacher's views on same-sex marriage instead of listening to him teach me for 10 minutes. Gay people say they want people to feel comfortable with who they are and what they believe in. Yet in today's society, I feel threatened about my views and beliefs as a practising Christian.
Peter Bartel, Donvale
Some more equal than others
Messrs Turnbull and Brandis are at pains to point out how fair they are being by funding the yes and no campaigns. It is clear they have missed the fundamental point about what is fair when so many in our community are denied the same rights that others take for granted. Clearly some people are more equal than others.
Jan van de Graaff, Brunswick East
Nation is a decade behind
Donald Horne asserted that Australia has never had the leadership it deserved. The government's intention to hold an expensive plebiscite contrasts with the party's long-held support for austerity measures to balance the budget. You can't have it both ways. Given that much of the developed world has already acted in this sphere, including countries of great Catholic tradition such as Argentina, it seems our politicians are always a decade behind the rest of the world.
Damien Peters, Brighton
Acknowledge the will of the people
Peter Jacovou is concerned a no vote "would likely unleash endless campaigns" (Letters, 24/9). That would only happen if the same-sex lobby refused to acknowledge the will of the people. Similarly with a parliamentary vote.
Gavan O'Farrell, Oakleigh
THE FORUM
Blind to new energy
Again the Coalition and Labor get it wrong, big time. The short-sighted cuts to the renewable agency, among other sectors, are deplorable ("Baby bonus cut as part of deal", 14/9). This when the whole $6.3 billion savings required over four years could be achieved many times over by slashing the $7.7 billion in subsidies and tax breaks so graciously extended every year to fossil fuel companies. Opinion polls, the most recent in April, show that the majority of Australians favour ending fossil-fuel subsidies as the best way to raise revenue. It's unsurprising, given the proceeds go mainly to foreign shareholders, and the extra emissions resulting from burning the fuel aggravate damage to the global climate.
ARENA offers a way to accelerate the much-needed transition to a zero net carbon economy. Our leaders, blind to such opportunities, see only short-term "solutions" with undesirable consequences.
John Gare, Kew East
Leader with principles
Full credit to Police Association secretary Ron Iddles for his integrity in taking on WorkSafe for its appalling treatment of injured workers, especially around PTSD. When many unions have betrayed their members' trust, it is refreshing to see a leader of principle – in any field – who has the courage to stand up and demand people be treated ethically.
Trauma is an extremely serious injury. It can cost people their lives. Injured police, first responders and members of society who incur PTSD through their work are due respectful, effective treatment. Instead, the shameful record shows chronic neglect of the medical needs of these people, with subjugation to the interests of multinational insurance companies, and disgraceful experiences within the WorkSafe system itself.
Barbara Chapman, Hawthorn
Internal poison is rife
John Howard in a recent motivation speech to Victorian Coalition MPs said the government could lose the next election due to internal poison. For a moment I thought he was referring to the federal government.
Gary Roulston, Endeavour Hills
This is real Malcolm
Many in the public and media lament the disappearance of the "real Malcolm". You remember; the man in leather jacket who believed in climate change, same-sex marriage and a republic. They cling to the vain hope that he will rise against the fossilised views of the Liberal right wing and lead this country. I am slowly realising that what we are seeing now is in fact the "real Malcolm". The one we all remember was just a confected illusion to gain popularity.
Ross Hudson, Camberwell
No end to cruelty
Australia has reportedly spent $9.6 billion since 2013 to stop the boats and intends to spend another $5.7 billion over the next four years. That's a lot of money spent on demonstrating to the world how cruel we can be to some of the most vulnerable people on this planet. At the same time we cry poor and ask the poorest Australians to tighten their belts to repair the budget.
It takes gall to demonstrate such callousness; but when it comes to unconscionable conduct we have form. Witness the shabby way the stolen generations have been treated, the way Indigenous Australian stockmen were robbed of hard-earned wages over more than 20 years by the Queensland government and how we still celebrate the dispossession of their lands every January 26.
Jon Jovanovic, Lenah Valley, Tasmania
Back in control
An alternative view is that it has cost $9.6 billion-plus and much distress to re-establish control over an immigration program that rapidly spiralled out of control after the Rudd government naively handed the reins to refugee advocates, immigration agents and lawyers.
These are the people, as well as the Greens, who should be held responsible for the diabolical impasse on Nauru and Manus. As far "people smugglers", most of the funding and instigation of unauthorised immigration originates from migrant communities in Australia.
The so-called "regional solution" is just a myth. The real issue is how many refugees should we allow in and from where. Simple statistics indicate that just the extended families of people already here could exceed any set limit. Everybody must understand that and recognise that controls are essential to ensure our exemplary immigration program continues to work for the benefit of all Australians.
Bruce Stillman, Fitzroy North
No jobs after training
Chris Taylor's suggestions that young people who are released on probation should compulsorily attend skills training is laudable (Letters, 13/9). However, the main problem is that few jobs are available for young people once they have completed such training. Governments around the country have sold almost everything they once owned, and private employers now either hire private contractors rather than employing people directly, or rely on skilled immigrants.
The federal government would have to commit to direct job creation programs to ensure enough jobs were available for the young offenders who had completed their sentence.
Carolyn Hirsh, Ferntree Gully
The lie of trickle-down
We can't afford to make defence uniforms in Australia because of the cost? There's the lie of "trickle down" economics right there. We pay more because the trickle-down effect means people are employed and they spend and get the economy going. Apparently it work with tax cuts to the wealthy.
Steve Farrelly, Donvale
A minister with guts
At last, a minister with the guts to stand up to the religious bullies in Parliament who have frustrated for so long reform of end-of-life choices for Victorians. Jill Hennessy is to be congratulated for introducing a bill to give legal force to advanced care directives. Now we wait to see if her boss has the courage to champion voluntary assisted dying.
Meredith Doig, Rationalist Society of Australia
Fair go in classroom
The VCAA has just released its latest VCE Chinese subject in response to concerns that students with no Chinese heritage are deterred from studying the language because of competition from classmates who speak it at home. Called "Chinese Culture and Society" it is a cop out, as it will do little to create a level playing field.
Victoria's human rights watchdog has declared that barring native-speaking Chinese students from enrolling in Chinese as a Second Language during the VCE is unlikely to be discrimination. Unfortunately, VCAA boss John Firth ignored this advice. We know that students with Chinese surnames dominate the 40+ study scores, but who wants equality and encouragement for all our students to study Chinese? Certainly not the VCAA it seems.
There is a simple solution: take the commission's ruling and introduce, as academic Dr Jane Orton has suggested, a subject only accessible to "classroom learners", to be verified by teachers. They know immediately who is a beginner and who has a background in the language as soon as classes start. Over to you, Mr Firth.
Paul Carolan, Brighton
Blurring the lines
Thomas John defends being paid by pharmaceutical companies, writing that only they have the resources to fund global trials (Comment, 13/9). When those set to profit from the research are the only ones funding and conducting it, we have a major conflict of interest.
He adds that due to this connection his patients get preferential access to new drugs. This is detrimental to the health system because patients in clinical trials are not chosen randomly. Furthermore, his complaint that he does not want to wait for new drugs to go through the approval process indicates either the process is too slow (often because manufacturers demand ridiculous prices) or that the safety and efficacy of the drugs have not been sufficiently established in this country (in which case doctors should not be in a hurry to prescribe).
The overwhelming evidence is that remuneration by pharmaceutical companies has an insidious, pervasive influence on prescribing. If companies did not profit from recruiting doctors to provide "education" on their products, aka promoting them, they wouldn't do it. Mr John may be well intentioned, but he is playing a part in a system that is becoming ever more corrupted.
Pauline Hopkins, Beaconsfield
Back to the basics
Matt Holden ("Enough of sliders, croggles and kale", Comment, 14/9), here are some other hard-to-swallow items: "jus" (read gravy); "veloute" (read white sauce); "quenelles" (read scoops); and "deconstructed", which really means the dish will be impossible to eat with ease or elegance. Let's return to the joys of simple food, minus the pretension.
Helen Scheller, Benalla
Dig deep for Metro rail
I searched the internet for recent causes of delays with Metro trains. Reasons were as follows: signal fault, signal failure, track fire, track equipment fault, copper wire theft, overheating, flooding and external power failure. If someone starts a crowd funding website to raise money to subsidise the state government and Metro to help fix all the problems, I will be the first on the list to donate. It took me three hours to travel 12 kilometres to reach home on Tuesday night and I'm half expecting that to occur every few months.
Francis Chew, Camberwell
AND ANOTHER THING...
Politics
Mr Turnbull reminds me of a teddy bear; you love and cuddle it for a while, then the arms start to fall off, and then the legs; then holes appear and you discover it's full of fluff. Then you discard it.
Ric Morris, Narre Warren
The PM claims getting some budget measures through Parliament as an achievement. Thought that was Government 101.
Marg D'Arcy, Kew East
Malcolm Roberts compares himself to Socrates. Very fitting. Socrates admitted he knew nothing.
John Rawson, South Morang
Senator Roberts has made his speech. Let's hope it is the last we hear from him.
Bob Greaves, Mt Eliza
The plebiscite
Secular politics at its worst.
Bill Burns, Bendigo
Climate science v deniers; equal marriage v "traditional" marriage – same deceptive and divisive concept of "balance".
Bill Hampel, East Malvern
As polls consistently show less than one-third of the populace oppose marriage equality, the "no" case should get one-third of the funding.
Tony James, Battery Point, Tas
While voting for/against a change to marriage law we could also vote for/against euthanasia.
Marlies Johnson, Balwyn
MPs like Kevin Andrews have an allegiance to their church rather than the people of Australia.
Graeme Lee, Fitzroy
Other matters
If the costs are a third, why not contract our entire defence to China?
Ralph Rallings, New Town, Tas
So Holden's Fishermans Bend site will be turned into an employment hub. I thought that was what it hadbeen.
Marie Nash, Balwyn
Were Hillary transparent she'd have no guts and no backbone, essential requirements for a US president.
Paul Drakeford, Kew
What sort of democracy makes a candidate deny illness in fear of losing votes?
Lesley Black, Frankston