I am a doctor in training at a public hospital and worked a horrific roster last summer due to understaffing ("Doctor exodus hits summer holiday peak at hospitals", December 27). But I didn't blame my colleagues for needing time off from such a stressful and relentless job, and the patients we saw were well cared for, as always. The core issue is not doctors quitting, but why they quit.
Letters to the editor
Malcolm Turnbull has asked us to "reach out to those less fortunate" ("Peace and goodwill as Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten release Christmas messages", December 25).
The latest court decision, conveniently announced three days before Christmas, will not save the Baird government in the long run.
No amount of building will ease the housing crisis in Sydney because negative gearing will always give investors the edge over owner-occupiers.
Over 60 years, just how many good ideas, many of them emanating from costly government enquiries have I seen ditched because some "group", usually a noisy minority protests over the impact to the hip pocket nerve?
Moody's, S&P; and their ilk truly are the cockroaches of the economic world. Having survived the fallout of their contribution to the nuclear holocaust of the GFC, they continue to thrive.
Senator Rod Culleton's resignation from One Nation raises some interesting questions.
It is a cop-out for Malcolm Turnbull to say now is not the right time and that more work is needed – by others, not him.
Daily the surrogate's heart beat is what a gestating child hears, until that connection is ruptured.
Peter Dutton would have some credibility if he freed the captives on Nauru and Manus Island.
Two stories in yesterday's Herald struck me as a stark reflection of why Australian justice, as it is mandated by our political representatives today, is so confusing to the general public.
It would seem that the interests of Australia would be far better served if the federal government accepted the dire warnings of climate science.
Whoever you think is responsible for the falling educational standards in Australia, it's not the students.
Malcolm Turnbull is the leader of the Liberal Party ("You'll hear more from me in 2017, Bernardi promises", December 12). From this I can only assume that he has majority support within his party. But the media reports only on what is said by a minority in the party who oppose his views and that of what I must assume are the "silent majority" of the party. Where is this majority of members of the Liberal party who voted for a Turnbull leadership and presumably support his views? It's time we heard from this silent majority of liberal Liberal members of Parliament. Come on, Turnbull needs your help. Esther Scholem Macquarie Park
Sincere thanks to Sir David Chipperfield for warning us about the danger posed by turning Sydney's CBD into a monoculture of office tower-- but it is already too late!
I notice Jean-Claude van Damme was in Broken Hill to consider areas suitable for African wildlife rescues sites ("Saving species a Damme fine idea", December 4).
His name was on everyone's lips during the federal election campaign and ever since Herald letter writers have been keeping an eye out for the Prime Minister's favourite former Eels player: Jobson Grothe. But he's proved elusive.
John Howard was fond of saying the Liberal Party was a broad church. Not broad enough that Kristina Photios was able to speak her mind without having first quit ("Liberal Party powerbroker's wife Kristina Photios quits over lack of action on climate change", December 9). Are Liberal Party membership and integrity now mutually exclusive? Malcolm Turnbull should take note as he tries to lead the country while he doesn't even lead his own party. Bill Gillis Hallidays Point
How is it that our Premier, Mike Baird, can spew forth blatant lies about the veracity of the land title system changes he has initiated?
My advice to policy makers: avoid tossing out the baby with the bathwater.
As an octogenarian who has voted Liberal all my life I am now sick and tired of yesterday's men sitting on the backbench sniping at the government.
When the chief executive of the Law Council of Australia tells Mike Baird that leasing the Land and Property Information unit is not a good idea, maybe the Premier should listen.
The problem with recruiting IT and skilled technicians to Sydney is more likely to come down to a world shortage of these qualified people than boredom.
We write letters and then along comes Cathy Wilcox and in four frames summarises the Baird ethos (Wilcox cartoon, November 27).
As I watched Mr Turnbull crow about what his wonderful achievements this year I realised that he had finally reached the logical conclusion of his journey as Prime Minister. He ends the year equal in stature to those who surround him in Parliament. He has become a moral pygmy.
Maths students of Kazakhstan take a bow. When our front page story blared "Australian students fare worse than Kazakhstan in maths and science", readers were quick to provide some solutions to the problem: "what's wrong with maths standards in Australia." As Peter Baker of Smiths Lake pointed out: "It's seems that despite the brilliance shown by its maths and science students, the country of Kakakhstan continues to be used as an example of what a country shouldn't be.... The story also gave a backhander to our students.."Is this the best you can achieve? You can't even beat Kazakhstan of all countries?" But as Robert Fisher, a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Sydney we should not dismiss this central Asian country as some mathematical backwater.
The additional $549 million cost of the inner-city light rail project is only the tip of this emerging dinosaur ("Public were misled on light-rail costs", December 1).
Simon Birmingham says he wants evidence-backed action to stop Australia's slip in international school rankings. Here it is: the more we privatise our education system, the more we slip in the rankings.
The government constantly uses Australia's growing budget deficit to justify ever more punitive crackdowns on the reporting errors of welfare recipients who are already struggling to survive.
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