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Sussan Ley's trips make Donald Trump's 'drain the swamp' mantra appeal

 What is it that our pollies don't get? They have a very privileged position. Are paid a good salary. They have a pension plan that we (the less privileged) can only dream of, and they seem to get lucrative positions in the private sector easily when they retire or get thrown out. And yet a number of them have this sense of entitlement that makes it OK to milk the public purse for as much as they can. While I hate Donald Trump and everything he stands for, his promise to "drain the swamp" certainly resonates with me.

William Bielefeldt Kembla Grange

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Sussan Ley explains herself after she flew to the Gold Coast on official business but bought an apartment while she was there. She has stood aside as Health Minister. Courtesy ABC News 24.

What comes to mind is the question of how many more MPs are doing the same thing and they have not yet been caught.

It is obvious that some of our politicians have no ethics and the rules for entitlements for them and for us are quite different and theirs are filled with loopholes to benefit them.

This behaviour is repulsive especially when the government calls on the strugglers to tighten their belts because the "age of entitlement is over".

The government of Malcolm Turnbull wants to fix the budget, but first it must fix the honesty of its MPs.

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The wise words of Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, come to mind:

"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."

Franca Bopf Curl Curl

Perhaps the next big infrastructure project in Australia should be to build a bigger trough.

Peter Bennett Currabubula

I'm sure that if the judiciary accepted an "error of judgment" plea from every miscreant that came before it we would not have to worry about our rising prison populations. Perhaps the time has come to have a Centrelink style inquiry into all of our members of parliament starting with the federal MPs. As there are only 226 of them it wouldn't take long – or would it?

Bob Arnold Berry

Another politician saying sorry and paying back money after they were caught out. Why are they so incapable of just doing the right thing in the first place?

Tony De Lyall Bulli

I agree, John Butcher (Letters, January 9), there are bigger and more important issues facing the country than MPs' travel entitlements. However, why should "passing the pub test" be the sliding standard used to assess the fairness and extent of MP entitlements, when Centrelink recipients are being held to open, transparent and extremely rigorous measures? Politicians pass numerous pieces of legislation on big and small issues during parliamentary sittings, and this is one issue that will continue to fester until it is reformed.

Judith Moore East Maitland

Greedy, greedy, greedy ...

David Reid Artarmon

So Sussan Ley is standing down as Health Minister until there is another distraction only to be replaced by Arthur Sinodinos who stood down in 2014 during a corruption inquiry. I guess it won't be long until we see Jamie Briggs again.

Todd Hillsley Homebush

Malcolm Turnbull should announce that all politicians when caught rorting the public purse will be forgiven if they admit it was an inappropriate decision and pay the money back. Except Peter Slipper.

Anthony Healy Willoughby East

Here's an alternative to that question with the known answer: "Is the Pope Catholic?". "Are our parliamentarians first-class users?"

Bernadette Scadden Earlwood

The Australian taxpayer is very fortunate that Sussan Ley's tastes in travel are not those of former speaker Bronwyn Bishop. On Minister Ley's many trips to the Gold Coast, travel by helicopter would have been a far more costly exercise. We at least can be grateful for small mercies.

Bernard Moylan Watsons Bay

Minister Ley has put the suss back into Sussan.

Les Shearman Darlington

The Sussan Ley episode is yet another example, if one was needed, of why the federal government will never touch negative gearing for house purchases.

Alan Parkinson Weetangera (ACT)

Buck up, Malcolm Turnbull, things could be worse at the beginning of 2017 – imagine if you had appointed Sussan Ley as minister responsible for Centrelink.

Sue Dyer Downer (ACT)

Buying a house should be about more than just profit

Unfortunately, we have given way too much media space to economists and economic journalists to distort our perspective on the "value" of home ownership ("House hunting and the art of time travel", January 9). Enough of this silliness.

You don't need a time-machine, just some common sense. Purchasing a place to live isn't about investing to make money. Buying a house is about creating a home, about making a social investment in your family and ultimately in our society.

We purchased our home in 1985, worked hard, and paid off the mortgage over 25 years. Our stable home environment has raised three outstanding young adults who are now making their own valuable contributions to our society.

It doesn't matter how much our home might be "worth" in a real estate agent's window – it is not for sale, and is not going to be for sale. It is our home, not a hustle.

With our long-term investment in home and family now secure, we are able stop by our local cafe and order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread with a clear conscience.

Warren McCullough Kiama

Time to value education as investment, not commodity

The Australasian College Broadway will not be the last private for-profit vocational education and training college to close its doors ("Australasian College Broadway: Teenagers left 'devastated' by collapse and in thousands of dollars of debt", smh.com.au, January 9). We have a virtual absence of Commonwealth government policy on the future of vocational education and training (VET).

The replacement of the scandal-ridden VET FEE-HELP loans, which Australasian College Broadway relied on as virtually its sole business model, with the new VET Student Loans program, does not go the core of the problem: an unbalanced system created by the marketisation/privatisation of VET.

Both the Australian schools sector and higher education sector are coherent compared to VET. Not coincidentally, neither of those two educational sectors have a 67 per cent private for-profit "market penetration" the way that the VET sector has (3 million of 4.5 million VET students in 2015).

It's time to return to quality education over a so-called "efficient" private market, which turned out not to be so "efficient" after all, relying on unsustainable government subsidies. It's time to value education as an investment and not as a commodity.

Don Perlgut chief executive, Community Colleges Australia, Sydney

Debt collection debacle

In the Centrelink automated debt recovery program, there is a presumption of guilt ("Centrelink farce must end: Shorten", January 9). Even when people like Caleb Dawson prove their "innocence", their proof is still not being accepted, and the matter is handed over to debt collectors. It is hardly surprising that $300 million has been raised, because most people in Dawson's position will not have the persistence or resilience which he has shown to date. Bill Shorten is correct. The Prime Minister must intervene. Today.

Paul Parramore Sawtell

Refugee disgrace

Donald Trump "will do everything in his power" to halt the refugee deal between Australia and the US, according to a hardline Texan congressman ("Donald Trump will stop Australia-US refugee deal: US congressman Brian Babin", January 9). Yet another epic fail from the do-nothing ditherers of the Turnbull government.

I predict that on April 26, the first anniversary of the PNG Supreme Court's ruling that the Manus Island Centre is illegal, all the wretched people currently on Manus and Nauru will still languish there. Except, of course, those who self-immolate or die of medical neglect in the meantime.

Just how long does this disgrace to our nation have to continue?

Steve Cornelius Brookvale

Housing demand

Instead of a problematic attempt by NSW to boost housing supply by watering down already lax planning laws, it would be much easier and effective for the federal government to reduce demand by amending tax laws to make housing less attractive to investors ("Planning overhaul to boost housing supply", January 9).

Greg McCarry Epping

Trying to solve the housing mess without considering rising demand is like trying to bail a sinking boat without bothering to fix the leak. Increasing the supply is equivalent to trying to bail faster but maintaining record high immigration intakes will ensure the boat keeps sinking.

Kris Spike Castle Hill

Nippers are rippers

In an extraordinary holiday season of drownings, being critical of a water safety program certainly does qualify Helen Pitt as un-Australian ("Why I hate the Nippers", January 9). I live in a beach suburb and love to see the Nippers splashing in the water, exercising and learning responsibility for others. They overcome fears and the girls learn they can be equal to the boys. Many progress to be lifesavers, giving up countless hours in voluntary work. I am a senior with no ties to the Nippers or lifesaving clubs but I much prefer to see the kids surf the waves than surfing the net.

Gavin Williamson Narrabeen

Adjusting to Trump's Russian bromance

Remember the good old days when Pat Boone declared he would rather see his daughters shot than living in a Communist America, when it was better to be "dead than red" and Joseph McCarthy terrorised liberal America and ruined the lives of suspected communists ("Why Russia isn't quite the bad guy we've all been led to believe", January 9)? Today Tom Switzer and Donald Trump tell us the Russians are just misunderstood. Will we next have John Howard telling us Saddam Hussein was not such a bad chap after all?

Nola Tucker Kiama

Tom Switzer, I am quite happy to own up to being, "Russiaphobic". I think it goes back to the 1940s when Russia began forcibly deporting around 300,000 Baltic citizens to eastern extremes and subjected them to inhumane conditions, while ensuring that those left behind had no rights to self-determination.

Ray Kalinauskas Enmore

It is 2017 and Tom Switzer's article takes us back to the menacing days of 1939. His claim that Russia "is protecting legitimate security interests in the Baltics and the Middle East and its objectives are limited" mirrors Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov's terminology in September 1939 of "spheres of influence" and "mutual assistance". Stalin carried out his limited objectives by occupation. Russia has a long rap sheet of protecting legitimate interests that all too often are located in other countries.

Oskar Lapa Kurrajong

MP's response good example for Morrison

Keith Hardie and James Prior (Letters, January 9) complain their letters to Scott Morrison are never answered. They should move to the northern beaches. I recently received a two-page letter from our local member, Rob Stokes, in answer to my letter published in the local paper.

Judy Burer Palm Beach

English knew his maths

Another fond memory of Jon English (Letters, January 9). I taught Jon mathematics in year 12 at Cabramatta High. I was being inspected for a promotion and before the lesson Jon approached me and told me he had fixed things up. Those students who put their right hands up would know the answer while those with their left hands up would not. I got my promotion.

Ivan Hincks Darling Point

A bury awkward moment

Peter Cowan (Letters, January 9) a mourner's phone went off loudly at a funeral I once attended, and he struggled to locate the off button. Unfortunately, the ringtone was James Brown's I Feel Good.

Lloyd Swanton Wentworth Falls

Brian shone out

While working in the city I befriended Brian ("Shoeshine dies and not for the first time", January 9). He was humble and caring. I encouraged the girls I worked with to have their shoes polished by dear Brian – we had the shiniest shoes in the store.

Dianne Gaddin Bondi