![Illustration: Alan Moir](/web/20170130011128im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/0/5/3/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtzjy8.png/1485525680646.jpg)
The Greens are looking very much like the Democrats under Meg Lees ("Greens support falls amid bitter infighting", January 27). Once the Democrats started to get cosy with the Liberal-National Coalition there was only one way to go, downwards.
The Greens voted with the LNP to rip aged pension benefits from those in receipt of defined benefit superannuation. They supported an LNP-designed Senate voting system that was blatantly designed to reduce minority representation, and recently they threw a lifeline to Malcolm Turnbull over the backpacker tax.
While the so-called Left Renewal is not the answer, the more the Di Natalie Greens act like the Lees-led Democrats the more support they will lose. If it continues we will be talking about them in historical terms.
Greg Loder Springwood
Capitalism is an inherently exploitative economic system. There is therefore a need for a radical political party to educate the electorate and publicise policies which will result in a more equitable society and one which will minimise the effects of global warming.
Neither the Liberal-National Coalition nor the ALP is doing that so the task falls to the Australian Greens. That its infighting is bitter is unfortunate but, if there is to be a formal split, Senator Di Natale and those who agree with him should leave the party in the hands of Lee Rhiannon and her allies.
She was a communist but so was Jack Mundey, who initiated the green bans of the 1970s, and achieved a worldwide reputation as a conservationist. They both subsequently joined the Greens as does anyone who really cares about the future of life on our planet.
Ian Edwards Glebe
Your have reported that Bob Brown has dubbed Senator Lee Rhiannon a wrecker and the Tony Abbott of The Greens. If true, this is deeply disheartening.
Senator Rhiannon has a moderate political view and rightly suggests that the Greens should channel Bernie Sanders, who led a very inspiring campaign in hope of becoming US president.
Given all we know on how neoliberal capitalism is ruining the biosphere for our and future generations, it is high time to revise our whole politics and economics.
The Greens are the only significant party with a sustainable, post-capitalist vision. Green government is the future. However, this necessitates a position to the left of the Labor Party since there is no moderate space between our two right-wing major parties.
Bob Elliston Bruny Island (Tas)
While neither Lee Rhiannon nor Tony Abbott look particularly like white ants it is obvious both of their parties require some major pest eradication.
Bill Carpenter Bowral
Premier should have more empathy for protesters
Does our Premier know our history? Or doesn't she care? Either way I am disappointed that she thinks protests about the date of Australia Day are disappointing and somehow inappropriate ("A say for pride not protests, January 27).
Quite understandably, Ms Berejiklian attended a commemoration ceremony in Yerevan in 2015 for the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Surely her own background should give her empathy with Aboriginal protests when the immediate aftermath of the original date we celebrate as Australia Day was the rapid depopulation of the Aboriginal population as a result of disease, killings and dispossession.
Governor Phillip himself reported 50 per cent of those around Sydney had died in the first two years of his settlement due to the ravages of introduced smallpox.
How easy to defuse the tension of Australia Day by finding a more appropriate date.
Cathy Cavanagh Katoomba
It's most upsetting to anyone who calls themselves Australian, to watch Aboriginal activists clash with police on Australia Day. My ancestors were exiled to Sydney in 1824 as convicts, brought here against their will, beaten and whipped, but somehow they survived. Their descendants struggled over five generations, and even today few could call themselves successful, but what's the sense in whining? Better to plan for the future than complain about the past.
Dr Tracy Rockwell Katoomba
Protest Rule 101. The time for protests, Premier, is when it is most inappropriate, attempting to catch media and community attention and providing an avenue to voice an opinion, even in controversial times. We should take great pride in the freedom to protest.
Janice Creenaune Austinmer
Who will really pay for Trump's wall?
So the Trumpster is bringing in a 20 per cent levy on Mexican-imported goods to make "Mexico pay for the wall" ("Trump reveals tax plan to pay for the wall", January 27). Who pays for the more expensive imports into the United States? Could that be the American consumer?
What happens when you make goods more expensive to the end users? They shift to cheaper products manufactured in another low-cost country and your Mexican imports drop, hence a drop in your revenue. Another own goal for Trump.
Don Wormald Turramurra
Perhaps, when President Trump demands payment for "the wall", Mexico might counterclaim for the loss of their former territories that now comprise New Mexico and a large part of California? Now that would be a real Mexican standoff.
Pasquale Vartuli Wahroonga
The querulous, petty utterances from Donald Trump and his minions, with particular reference to those nasty, unfair media hacks who so cruelly and hurtfully fail to recognise His Greatness, should present more than sufficient material for a series of "The West Whinge".
David Baird Burradoo
Now that Donald Trump has signed the executive order for a border wall, we need to give it a name. I suggest The Donwald.
Rob Baveystock Naremburn
With friends like Donald Trump, who needs enemies ("The US has no better friend than Australia : Trump's Australia Day message" , smh.com.au, January 27)?
Denis Goodwin Dee Why
Convince MPs to see out their full terms
Why does the taxpayer have to foot the bill when politicians decide they have had enough ("NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner retires from politics", smh.com.au, January 27)? Mike Baird and now Jillian Skinner are recent examples, but there are many more – both federal and state.
Our elected representatives are contractors put in place to complete a task for a fixed period. If they can't fulfil their term there are alternatives: have the individual abandoning the post fund the byelection, hand the role to the candidate who came second at the most recent election, leave the post vacant or, in the case or death or independently medically verified illness, replace the candidate with a member of the same party.
Surely these steps would convince our elected contractors to see their term out.
The same should be applied to pollies who decide to change their mind and party mid-term.
Matthew O'Connor Gladesville
After years as our state government representative Jillian Skinner has now announced she will resign. For thousands of people in Mosman, we say: about time.
She has kept her lips tightly shut on council amalgamations despite 81 per cent of our ratepayers being against it and refused to respond to our pleas for assistance on the issue.
As our representative she has let us down completely.
Our new Premier can show leadership and drop all court-contested NSW council amalgamations. Otherwise the byelection for the north shore electorate will go down a very Orange road.
William Tuck, Jacquie Tuck Mosman
Renters need protection
Our new Premier's focus on housing affordability is overdue but welcome – despite the Deputy Prime Minister's ill-considered remarks. However, the housing debate is not just about buying first homes; it's about having a home. With more and more people locked out of home ownership, long-term rental remains the only option for anyone wanting enough security to enable them to feel as if they have a home at all.
The insecurity of short-term leases, of landlords' capacity to give minimal notice at any time once the lease expires, the severe lack of affordable rental properties and the huge cost and displacement involved in moving house means that homelessness is an increasing worry for all renters.
As more and more people are forced out of home ownership, the debate needs to include reform of the rental regulations if we are to avoid swelling the already unsupportable numbers of the homeless.
As the federal Treasurer goes to Britain to explore options, he should also discuss the way renters have always been afforded greater protection in Britain and other European countries, where long-term rental has always been an accepted realty.
Francesca Naish Randwick
Reprieve for Powerhouse?
Paul Garrard's comments illustrate once again the absurdity of the Baird government's proposal to move the Powerhouse Museum from Utlimo to Parramatta ("Council being 'screwed', says former mayor", January 27). Let's hope that the Berejiklian government, with a different arts minister, will recognise this folly and retain the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo while providing a cultural facility in western Sydney that the residents of this region actually want.
Marina Garlick Balmain
Gillard exemplary
Every Australian who has an IQ above room temperature should take offence at David Sayers' letter suggesting that former prime minister Julia Gillard sat back on a fat, publicly funded pension and waited to be honoured with an Australia Day award (Letters, January 27).
Unlike some of our recent prime ministers, Gillard has been gracious in political defeat, has stepped away from politics, refrained from annoying the hell out of her own party and has invested her time in doing good international deeds that bring honour and respect to our country. Thank you, Julia Gillard.
Craig Lilienthal Wollstonecraft
Streets of redress
I, like John Challis (Letters, January 27), look forward to the day when Australia Day can be changed into Republic Day. Perhaps at that time we could also look to change some of our major city street names, from those that honour long-forgotten obscure British nobles to instead celebrate some great Australians. Every time I pass Castlereagh Street in Sydney, I am reminded that he was one of the most hated politicians of his day, and of the poem that Lord Byron wrote in memory of Lord Castlereagh:
Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this.
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh
Stop, traveller, and piss.
Alan Marel North Curl Curl
More post woes
We dream of having our parcels delivered to the local post office, Dennis Fardy (Letters, January 27). Our contractor's preferred method is to throw the parcel from the end of the house (fortunately only a few metres). We always know there has been a delivery when we hear the thud as the parcel hits the glass (yes, glass!) next to the front door. I have complained to Australia Post but have been met with deafening silence. Not sure what has changed, because our old contactors were fabulous. Over to you, Ahmed Fahour, AO.
Anne Kirman Kellyville
Put Foley in dock
When the next greyhound, live-bait, animal torture is revealed blame Luke Foley ("Foley pictured with suspended trainer", January 27). If the NSW Labor Party leader had backed Premier Baird's sensible ban, instead of trying to win votes, this cruel industry would be put down forever.
Joe Payne Coogee
Professor impresses
I'm confused. Is it the Year of the Fire Rooster or the Year of the Great Moustache ("Professor's prescription: 'politics out of research' ", January 27)?
Stephanie Short Woy Woy
Flying the flag for patriotism
Elizabeth Starr was disappointed to see, on Australia Day, only four Australian flags in six suburban kilometres (Letters, January 27).
I find the statistic cheering, since there seems something very chilling about any conspicuous display of jingoistic patriotism. Of course, this is a good land; of course we are happy to be Australian; but that doesn't mean that it isn't good to be Japanese, or Scottish, or Brazilian.
Let's keep the "oi, oi, oi" in check.
Elizabeth Jones Kirribilli
Elizabeth Starr: perhaps you weren't looking in the right place for Australian patriotism. Had you gone to a barbecue you would have seen "our flag" being worn to keep the sun off the shoulders of our Aussie men cooking the sausages. On a trip to the beach you would have seen it on thongs, bikinis and towels. A peek into a men's locker room and you would have seen it on boxer shorts. For me and my family, this is why the flag has lost its meaning. Let's put it back in the only place it belongs. Flying from the top of a flag pole.
Mary Dunne Ocean Shores
Elizabeth Starr bemoans the lack of Australian flags spotted on Australia Day . My celebration for the day was that I saw only one. Predictably it was on one of those hoon twin-exhaust utes.
Peter Lane Margaret River (WA)
Postscript
On the day NSW was set to acquire its next premier, and despite front-page treatment of that fact, Gladys Berejiklian's ascension was not the No. 1 issue on the minds of Herald letter writers. Instead, Treasurer Scott Morrison's trip to London to look for ways to tackle the housing affordability crisis claimed top spot.
That might tell us something about how blasé NSW is becoming about new premiers, even new female ones. But it might also indicate that Ms Berejiklian has her finger on the pulse of the electorate and was astute to name housing as her major priority.
My unscientific observation is that the momentum for changing the date of Australia Day does seem to be building, with more letters than I can recall last year acknowledging the unsuitability of the existing date because Aboriginal Australians cannot fully celebrate. The sticking point is in picking an alternative.
Ian Macfarlane suggested March 1, the day when the first Commonwealth government began taking over the functions of the former colonies. "It's not exactly the fall of the Bastille is it?" James McArdle, of Sanctuary Point, observed.
For very many of you, the answer is obvious. "It's simple," Janice Hull, of Hat Head, wrote. "The day we become a republic will become Australia Day. Any other date is wishy washy. So Malcolm Turnbull better make a start."
We are obliged to Stuart Ogg, of Stanmore, for pointing out that the "death of English cricket" mock obituary, from which Mal Freak of Armidale drew inspiration last week to mark the passing of globalisation, was published in The Sporting Times in September 1882, not The Times of London. We were out for a duck on that one.
Julie Lewis Letters co-editor