After reading the letters from Rev Peter Green and Rebekah Reville Joy (Letters, February 17) I went back to Thursday's Herald and reread Kelsey Munro's article to make sure that the article about which they were writing was the same one that I (and, it seems, Gary Bigelow, Diane Johnson and Alison Orme) had read yesterday. I concluded that it wasn't. I saw nothing in the article which called for a return to "the kind of religious uniformity situation of 400 years ago", nor did I find any suggestion of introducing some kind of Stalinist secular agenda. What I did glean from it was that FIRIS and similar groups are doing no more than campaign for the removal of religious education from State schools.
I have no problem with that. Religious education is properly the province of a child's parents, not the state, and it is entirely inappropriate that the State should intrude. There is a place for classes in ethics or comparative religion, so that kids have an idea of what makes the faiths around them, but the task of inculcating the tenets of a particular religious system in their offspring is one solely for parents.
David Clark Springside
You are right, Rev Peter Green, "true secular fairness in religion in schools" (Letters,February 17) does not lie in a "knee jerk capitulation to secularism" but not for the reasons you suggest, but because the idea of secular fairness in religion is an oxymoron. Australia is a democratic country that is governed on secular principles and the division of church and state.True secular fairness would require all religious instruction taken out of public schools, the funding of school chaplains redirected towards the employment of school psychologists and the introduction of ethics classes for all pupils. Parent can then freely choose religious instruction for their children in private schools that accord with their religious beliefs, and in churches, synagogues or mosques without discrimination.
Mila Yates Valentine
Gary Bigelow (Letters, February 17) what has happened in the Catholic Church has also happened in non-religious organisations including government and scouts yet their directors are not arrested, assets frozen, directors deregistered etc as you suggest would occur. The scourge of paedophilia is not restricted to one organisation and is a repudiation of what we as a society hold dear and what religious faith is about. It has to be tackled across the board, including taking into account all the relevant factors to meet out a just penalty to those who failed to act in the best interests of the survivors.
Gordana Martinovich Dulwich Hill
Rebekah Joy talks of "atheist belief". There is of course no such thing. Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity. Religion if it is to be taught in public schools should be treated in a comparative way just like any other ideology, such as political or economic ideologies. They are all created in the minds of homo sapiens.
Richard Page Oyster Bay
Put hefty tax on home auctions
If Glenn Stevens is open to suggestions, how about he look at ways to take the heat out of the auction-day frenzy (Letters, February 17)? Auctions could be discouraged by slapping a hefty tax on homes purchased this way.
The tax could be via a tweaking of the Stamp Duty, where specific areas could be targeted by government for this new treatment. The vendor then has to consider the impact of this tax when choosing his sales strategy. If he's selling a property that might appeal to first home buyers, his agent would explain that the auction strategy presents him a problem, as many first home buyers would choose not to buy via auction, where they'd be up for the new tax.
This might prompt him to instead set a price, and test it. If he fields an offer above his price, the option to then contact another potential buyer with this information still exists, but that is all done absent the auction-day frenzy. A side benefit would be the publication of realistic price expectations, rather than the troublesome low "price guide" figures.
Transactions on higher-value homes, where the buyers are comparatively less sensitive to the new "auction tax", would perceive no change. In all cases, the vendor still has the power to choose – he just needs to factor in the new brake on bidding frenzies that have been pricing first-homers out of the market.
Mitch Geddes Palm Beach
Can we please stop appointing out of touch retired RBA governors and ex-banking CEOs to important government positions deciding this country's future direction. They were part of the problem in the first place and will never be part of the solution.
Chris Blight Warrawee
Time to flush bias out of the legal system
It's encouraging that the Law Council of Australia is launching a national campaign to counter unconscious bias among lawyers ("Campaign to tackle 'Boys' club' bias in legal practice", February 17).
The program is aimed at affinity bias, and decision-making in legal practice based on characteristics such as gender or race. My graduating class from Sydney Law School in 1955 contained five women and 58 males, whereas women now make up more then half of law graduates. However, men still occupy most of the leadership positions, and women account for about 22 per cent of practising barristers in NSW and only 8 per cent of silks.
A more intractable bias comes from the opening in legal decision-making for personal opinions and values, as shown by the Republicans in the US holding out for the appointment of a Supreme Court judge thought to favour their views on society and justice.
The accepted wisdom is that judges "find" the law, but in many cases, even the strictest legalist is unable to decide cases without making choices left open by the law. This is usually the reason for split judgments, and it is naive to think that dissenting judges did not know the law.
As with gender and race bias, there is benefit for the legal profession in opening the process of decision-making to scrutiny.
James Moore Kingsgrove
Politicians, stop fiddling as world burns
John Hewson expresses nicely the major aspects of confusion in the energy market and the electorate's despair ("National electricity mess is nothing but an embarrassment", February 17). For their origins we need to return to 2014 when the aptly named Coalition, together with Bob Brown's inflexibly purist Greens, in a bizarre scenario combined to vote down the proposed CERS.
Sure it might not have been perfect, but it was something – something the nation, its people, our energy providers and our corporations would have had as a reasonable framework to plan by for the future.
As it is we now have nothing except an energy mess and the nation running around like a headless chook wondering what's going on in the slaughterhouse. The energy mess is all political – hidebound, vested political ideologies and an anachronistic political system wreaking gratuitous punishment on the entire electorate.
It could readily be solved – all they have to do is compromise and agree; but they never will. So an independent statutory authority or body like the Reserve Bank? If not that, anything; something has to give – so could, for example, Senator Macdonald and all his (admittedly) poorly remunerated parliamentary cohort please simply realise that and just do something very, very soon?
As it is, their relentless inaction and indecision is shaping to cost all the rest of us a whole lot of unnecessary angst – not to mention all the increasingly billions of dollars!
Peter Bower Naremburn
John Hewson. I can remember a time when the national electricity grid wasn't a mess, when players weren't gaming the system or gouging prices; when it wasn't privatised.
Anthony Cameron Manly
Bias betrays ignorance
In his weekly column Waleed Aly wrote "We'd like to tax companies less, so if we're going to help disabled people, young unemployed people are having to pay for it" ("Turnbull stuck in an Abbott shaped hole", February 17). This is his customary biased jibe at the federal government without considering the alternative perspective.
Sufficient smart, suitably qualified, independent minds have agreed with the government's proposition that decreasing company tax encourages business to invest more, thereby growing and expanding. The result is more jobs are created and the unemployed can become employed. Surely being employed is better all round than being on social security?
So this scenario does not, as Aly and Xenophon claim, "rob the unemployed to pay for services for the disabled".
Now, forecasting the economy is as difficult as forecasting the weather but at least we have qualified independents supporting this proposition rather than a chemical engineer-turned lawyer-turned social commentator rubbishing it.
John Whiteing Willoughby
Shame on the Herald
Hear hear, Tracey Dillon, Woy Woy (Letters, February 17) re a remembrance deserved.
Around 8000 Australian soldiers died in captivity after Singapore fell. Yes 8000 – picture a football stadium and imagine what that number means. These were sons, fathers, husbands, friends, lovers. They died in horrendous circumstances, beaten, tortured, starved, worked into the ground. My uncle came back as a skeleton – he survived, but drank for the rest of his life to try to still the horrors.
And so, do we recognise these men, no, not on your life.
As Tracey points out, The Sydney Morning Herald writes about sad athletes, murdering criminals, puerile gossip about unknown nonentities.
Where is the respect these men and all the others who fought for us so this rubbish can be printed, where is the honour given to the fallen? Not in the Herald that's for sure. Shame.
Margaret-Anne Hayes Turramurra
Mettle when its needed
Grant Hackett's very public disintegration reveals a family in turmoil, but not defeated. A heartbroken father who will not give up on his son. A family whose love and anguish is so transparent ("Hackett 'safe and sober' but in hiding after arrest and release", February 17). Gold medals melt into insignificance in the face of this steel.
Pam Connor Mollymook Beach
Sensible road rules
In the 73 years I have been driving it has always been the rule (Letters, February17) that pedestrians have the right of way, but a good rule for everybody to live by is never take the right of way until it is given to you.
Ron Elphick Buff Point
Glad to see last of the Hurstville bunch
No, Rose Panidis (Letters, February 17) there are more than one of us who are not opposed to council amalgamations. If you look at the protest letters you will see that none of them have ever come from residents of Hurstville Council area. We are more than glad to see the last of our bunch.
Jennifer Whaite Oatley
Light rail extension
Heavy rail already terminates at Carlingford and the new proposed light rail is also going to terminate there ("Premier Gladys Berejiklian reveals 16 Parramatta light rail stops", smh.com.au, February 17). Why can't they go ahead and extend the line(s) to Epping or Pennant Hills instead of a dead end?
Ron Field Bermagui
It is to be hoped that when Transport for NSW selects contractors for its "upgrades" to the Bankstown railway line (to become Sydney Metro) and to the upper Carlingford line (to become light rail) that it specifies a faster pace of work than we are seeing in George Street.
Jim Donovan Lindfield
Pizza blow to francisees
Encouraging words from Ross Sharp (Letters, February 17). By encouraging us making our own pizzas, those already struggling franchisees will most certainly go to the wall. Too bad for their employees and suppliers.
Gerard Kirwan Cremorne
Catching up
No need for Ben to move to Bateau Bay, David Markham. But can I suggest to Benny Brooker that he leave Manning Bar, sit down with his dad and catch up with the latest news in a Bomaderry bar.
Charmain Brinks Newcastle
Alliterative authorship aside, I love hearing from Joan Brown in Orange, Geoff Black at Caves Beach and Doug Cliff from North Narrabeen. Keep 'em coming!
Viv Munter North Epping
Keep it the same
Thanks Peter Skrzynecki for the timely analysis (Letters, February 17). I like my Herald just as she is, a random collection of ideas/facts/entertainment, and I have be-spoken.
A great deal of the time, I disagree wildly with Herald articles, though not with their literary presentation, as I do with many Letters page entries, but then again if I didn't occasionally raise the Tony beacon, the conservative torch, the humour match, where would we be? Maybe you'd better not answer that one.
Rosemary O'Brien Georges Hall
Postscript
As a sign of how much readers care about dear old Granny, it was heartening to see a strong response to Alan Stokes' column that canvassed a new way of customising and consuming the Herald. Not that the idea received a ringing endorsement. Many of you see great advantages in letting editors introduce you to stories you might not have chosen for yourself. For some, it's just easier; for others, it goes to the heart of why you read a newspaper.
"Alan Stokes' proposal for a customised version of the Herald available to subscribers is beguiling – and very dangerous," Peter Leonard, of Tweed Heads South, wrote. "If I can tailor my paper to what I want to see and hear, what need of a paper do I have?
"My somewhat leftist views are supported by many articles in the Herald, and challenged by many more. I have read articles by Alan Ramsey and Alan Jones, Peter Reith and Paul Keating. If we cocoon ourselves from unwanted views, we cannot grow." It's a message social media users should note.
Allan Gibson, of Cherrybrook, also rained on Stokes' parade. The Your Herald concept would only be implemented if Stokes ran the good ship Fairfax, he wrote, which would not do: "We would have two media moguls with the same surname." I suspect Alan would be prepared to suffer any confusion this might cause if he could share Kerry's bank balance as well as his last name.
But it's always good to hear what readers are looking for from the Herald and to have confirmation you are as interested as we are in debates about how it should respond to the opportunities and challenges of the digital age.
Julie Lewis Letters co-editor
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