So Malcolm Turnbull has refused to criticise Donald Trump's immigration measures ("'It's not my job': PM won't condemn Trump Muslim ban", smh.com.au, January 30). What else would we expect from our so-called leader. He turns to water as soon as a matter of actual substance comes to the fore. Climate change, marriage equality and now overtly racist immigration orders from our ally, all elicit a juvenile shrug of the shoulders. Is Turnbull the weakest Prime Minister we have ever had?
David Whitcombe Maroubra
Malcolm Turnbull expressed no criticism of Donald Trump's outrageous executive order regarding the banning of Muslims from a selection of countries in which Trump has no financial interests; no Trump hotels or golf courses. Nations from which many terrorists hale, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Afghanistan are exempt.
It is interesting to see sycophantic leaders cozying up to a man who, in normal circumstances, they would eschew for so many reasons.
Morals, principles, only from Justin Trudeau it would seem.
Annette Kent Hunters Hill
Mark Kenny asks: "What breach of national values...by Washington will be damaging enough to get a rise out of Canberra?" ("PM's soft-shoe shuffle around Trump is either clever or craven", January 30). Not sure about Canberra. For me, the latest Presidential decree on US entry is enough.
Other countries and their nationals aside, as a law-abiding, Anglo-Celtic Australian I should have little trouble travelling to the US later this year. Tens of thousands of my fellow law-abiding Australian citizens will not be welcome because of their national heritage.
It goes against everything I believe about being an Australian and giving a fair go to all. I won't be going until things change. I urge all others to also reconsider any planned travel to the US.
Raymond Lees Galston
It has been said that our Prime Minister has form in doing deals with the Devil in exchange for political longevity. If true, the Australian people should be very worried as to what he may have pledged to the Trump administration in return for honouring their commitment to accept our unwanted refugees.
It stands to reason that any reciprocal commitment on our part would almost certainly amount to acceptance of and compliance with one or more elements of Trump's manifesto and which could have serious consequences for the future of our nation.
We have a right to know the details of that reciprocal commitment.
Stephen Darwen North Sydney
Every nation has the sovereign right and responsibility to protect its borders. Australia has set the standard for border protection and did it so well that some European countries may follow our example.
Those who disagree with Australian border security activities and Donald Trumps's executive order need to understand that UN conventions should not take precedence over our own laws.
Robert Buick Mountain Creek (Qld)
Over the next year or so, all those within Australia calling for a ban on Muslim immigration will get to see how Trump's "White America" policy plays out; how it affects domestic law and order, how it affects other countries and how they will respond, how it affects those caught in the middle and those Muslims/immigrants already resident in the US who effectively become second-class citizens.
And most importantly, as this is the stated purpose of the law, we'll see how it affects global terrorism and the rise of Islamic State. For anyone considering voting for Pauline Hanson, please first take a long objective look at the results of this racist policy (and yes, it is racist because, as you will have noted you can't ban a belief so you end up banning countries).
Phil Bradshaw Naremburn
The evidence is clear, the "person" in the Oval Office is actually an alien from outer space sent to destroy the planet. It's brilliant; no need for an invading force. We will either blow ourselves up as fear and distrust consume nations or cook ourselves to death, like a frog in the pot, by ignoring global warming. But I'm not worried. I'm phoning The Doctor.
Shona Kirchen Kiama
Immigration firestorm masks Bannon appointment
The goings on in Washington are like something out of a Tom Clancy novel. Donald Trump sets off a firestorm with his immigration measures, the firestorm hogs the headlines pushing his removals and appointments to the National Security Council into the background ("Bannon at top table as Putin and IS tackled", January 30).
Gone as permanent members are the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of the national intelligence agency. They can be called upon as needed by a President who says he knows more than the generals anyway.
In place of the leading military mind and the head spy, Trump appoints, among others, his adviser Stephen Bannon, an ex banker with seven years service in the navy, some as a surface warfare officer, some as a desk jockey at the Pentagon. His other qualification would be his time as executive editor of Breitbart, which specialises in fake news, anti Semitism, white supremacy and the pursuit of conspiracy theories. Extraordinary, quite extraordinary.
Peter Bennett Currabubula
Within days of becoming President, Donald Trump has banned migration on the basis of religious prejudice, exempted terrorist nations because that would clash with his commercial interests, appointed the alt-right Steve Bannon to the National Security Council while demoting both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence, and had US troops kill children in Yemen ("US special forces raid al-Qaeda compound in Yemen", smh.com.au, January 30).
It is not in Australia's national interest for a weak and indecisive Prime Minister to keep us in the ANZUS alliance.
Glenn Meeves Penrith
Students the losers as Piccoli sacked
Thank you, Adrian Piccoli, for all you have achieved as NSW Minister for Education in the past six years. John Barilaro states you are "the best education minister this state has seeen and probably this nation" and educators from all sides of the fence say you actually "get" education. It is disappointing that someone of your calibre has been demoted for the sake of "progress". The children of NSW are the losers.
Vivienne Freeman Warrawee
The sacking of Adrian Piccoli says a lot more about John Barilaro and Gladys Berejiklian than it does about Piccoli. Politics and self-interest ahead of public good.
Lou Andreatta Abbotsford
I am frustrated with the current Liberal Party at both state and federal level. Its members seemed to have forgotten (or chosen to ignore) the concept that teams win elections, and therefore govern. The party backbenchers seem hellbent on not acting as a team but as individuals each pursuing their own political agendas and aspirations rather than getting on with the job of governing the country/state.
A typical example showed itself this weekend with a number of Liberal Party members stating how the wrong people had been selected as state ministers rather than giving their full support to those chosen.
As a resident of the lovely suburb of Mosman, please don't get me started on the lack of team ethos of my current federal representative.
Tony Howes Mosman
Following Premier Berejiklian's reshuffle ("Rattled Coalition 'resets' to woo key regional seats", January 30), Sydney now has an astonishing three transport ministers, all with competing objectives.
We already had a Roads Minster focused on the movement of traffic, and a Transport Minister focused on the movement of people. Now we have a WestConnex Minister, Penrith MP Stuart Ayres, whose job will be to extract as much toll revenue as possible from the people of western Sydney, to pay for Mike Baird's $17 billion inner-city toll road scheme. Under them will be three competing transport agencies: RMS, Transport for NSW and Sydney Motorways Corporation.
Add into the mix a Planning Minister to rubber-stamp development without considering infrastructure needs, and a Greater Sydney Commission without the legislated powers to make much of a difference.
It's all the more disappointing because, as Transport Minister, Ms Berejiklian often spoke about the need to integrate transport and land use planning.
Chris Standen Forest Lodge
The Premier's decision to announce her cabinet in Queanbeyan is a Coalition vote-getting junket paid for by the taxpayer ("Mix of rewards, square-ups and close eye on the polls", January 30.)
Jill Phillips Ettalong Beach
Relax â tutoring's just a form of coaching
Why do so many have difficulty accepting student tutoring (Letters, January 30)? If, in this country, a child shows any talent at sport they are immediately awakened at pre-dawn to fit in swimming lessons before school or driven kilometres away after school for gymnastic, athletics and other sport specialist "tutoring"! With the slightest demonstration of talent in music or arts, they end up spending hours outside school time with "tutors" in these specialist areas.
Many people see tutoring in school work as a remedial measure and for many in earlier years this is a valid assumption. However, for many intellectually talented students, although doing well enough, there could well be a desire for tutoring to do even better, no different to their contemporaries improving their sporting skills.
From my experience in selective schools (and this perhaps a generalisation), the students who tended to do better were those who came from family backgrounds that appreciated education highly and if their child showed talent in this area it was worth encouraging and supporting them, much like the parents of talented and gifted sporting and artistic children.
Brian Collins Cronulla
If the situation was reversed and selective schools were 90 per cent white I doubt we'd even be having a conversation about the process or composition of selective schools. There are serious flaws with tutoring but it's not that different from the Australians that force their kid to swim hours of laps each week.
Samantha Chung Newtown
End time-outs in tennis
The time has come to stop medical time-outs in professional tennis ("Medical time-out was within the rules, says Roger Federer", smh.com.au, January 30).
We saw Federer taking time out against Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals possibly causing Wawrinka to lose his momentum, and then we saw Federer employing another time-out in the final despite no discernible problems with his movement.
In each case Federer won his match. Too much depends on these matches to allow time-outs that may change the course of the match. Rankings, prestige and enormous sums of money, just for a start. Given the scandals in the junior tennis ranks over thrown matches, there should be far more caution erring in favour of getting an outcome beyond reproach in the grand slams.
Elizabeth Sayers Wentworth Falls
Selling our country
Tony Recsei (Letters, January 30), housing unaffordability has been developing gradually over decades of successive governments and isn't confined to Sydney and NSW. The policy of a Big Australia, open for sale to the world, underlies the issue.
Anne Matheson Gordon
Fertile soil for misguided patriotism
Mary Lawson (Letters, January 30) makes some salient points regarding unnecessary flag-waving in particular, and misguided patriotism in general. While flags may have been scarce in Elizabeth Starr's Drummoyne on Australia Day, there are other areas where they seem to be sprouting in front lawns at an increasing rate. Perhaps it's the fertility of the soil.
Bob Guy Cootamundra
While I wouldn't dream of flying the flag here, I'll be discreetly wearing one on overseas travels to prevent being mistaken for an American.
Jennifer McKay Ashbury
Federal ferry adrift
So the new Sydney ferries are hard to control and drift sideways in adverse conditions due to shallow bottoms ("New ferry fixed up to meet tough conditions", January 30). Why does this remind me of the federal government?
Paul Stevens North Epping
Ministry of thunder
If we are having a Minister for a Single Road (sorry WestConnex), how about the Minister for Thunderbolts Way? The rain damage to this beautiful thoroughfare to New England is pretty bad and it could do with the attention.
Cath Mackson Waverton
Bullies turn up trumps
Why stamp out bullying ("Schools, not online, the most likely place for bullying", January 30). It has just been proved to be basic training for one to become the leader of the free world.
Tony Denzel Bonny Hills