So asylum seekers, thrown out of their accommodation and finally allowed to work, are to be expected to abide by "Australian values". This, from a government that does not seem to know that prime among these values is the idea of a fair go. If refugees cannot find work and a place to live while having suddenly been cut off their meagre support payments they will be sent to Nauru or Manus Island just when the PNG government is demanding that the men there cannot be left for them to deal with.
When we think that the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers cannot get any more cruel, the government provides us with this appalling evidence that it is willing to make things worse. This is utterly shameful.
Ellen O'Gallagher, Castlemaine
A world leader in cruelty
Is there no limit to the cruelty visited upon asylum seekers and refugees by our government? Incarcerating them indefinitely on Nauru and Manus Island, separating families, driving them to suicide, leaving them in the care of failed states and now starving them out by stopping welfare payments to some who had medical treatment in Australia.
Do people realise that we lead the world by these cruel policies?
Peter Farago, Newport
This isn't done in my name
Shame on the Turnbull government. These people are seeking safety and compassion and I offer apologies from the people of Australia. Not in my name.
Jane Wilson, Caulfield
What values are these?
Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton make much of the Australian values that they see as the basic requirements for living in this country.
Rather, our "values" will mean that the asylum seekers will continue to be demonised. They are to be thrown onto the streets, given $200 a fortnight and be expected to find and afford alternative rental properties within three weeks. Those over 18 will be denied access to education. Those hitherto stopped from working, will be expected to suddenly find work that will fund their basic needs. Given the likelihood that "going back to where they came from" will prove preferable to destitution the government will be happy to send people back to the hellholes many of them came from. Such is the enactment of the values espoused by this government.
Malcolm Ellenport, East Brighton
The sleep of the humane, PM?
The final ignominy Malcolm Turnbull? Surely asylum seekers have been beaten into submission, evidently not. It now seems Australia intends to starve them to death. How do you sleep Prime Minister?
Geoffrey Lowther, Coburg
The suffering must stop, now
The Turnbull government is setting a new benchmark in inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. It's like it is competing for some kind of "extreme nastiness to fellow humans" awards sponsored by Donald Trump. What will the damage to our "national interests" be by accepting 100 desperate people into the society? Isn't the suffering inflicted so far in the offshore camps enough?
Fethon Naoum, Portland
FORUM
Naming fear of death
Congratulations Toby Hall for naming the elephant in the room in your comment ('Most Australians are rubbish at dying', The Age, 26/8). The elephant's name is "fear". I believe that the assisted dying bill actually feeds people's fear of dying. From my experience of working as a pastoral practitioner in palliative care I have witnessed many deaths, none of which I would say has been undignified because this is dying and this is life.
I agree that we need to talk more with our patients, to allow them to name their fears, to give them some control over the way they wish to be treated at end of life and to provide the support and care which respects the dignity of each individual.
Thank you Toby for your inspiring article.
Julie Ottobre, Forest Hill
Life affirming
The heart-warming story by Andrew MacLeod about Andrew Georghiou, the hard-working Greek migrant who became a pillar of the Albert Park community ('Building a nation, one burger at a time', The Age, 26/8) made me think of the would-be migrants on Manus and Nauru. They, too, hoped to find refuge from their "brutalised countries" and build a new life in Australia. Many have great skills and could contribute to this country just as post-war migrants did. We have treated them cruelly, and continue to do so to our shame.
Gael Barrett, North Balwyn
Hard choice
Now that Telmo Languiller has announced he will retire, the ALP has a difficult decision. Will it preselect a local resident who does excellent community work or will it treat the electorate with contempt and parachute a well-connected outsider into the seat (provided they can win it)?
Joe Garra, Werribee South
Joyce cuts
So Barnaby Joyce has been nominated for New Zealander of the year. Does this mean he is being recognised as having contributed to the wellbeing of New Zealand by remaining in Australia?
John Murphy, Aberfeldie
About equality not love
The plebiscite is a device by the government to divide the voting public. The issue is not about "love". It is about equality and basic human rights.
The government is squandering the public purse and creating general disarray and confusion while they misuse public funds for political game-playing. Throwing the public a red herring in the form of a postal vote is not adult behaviour. It is not responsible behaviour.
Are we or are we not, all equal before the law?
Maggie Morgan, Northcote
Neutered effect
With the constant push to emphasise sexual equality with no differentiation between the sexes can we expect provision to be made on the birth certificate for the child to be described as neuter or no gender? Surely Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten, advising us to vote "yes" in the survey, have an opinion on these possible unintended consequences.
Dick Ashby, Numurkah
A normal wish
Recently I arrived at work to discover my normally upbeat colleague and friend both fearful and angry. Fearful and angry at what the months leading up to the postal vote will mean for her, her partner and all their friends who are also in same-sex relationships. Already the vitriol is evident.
In consolation I echoed the view of many that same-sex marriage would happen regardless of the outcome of the postal vote. I said how exciting and wonderful it would be when that day came. She replied that regarding same-sex marriage as "exciting" and "wonderful" was not what she, her partner and friends wanted. What they wanted was for same-sex marriage to be regarded as normal.
Alison Davies, Melbourne
More for ABC
It is time the government increased funding to the ABC to reduce the number of repeat programs on weekends. I refuse to watch repeats of Doc Martin, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, IQ, et al. I would gladly pay 10 cents a day for new programming. I hope the parties agree to finance the ABC more suitably.
John Michaels, Malvern
Ignorant man
When Mathias Cormann refers to the defacement of statues in Sydney as a left-wing plot he reveals his appalling ignorance of Australian history and of political theory. Has he not heard that terra nullius was a lie, and has he not heard of the frontier wars?
Geof Carne, Moonee Ponds
German lessons
For those who feel that history should not be meddled with and statues left alone irrespective of whether the identities had a dark past, perhaps a lesson from post-war Germany should be recognised. There are no statues of Herr Hitler, Goebbels and Goering to commemorate the cultural past of German history.
Rob Park, Surrey Hills
The other resistance
Australians should remember the heroism of the teenage soldiers on the Kokoda trail. But we should also remember the Aboriginal warriors who resisted the British invasion, including their active resistance to the progressive expropriation of Aboriginal lands. Many Australians of non-Aboriginal heritage identify with the legitimacy and heroism of Aboriginal resistance as well as with the courage of Kokoda.
The defenders of January 26 as Australia Day are, in effect, celebrating British settlement and colonial supremacy and, by implication, endorsing the doctrine of terra nullius on which it was legitimised. While the colonial project continues, is it any wonder that the symbols of British colonialism serve as targets for acts of defiance.
David Legge, East Brunswick
Engineering work
The state government's plans ('Renewable energy boost powers top regional cities', The Age, 24/8) for a sharp boost in renewable energy represents an intervention in the National Energy Market and is being undertaken without an understanding of what it means to the security of electricity supply.
One only has to look at the poor reliability in South Australia and the tight supply situation predicted for Victoria this summer to see the results of a rapid growth in intermittent renewable supplies without appropriate system engineering.
Renewables make base load plant uneconomic and push them out of the market but this leads to a lack of supplies when the wind does not blow. What is needed is a well-engineered plan for the transition to renewables.
The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and the Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio have said that power supplies will be more than adequate after this summer as there is a full pipeline of renewable projects ahead.
It is clear that the Premier and the minister have not learnt from the SA experience.
John Bell, Ashwood
Mortgage stress
I know we Baby Boomers are often blamed for all the ills of the current generation but I must admit I find it amusing to again read of homeowners suffering higher levels of mortgage stress, this in a time of historic low and stable interest rates.
Mortgage repayments for these loans have probably not changed to any significant degree since inception, compare that to rates rising monthly and up to 17 per cent or more in my day, now that's what I call mortgage stress.
The difference possibly is that we didn't purchase properties that required us to borrow to the limit of our income, always leaving room for future unexpected rises in costs. We generally bought cheaper affordable houses, working up gradually to our "ideal" home as finances and income permitted.
Maybe a lesson for today's "must-have" generation.
David Parker, Geelong
Drunken Abbott
So Tony Abbott can be so affected by the aftermath of alcohol that he missed casting crucial votes needed by his party ('Jeers not cheers for Abbott', The Age, 26/8). Imagine if in my teaching job, I passed out from alcohol consumption on a school camp. I'd be dismissed, and rightly so. There really is one set of rules for pollies and one for the rest of us.
Ralph Judd, Blackburn North
Classic game call
I am pretty sure it was Drew Morphett who, calling a North Melbourne game back in the
'80s, came out with "Hepburn springs and German shepherds".
Barry Whelan, Aireys Inlet
Code breakers
The Code of Behaviour for asylum seekers outlines how to behave in the community. Will it tell them how to self-aggrandise, lie, bully, and refuse care to the vulnerable in their charge? I don't think any of them would sink as low as Peter Dutton and his department.
Jocelyn Penington, Brunswick
Tunnel vision
What about Utopia North and Utopia South as names for the two CBD Metro Tunnel stations?
Tony O'Brien, South Melbourne
AND ANOTHER THING
Politics
Why do politicians lie to the public, but not to the High Court?
Ian Powell, Glen Waverley
Malcolm Turnbull, the PM when you haven't got one.
Perry Becker, Leopold
Please, Mr Turnbull, no more troops to Afghanistan.
Don Mackay, Croydon
With Donald Trump talking about troops for Afghanistan I hope Malcolm Turnbull doesn't get a "deputy sheriff" urge.
Hugh McCaig, Blackburn
If Bill Shorten wins the election, let's hope Mathias Cormann will be the first person at the airport.
Rob Pollard, Brunswick West
Malcolm Turnbull supports freedom of speech except when it comes to discussion about changing the date of Australia Day.
Garry Meller, Bentleigh
Tony Abbott, if you drank so much you passed out then you were definitely not sober the next day.
Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills
Tony Abbott should get out of politics and focus on his strengths as an ambassador for Berocca.
Peter Hall, North Warrandyte
Other matters
Amen to the article by Baptist minister Simon Carey Holt ('I'm a Baptist minister voting yes to gay marriage, 22/8).
John Dalziel, Southbank
Peter Dutton: Minister for Cruelty.
Annie Wilson, Inverloch
Donald Trump has pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. The world will not pardon Trump.
Doug Whitbourn, Kilmore
Captain Cook discovered a site for a penal settlement.
Stephen Baldwin, Frankston
Thank you Fiona Richardson. Nothing but nothing stops a strong woman. Your legacy lives on.
Marisa Spiller, Essendon