The new Community Strong Australia party is a welcome option

The teals party should certainly give voters who are disaffected with the major parties a better choice – One Nation on the right, the Greens on the left, and this in the centre (“Teals launch new party to battle voter disaffection”, June 25). At the moment, people who feel the One Nation policies (such as they are) are too extreme also feel they have no option. Hopefully this will help stop us becoming like the US, where conservative voters have no option but to support Trump regardless. David Rush, Lawson

I’ve wondered for some time how federal politics might look very different today had the Liberal Party not missed the opportunity to recruit Allegra Spender. It must have occurred to someone that she could have been the answer to many of their woes. Alas, the party has backed itself into a corner, wedged by One Nation and facing obliteration. All power to Allegra and Zali, may they remain in our parliament for a long time to come. Donna Wiemann, Balmain

I live in the Warringah electorate, represented by Zali Steggall. Her term in office has been characterised by strong community engagement combined with a clear focus on accountability and integrity in politics, climate change and energy issues, and a general concern for social cohesion and the opportunity for Australians to live and prosper together. These issues are also important for me, as is her focus on broad issues that affect the whole of Australia. I like the fact that she looks at the big picture while still responding to opinion from people in the electorate. Now that she and Allegra Spender have announced the formation of a new political party I think it will provide an ongoing rational, evidence-based, people-driven opportunity for Australians to support a sensible approach to politics. It is a chance for people to have a more direct say on issues that are important to them. Megan Jones, North Balgowlah

This is great news from Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender for all Australians. There will now be a sensible alternative for voters to fill the political vacuum left as One Nation lurches further to the right, and MPs from the declining Coalition struggle to imitate them. How refreshing it will be to have a strong centrist party, with not only a continuation of hard-working independents answerable only to their constituents but also the opportunity for the new party to tap into a fair share of the new donations rules, which Spender has said were “a major-party stitch-up”. Rob Firth, Red Hill (ACT)

Thank you, Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender, for taking the next step in ensuring communities are genuinely heard and represented in federal parliament. I look forward to Community Strong Australia showing politics can be done differently and delivering even better outcomes for our communities. Suzy Bessell, Cremorne

A political party with no leader and MPs genuinely focused on their communities. MPs bound only to support the compelling goals of sensible economic management, climate action, equality and integrity. Well done, Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall. Your Community Strong Australia party will be a new type of political party that has the potential to galvanise community participation and get people excited. And isn’t that what democracy is all about? Janne Seletto, Manly

“Community Strong Australia” is a bit of a mouthful and uninspiring. Given the apparent loyalty of teal voters, is a more fitting name “Teal Death Do Us Part”? Stephen Driscoll, Castle Hill

Community Strong Australia? Oh, the glamour of grammatical nonsense. Keith Russell, Mayfield West

Culture wars

One post that appears regularly online is from my local member, Anthony Albanese (Letters, June 25). A post this week included a photo of Albo welcoming a local primary school, Summer Hill, on a trip to Canberra. Predictably insulting comments from trolls overran the post, attacking not just the PM but the kids as well: “Spot the Aussie” … “Is Summer Hill in China?” … “A new Where’s Wally – Where’s the Aussie?” etc. What’s wrong with these people? Tolerance, acceptance and celebration are foreign concepts to these multiculture-hating trogs. Their concept of what it means to be Australian is obviously only skin-deep. John Bailey, Canterbury

The reason multiculturalism in Australia has been so successful is really thanks to the trade union movement after World War II and the postwar Labor prime minister Ben Chifley, who ensured that migrants were paid the same amount as their fellow Australian workers. It created a sense of fairness and respect for migrants. This was followed up by Fraser, Whitlam and subsequent Liberal and Labor leaders who embraced and celebrated multiculturalism. This is a much kinder approach to humanity than what’s on offer from One Nation. Janice Hull, Katoomba

In 1977, when Pauline Hanson and I were 23, a referendum was passed by 80 per cent of the voting public to restrict life-term appointments of High Court and Federal Court judges to mandatory retirement at 70 years of age. The purpose was to maintain vigorous and dynamic courts, where the “injection of younger appointees would ensure a steady flow of new ideas and contemporary social attitudes”. Should the same principle of upper age limits apply to our parliament? Hanson will be 74 at the time of the next election and has sat in parliament for 33 years. Her long-held, simplistic points of view and policies of grievance and bigotry are not “new ideas”, nor should they reflect today’s social attitudes. Geoff Williams, Chifley

I propose we replace all the other cultures with permaculture. The main principles are protecting the soil, forests, water and wildlife. This includes providing for basic human needs such as food, shelter and community wellbeing. This ethical system proposes distribution of surplus resources, limiting consumption. Anyone ready to start up a new political party advocating for all of the above? Or is this all too idealistic? Tom Meakin, Port Macquarie

Karl Nation

Don’t you fret, Karl (“Today show host Karl Stefanovic to leave Nine after Tommy Robinson podcast fallout”, smh.com.au, June 25). I prophesy you dyeing your hair red, claiming to be Pauline Hanson’s illegitimate son and challenging Lee for the role of heir apparent. Debra Miniutti, Ashbury

What are the odds that Karl Stefanovic joins One Nation and runs for a federal seat? Neil Donovan, Carlingford

Different times

I do feel sorry for Bridget McKenzie and her fellow conference-goers Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison, Barnaby Joyce and, of course, the Sky-after-darkers (CBD, June 25). Like children who think the boogeyman lives under their bed, they seem perpetually terrified of the world. It must have come as a terrible shock for them to wake up to find they live in a different world now: the British Empire is no more; the US is run by a very strange man; everywhere they turn they see black faces and brown faces and hear foreign languages; women are actually in charge of some things; and Australian sporting teams are full of people not named Smith or Jones. Tony Mitchell, Hillsdale

It’s OK to say ‘no’ to kids too

I’ve got news for Kimberly Gillian (“Yes: the one word I’m trying to say more often to my kids”, July 25). In my more recent experience as a teacher, I can comment that contemporary students don’t know the meaning of the word “no” despite its simplicity, having only heard the affirming word “yes” no matter their behaviour. “Yes” is the logical conclusion understood by kids when their negative behaviour is not admonished but rather the outcome of a negotiation between parent and child. Now you know why student behaviour in schools has deteriorated so much that many teachers leave the profession. Students learn best when they know the difference between “yes” and “no” and react accordingly despite the claims of “experts”. A dominance of “yes” is just as damaging as a dominance of “no”. Max Redmayne, Drummoyne

Tenancy tendencies

The NSW government’s Transport Oriented Development (TOD) is an example of the corruptive pay-to-play environment (“The ‘accelerated’ Sydney suburbs which are hot spots for junk food”, June 25). Take Crows Nest. Find the “affordable units” in the high-rise luxury apartment brochures. Follow the rezoning trail of height increases approved as State Significant Development, a commission of only three people making one-off rulings affecting long-term residents. Consider the inequity of submissions with the same wording being considered as a single response. A petition, regardless of the number of signatories, is effectively a non-starter. Now, density and inequity notwithstanding, the latest insult is the irony of the previous resident-supported North Sydney Council rejection for a McDonald’s in Crows Nest being overridden by a Complying Development Application. The article offers results of the study in Cities and Health showing the suburb has a high density of poor food options, based on the “healthiness” rating system. A report by the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare highlighted a growing issue with obesity. Meanwhile, Paul Scully, the planning and public spaces minister, absolves the NSW government, saying, “Decisions about tenancies are made by private landowners.” Robert Caraian, Crows Nest

Housing cure

It appears that Doctor Jim’s new legislation relating to negative gearing means that the price I receive for my house, when sold at my demise in the (not too near) future, will be somewhat reduced (“Rate rise risk as underlying inflation hits two-year high”, June 25). This means the legacies I will leave to my grandchildren will also be reduced. But if this new legislation makes it easier for them to buy a house to serve as a home for themselves and their families, and not for a profit-making investment, then I am happy. Thank you, Doctor Jim. Coral Button, North Epping

Renewables correction

I read with interest your correspondent’s letter (Letters, June 25) regarding renewables and New England’s apparent opposition to renewables on agricultural land. As a New England resident and voter I can assure him that I and many others here fully support the transition to renewables. We do not all share the views of our local Nationals member, who took it upon himself to decamp to One Nation without any interaction with the electorate here. John Jones, Armidale

Train dreams

Of course no PM would catch the train from Canberra to Sydney or any place else (Letters, June 25). It takes an hour longer than a car and more than two hours longer than a plane. There is no wi-fi, device charging or mobile reception. The ride is far from smooth. There is no meal service to your seat. Tony Abbott could not have taken his bicycle unless it was disassembled and boxed. Country trains have been neglected by successive NSW governments. New regional trains are years away. Maybe the cost of fuel and a blocked Great Western Highway might prod more demand for trains beyond Sydney, but not by any prime minister. Tim Coen, Ashfield

Your correspondent says Ben Chifley may have been the last train-travelling PM. With the introduction, on April 13, 1962, of the Southern Aurora running from Sydney to Melbourne on the new standard gauge track, a passenger on the introductory service was then-PM Robert Menzies. Champion of the standard gauge project, Sydney’s federal MP William Wentworth, was not given a ticket to travel on that inaugural trip. Brian Kidd, Mt Waverley (Vic)

A more recent example of prime ministerial train travel was in 1987, when Bob Hawke travelled eight kilometres by train from the village of Raglan to Bathurst, up front on the footplate of the driver’s cabin of heritage steam train Engine 5641, a locomotive of the type that Chifley drove. Hawke came to Bathurst to deliver a major policy speech in the lead-up to the 1987 double dissolution election. John Payne, Kelso

Take the coach

Andrew Johns clearly lays out how hard it is to coach a team of athletes (″⁣I bleed blue, but Origin job needs more than passion″⁣, June 25). Coaching is like being a politician: everyone has one-line bits of advice on how to do things – pick players in form, never pick out of position, pick teammates or pick players who were ″⁣born to play Origin″⁣. But it’s never just one thing, it’s everything, and coaches, like politicians, have to do the best they can with the resources they have. Keep writing your column, Andrew.
Mark Anderson, Coogee

The good life

John Saunders’ lifestyle is a good way to follow (Letters, June 25). Age is unimportant. He accepts responsibility by caring for his disabled daughter. He remains mobile with daily dog walks, so he appreciates the great outdoors. As a dog lover, he gives and receives love.
Bea Hodgson, Gerringong

Sensitive soles

I was relieved this week, when watching a story on the news about bird flu, that a dead fish was thoughtfully 90 per cent blurred, presumably to not upset delicate viewers. Perhaps the fish markets could follow suit and cover up their dead fish to offend sensitive souls – or soles? Richard Tainsh, Potts Point

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