LETTERS
I am sure Cardinal Pell is a very nice chap, but reading his comments on the Pope's resignation I wondered if he may be feeling some cold winds on his own neck (''Pell critical of Pope as he bids farewell'', February 28).
Indeed, people who disagree with a contentious cardinal may mount a campaign to get him to resign. He's got to know his theology, but maybe Catholics would prefer a cardinal who can lead the church and pull it together a bit. Having observed Cardinal Pell's cringe-making efforts on the question of child abuse, I can only agree.
Lynne Poleson Kingsford
Cardinal Pell's call for a Pope with a gift for leadership is more convincing than many other comments I have read.
George Pell is alleged to have played an important role gathering support for Benedict's election but first-hand accounts of the process are always lacking. In fact, many of the comments on the Vatican and the Papal election remind me of the self-styled royal watchers who speak as if they have a hot line to the queen but sound as convincing as gossip columnists.
Pell's preference for a Pope ''who can lead the Church and pull it together a bit'' recognises the Pope has to be a manager as well as a theologian and echoes the CEO duty statements of many international organisations.
There is some truth in the quip that when the Catholic Church sneezes, the Anglican Church catches the flu, and as an Anglican I wish the conclave every success in electing a candidate who can lead the church out of the current scandals.
James Moore Kingsgrove
Once again, Cardinal Pell puts his foot in his mouth - the sheer irony of the recently announced royal commission into the sexual abuse of children completely washes over him as he chooses to berate Pope Benedict for lack of church leadership and his decision to resign.
Truth be said, millions of global Catholics would have yearned for some real church governance, collective leadership on the part of the ''princes'' of the church. To have persuaded the late Pope John Paul II that he had no need to literally die in office and in such humiliating circumstances - where was the basic charity in that neglect?
As for Cardinal Pell's remark that the Pope ''got to know his theology'', that's absolute arrogance, not that humility has been a readily embraced attribute among many of the bishops and cardinals of the church.
As to the need to choose as Pope someone capable of ''pulling the church together a bit'', Cardinal Pell would do well to reflect on why Australian Catholics have abandoned church weddings in their droves and why bulging Catholic schools aren't translating into young bums on church seats?
But that would mean the unthinkable: consultation with what's left of the laity. Otherwise, the risk is that what's left won't be pulled together a bit but, rather, be pulled apart altogether.
And still on ''governance", how can the Vatican simply stand by and deny Britain a voice in the selection of a Pope because its most senior church leader has quit his post? Leadership indeed!
Brian Haill Frankston (Vic)
Morrison's pitiless call shows how Abbott cabinet will look
Scott Morrison's latest atrocious initiative, a call for categorising all asylum seekers as criminals, throws a bright light on what an Abbott cabinet might look like ('''Behaviour' rules vilify asylum seekers - Lib'', February 28).
Senior national decision-making positions will be occupied by hard-eyed, cold-hearted people such as Morrison, Eric Abetz, Cory Bernardi and Sophie Mirabella. Throw in the Bishop girls and Abbott himself, and we are confronted with a very unappealing picture.
People looking to Malcolm Turnbull to have the guts to soften the policies of this militantly hard-faced crew are likely to be disappointed. It was not Turnbull but another MP, Russell Broadbent, who stood up for decency from within the Coalition, by raising a lone objection to Morrison's obnoxious line.
John Bowan Gladesville
Scott Morrison has effectively equated the danger of asylum seekers with paedophiles. Perhaps next he could propose having them wear patches on their shirts for easy identification.
Justin Whelan Earlwood
Scott Morrison would like "residents and police" to be advised when an asylum seeker is in their midst, and suggests there should be "behaviour protocols" prescribed for them.
Liberal Party politicians who have never understood that asylum seekers are not criminals suggest that all should be treated worse than criminals as the result of a single sad instance of a charge that has not yet been brought to trial.
As for "behaviour protocols", we have two asylum seekers living in our home, one for the past six months. If there were a need to describe courteous, responsible behaviour they should be drafting the protocols, not receiving them.
Barry Riley Umina Beach
A HECS on them - be a good sport and pay dues
Ben Quilty makes a revealing argument about the inequality shown to lots of professions, and not just those in the creative industries, when he compared the free training, education and travel afforded our sporting elites (''Free ride for sports just not equitable'', February 28).
Surely by now Australians are equally proud and appreciative of their artists as well as their sports people and it's hard not to disagree with the logic of a HECS-type funding arrangement for those in the sporting industry. It doesn't seem very fair at all.
Peter Neufeld Mosman
Sport is not yet religion (albeit close), and reaching for gold in either should not be exempt from either HECS or tax. Thanks, Ben Quilty, for leading the charge.
Simon Hutt Bathurst
Ben Quilty is right. Our sporting ''heroes'' have had it too easy for too long. They consume a huge part of our tax dollars, before consuming a huge amount of drugs and making nuisances of themselves while underperforming in their chosen sport. At least when artists take drugs they can do some interesting work and not keep their colleagues up all night.
John Byrne Randwick
Just do the sums
Your editorial leads off on Thursday with the heading ''Cool or not, maths teaching is vital to the national interest'' (February 28). Absolutely true.
As an ex-teacher of maths I have long despaired of the attitude to maths among our home-grown students. There has been a decline in the number of both boys and girls studying this subject for the HSC. And our figures are slightly skewed to the upside when you consider the number of Asian students presenting in maths.
Our home-grown students see maths as too difficult, not sexy, and basically uncool. This story is repeated in the Anglo world.
The numbers doing maths in Asia are on the rise and that from an already high base. It is often remarked that this and future centuries will witness the transfer of economic power from west to east. And a good knowledge of maths will underpin this transfer.
Our western society is too prone to the gimmicky and sexy. Unless we wake up and embrace the discipline of maths, our future will be as users of technology rather than creators.
Michael Kennedy West Pymble
Water bills online
Andree Taylor (Letters, February 23) was on the money observing the digital age not only allows customers to receive and pay their bills online but can help protect the environment as well. However, it is incorrect to say Sydney Water hasn't provided this service to its customers. It was one of the first Australian businesses to offer online billing through the BPAY View service. In the past year, Sydney Water has delivered more than 100,000 online bills to its customers.
Andrew Arnott
Chief Executive Officer, BPAY
Titanic gesture to China
Clive Palmer has declared the cost of the new Titanic is not really a problem (''Professor Palmer's ship comes in'', February 28). Why then give it to China? It is a great pity then that none of the benefits will flow to Australia where he literally made his pile. No raw materials and no employment here. Nothing for us to shout about for this Liberal Party supporter and true blue Aussie.
Ian Kerr Galston
There are children in their thousands dying of malnutrition. There are children in their thousands dying of preventable disease. There are children in their thousands denied an education. There are children in their thousands living in institutions because their parents have given them up, unwilling or unable to care for them. And a disgustingly rich man Clive Palmer would prefer to make his name and gain himself publicity by refloating an unsinkable ship.
When Jesus said it was easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the gates of heaven, I have a feeling he was speaking of the priorities of the rich.
Genevieve Milton Newtown
Teach Pyne a lesson
Just like the indecent invocation of the ''boat people threat'' as a distracting scare tactic to divert people's attention away from punishing the Howard government over the abysmal implementation of the GST, Christopher Pyne invokes ''didactic teaching methods'' and teacher standards as a solution to education issues (''Old school is way to go, says Pyne'', February 28). Instead, he should just do the decent thing and support the Gonski reforms.
Brenton White Mosman
No surprise PM goes west again
Why are people so cynical about Julia Gillard's visit to western Sydney? As a resident of western Sydney I have seen her come here ''every year'' to explain what her government is about.
The only reason people have not noticed this is because everyone in Australia, bar the ALP caucus, came down in the last shower.
Sunil Chandra Seven Hills
The battle for Rooty Hill will be a shocking defeat without Kevin the Lionheart: Australians want the rightful king restored to the throne, even if they don't choose him again at the next election.
John Dobinson
North Balwyn (Vic)
Not a pretty sight
Jon Stirzaker (Letters, February 28) goes straight to the inherent hypocrisy of the breast-feeding incident. Granted, it will always be hard to find public consensus on the level of body exposure deemed acceptable in public spaces. The Satellite cafe event is merely a rather shrill manifestation of that.
Personally, I find the sight of men (usually of a certain age, i.e. should know better) who expose their not-so-manly torsos in public a problem. Keep it strictly for the beach, fellas, or for mowing the lawn on the weekend. It is not a good look in your local shopping mall.
Anthea Doe Russell Lea
Senior executive service the issue
Premier Barry O'Farrell wants an innovative, professional and accountable public service that encourages and rewards performance and delivers the best possible frontline services for local communities (''O'Farrell to end managers' five-year contracts'', February 28). He thinks the five-year contracts of senior managers are the problem and proposes offering them ongoing contracts conditional on meeting performance benchmarks.
Surely that is moving from the sublime to the ridiculous. Any state public servant will tell you how difficult it is to monitor performance where multiple levels of management and little productivity exist. The bloated senior executive service, up from 280 to 1600, now even includes managers who do not manage people.
The real rotten apple in the system is that the bloating of the NSW senior executive service has come about through rewarding of sycophants and political lackeys with fancy-titled positions. They are well paid, strut the stage feeling important, but do little that is productive, leaving the bulk of work to their lesser-paid minions. If they are found to be grossly inefficient in managing people, then they are simply (for example) moved onwards and often upwards to managing buildings or finance where they will wreak less havoc.
When Nick Greiner introduced the senior executive service, it was to attract the top echelon of industry into the state public service. Instead, it has become a trough of convenience that can no longer cope with the number of snouts in it.
Jim Gentles Coogee
Think laterally and go deeper
I feel that the howls of ridicule aimed at the PM's exciting idea are unfair (''Dam project just the start in wooing of western Sydney,'' smh.com.au, February 28). Perhaps it simply needs some lateral thought. Rather than raising the sides of Warragamba Dam, might it not be more practical simply to lower the bottom?
Tim Parker Balmain
The good seed
If Barry O'Farrell spied our eight-year-old daughter at Nick Cave's Tuesday night performance, neither he, nor anyone else, was moved to call in the child protectors (''New album enchants but intensity, flow lacking'', February 28).
Yes, it was a school night and the language was raw and coarse, but most of that swept over her head and she was instead focused on the music and the performers. Far from traumatising this aspiring musician, they inspired her. I suspect she may also now have less tolerance for the lip-synching, computer-generated music often favoured by her peers.
Had DOCS attempted to ''rescue'' our daughter, we would have suggested their time be better spent knocking at the homes of eight-year-olds who spend hours engaged in sexually explicit and violent video games.
Rachel Ferguson Mosman
It's what they do
Jonathan McIlroy (Letters, February 28) asks ''Will we ever be able to believe a word that comes out of this Prime Minister's mouth?'' Why limit incredulity to a single member of Parliament? Surely the old aphorism applies pretty well across the major parties: ''You can tell when politicians are lying - because their lips are moving.''
Ashley Collard Fairlight
Going begging
Labor's public relations are appalling. The Gillard government has a huge range of accomplishments it should be telling the electorate about, but instead it has allowed itself to be distracted, long-term, by the antics of a negative and policy-deprived opposition. Gillard needs a Minister for Show and Tell.
Barrie Smillie Duffy (ACT)
Awe of physics
As someone who failed physics in the Leaving Certificate I can only marvel at the ingenuity of Brendan McMonigal proposing to his partner, Christie Nelan, via a physics graph (''With this physics paper I thee … graph of true love turns into proposal'', February 28).
I wish them both a lifetime of health and happiness among the stars, reaching heights the rest of us can only dream about - and even the oldies, such as Newton and Einstein, are blown away into a different dimension with admiration.
Peter Skrzynecki Eastwood
Granting wishes
The new Herald may be compact, but the letters page will still be a broad church.
John Christie Oatley
Oh to be the final letter at the bottom of the eighth column on the last broadsheet letters page!
Allan Gibson Cherrybrook
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