LETTERS
Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
I'm not sure whether this latest party room ballot is to reassure Julia Gillard or the Australian public but it seems that when Kevin Rudd said ''no more challenges'', he actually meant it.
Rudd is not the messiah and, while he might have reduced Labor's losses at the forthcoming election, I do not think he could resurrect the government's fortunes. It would be the ultimate humiliation for him to lose the second-term election that he never had.
Philip Cooney Wentworth Falls
The treatment of Julia Gillard is Julie Bishop's future writ large. No wonder she said she wanted to remain second fiddle.
Anne Cooper Stanmore
I think the Labor Party is suffering from a huge inferiority complex, with a severe lack of confidence in itself. Get over it! Your leader remains unopposed.
How about accepting that, get behind her and move on confidently to the election?
Margaret Hamilton Blackheath
I am proud to support Julia Gillard, a person of impressive ethical and prime ministerial strength, (and, of course, our first female prime minister). Simon Crean has long had my respect, too, and his capitulation today is a big disappointment to me (to say nil of the inconsistencies inherent in his position). As for Kevin Rudd, I am ashamed and embarrassed to belong to the same party as a spiteful traitor. Why doesn't he just join the Libs and take his fellow creatures with him?
Suzanne Russell Rivett (ACT)
Watching the way our female Prime Minister Julia Gillard is being treated day, after month, after year, is enough to make you think that the men in politics hate a clever woman being in charge of them.
Mary Julian Woollahra
No doubt there will be abundant cynicism regarding Kevin Rudd's decision not to run for leader of the ALP. But maybe he is a man of his word and in being so lives out his Christian profession and shows why he is worthy of consideration for leadership.
David Burke Ashfield
Many recent letters have complained that the Gillard government has been distracted by leadership tensions and that the minority government is failing to govern the country.
This perception confuses theatrics with reality. The machinery of government is operating as usual, personal tax is less than in the Howard years and our economy is the envy of finance ministers around the world. The difference is that a minority government has to do in public what others do behind closed doors.
It may be the essence of democracy for a government without a majority in both houses to have to negotiate for passage of its legislation but it is stressful for ministers and unsettling for the public to see. Barry O'Farrell has to do deals with the Shooters and Fishers Party and Julia Gillard has to obtain support from the Greens and a bevy of independents, all in the media spotlight. Bismarck was right when he said that laws are like sausages: it's better not to see them being made.
James Moore Kingsgrove
I have to disagree with Rosemary Aitkenlt (Letters, March 21). It is unimaginable that the level of vitriol against the Prime Minister would be directed at a man. It cannot be explained purely by reference to her policies or actions, which, after all, are neither radical nor unprecedented. Her forbearance for so long is admirable.
The election of Barack Obama has stirred up hatreds with a similar edge, arousing deep if unexamined prejudices. It has not been pretty to watch. One can only hope these pioneers will make it easier for any who come after.
Madeleine McPherson Wollstonecraft
Tony Abbott need do nothing. All he has to do is sit back and watch the Labor Party self-destruct.
Norman Arnott Forestville
Only 176 more sleeps until the next election.
Vicky Marquis Glebe
Look no further than Kurnell for a second airport
Further to the interesting article in the Herald regarding airports (''Election winds may leave airport in holding pattern'', March 21), it certainly would be good if our state and federal governments could reach and maintain an agreement upon a plan to cope with increasing flight and passenger numbers into and out of Sydney.
Because neither Badgerys Creek nor Wilton seem to be a popular location, I keep wondering if some of the large amount of commercial and national park land now being little used at Kurnell could perhaps be converted into an extension of Sydney Airport. With the proximity to the coastline, perhaps small domestic flights may be able to take off and land directly across the waterfront, rather than across the nearby suburbs.
Obviously it would depend upon an air traffic control investigation as to whether Kurnell could be used safely in conjunction with the existing runways but one would imagine that it would be more beneficial for passengers flying into, out of, or via Sydney than to have to commute via a distant second airport, much further from the city of Sydney.
Also, for passenger transport infrastructure across Botany Bay between the existing Mascot and the new Kurnell terminals, our governments should be able to copy the light rail links which are efficiently used between terminals at the very impressive Singapore and Hong Kong airports. That would certainly be much cheaper for our governments than to have to try to build long distance transport infrastructure to and from those other second airport locations that they have allegedly been investigating for several decades.
Brett James Baulkham Hills
Adoption assurances won't apply in NSW
My heartfelt gratitude to Julia Gillard for her excellent speech to the apology on forced adoption practices in Australia (''Apology to victims of forced adoption'', smh. com.au, March 21). However, her sentiment that forced adoptions have no place in Australia today might have to be reconsidered.
The O'Farrell government's white paper on out-of-home care proposes to fast-track adoption in NSW, offer punitive measures for parents experiencing difficulties, and have NGOs deciding who will keep and who will be made to relinquish their babies.
It seems the market for babies for adoption, mired in delayed reproduction in middle-class couples, is sufficiently buoyant for NSW to repeat the tragic mistakes of the past.
Lynne Joslyn Bronte
While it is laudable to say sorry to all those children taken from their mothers, it should not be forgotten in most cases they were brought up by loving adoptive parents who gave them a life their single mothers would have found very difficult to match, and they seem to have been forgotten. There are no winners in this situation.
John Harding Eastwood
Am I the only person who remembers the reality of the 1950s? The stigma of illegitimacy, the absence of support for single mothers, the shame and embarrassment heaped on the girl's parents and the ostracism of child and mother that sometimes occurred.
To pressure a teenage girl into relinquishing her baby is, of course, abhorrent. In those times, however, it could genuinely be regarded as in the best interests of mother and child. Let's look back clear-eyed on a past era, and instead of self-righteous judgment on hospitals and charitable institutions, admit we were all to blame.
We upheld a society of bigotry and intolerance, a society that judged ''illegitimacy'' harshly. It wasn't the institutions; it was us. We are all culpable.
Barbara Dufty Morisset Park
Reform talkfest a worry
What's all this talk about the media legislation not being given time for discussion? John Howard made the decision to take Australia to war with Iraq in a few days and off his own bat and without any discussion. What would be more important than that?
Jim Banks Pottsville Beach
For whom the bell dings
I'm 72. I've ridden bikes since I was a teenager. In my 20s I used to ride a bike to work. Now I ride to stay healthy. I've never collided with a pedestrian. The closest is when I have taken the advice of people such as Gloria Healey (Letters, March 21) and rung my bell when about to overtake a walker.
Often the walker has been startled by the sound of the bell and has jumped, without looking, into my path. It is safer not to ring my bell in those circumstances.
David Brigden Lane Cove
Happy visitors welcome
Jennifer Hole and Assistant Police Commissioner Geoff McKechnie (Letters , March 21) are on the right track. The footage of those Aboriginal children frolicking on Manly Beach was heart-warming. Many of them were seeing the sea for the first time in their lives. Could a fund be set up to receive donations, enabling more Aboriginal children to make this journey of discovery? I'd like to make the first donation.
James Prior Sylvania Waters
Show a hit, travel a joke
Last night I went to a terrific concert at the Olympics site. It cost me $70 by taxi from Rozelle, a distance of eight kilometres, because of traffic jams. Coming home at 11 pm, no cabs, so we travelled by public transport and it took 1½ hours.
This morning there was an oil spill in another part of Sydney so Victoria Road had to pay the price and the bus trip took an hour for a five-kilometre trip (''Tunnel spill causes traffic chaos'', smh.com.au, March 21). There is no decent living in this city while there is no reliable public transport. This place is a joke.
Ross Elliott Balmain
Local democracy at risk
Ted Mack's timely article is a wake-up call to the citizens of NSW (''Grab for power will put councils in an impossible position'', March 21). The bill now before the NSW Parliament, which would give the state government a ''blank cheque'' to interfere in the affairs of local councils, would be a fatal blow to the fundamental democratic rights of the people of this state.
It seems to have escaped the minds of the O'Farrell government that our local councils represent the grassroots of our democracy. Over the years the mainstream parties have gradually politicised our councils, thereby taking from us a basic right to manage local affairs free of politics and vested interests.
Centralisation of political power bodes ill indeed for our democratic rights. This should not happen.
Lorraine Nelson Frenchs Forest
Carry a big abacus
Elizabeth Farrelly is right about the China syndrome (''The Chinese buyout has just begun'', March 21). But we should know it has always existed. In the 1400s China ruled much of the world by trading and money lending, never violence. The trend has been obvious to those who have not been greedy. History repeats itself and always has.
Marian Buchanan Avoca Beach
Boycott call over cruelty
I was appalled to view the footage of Ingham workers appearing to repeatedly smash live birds against the floor (''Torture for fun: police given shocking abattoir footage'', smh.com.au, March 21).
As the abuse was so blatant, the question remains whether Ingham management had been aware of its going on, and if so, why it is acting only now it has been made public?
Previous campaigns in Australia should have taught Ingham that turning a blind eye to extreme cruelty to animals is bad for business. I encourage consumers to boycott any company that shows such utter disregard for animal suffering.
Jackie Allen Faulconbridge
Admire the bike, loathe the unnecessary noise
Why is it necessary for some motorbike riders to have loud exhausts? They wake up old ladies, interfere with weddings and ruin the most bucolic experience. If they were an obnoxious patron they would be told to keep it down.
Are they just compensating for an inadequacy elsewhere? Admire the bike, loathe the noise. Not all riders are obnoxious but the rest are giving the whole crowd a bad name.
Paul Clark Darlinghurst
Joyce on a dark day
Thank Goodness for Barnaby Joyce. Watching him lose to Tony Windsor in September will be the only highlight in what is shaping up to be a very, very dark day.
Craig Hinley Linden
Depopulate or perish
Further to John Burke's assertion (Letters, March 21) that Sydney can't keep growing ad nauseam, surely the argument is the biggest problem facing mankind - 9, 10 or 11 billion people? I don't think so. Finite resources, land degradation, water pollution and migration will mean just one thing: chaos. Cut the population or circumstances beyond our control will cut it for us.
Geoff Armstrong Jaspers Brush
Not drowning, waving
Following his wave of protest about the over-use of ''tsunami'' (Heckler, March 21), Michael Tatham may be peppered by a volley or even a hailstorm of criticism, but is more likely to be buried under an avalanche of support.
Ken Knight Hornsby
'Burb blurb spot on
I would like to thank Peter Roberts for his article on Greenacre, ''What happened to the suburb I used to know?'' (March 19). I too can remember a different suburb in the 1960s and '70s to what it is today.
I am sure many readers who live in the area will agree with what he wrote. Those letter writers criticising his article should move from Balmain and Cowra and live here and find out what it is like. When was the last drive-by shooting at Balmain or Cowra? I heard a great description of Bankstown: ''Bankstown, where you don't have neighbours, only witnesses.'' Very apt.
Robert Pallister Punchbowl
Familiar refrain on MPs
While travelling through India last month, I asked our driver if the Indian people liked and respected their politicians, and he replied, ''No, because they go into politics with one house and come out with 10.'' Sounds familiar.
Fiona Matthews Northbridge
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