Government refuses to increase Newstart from 1994 levels. Parents on Newstart are skipping meals so their children have enough to eat (''Food charities report spike in hungry Australians seeking help'', October 13).
Government commits to spending $5.95 million in critical funding over the next four years so charities such as Foodbank can help feed these people.
Illustration: Matt Golding Credit:
The government surplus to be preserved at any cost despite all the evidence that increasing Newstart would stimulate the economy.
Surely both compassion and economic logic dictate that government intransigence on a Newstart increase must end. - Louise Dolan, Birchgrove
If anything, your story confirms that the lucky country tag is absolutely meaningless, even spiteful, to this hapless situation. The PM's boasts of a budget surplus are irrelevant when such basic needs are not fully addressed by his government. - Steve Ngeow, Chatswood
Asylum from the truth
Peter FitzSimons has summed up our current asylum seeker policies quite clearly ("Stop the boats: take a plane instead", October 13).
If you come by boat and seek asylum you are a potential criminal and can be incarcerated indefinitely, but if you come by plane you are deemed to be safe to lead a normal life here until your asylums seeker claims are rejected.
Apart from the total lack of compassion shown by our government, it appears that stubbornness is the obvious reason for the different treatments metered our to asylum seekers. This is one area on which they will not budge. Why? One reason is that they have continually lied in calling those who arrive by boat “illegal immigrants''. - Sandra Burke, North Sydney
Tax-funded discrimination
The Catholic Schools in NSW are happy to accept $300 million in taxpayers funding every six months (''Catholic schools in cash row'', October 13).
These taxpayers include LGBT, same-sex couples , pro-choice abortion supporters and presumably atheists, all of whom the Catholic schools governing body wish to discriminate against for employment. Maybe in return these taxpayers should request their funding to be redirected to the public school sector. - David Boyd, Bondi Beach
Vulnerable believers
The Uniting Church and LGBTQI groups say the religious discrimination bill will open the door to discrimination against vulnerable groups (''Religious discrimination bill ‘achievable’: Porter”, October 13).
I would argue that in our godless society, religious groups are constantly under attack and are also vulnerable. I suggest that all groups look into their own hearts, rather than throw stones at one another. The world will never be perfect, so perhaps more tolerance and understanding from everyone is the best we can hope for. Laws are about behaviour control, and do nothing to encourage love of neighbour. - Graham Lum, North Rocks
Mapping our paper future
As paper may reign victorious in the accelerating war on plastic, it seems to be the logical time to return to paper maps, rather than be depend on digital devices cased in plastic or some other synthetic material that, for various reasons, may also become outlawed (''The edge of the map: the steady decline of topographical cartography'', October 13). - Joy Cooksey, Harrington
Drought of water ideas
We cannot “drought proof” the driest occupied continent on Earth (“Drought laws to mitigate red tape for critical jobs”, October 13).
Water NSW under the NSW Nationals have an appalling record of water mismanagement of our rivers and now they seem set to employ nineteenth century solutions for a looming twentieth century reality. Where are the plans to recycle water in country towns and power the plants with renewable energy? Where are the plans for water dependent industries like mining to account for treat the water they use? Why aren’t we looking to innovative ways to store water rather than pumping out ancient underground water and building dams from which huge volumes evaporate? - Carolyn Pettigrew, Turramurra
Aled by high taxes
Your piece may create the impression that beer in Australia is cheap; far from it (''Gin and vodka taxes pay for cheap beer and wine'', October 13).
Aussies pay a massive and disproportionate premium for a frothy ale via the fourth highest beer tax in the world.
At $2.23 per litre for packaged beer, we pay 19 times more beer tax than Germany ($0.12), 16 times more than Spain ($0.14), eight times more than the US ($0.28), six times more than Canada ($0.37), five times more than France ($0.47), and almost double that of New Zealand ($1.18). We pay 38.5 per cent more than the UK.
But wait, there's more. We also pay 10 per cent GST on top of the beer tax. And our beer tax rate is automatically increased every six months. In fact, it’s been going up every six months for the last 35 years.
At 42 per cent of the retail price on a typical carton, tax is the single biggest cost in the price of Aussie-made beer. Of the $51.00 retail price, $21.35 is tax. It certainly isn’t cheap. - Brett Heffernan CEO, Brewers Association of Australia
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