On Hanson

John Kotsopoulos writes: Re. “Hanson worries gay marriage plebiscite could lead to child marriage” (yesterday). Are we going to see over policy overreach result in another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory in the case of marriage equality? The only flimsy excuse the hard right, the Christian activists and others have against marriage equality seems tobe the use of the word marriage.  If the LBGT community want equal legal recognition of same sex unions it can be achieved by providing for their recognition in an expanded Marriage Act that would be renamed the Marriage and Civil Partnerships Act.

Greyhound racing outrage, continued

Keith Binns writes: Re. “On greyhound racing bans” (yesterday). Couldn’t agree more with John Richardson. The inconsistency in what politicians and the media choose to get upset about is a constant source of annoyance. Yes, if greyhounds are being treated cruelly then that is an issue, of course, but I find the outrage about the number culled really weird. What about horse racing? Lots of horses are culled. What about the beef industry? Every single animal is killed. We eat sheep, don’t we? Why choose to get upset about greyhounds and not cows? And when something is really obviously awful, like children in detention being sexually abused, very few people seem to care and certainly not the Premier. Do we really think dogs are more important than children? The Australian value system gets weirder and weirder.