On Jacqui Lambie and the male equivalent

Derryn Hinch writes: Re. “Rundle: Like a Lambie to the slaughter as dick jokes uncover the Right’s elitism” (yesterday). I notice in all the Jacqui Lambie comparisons about what would happen if a male Senator made similar sexist remarks, they refer to big dollars and big boobs. A more accurate comparison would be mucho $$$ and a tight vagina. She was discussing genitalia. And, speaking of double standards, look at the outcry when the slimy Peter Slipper mentioned mussels.

Abbott’s boat figures are deliberate misinformation

Marcus Giles writes: Re. “Weasel words and rubbery figures on asylum seeker arrivals” (yesterday). What a load of Bollocks. By those “weasel-mathematics” you might then claim it’s fair to say that up to 196,005 people a year die on Malaysian Airlines (298 on MH17 and 239 on MH370). You know he was deliberately misleading the cameras.  Don’t try to make out that we’re all that stupid. We deserve a better quality more adult discussion than that. Crikey had it right.

Not all Australian communities are drying out

Helen Robertson writes: Re. “A sober reflection on the so-called ‘alcohol epidemic‘” (yesterday). Working as a rural GP for 25 years, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to observe and treat and counsel in the area of alcohol use in a part of Australian society. The statistics suggesting less harmful drinking overall in Australia are encouraging. This reduction is not in spite of health authorities and academics getting agitated about heavy drinking but rather in conjunction with them. They are part of society and society as a whole has become less accepting of hazardous drinking in relation to all sorts of matters — driving, working, family relationships. There are however still groups who drink to get drunk and sometimes come to harm, arriving in the emergency department where I get the details from their friends.  And there still people who drink heavily on a daily basis and have various internal organs cease to function.  Nonetheless, we all as an Australian society are getting a little more sensible and careful — but only a little,  and it’s not evenly distributed.