Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au
Monday August 18
Lazy tax
“The idea of taxing the family home is an intellectually lazy and naive idea, especially if we want to raise taxes. As Ross Gittins has said, we extract more money from university students than we do from petroleum rent taxes or gas export levies. There is a need for balance between development and stability for families who have struggled to buy a home. Negative gearing beyond the family home should be taxed accordingly.”
Gerry White
It’s not just the US, it’s us
“Regarding Australia’s changing relationship with the US, it’s not so much the fact that the US is changing, but more the failure of successive Australian governments to stay ahead of the game when it comes to making relevant foreign policy. Do we want to be like the British, the Americans and the Europeans who are interested only in military containment of Russia and China, or do we want a peaceful existence built on diplomacy and trade?”
Tom Filipcevic
Why are we obsessed with highways?
“Great article on Australia’s highway obsession. It’s much better for governments to focus on mass transport with more rail and metro lines not only from outer suburbs into city centres but also radially across suburbs which can then connect. This would move more people at costs much less than highways over the longer term.”
Joe Phillips
Tuesday August 19
Not so Universal Basic Income
“Discussions of universal basic income never seem to address the issue of housing. If you already own a dwelling or have somewhere reliable to live (such as with family), a universal basic income may cover day to day expenses. However, what level of universal basic income would be required to cover housing? What existing social support payments would be replaced?”
Rhonda Daniels 
What a waste
“In our suburb in inner city Brisbane, people are spending upwards of $2 million on older homes that they then raze to the ground, only to build an architecturally uninteresting monstrosity (or two), which then must be sold for more than $4 million to recoup the cost. This behaviour – condoned by governments and rarely mentioned as a reason for escalating prices – is destroying the character and liveability of our cities, creating unnecessary waste, consuming scarce resources and driving up the cost of housing.”
Anita West
Trust in news
“I wasn’t surprised to see the data showing trust in news is declining. As a consumer of news from multiple sources, I have found that some sources have been steadily replacing well-researched and independent news with ideology. This includes over/under-reporting certain issues and, in some cases, attempting to ‘create’ or ‘steer’ the news. I miss being able to trust news sources.”
Karin Mogg
Wednesday August 20
The words of war
“Please, call it an ‘invasion’ of Ukraine, for that it is what it is, without any question. Invasion butchers sovereignty and everyone has a vested interest in it never succeeding, being tolerated, let alone rewarded.”
Graeme Tychsen, Toronto NSW
BYO bags
“Fresh food markets like Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market are some of the worst culprits with soft plastics. They sell unpackaged fruits, vegetables, meat and fish but the stalls have giant rolls of plastic bags readily available. A single customer can and often does take a bag for each item they buy - including things like garlic, bananas and avocado. Just like we successfully banned plastic carry bags in supermarkets we should insist that the fresh food markets phase out this practice.”
Catherina Toh
Rider rules
“People get on e-bikes often without any knowledge of the rules around using them or the rules other vehicles operate by. We wouldn’t let people loose with motor cycles, cars or trucks unless we were sure they knew how to operate them safely. Why do we treat these vehicles differently?”
Mike Shellshear
Thursday August 21
Social media ban
“I read the tips for preparing your kids for the social media ban. But I am simply not there yet. I don’t believe the ban will have any practical effect. My kids (tweens) and their friends have already created accounts with false dates of birth to avoid the ban. They’ll still be able to use YouTube without an account. Until a clear and believable strategy is promoted by the government and the platforms themselves, I can’t see anyone with older children feeling any differently.”
Emily M Morgan
Albo’s ‘brave’ call
“Benjamin Netanyahu resorted to X to call our prime minister ‘weak’ for recognising a Palestinian state and in retaliation for denying a visa to Israeli politicians who foment hate and division. I think it was brave. I am hoping our government has the courage to take the next step and impose meaningful sanctions on Israel and a complete embargo on arms trade.”
Marilyn Lebeter
Glad you enjoyed it!
“Thank you for running the review of Omar el Akkad’s essay collection. It was great to see the link in my inbox. More of this kind of thing, please.”
Adam Ford
Friday August 22
NDIS reform
“The administration of the NDIS is chaotic. As a health professional making referrals I found the process to be laborious and complex with no certainty even for clients with clear need. There is a layer of private commercial organisations which exist purely to assist clients to navigate this complexity and help them use the right ‘keywords’. This adds costs without delivering any services to clients. As always in health there is serious inequity between those parents/carers with the energy and resources to pursue their ‘rights’ to support and those who are just too bamboozled or exhausted by the process. Rural and remote clients are disadvantaged as always; many of the relevant services simply don’t exist in their area.”
Richard Hosking, VIC
A teacher’s view
“Lumping developmental delay and autism in the same sentence is not helpful for anyone – especially parents struggling to understand how best to help their kids. As a teacher for more than five decades, I know developmental delay has many facets. Just exactly what is normal growth for a young child? So many "not so normal” children go on to have stunning life pathways. Fingers can be pointed at identification processes – we don’t have enough: paediatric services; child health nurses and clinics; confident and supported early childhood educators; parental education programs. We solved the tobacco crisis pretty quickly when we saw the health outcomes, we can solve the problem of support for all parents and children with equal will.“
Barbara Bosich, WA