I have an idea how to get more people into the mall, make all buses free from all the suburbs in Wollongong.

However, when they are going home they would need to pay a nominal fee and the council could subsidise the bus company like it does for the free bus or is that subsidised by UOW?

People that drive into town should pay more for parking and this could assist with the subsidy, but if all the buses were free more people would utilise this convenience.

These buses could allow for people with shopping and have more of them and at more regular times, then the businesses would improve trade and the mall would  improve.

Tony and Cara Dunn, West Wollongong

Right wing conservative governments are not only ruining the economy of this country they are ruining economies worldwide.

Over the current 15 years NSW government expenditure on health has shrunk from 16.7 per cent to 11.7 per cent while education’s share has fallen from 13.9 per cent to 5.2 per cent.

In contrast, this year government expenditure on transport and communication will be 59 per cent of the total. Most government expenditure will end up in the hands of consultants, recruitment agencies, private companies and senior government employees; with no economic benefit to the public.

Take the highways. Today, tolls paid for the use of motorways, do not represent a tax and therefore do not benefit the state. Today, all toll revenue disappears into the coffers of private enterprise.

The reality is the majority of state expenditure, to build roads, is passed on, via consultants, to private corporations and shareholders.Once state funding of health (11.7 per cent) and education (5.2 per cent) diminishes, NSW will be completely privatised with government not owning anything or controlling anything except the judicial system and law enforcement.

John Macleod, Berry

John Martin’s  blinkered response (Illawarra Mercury, September 23, 2016) to Dr Nguyen’s and many other Vietnamese Australians continuing grief over the loss of their home, homeland and quite likely loss of loved ones, is contemptible.

The stalwarts of the left ignore the atrocities of communist regimes –  25 million victims of Stalin, 40 million victims of Mao as well as the victims of the Vietnamese communists.

Dr Nguyen is allowed to express a sense of loss and cite unpalatable facts even though this discomfits Mr Martin. This is called freedom of speech. It is precious and needs to be actively defended.

Would Mr. Martin tell survivors of the holocaust to “shut up”, forget your lived experiences and be just like us and the rest of  Australia? Now who does that sound like Mr. Martin?

Andrew Humphreys, Narrawallee

In reply to the letter by euthanasia supporter ("Give us the Choice", Illawarra Mercury, Saturday October 1, 2016) Almighty God is the creator and the one who sustains all life.

As a person who has worked in palliative care I can testify to the dignity, respect, autonomy and comfort given to residence with terminal illness.  

However, I oppose euthanasia as a Christian who believes in the good God, and from the personal experience of caring for both my parents over a period of approximately 30 years. In that time period I had good, bad, joyful and sad moments but would not trade them in anyway for euthanasia. With respect, people are not animals.

Adrian Devlin, Fairy Meadow