Put simply, Mr Sugden along with the greater majority of “hardworking, honest Australian taxpayers “; has a shared involvement in both. Australia with the other member countries in “The Coalition of the Willing”, destabilised the Middle East by illegally invading Iraq during 2003. ISIS was born out of this destabilisation as were other violent extremist organisations.

Their presence has created chaos among the good people of the Middle East and has led to the largest volume of asylum seekers in recorded history!  Mr Sugden appears to believe there is evidence suggesting Middle Eastern asylum seekers are receiving better government funded services than we “bronzed Aussies”.

Similar myths emerged when the “Ten Pound Poms” began arriving in The Land of OZ almost seventy years ago and were revived by the naysayers when boats carrying asylum seekers began arriving at the end of the Vietnam war.

Barry Swan, Balgownie

I endorse wholeheartedly the list of Wollongong council planning and engineering errors as listed by Ken McDougall, 13th September. One particularly project I find too crazy to be believed is the planting of unattractive scrub along the beaches, blocking the views of the south coast's finest assets. Visitors to our beaches can now sit on benches and gaze in awe at messy scrub whilst the magnificent views from Sandon Point or Hill 60 are completely lost. Why have they done this?

Kate Broadfoot, Bulli

Those of us who thought, like the old song, that “love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage” have had a lot of confusing information thrown at us recently about same-sex couples and the way their non-marriages give them all the same rights as married people.

My wife and I were surprised, therefore, to attend the Roads and Maritime Service Centre last week to change our car registration, where we were asked to produce our marriage certificate.

This led me to wonder what other equal rights might not be there, particularly when my daughter, currently unable to marry her long-time partner, gets to our age. Will she be asked for a marriage certificate if her not legally recognised wife is in hospital, or worse?

Australia Post apparently charges hundreds of dollars for a name change, but not if you can provide a – you guessed it – marriage certificate. Those who oppose same sex marriage are resting their hopes on the oldies like me.

But if you think we are going to support discrimination against our own kids and grand-kids, you are about to be very disappointed. My daughter doesn’t need my permission to get married. But she needs yours. Please join me in voting YES.

Desmond Bellamy, Byron Bay

It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic, all the NO vote campaigners simultaneously screaming that this optional non binding $122 million dollar survey is about FREEDOM OF SPEECH ! Yet at the same time they are so bitterly complaining that a few people in the YES vote camp dare to use rude words and say nasty things about them.

It’s the old school bully who believes they have every right to attack others, but who bursts into tears if someone dares to fight back. What utterly spoiled little sooks these people must be.  If you want freedom of speech, then defend it for everyone!

Doug Steley, Heyfield