For better or for worse, the result is now fixed.

We can only hope the forces of inclusion and equality triumph over reaction and bigotry.

What lessons can we draw from this whole sordid (and expensive) affair?

First and foremost, there was no depth to which the ‘No’ campaign wouldn’t stoop.

Faced with the knowledge that the majority of the population were in favour of same-sex marriage, traditional marriage advocates chose not to join battle on this front.

They instead sought to transform the survey into something fundamentally unrelated, into a vote on political correctness and the education of our children. By design, truth was the first casualty of the ‘No’ campaign’s grubby, non sequitur arguments.

This is a highly disturbing development for our polity, in that it can be very difficult to put that genie back in the bottle.

It fortifies demagogues like Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson who appeal not to the intellect, but to emotion.

It encourages the belief of some uninformed citizens that their opinions can substitute for facts. A majority ‘No’ vote would be a devastating endorsement of the ‘No’ campaign’s assault on reason and truth.

Brett Heino, Koonawarra

Can anyone tell us why we are footing the bill for these Politicians that want to fight for their citizenship to stay in parliament.

It beggars belief that we the tax payers have to pay for these fool, who can't even answer two simple questions.

I wonder why we voted for them in the first place?

There are only two boxes.

Put an honest and simple answer in them I wonder what they would do if they had to fill in a school paper exam.

We would be waiting for an eternity to get there results through.

The mind boggles. As if they don't get paid enough? 

Maybe a lesson to learn for the next ones that come through the system.

Lawrence Wren, Wollongong

In response to the letter by Tom Hunt "A Little More Logic Please?" (Illawarra Mercury, Tuesday November 7, 2017), I feel sorry for Mr Hunt who has been deceived into believing global warming exists.

There are two sides to the climate change hoax, Mr Hunt.  

Is the planet warming and wild prediction happening?

The short answer is no. We have heard time and again about sea level rises and the threat that would pose.

Yet, in August, NASA's own data reveal that world-wide ocean levels have been falling for nearly two years, dropping from a variation of roughly 87.5mm to below 85mm.

This data clearly contradicts the false narrative of rapid, never ending rising ocean levels that flood continents and drown cities which is a key element of climate change "boogeyman" fiction that's used to scare gullible people into making Al Gore rich.

The whole climate change hype about sea levels, as being touted by the likes of Al Gore and his new horror flick, sorry "documentary" about climate change, simply does not tally with reality.

Also, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told us we had to sign up to the Paris Agreement and do all we can to reduce carbon emissions etc.

Yet, in the passed week the IPCC (themselves) have admitted to burying the following statement in small print "that if every nation held to the requirements of the Paris Agreement, it would make no effect on reducing global temperatures." Climate change is the con-job of the century.

Adrian Devlin, Fairy Meadow