From Peter Reith

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Turnbull calls for better quality in the public discourse. That could start with ABC radio. It put up unionist Dave Oliver and John Buchanan (a supporter of Labor's workplace system) to ridicule a perfectly sensible contribution to the public debate by Gina Rinehart.

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The article on Richard Dawkins and the Free Church (20 August) is, I am afraid, based upon a false premise. The Free Church did not "take exception" to Dawkins appearing at the Faclan Book Festival in Lewis, nor are we furious at his coming to Lewis. Indeed, we have welcomed him to the island and thank him for raising issues which we consider to be of vital importance.

For 40 years I have been raging against the capitalist machine in all its manifestations – war, genocide, poverty, human rights abuses, working class exploitation, economic crises and the racism, sexism and homophobia which act as a glue for the system and the Labor Party and trade union leadership which are its staunchest defenders and the rock on which it survives.

Tony Abbott's role model in developing his style as Opposition Leader was Barnstorming Barnaby Joyce. But this week something changed between the two men. It was an important moment for Australia.

It was Barnaby Joyce who led in developing what's become the Abbott trademark - the angry, populist, fear-mongering attack on the carbon tax.

When Tony Abbott lost the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council presidency, he allegedly approached the woman who beat him and, leaning into her face, punched the wall on each side of her head.

The undertone that homosexuality will lead you to an early grave is not something that sits easily on the restless mind of a teenager, writes Brendan Maclean.

It was upon a rocket-powered crucifix that the Australian Christian Lobby and Jim Wallace jumped the Gay Marriage Shark and landed with a thud on the sands of extremism.

China built Australia last year — 1.9 billion square metres of residential floor space. Actually, that's not quite true — the total floor space of all of Australia's housing isn't quite that big.

From ComPost at the Washington Post