Dinosaurs exist in all our governments, from Federal to Local and they want old coal powered electricity stations kept running past their use by date.

They even advocate building new ones.  Could someone please convince these Dinosaurs that clean renewable energy is the way of the future and jobs would be created by these new technologies! 

To the last few remaining Dinosaurs we say Wake up or please Shutup!

P. Poole,

Tamworth

I couldn’t help but smile on the irony that our Barnaby is being persecuted by a law that discriminates against him based this time not on race, gender or sexual preference but on where his father was born.

This is clearly something over which Mr Joyce has no control and yet could potentially have a large impact on his life.

Perhaps the money spent on the postal survey should have been spent on a referendum to change this discriminatory and out dated law and our parliamentarians should have done the job they are paid to do.

Steve May,

Tamworth

Fear is a stifling thing. Fear can cause you to freeze, and do nothing.

So many people are scared of change. Warren Woodley's recent letter about the same sex marriage (SSM) debate highlighted this fear.

I am sure that people worry about what might happen down the track, but we need to realise that secondary changes only happen if we let them.

One hundred years ago, this country decided to let women vote - so that women had the same rights as men. Women haven't subsequently taken over the country … they have just enjoyed being able to vote.

In the 1960s Australia overwhelmingly voted to allow Indigenous people to be recognised - so that they would deservedly have the same rights as other people living in Australia. This hasn't created any great cultural disasters. It just allowed some of our people to start being treated with the same respect as others.

The lack of "flow on effects" from these decisions is because the people of this country control what happens in this country. As a group, through our political system, we decide how things should be, and we are able to manage any unintended secondary impacts.

So despite Mr Woodley's fears for the future, we get to decide whether teenagers can have a sex change, or whether people can be assisted to die, or whether our children can give their friends Christmas cards. But none of those things are being voted on here. We are only deciding one thing - whether a part of our population is entitled to have the same rights as the rest of us - the right to marry the person that we love.

Twenty-one years ago I married the person that I love. Anna and I held a civil ceremony in a park. We are legally married, despite the fact that our relationship would not be recognised by the church. Every person in this country deserves the same rights as me - the right to have their relationship legally recognised.

As a nation we need to stop being scared. We need to be courageous. We need to have the confidence that we can deal with any future unintended consequences. And we need to continue to have the strength to make decisions, and introduce new laws. Laws that help all people enjoy the same entitlements, just as we have done in the past.

Don't be scared. Vote YES.

Murray Russell,

​Tamworth