The High Court, in the 1907 case of Vardon v O'Loghlin, ruled that, where the election of a senator is invalid, the return of that senator: "... is regarded ex necessitate as valid for some purposes unless and until it is successfully impeached".

Thus the proceedings of the Senate as a House of Parliament are not invalidated by the presence of a senator without title.

The court confirmed this more recently in Re Wood (1988).

However, one wonders whether this would apply in the case of Barnaby Joyce who has been found to be a citizen of New Zealand but who is required by the prime minister to remain in the Parliament and in office.

If Joyce votes in the Parliament knowing that he is a citizen of what is considered to be by the High Court a "foreign power", then it may be found that he, together with the prime minister, have purposely defied the constitution.

Philip Benwell, Sydney, NSW

If a foreign government wanted to cause problems for Australia, all they need do is pass a law stating that anyone elected to the Australian Parliament is automatically entitled to citizenship of that foreign country.

That would mean that we could not have a working parliament until there was a referendum to change the constitution, but without a parliament to pass the necessary act, there can't be a referendum. Chaos!

Given that Kim Jong-un controls his national laws, the DPRK could bring Australia to its knees tomorrow — and no need for expensive missiles or threat of war — should he wish to, just to cause strife.

Time we changed that part of the section 44 to remove any confusion surrounding inherited or automatic foreign citizenship not arising from birth or a conscious application by the individual.

Kym MacMillan, O'Malley

I have written to the New Zealand high commissioner requesting urgent consideration be given to taking Australia into a federation to be governed from Wellington.

We have tried our best, but after more than 100 years we still do not know whether we are Arthur, Martha or otherwise and our leaders cannot work out what to do about it.

Noting also that New Zealand's exchange rate is only 7 per cent lower than ours even though we probably have more iron ore and coal than the whole Kiwi continent above the low tide line.

People have sold it off as fast as they can and our immediate past prime minister's proudest achievement was to stop taxing it, so in the broad we have not made a bean out of it.

In fact our leaders have moved past trying to give it away and are now looking for secret backhander ways to pay an Indian to take the coal away for us.

I admit it is dirty stuff but if we just leave it alone I do not think it will cause us any problems.

It turns out that a lot of our politicians are Kiwis anyway, so I think it is best to formalise the arrangements and have them handle things properly from Wellington.

I have yet to gain the government's agreement to this but I thought it best to get the ball rolling, since they do not seem to be agreeing on anything else either.

I would be grateful if all readers would write to the government and their local MPs urging them to give this proposal their strongest support before Messrs Abbott, Abetz and co find out about it.

Ian Coombes, Macgregor

Steve Ellis (Letters August 15) need not be concerned that autonomous vehicles will deny him the opportunity to drive a motor vehicle, given there are almost one million miles of road network in Australia.

However, if he derives pleasure from operating cruise control on a motorway or following the car in front in peak hour urban traffic then he will be denied.

His letter does touch on a debate Canberra must have, hopefully in conjunction with the ACT government acknowledging the folly of light rail.

The debate concerns mobility in the unique urban form of Canberra. How can Canberra maintain this urban form with its essential dependence on the motor car in the context of environmental constraints?

One answer that has been described by Kent Fitch ("Could self-drive cars be the death knell for city's light rail", May 4, p2) implies restricted use of private vehicles in the urban environment with almost all motorised mobility being provided by a large fleet of autonomous electric vehicles.

The mobility advantages and the reduction in road traffic, road trauma and emissions would be highly significant.

Is the private motor vehicle too ingrained in our culture for this city preserving revolution to occur?

John L. Smith, Farrer

We have often seen semi-joking reference to the alleged ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times".

In no particular order, a few issues spring to mind: section 44 of our constitution, North Korea, South China Sea, child abuse by church and state, Gonski I and II, Commonwealth Bank, banks generally, carbon replacement policy, Adani, Murray Darling Basin cheats, Great Barrier Reef, President Trump, home-grown terrorism, what to do with the refugees, ISIS, Malcolm telling the High Court what decision to make, the reappearance of Dame Nellie Abbott and not to mention ARU sacking The Force, will the Raiders make the NRL finals and our our young tennis narcissists.

Interesting times indeed and looking like getting even more interesting!

James Gralton, Garran

Andrew Barr claims a budget surplus. It really is so easy, he has found the magic pudding, waved a magic wand and we have a surplus. Do not be conned; he has simply increased the rates, taxes and you have the solution.

John Madelly snr, Melba

The "To The Point" letters can be funny and succinct, as was G.Frances' comment on the USA running out of shock and awe (Letters, August 14), but unfortunately it also allows misguided views to appear to be valid, as one sees in R. Matthews' "A World View" (Letters, August14).

When one actually looks at the facts behind his quip, of the 76 countries that ban homosexuality around the globe they are predominantly from the Muslim and Christian nations in Africa and Asia where fundamentalists flourish.

If one looks at a map of the countries that have adopted same-sex marriage, it looks like a who's who of countries Australia proudly calls allies and nations whose governments and social values we would recognise.

Meanwhile, looking at some of the countries that ban same-sex marriage they include the last South American and Caribbean failed socialist countries of Venezuela and Cuba, and in Europe the eastern bloc of ex-Soviet colonies.

Then, of course, there's the powerhouses of Russia and China, and couple them with charmers like North Korea and any Asian country ruled by an authoritarian regime, and you start to get the picture.

Which group do you think Mr Matthews would like Australia to emulate, the minority of our Western allies and democracies, or the majority of religious fundamentalists and authoritarian dictatorships?

Jonathan Ballard, Ainslie

One can almost hear the Anglican Archbishop's adviser Michael Kellahan blurting a triumphant "Nya-nya nya-nya-nya!" ("Why marriage should be between a man and a woman", canberratimes.com.au, August 10) confident he has just nailed the marriage inequality case by dredging up a Penny Wong quote espousing Labor Party policy from 2010.

It beggars belief, in the aftermath of the clerical abuse scandal, that a cleric from any religious hierarchy has the gall to consider himself an arbiter on matters sexual.

That he should claim better knowledge of Penny Wong's sensibilities than the senator herself speaks of a childish arrogance all too familiar to the voting public.

Peter Robinson, Ainslie

I recently had a prescription filled. It cost $9.30. I paid but then, after consideration, asked the attendant if my senior's discount was applied to the charge.

I was told that the pharmacy could lower the price by a dollar. I was then told that another brand name was available at $5.30.

The supplied item was exchanged and $4, 43 per cent of the original price, refunded.

It rankled, not so much because the young attendant obviously didn't have a clue what I was talking about. It was not even that the other young attendant who originally took my script did not inquire if a generic drug was acceptable.

It was that the brand name drug, very likely produced on the same production line, was so much more expensive.

No wonder China displays such a total disregard for the intellectual property, patents and so forth of the Western world.

Just as China rips off the West, the West lets corporations rip off consumers simply by changing the name of a product.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

Kirsten Lawson's article ("Concerns raised over fire trail's impact beside creek", August 12, p16) highlights the different ways people can perceive wetlands.

Some see them as wastelands in which they can dump things.

The soil conservation service is currently dumping hundreds of tons of rocks and $188,000 of public money into Majors Creek.

Others might see wetlands as rare and treasured habitats worth repairing and revitalising.

They would like to use the $188,000 to scoop out recent sediment, open up aerated water for native fish and fashion fox-proof islands for tortoises to nest on.

A pity no one in authority asked for their thoughts.

Thank goodness John Barilaro has just ordered a halt to the dumping .

A meeting is being arranged on site to discuss the issue.

P. A. Marshall, Braidwood

I was intrigued to read that Bob Maidment, founder of the 1983 forerunner of the now-closing Dickson Blockbuster video store, had been "the guest of many Warner Bros, Paramount and 20th Century Fox parties" ("Lights, camera, missing in action: the last Blockbuster video store is closing", August 12).

My understanding was that the studios had done their darnedest to strangle the video rental industry at birth (succeeding, I gather, with laserdiscs) in the hope that we would instead pay truly stratospheric prices for a "yours to own" copy, or just keep going to cinemas (which in those days also screened reruns).

A video rental pioneer explained to me how in earlier days they had resorted to organising customers into "clubs" in order to circumvent restrictions on renting.

Evidently the studios eventually saw the light!

Ian Douglas, Jerrabomberra, NSW

I've been a CBA customer since primary school in the 1960s so it's a big deal for me to change banks.

I've been putting it off hoping they would finally get on board with not funding further fossil fuel development.

But no. Their just-released climate policy, that doesn't mention fossil fuels, is not actually a climate policy.

What happened to the bank we could trust?

Now they're the worst of them all and I have to change everything over to a community bank that has some ethics.

Julie Kidd, Bonner

FEELING POWERLESS

We pay our bills weekly and it takes discipline. Last year, after our weekly payments, we paid $158. This year for the same period we used less power yet; after the weekly payments our bill came in at $396.

We also have solar. Come on, Prime Minister, what happened to your big discussion with the electricity providers?

V. Harris, Yass

TRANSIT LOUNGE

Will the hapless APVMA staff be forced to move to NZ now?

Maria Greene, Curtin

HITTING THE TARGET

Go, Amanda Vanstone ("For the record I'll be voting 'yes"', Canberra Times, August 14, p15). I don't always agree with the lady but this time she's spot on. There is nothing "honourable" about Tony Abbott and the sooner voters in his electorate wake up to his evil tactics, the better it will be for us all.

M. Burns, Phillip.

SEATS AVAILABLE

Soon only our First Australians will be eligible to sit in Parliament.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

GO FIGURE

Jack Waterford has stated ("ABS prostitutes its reputation in the gay marriage debate", Forum 3, August 12) that "There are more same-sex families in Australia than people presently in the Australian Defence Force". Is he able to give us the respective figures for each, to justify his claim?

John Milne, Chapman

ANY THOUGHTS?

Will the government be running a postal opinion poll on Section 44?

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

SPEAK YOUR MIND

If you get shoved into the ring with a brawler, and you fold your arms because you object "on principle" to the fight, you are going to get the stuffing knocked out of you.

Let's forget all this nonsense about a "boycott" and get out and vote.

Mark Raymond, Manton, NSW

ITCHY AND SCRATCHY

Malcolm Turnbull's cheerleading in response to Donald Trump's irresponsible North Korean rants makes one cringe. Can a lapdog become infested with its master's fleas?

Peter Grabosky, Forrest

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA

Barnaby Joyce? Malcolm Roberts? Two climate science deniers out of Parliament?

Some progress at last. When consulting the Solicitor-General did Barnaby ask him if it was appropriate for him to give advice on what is essentially a private matter?

Alan Robertson, Canberra City

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

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