There seems to be too many problems emerging from Western Australia with the selection and qualification of candidates because this is not the first time this has happened. Maybe the Australian Electoral Commission needs to have the power to fine political parties $250,000 when these stuff-ups occur. That will ensure due diligence from all.

Robert S Buick, Mountain Creek, Qld

It is enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland that if either of your parents was an Irish citizen who was born in Ireland, then you are automatically an Irish citizen, irrespective of your place of birth. A few more MPs need to clarify their status.

Dr John Doherty, Gweedore, Ireland

Brendan Whyte (letters, July 21) argued that "the resignation of Greens senator Scott Ludlam after revelation of a dual citizenship he never knew he had" is reason to reform or even repeal section 44 of the Constitution, implying that it has, in Ludlam's case, been used maliciously.

I was born in another country, coming to Australia when I was four years old. I know that I hold dual citizenship because I never renounced my foreign citizenship. When I applied for a security clearance, I had to declare that I was a citizen of a foreign country. A person who is nominating for the House of Representatives or the Senate is required to sign a declaration on the nomination form that he is qualified under the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth to be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament.

The AEC provides very clear information about "foreign allegiance" disqualification. If a person can't be bothered to read and understand the Constitution or the information provided in very plain English in the Candidates' Handbook, and that person falsely declares that he is "qualified under the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth to be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament", then that person should not be a member of Parliament.

Individual incompetence is not a reason to reform the Constitution.

D.Zivkovic, Aranda

According to the UK government website, you are a British citizen if your father was a UK citizen born in the UK.

Does this apply to Bill Shorten and presumably quite a few other federal politicians?

I understand Germany and Ireland have even more generous citizenship descent provisions.

Pam Cohen, Turner

The article on Kelly O'Dwyer suggests that her child is the first baby to attend a cabinet meeting. Tony Abbott was the first. There was criticism of his babysitter, though it is now clear Peta Credlin deserved a medal ("A cot for cabinet baby", Sunday CT, p10).

Warwick Davis, Isaacs

Fatuous is the word that best describes the Public Service Commissioner blaming unions and protracted bargaining for top-heavy pay growth in federal departments.

Even if there had been three annual pay rises of 2 per cent over the past three years for APS1-6 and EL1-2 (assuming the government was offering such a "generous" amount – actually it wasn't), increases of SES2 and SES3 salaries would still be 20per cent and 50per cent higher respectively than those of the "lower echelon" over the last 10 years or so.

Pull the other one, Mr Lloyd.

Peter Dahler, Calwell

When public servants in government departments run out of ideas, they very often engage in a "reorganisation" in order to give the impression of "enterprise" and "activity".

The same can be said of the Turnbull government's latest proposal to concoct some sort of super-agency out of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

To confirm this lack of ideas, it is proposed that that intellectual dwarf of an ex-Queensland copper, Peter Dutton, become the head of such an agency.

These agencies work best when they are in co-operation and a small amount of competition with each other.

Roger Terry, Kingston

Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman philosopher and lawyer, said back in the later AD period: "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within." Creating the monumental super-sized Department of Home Affairs and putting Peter Dutton in charge fills me with such dread that I wonder how long we have to wait to survive the fools and ambitious while seeing the treacherous hand of the extreme right wing already at work.

What was Malcolm thinking?

Ann Darbyshire, Gunning, NSW

My Sunday does not start well without the quiz, crosswords, sudoku and comics.

Imagine my dismay when, having braved the cold to retrieve my CT, I found that last week's versions were merely a reprint of the previous Sunday!

And that after two recent letters used "Tangiers" — a dubious casino website rather than "Tangier", a large city in northern Morocco – when referring to VFT routes.

As a long-time supporter of the local "Sceptics and Pedants with OCD", I am truly devastated.

Peter Haddon, Jerrabomberra

As a lonely individual who often goes forth to the market place in search of human contact, as much as meat and potatoes, I find it disconcerting to be addressed with "Are you right?" by storepeople.

This John Cleesian example of what not to say still stumps me, even after hundreds of exposures. The question itself is puzzling; have I been brainwashed by advertising and look unwell, am I politically correct, or could I be helped with a purchase?

Matt Ford, Crookwell, NSW

I sympathise with Doctor Darren Swanson for having been given a parking fine, (Letters, July 14).

The parking inspector who issued the fine can only be described as a desperate vulture and as no offence was committed by Doctor Swanson, he should take immediate action and demand the penalty be withdrawn.

I wonder what future parking arrangements behold us; will we be required to display pre-paid parking permits before we enter the parking lot or do we take chances and risk being fined while we search for a suitable and working pay machine?

Michael Catanzariti, Florey

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