Anything to disadvantage the upstart out-of-town Raiders against the Sydney-based silver tails Cronulla.

With only three of the eight NRL finals teams being Sydney-based, the possibility of an all non-Sydney grand final must be weighing heavily on the NRL power brokers and its broadcast sponsors. What to do?

Ah, let's start with hobbling the Raiders by citing their full back and have him suspended for the entire finals series.

Don Sephton, Greenway

It is beyond belief that the NRL judiciary has allowed Michael Ennis to play for the Sharks against Canberra when his shoulder charge was virtually the same as that of Raiders' Jack Wighton. Jack will get a three-week suspension if he pleads guilty.

Such judicial inconsistency and perceived bias in favour of Sydney-based teams seems to confirm sentiments in the provinces that the NRL only want Sydney teams to be represented in the finals.

By suspending Wighton for three or more games a distinct edge is being given to the Cronulla Sharks. Shame on you NRL and your judiciary.

We all complain about certain inconsistencies in the refereeing but it would appear the inconsistency is accepted from the top down.

N. Bailey, Nicholls

In February 2016, nine-year-old Bradyn Dillon died in an ACT hospital from injuries and a person has been charged with his murder. Press reports indicated this child was known to ACT Child Protection.

As this incident resulted in the involvement of a significant number of ACT government employees and others in emergency services I pose a question to all of them.

Why has this dear little boy, who died through no fault of his own, been left in a funeral home due to the financial circumstances of his family?

It appears that not one of those who would have been involved in this case, including many professionals from a number of agencies who would be required to maintain ongoing files on this case, thought to follow up with his family and to make arrangements or referrals to assist the family in regard to a final farewell for this little boy.

Maree Oddy, Florey

It is time for businesses and stores in Canberra to introduce a culture in their organisations of total respect for cultural and religious diversity, and to ensure their staff are fully immersed in this culture.

I write this after a Muslim friend has again been discriminated against by a shop assistant. It is just not good enough for businesses to ignore the distress that their staff can cause to their customers – nor is it acceptable for the mindless response that the person has a choice of not shopping at that store in the future.

A challenge for business managers: as part of your social responsibility, teach your staff tolerance, respect and acceptance.

Bill Handke, Kambah

The ACT Labor government is proposing to run a light rail service at unknown (probably prohibitive) costs from Canberra City to Woden City along a route virtually devoid of residents and employment centres.

This is no doubt nothing more than an empty promise trying to capture votes from South Canberra residents. Even so, if a light rail south were to proceed, would it not be better to route it over Kings Avenue Bridge from a three-way branch at Russell – to the city, to the airport and to Woden.

Thus the route south could be through Barton, around Parliament House, up Melbourne Avenue through Deakin via Stonehaven or MacGregor Streets to Strickland Crescent, then along Kent Street past many Hospital and Medical Service facilities, then through Hughes along Wisdom Street to a terminal in Eddison Park opposite the Action Bus Terminals at Woden Town Centre. (Kitchener Street might also be considered to pass by Canberra Hospital).

Trams don't have to run down the centre of a road. They could be positioned either side along the nature strips. Such a route might just attract a few more passengers than we see on buses!

Tom Cooke, Pearce

Of the thousands of Letters to the Editor opposing the Gungahlin tram, Ian Morison's (September 3) really hits the nail on the head – that the real reason the government wants the tram is not to improve public transport between Gungahlin and Civic (obviously, as Morison says, a tramway is "an inferior form of public transport"), but to increase the revenue the government gets from high-density development in North Canberra.

That is a shocking indictment, particularly as the government gets considerable additional revenue as a result of its in-fill policy (which is happening anyway, without a tram); and to foist an inferior means of public transport on the public just to increase that revenue even further is simply not good government.

R.S. Gilbert, Braddon

Labor has offered a light rail link between Gungahlin and Civic part financed by the sale of public housing. The Liberals have raised them a better health system using money from the same source.

Labor has put on the table a light rail link between Woden and Civic with no detail on how it will be funded.

Howard Carew, Isaacs

Dishonesty, fraud and nepotism in the federal public service is even worse than depicted in your article "Corruption in the APS" (September 5, p1). The Public Service Commission itself and the related Merit Protection Commissioner are part of the problem as both have a track record of supporting City Hall when handling whistleblower cases. This has forced concerned officers to leak to the press to avoid being persecuted by "the system".

Even the CPSU has been known to fail its members in this regard and has withheld support from/briefed against a whistleblower when pressed to do so by senior "Labor mates" in the APS. The Parliament likewise has failed properly to exercise its privilege powers in protection of officers providing it with information on APS corruption.

Chris Smith, Kingston

Using a new definition, an employee census taken as part of the annual State of the Service report has found bureaucrats witnessed more corruption than last year (3.6 per cent in 2015-6, up from 2.6 per cent in 2014-5).

But many say they didn't themselves report corruption, perhaps relying on others to do so.

You can't report corruption if there's no one to report to. In the modern APS, corruption ordered from the minister's or the secretary's office is unreportable: doing so will be actioned as a breach of the code, and the only reporting, theoretically, is to the secretary.

Look to the staffer who repeatedly corrected false statements about then current practice in dealing with student support claims. Sure, he was found by the tribunal not to have breached the code.

But the propagandist whose errors he corrected? No action against them, or anyone who ordered them to convey falsehoods to the public, though that was obviously a breach of the code. Look to the Ethics Advisory Service. Many fewer inquiries on tricky issues got made in 2015-6.

Look at the Climate Change Authority. After Abbott couldn't abolish it, the Coalition stacked its board and so only a dissenting report has now tried to report as the law requires it to do.

Anyone defying the wishes of secretaries and ministers is likely to be hammered. I wish corruption against the obligations of disinterested public service were as likely to be stopped.

Christopher Hood, Queanbeyan, NSW

I have to wonder how many public servants were left frustrated by having their corruption complaints bounced against a wall of complacency and the "ostrich strategy".

Luca Biason, Latham

It is disappointing that Senator Dastyari made such a stupid mistake in allowing anybody, let alone a Chinese business man, to pay his bill. But listening to the strident cries emanating from the government frontbench is laughable and embarrassing.

We can all remember the stampede of front-benchers as they scrambled to repay their multi-thousands of dollars inappropriately claimed as valid entitlements. And we recall too that Barnaby Joyce was one who refused to repay the full sum. Senator Sam at least reported the transaction for which he is being pilloried and that in itself is something the government ministers never did.

W. Book, Hackett

The apparent disbelief and outrage at Sam Dastyari's current political funding pickle displays either disingenuity or cluelessness, and certainly shameless hypocrisy by his critics. Why worry about the picking up of small tabs by Chinese interests via one more of our shonky "training colleges", when Chinese billionaire developers – well connected to the Chinese government as all big money there has to be – routinely grease the wheels of both our main political parties to the tune of millions?

Alex Mattea, Kingston

Certain federal Coalition MPs have indicated that they will vote "no" to same sex marriage even if a plebiscite returns a "yes" answer on the basis that they represent conservative electorates that oppose this reform.

Polling released this week indicates that the PM's electorate strongly opposes current government policy on asylum seekers.

In particular, 78 per cent believed we should accept New Zealand's offer to resettle refugees.

Should this oblige our Prime Minister to exercise the same freedom of conscience that he extends to his backbenchers?

Robyn Fetter, Downer

The same-sex marriage debate had got me confused. We have been repeatedly told that the plebiscite is a waste of taxpayers' money because politicians can't be trusted to follow through on the results. Instead we are told that these politicians can be trusted to do the right thing when it comes to same-sex marriage legislation. The funny thing is that only a tiny percentage of Australians think that politicians can be trusted to do the right thing. Is someone playing politics with the truth?

Michael Crowe, Hawker

John Popplewell (Letters, September 2) misses the point when he attempts to blame Bill Shorten for trashing "traditional marriage". The real culprits are those 50 per cent of people who front up to the divorce courts every year and turn their back on what Popplewell calls "traditional marriage".

This disregard for marriage by participants is aided and abetted by arranged marriages, domestic violence and churches who are happy to annul marriages (for a fee) on spurious grounds on a regular basis. Marriage has been trashed for hundreds of years. I know why, but sometimes wonder why on earth the LGBTI community want to join the ranks.

This will only be achieved with the help of people like Bill Shorten who are striving, on behalf of the majority of Australians, to rid this country of the dreadful discrimination against this community. The sooner this happens the better, not only will equality be achieved the status and respect for marriage will also be enhanced.

John Whitty, Hawker

ERECTION A NO-NO

I see that the Sex Party has found an erection of which it disapproves ("Sex Party says tear down the tower", September 6, p10).

Martin O'Connor, Latham

SUFFER THE CHILDREN

An innocent little child left all alone in a funeral home since February. What has happened to the human race that it has stooped so low.

June Kirk, Bonner

LIBERAL STUNT

In last Thursday's parliamentary chaos, Christopher Pyne blamed his failure to act as organiser of government business on a Labor "stunt". The stunt was the government members practising their version of the old public service "poets day": Piss off early, tomorrow's Saturday" !

Richard Keys, Ainslie

SUCH HYPOCRISY

How can we complain about China stealing territory for commercial gain in the South China Sea when we have done precisely the same thing to Timor Leste.

Our abuse of international law on may fronts is making us the pariah of the southern hemisphere.

Gerry Gillespie, Queanbeyan, NSW

CONGRATULATIONS DUE

I wish to congratulate the government's ACT Historic Places on the wonderful job they do in caring for Lanyon Homestead. An interstate friend and I went there recently and were delighted with the high standard of authenticity and maintenance as well as the friendly enthusiastic guides.

Gay von Ess, Aranda

WAITING, WAITING

Why is it when one has to ring Qantas, the recorded message alway says there is a wait time of more than one hour? What has happened to service? Disgraceful!

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

LOPSIDED APPROACH

Your article "Graham, Burgess make up for lost time in fiery encounter" (Sport, September 3, p101) was annoyingly lopsided, with more than half of it focusing on the Sam Burgess and James Graham tiff, which was a very small part of a great South Sydney Rabbitohs win. It also inferred Sam was to blame. In fact, Graham was a typically poor sport!

Ed Harris, Bonython

SUBTLE MESSAGE?

On two occasions in roughly 12 months, a US rocket launch associated with Facebook has exploded. Could it be that the Spirit in the Sky advocates greater earthly censorship?

Peter Baskett, Murrumbateman, NSW

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