In Australia we’ve got the dominant view that hung parliaments and large cross benches are ‘unworkable’ and ‘feral’. Why? In Europe hung parliaments are normal, and there are often many parties represented in the parliament.

Would we benefit from more diverse parties and viewpoints in parliament?

This is the elephant in the room whenever the question of vaccine safety is discussed on public media.
I that people who are coerced into vaccination by public campaigns have the right to know accurate information about the safety and effectiveness of vaccination.

Because we’re curious

The lyrics are the last thing that matter to me when I listen to a piece of music (if I can even understand them it’s a plus). But for others they seem to be the most important thing of all (weirdos). Why is this so? Probably it doesn’t matter – I’m just curious.

Travel from state to state and country to country, and regional phrases and slang make language so much richer. How do we reflect our sense of place, and sense of fun, in our choice of words?

Well… Douglas Adams cared.

Google has not satisfied me. I asked a gorilla and it had no response.

I know this makes me a terrible person, but our art and literature festivals seem to increasingly skew towards the big (depressing, seemingly insoluble, overwhelming) issues. It must reflect a need, but I feel there also needs to be more space for play, joy, spectacle, experimentation, awe, hope.

Because of the question being posed to Y Varoufakis. It seems to be happening in Russia, so it may be important to us all ‘down the road’!

I’m a recovering Catholic and apathetic atheist, classic Greens voter from a very conservative family. I’d like to know the answer so that we can all stop fighting.

I have many relatives and friends who have died from tobacco related illnesses. We should all care about this. Tobacco is different even from other ‘vices’ (including alcohol) in that it has no health benefit even at low doses. Selling tobacco with its known problems is a ‘dangerous act that knowingly puts the health of others at risk’. These are two important manslaughter criteria. Is the absence of ‘intent to kill’ enough to exclude it?

Because climate change is talked about hundreds of times a day and the meaning of the term and issues tat need to be talked about are at odds. It is simply incorrect use of the english language, in a similar way to the use of ‘cement’ when referring to ‘concrete’!

The public seems to be content with castigating honest and reasonable mistakes while overlooking genuine issues in favour of “weapons of mass distraction”.