Adele Horin's article is a timely reminder that homelessness in a developed country such as Australia is an indictment of the failures of governments of all hues to provide for its fringe dwellers ("Help the destitute and save money - New York proved it", October 11-12).

Having worked in the sector for the past 10 years it occurs to me that homelessness is not really the lack of a roof over one's head but a state of alienation or estrangement from the mainstream. Typically, a homeless person has experienced a trauma event and then developed dysfunctional coping responses, has little or no family or community support, and may veer into psychosis.

What follows is any combination of substance abuse, criminality, mental illness and isolation. Most homeless people need sufficient time in which to deal with deep-seated issues that entrench them in a cycle from which it becomes harder to break free the longer they remain in the system. And yet in the very way it purports to offer its support, it is the system that is one of the contributing factors to prolonging the condition of homelessness. The system churns people in and out of agencies because of a lack of resources or professionally trained staff to deal adequately with the numbers, according to strict timeframes, and the necessity for agencies to generate statistics required to justify funding applications. This causes disruption to vital relationships between client and support worker and breeds a self-oriented view among agencies whose roles become conflicted between caring for their client base and fighting for their existence.

While many homeless people would benefit from an immediate roof over their heads, a significant proportion of the homeless have had jobs, accommodation and been in relationships, only to see all these founder time and again. John O'Connor would not so much have benefited from a home as a long period in involuntary psychiatric care followed by placement in a long-term program that enables people to confront and resolve issues, achieve stability and learn living skills.

The short-sighted mainstream argument is that the costs of managing homeless people in this way outweigh the benefits. The O'Connor case is merely one example of how flawed this view is.

Fred Jansohn Rose Bay

Bank deposits may be safe, but super's been hit

Governments around the world are hastily guaranteeing bank deposits. Unfortunately, most savings are tied up in superannuation. In Australia the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act, 1992 sets out the rules for employers to contribute funds for employees, currently 9 per cent. This has resulted in super funds controlling about $1 trillion, much of which is invested in global sharemarkets. Eighty per cent of bank depositors in Australia have less than $20,000 in their accounts.

It may be reassuring for bank depositors to know the Government is backing them up, but when it comes to superannuation you are but flotsam floating in a sea of turmoil and loss.

Greg Thomas Annandale

John Daniels and Mark Bloomfield (Letters, October 11-12) are barking up the wrong tree. One of the main reasons the Australian economy did not go into meltdown during the Asian financial crisis was because the dollar had been floated. Not only that, but the banking system, whilst deregulated, was strong because of the economic reforms of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The party that should be thanked for our strong position is the Labor Party led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. It was their reforms that strengthened the banking system and the economy.

John Thornton Doonside

Australia is in a superior financial position irrespective of the Coalition, not because of it.

Saying the Coalition government has provided for this sound state of financial affairs amid a massive resources boom is like saying the passengers in the back seat are the reason the car is moving. No, they just happen to be lucky enough to enjoy the ride.

Karlo Tychsen Mayfield East

The original Blind Freddie used to sweep the floors in a stockbroker's office. Even he knew that you buy in gloom, sell in boom. Now we have computers that do exactly the opposite. Any wonder the financial world's up the proverbial creek.

Chris Glynn Kaleen (ACT)

China: the salvation of capitalism. That's global warming for you.

Fergus Davidson Russell Lea

Is George Bush the most incompetent President ever to hold office in the White House? Judging by his latest response to carnage on world money markets the answer is a resounding "yes". On his watch he has allowed the bankers and hedge fund jockeys to use the money markets as personal casinos.

The only way confidence will be restored is to prosecute. I am confident that an image of handcuffed Wall Street bankers sitting in the dock facing charges of financial fraud will instil renewed confidence in the world money markets.

Mike Ingram Miami (Qld)

Since HSC students left school last month nothing much has changed in ancient Rome or Greece. The causes of World War I and II remain the same.The rules of algebra and geometry still apply, as do the laws of physics and chemistry. Shakespeare still strides the literary world like a colossus. However, for students of economics …

Tom Dolan Narraweena

Just a child who needed to get out of the house

I categorically reject the smear that I used my daughter as a "deflector" or a "prop" during a news conference I gave in 2003 ("Bird in hand, worth more than two in a push", October 10).

In the five years since, no journalist, from your newspaper or elsewhere, has asked me about the circumstances surrounding that news conference, despite being happy to regularly make this allegation. It now appears I am being credited with starting a supposed "phenomenon" of "using children as deflectors".

My daughter - two years old at the time - had already been stuck inside her house for two days while a media pack camped outside trying to get footage. She could not even go into her own backyard or veranda, as media were going into my neighbour's yard trying to film and photograph over our back fence.

When my wife and I went outside to address the media, my daughter was very upset at being left alone inside, so we brought her with us. I obviously should have left her alone inside crying, but I didn't anticipate that she would be knocked and jostled by the journalists and cameramen rushing in to get their obligatory "under siege" footage. I wasn't planning for her to be in shot, but the frenzy of people upset her further so I picked her up to comfort her.

I realise that journalists are sensitive about the fact they are regularly assessed by the public to be even less ethical than politicians, but how about trying to address that by lifting your own game rather than making gratuitous attacks on others?

Andrew Bartlett Windsor (Qld)

Support scheme less fair

I am amazed that the Minister for Human Services, Joe Ludwig, after a sample of 300 payers and 300 payees from the 1.4 million parents in the child support scheme, could suggest that "most" parents believe the new scheme is fairer than its predecessor. Could I suggest that he check the Child Support Agency customer research mailbox.

Professor Patrick Parkinson, who chaired the ministerial taskforce, confirmed that 55 to 60 per cent of recipients of the new child support formula would be adversely affected.

As a direct result of the changes in the child support formula my children and I have suffered a decrease in child support of 43 per cent in the past two years.

As a working mum, trying to bring up three young children, already struggling with mortgage repayments and the significant increases in the cost of living, I certainly don't consider that the new scheme is fairer. My children are suffering in the name of "reform". I acknowledge the need for change but the new formula has definitely swung the pendulum too far the other way.

Toni Nulty Quakers Hill

A double blow

To lose a child in any circumstances is a terrible tragedy but to have it happen so far from home is truly a double blow. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Lapthorne family.

Eddie Raggett Mosman

Taught to think, period

Why are we still hearing about Young Liberal tanties, and why is the headmaster listening ("Academics rally against Young Liberal 'witch-hunt' ", October 10)? Is not a belief in speech free of bias one of the myths a university education aims to question? All representations, in speech or any other signage, bespeak a point of view, and confrontation with intellectual and cultural diversity is one of the great joys of university.

Universities are not tying to force students to think "x"; they are trying to help students to think per se.

Emily Purser Tullimbar

As one named in Friday's Herald, I can only assume the right-wingers at university don't want to be challenged or made to think for themselves. My political views are public, though certainly not doctrinaire. I tend to be a critic of dogma, regardless of source. I mark students down or up on the quality of their assignments, not their political views, though I am sure some would prefer to assume prejudice rather than incompetence as the cause of their mark.

Eva Cox Glebe

Caught out in the Open

I don't know whether Mr Rees and his big-events team haven't noticed that we have a tennis centre next to our new V8 track, but then they didn't see Eastern Creek, either ("Revealed: Sydney's Open secret", October 11-12).

Paul Byrne Cheltenham

Investment put on ice

If Iceland, with a population of about 300,000, can move to borrow $8 billion to shore up its economy, why can't the NSW Government, with a population of more than 6.8 million, move to borrow, say, $5 billion, to invest in some much-needed infrastructure?

Perce Butterworth Annandale

Cannabis for pain

Your otherwise excellent articles on cannabis ("Research boom for academics", October 11) leave out the possible medical use of this drug. In the relief of patients with intractable pain and terminal illness, there is little to equal it. In Canada, medical use is sanctioned with strict guidelines for its growth, distribution and administration. Why can't this be done here for patients whose outlook precludes addiction?

Dr Kevin Orr Blakehurst

Revenue role for states

Journalists and letter-writers constantly assert that our state governments are all hopelessly incompetent and spendthrift, perhaps implying that the federal government is better. The main evidence trotted out for this is inadequate state service delivery.

But the federal government doles out the money, frequently with conditions attached, a process that has arguably been detrimental to NSW and Victoria for decades.

Anybody who understands our tax system knows that the states have insufficient control over their own destinies. How can the states be held accountable for their actions, if, contrary to the intention of the constitution, they do not have control over their revenue raising?

It is time we had some discussion of these issues from reliable, objective commentators such as Ross Gittins and Tony Harris.

Tony Ireland Beecroft