The law is not always an ass, but the same cannot be said for those who draft it.

It flies in the face of common sense for young, unmarried, childless couples to take with them anything more than they have contributed to a partnership when that partnership is dissolved ("Till debt do us part: a rude shock for de factos", August 4).

The same is probably true of most formal marriages, although these are best secured by a prenuptial contract.

Is this an insidious attempt to outsource, or privatise, the Government's responsibility for social welfare? What's next? Is the next logical step to make adult children totally responsible for the upkeep of aged, unwell or otherwise indigent parents? Why not make the reportedly widespread practice of children over the age of 21 bludging on their parents an entitlement? What of people in shared households who are "just good friends"?

It seems we are revisiting the 17thcentury, when governments took no responsibility for the welfare of the individual, with laws outlining the reciprocal duties of master and servant, husband and wife, parent and child.

The proposed legislation raises key issues of autonomy and responsibility for oneself. Why should two adults who end a relationship amicably be burdened with responsibilities to each another? There is an implication that one might have been harmed in some way, or that one has in some way benefited unfairly from the relationship. As a result they may be penalised for having chosen to spend a part of their lives together.

The effect of legislation interfering in fundamental areas of individual freedom, such as freedom of association and freedom of contract, can only be retrogressive, turning the clock back to a time when a single mistake could affect the whole of an individual's life.

A law of this nature, should it ever be enacted, seems destined to occupy our courts with months of vexatious litigation, reminiscent of the time when couples seeking an amicable separation could escape neither blame nor shame.

I foresee years of lucrative work for the legal fraternity and the proliferation of family trusts designed to ensure that only the intended beneficiaries profit from inheritance.

Most distressing of all is the prospect that young people in their late teens or early twenties cannot simply walk away from an unsatisfactory liaison and forget all about it.

James Crichton Dodsworth

Science deals in data and theories, not dogma

Let's ask climate change sceptics three questions.

First, if current warming is not caused by human activity, what is the culprit? (It is much too rapid to invoke so-called natural cycles.)

Second, since no one has come up with a viable alternative, how do you explain the many and diverse data that point to human activity? (Remember the opinions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been agreed, after stringent review, by government ministers around the world, not just scientists.)

Third, do you think global scientific agreement is wrong, including the opinions of Nobel laureates awarded for their contributions to atmospheric science? You do? Then bear in mind that other courageous folk who have successfully challenged the scientific mainstream either possessed unique and testable data of their own, or thought of a brilliant and blindingly original alternative. Over to you.

Andrew Beattie Westleigh

At best claims that the world has cooled since 1998 (Letters, August 5) are ill-informed. That year was exceptionally hot due to the El Nino effect, and it is true that if you draw a line between 1998 and 2007 the line slopes downwards. However, if you draw a line between 1997 and 2007, or between 1999 and 2007, the trend is upwards. By picking a year with record high temperatures, sceptics skew the results to favour their argument.

There is no peer-reviewed research that claims the world is cooling since 1998, because such a claim fails the most basic statistical tests.

Matthew Tucker Baulkham Hills

Science is not about expressing opinions, but working with hypothesis, facts and data, and ultimately publishing the research outcomes in peer-reviewed scientific papers. Like Philip Wood (Letters, August 5), we are happy to hear the views of both sides of the climate change science. However, it means hearing from scientists whose work has been put under the scrutiny of their peers, through the process of publication. Opinions, whether those of scientists or laypersons, remain subjective. So I invite the Herald to open its opinion pages to the views of both sides - of published science.

Catherine Ciret Fairlight

Lies, damn lies and computer modelling, according to Anthony Cox. No empirical data to show that global warming or cooling is caused by man-made carbon dioxide emissions, says Philip Wood. But until we know conclusively what does cause climate change, which is obviously occurring, I prefer to take the emissions trading option immediately.

Debby Nicholls Balmain

Sorry, Philip Wood. There are very definite links between the climate change denial groups funded by Exxon Mobil and the campaign run by tobacco companies such as Philip Morris. The link is APCO, a public-relations consulting group which played a key role in setting up the tobacco industry campaign, and later did similar work for Exxon Mobil. The Guardian in Britain has documented how Exxon Mobil set up and supported climate change denial groups all around the world.

The way these groups operate is eerily similar to the tactics recommended by APCO to Philip Morris in its campaign to cast doubt on scientific findings that smoking was a major cause of lung cancer and strokes.

Chris Cuthbert Epping

Large can be beautiful, and importantly, competitive

The CBD is constrained by its historical development (small blocks and streets) and its topography. Global financial institutions need workplaces that cannot be accommodated there due to the small size of sites available and the near impossibility of amalgamating sites - and height is not the answer.

To denigrate buildings that can efficiently accommodate tenants who require large, efficient floorplates as "dumpy" suggests Paul Berkemeier's vision does not relate to market forces and ignores the potential for large buildings to be well-designed and beautiful ( "Hungrier Mile turns prize site into wasteland", August 5).

If the demand for modern, efficient workplaces cannot be met at there, where can it? Perhaps Singapore, or somewhere else in the region that Sydney competes with.

Stephen Minnett Woollahra

The Property Council believes every square centimetre of land and air at the Hungry Mile site must be developed because "there will be no space for jobs in the city within 12 years".

In that case, isn't it time to develop office and retail space outside the CBD? Think what business development throughout the rest of Sydney would do for solving the traffic problems, saving fuel and allowing time-poor people to work near where they live. Or would that be too logical? Moya Crowe Orange

Train home-grown workers

I take Andrew Bartlett's point on the need for skilled immigrants to satisfy demand in the labour market (Letters, August 5). But shouldn't we also invest in technical and further education, in universities and in apprenticeships so that workers could be trained locally as well as imported?

It seems somewhat parasitic to attract workers from other countries because we are not putting enough effort into education.

Mary Myerscough Burwood

Brendan Jones's letter (August 5) is misleading. "Queue-jumping" does not refer to other immigrants. It refers to those poor sods who, in fear of their lives, have abandoned their homes to huddle in overcrowded, unhygienic refugee camps in neighbouring countries, and who have followed the rules by applying for asylum resettlement through the United Nations. There are refugees in Australia who arrived by joining that queue.

If it is not very large, that is because, unlike Australia, the big European countries do not have a refugee intake program. The only way to get asylum there is to arrive on the doorstep. The first family settled in New Zealand from the Tampa had not fled simply because they feared for their lives. He was a geography teacher who was approached by people-smugglers. He said he decided to migrate to get education for his daughters and to live "normal lives".

That is understandable - but less so from the point of view of the family whose place they would have taken had they been allowed to settle in Australia.

Mary Marlow Blackheath

In murky waters

Nice try, Darrell Greer (Letters, August 5), but it doesn't wash with me. I'd like you to try washing in seven litres of water, without rinsing first, all the dishes I pack into my dishwasher.

You could probably eat the "soup" that was left. Perhaps you would also have us boiling the kettle for the hot water in order to save energy.

Lorna Jones Ryde

Most people I know with a dishwasher use it once a day, compared with people hand-washing dishes twice and sometimes three times a day. My 13 litres compares quite well with 21-24 litres for hand-washing.

Dianne Knight Liverpool

While not dismissing Darrell Greer's point, as an American I take umbrage that he believes Americans "run the tap constantly while hand-washing dishes". That was not the case in my experience (even in my grandmother's restaurant).

The real issue with dishwashers is that manufacturers are allowed to show water-saving readings based on using the economy cycle under best conditions, not on the basis of normal use.

Linda O'Connor Northcote (Vic)

More grist for legal mill

I can only assume that those in the Federal Government wishing to pass a bill on de facto relationships have not had the experience of divorce ("Till debt do us part: a rude shock for de factos", August 4).

Apart from being emotionally shattering, it can leave you financially devastated. Why, then, if a future relationship developed, would you risk again what you lost the first time around? The only winners here are the lawyers waiting to draw up countless prenuptial agreements.

Carmen Fenech Frenchs Forest

Private schools too selective

Public education advocates would not be so hasty in condemning private schools for the opportunities they offer indigenous students (Letters, August 5), if they offered these places to the most disadvantaged, behaviourally challenged and disengaged of indigenous students.

But that won't happen. They will do what private schools have always done with students who are behaviourally challenging, or who use drugs, or refuse to engage with the school's ethos. The students will be quietly "encouraged to find a more appropriate school".

How do I know? I have sat with principal colleagues on many occasions and heard how it happens. If private schools want the feelgood stories to continue, let them bypass the academic students whose abilities they scramble for with huge scholarship ads each year.

Kevin Farrell Beelbangera

La Perouse misses out again

It would be impossible to hold the La Perouse exhibition at the small La Perouse museum, as Lynda Newnam suggests (Letters, August 4). I have seen this superb exhibition at the Musee national de la Marine in Paris. It is a comprehensive and technologically complex, with many valuable items. Sadly, because of Federal Government funding cuts the suitable venue, the National Maritime Museum, will be unable to stage it, thus depriving Australians of furthering our knowledge of our early maritime history.

John Ebner Bronte

Bring on the horror

The real tragedy is not the Don Giovanni opera but the price of $500 for a couple of tickets (Letters, August 5). Once, opera was available to the masses; it is only in recent times that it has become the domain of the privileged.

There should be more initiatives such as that of the Royal Opera House in London this week, where tickets for the opening night of Don Giovanni next month were released in a ballot for readers of The Sun, to the horror of many opera buffs.

Elizabeth Maher Bangor

Great matters of sport, before and after Olympics

It is a sad fact of life that people will always try and scam you, on the internet or in life ("No compensation for ticket victims", August 5).

However, on the internet preventive measures can be taken. The Australian Domain Name Administrator, unlike some overseas counterparts, refuses to allow domain names based on misspellings (such as "Beijng") that send people to advertising sites, spam sites, sex sites and Olympic scam sites. Australia should apply pressure overseas to reduce this fraudulent activity and the damage it does to innocent people.

Oliver Townshend Normanhurst

No, Richard Ure (Letters, August 5), I don't want to wait until after the Olympics before abolishing the Australian Institute of Sport - let's do it now. Future doctors, vets, engineers and scientists incur a HECS debt in order to become useful members of our community, whereas the pampered darlings of sport get free use of our money merely to feather their own nests and with no obligation to repay us. The AIS is government-sponsored parasitism at its worst.

Lewis Winders Sheffield (Tas)

We haven't even had the opening ceremony, but Channel Seven is already testing our patience. The Olyroos play Serbia at 7pm Sydney time tomorrow, but coverage will not start until the game is over. The reason? It is screening Home And Away. When Australia play Argentina, it seems we will get a few crosses, which won't even be live. Unfortunately SBS, which covers Olympic team sports so much better, hasn't been given access to Australia's games. Channel Seven's greedy attitude is not even trying to please all, and will annoy most.

James Tulloch Westleigh

The photograph of the "cupping" on the swimmer's back ("On your marks …", August 5) looks very much like a Channel Nine logo bypassing Channel Seven's exclusive coverage.

Warwick Orme Annandale

You are wrong, Neil Gibbs (Letters, August 5). We will be judged on the way we treat each other, our kindness and commitment to those least able to care for themselves. We will be judged on our ability to accept others' difference in opinion or faith. It will be the strength of our humanity towards our neighbours that will enhance our reputations. Our extension of this friendship and compassion to other nations is the key to success - not how fast our legs or brains can run.

Christine Marr Goulburn

Antiquated format

While Jackie Grundell of White Pages is at it (Letters, August 5), perhaps she could explain why every household still gets delivery of her antiquated product.

Toby Thornett Neutral Bay

North Shore status

When I lived in Beverly Hills 50 years ago, we knew the North Shore began at Lindfield (Letters, August 5). I believe it may still do so, as I have lived in Roseville for 38 years and have only recently seen signs of it receding.

Helen Bersten Roseville

When I grew up in Lindfield in the 1980s I was assured the North Shore unofficially started at Killara and that Lindfield "was seriously being considered on its merits". Having read John Truman's letter about the "rise in the highway at Roseville" I feel relieved that I now live in Pacific Heights and feel comfortable taking on all comers based on geographical status.

Marc Johnstone San Francisco