If I won TattsLotto the knowledge that I could buy a zippy European sports car like a Porsche becomes a very desirable dream. 

Alternatively I would be far more likely to give most of the money away to our family. 

What is appealing is to know that the choice is there.

What is vitally important to me is that everyone be allowed to make their own choices in how they live their lives, providing it is not hurting others, and respecting others who choose a different path. 

Respect for a point of view seems of paramount importance in this complex world we live in.

Unfortunately politicians’ beliefs and their party political discourse sometimes intrude into this right of the people to make choices. 

The people should be respected.

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." 

So said Voltaire (b. 1694), the great philosopher. 

That same motto could well apply to a whole range of views on some of the moral dilemmas of our day.

I include same-sex marriage, abortion rights, euthanasia and free speech among those moral dilemmas.

Kevin Andrews MP has closed off the right of people to email him regarding same-sex marriage. 

What is he frightened of? 

He is clearly not open to change his own views on the subject, but he should certainly respect the rights of others to express theirs. 

He may say he has heard it all before, but someone may yet come up with a view that he has not considered. 

Abortion, long a topic of continual heated debate, emerges every few years as a serious issue for politicians to consider and debate. 

It wastes everyone’s time as the majority of the public now accept the right of a pregnant woman to make her own decision regarding her pregnancy. Her body, her choice.

Euthanasia has the support of more than 80 per cent of the population in Australia. Why aren’t our pollies recognising that they really don’t need to do a great deal to legalise this issue? 

They simply need to confirm that all the checks and balances are in place and ensure the decision is a genuine one, and leave the final choice up to the individual. 

Studies have shown that in many cases the dying person will allow nature to take its own course, but it gives people a choice... all they ever asked for...  a choice at the end of life, as to how they will end it if that is their wish.

Choice is a right, not a privilege.