The driver continued on his way, leaving a severely injured animal in the middle of the road - a cruel and irresponsible action.

When an animal is injured on the road the police or a wildlife rescue organisation such as W.R.I.N. should be called to deal with it.

Leaving an injured animal to die a slow, painful death is neither moral nor legal and may be a risk to other road users.

Opponents of marriage reform were always going to muddy the waters in what should be a crystal clear question to the Australian people.

We now have hard-right political heavyweights claiming they are being bullied and intimidated by gays and lesbians who have been subjected to violence and abuse for generations.

We hear the hypocrisy of churches who dare to associate SSM with paedophilia and child abuse. (Stones and glass houses.)

We witness the irony of straight, married couples accuse gays and lesbians of corrupting the institution of marriage. ( Married at first sight, The Bachelor, Ashley Madison.)

What this debate has made abundantly clear is that all forms of discrimination, be it gender, race or sexuality, are largely invisible and irrelevant to those not affected by it.

Privilege is like oxygen, imperceptible to those it serves and benefits.

Whereas discrimination is all too apparent to those who struggle to breathe in the thin air of society's bigotries.

After the crazy promotion of coal under Tony Abbott we now have a strategy to pressure state governments to reverse their opposition to fracking disguised as an energy security measure.

The argument is that the bans may cause our lights to go out. This tactic is delivering exactly what the fossil fuel industry wanted when it set out on its massive gas export trade. Are we seriously meant to believe that this is about energy security? 

Combined with the hostility of this government to renewables we may reasonably conclude that we have a government that favours private sector profits ahead of the national interest while pretending to chastise the corporate sector for its price-gouging.

The only way to protect our freedoms of speech, conscience and religion is to vote No to the question being asked in the SSM plebiscite.

To protect your children from extreme gender fluid propaganda in their schools, vote No. It's not quite as straightforward as the Atorney General would have us believe.

Don't trust the government with your freedoms

Helen Leach, Bendigo 

Letters to the editor guidelines: A letter to the editor is one way to have your say. All letters must be signed and carry the name, full address and daytime telephone number(s) of the author. We will publish the writer’s name and suburb/town. In rare cases, we may consent to withholding a writer’s name and suburb/town. Letters should be no more than 250 words and may be edited for space, clarity and legal reasons. Shorter letters will be given preference. Letters which are deemed inappropriate will not be published.