Negativity reduxListening to Peter Dutton at his first media conference as Liberal leader, I wondered whether he received the memo that the Liberals actually lost the election. Everything he said was a rehash of the Liberal brand that was so emphatically rejected by the electorate only a week ago. His attacks on the new government sounded like Tony Abbott 2.0. I fear we are in for more of the same negativity from the surviving Liberals in parliament for the next three years. They already sound like yesterdays people.Nick Toovey, Beaumaris
Logging issues avoidedYour correspondent (Letters, 30/5) uses emotive language and euphemism in support of native forest logging, but avoids the important issues. First, the native forests being logged are not the private domain of the loggers, but are public property. According to surveys, most Victorians want native forest logging to cease.Second, native forests are not crops and thus are not harvested. They are complex ecosystems that support threatened, endangered and vulnerable species which are further depleted by the habitat destruction called logging. Australia has an appalling record of species extinction, yet we do little to protect what remains.The furphy that logged coupes just grow back, the implication that they are the same as they were before has been proven wrong by studies. Given that no comprehensive surveys of flora, fauna (including invertebrates) and fungi are conducted before logging, it cannot be assumed that logging-damaged ecosystems recover to their former state.Helen Moss, Croydon
Life and deathAbortion is illegal after six weeks in Texas, yet its legal for someone to carry guns that have killed 19 children. The logic defies me.Tania Hardy-Smith, Mitcham
Thanks to the wormsA worm farm is a great answer to food waste. I process all my vegetable waste and fruit peel, stale bread, coffee grounds etc through my worm farm and have an endless supply of fertiliser.As well there is a regular supply of rich soil.Graham Reynolds, Soldiers Hill
Transition mythsNick Toscano and Dominic Powell (30/5) explode the myth that it is the transition to renewables that is causing the recent surge in power prices. Rising gas and coal prices and ageing infrastructure are the real causes of power price increases.In contrast, once the infrastructure is built, wind, solar and hydro are free and last forever. They will also lower our carbon emissions. It seems a no-brainer that we transition to these free power sources as soon as possible.Graeme Lechte, Brunswick West
Curtains to all thatTo continue the Scott Morrison metaphor: the voters actually did a little more than changing the curtains, they demolished the house with the intention of rebuilding it from the ground up.Peter Russo, West Brunswick
Wisdom well toldThank you Tony Wright for the beautifully written article I love the boy: Urens gift to our PM (29/5). It was an acknowledgment of the wisdom of Weary Dunlop, Tom Uren and others. Anthony Albanese spoke of their legacy in his opening speech of the election campaign.Shirley Purves, Gisborne
Value for moneyA sum of $150 million for the Tasmanian government to establish its own AFL team (Its time to make history, 28/5) is value for taxpayers money. Compare that to Victorias annual, multimillion, loss-making, grand prix where our state government paid a total of $190.4 million to the Grand Prix Corporation during the two years of event cancellation due to COVID.Geoff Gowers, Merricks North
Truth of warJohn McMillan (Letters, 30/5) is right when he compares young Australian and Turkish troops as similar in their experiences in WWI.My father, then only 21, had a life-changing experience on the 8th of August 1918 in what was called the big hopover against the Germans. He came across a wounded German who called out to him for help. Dad said he wasnt allowed but propped him up so the stretcher bearers could see him. This man wanted to give dad his watch and showed him photos of his family. Dad asked him how he spoke such good English and he said he was a waiter at the Savoy hotel before the war. Dads thoughts at the time were: how is it that were the same, but here fighting one another.Jeanne Hart, Maryborough
Stark inequityThe article Were not asking for Caulfield Grammar (27/5), misses the point and the goals of the RISE North group, of which I am a member. Parents in the north Moreland Council area are not abandoning public schools, but we are finding that the public secondary schools in our area are not all supported by equitable funding nor an education strategy to address declining enrolment and significant gender disparity.The Department of Education and Training spokesman said that $21 million had been invested in the three schools over the past three state budgets, but did not disclose that $9.215 million went to Glenroy Secondary College in 2019, $11.944 million for Pascoe Vale Girls College in May 2022 and only $50,000 for John Fawkner Secondary College in May 2020. The inequity is stark. Strathmore Secondary College enjoyed $21million in upgrades and Mount Alexander College received $26.3million to modernise facilities in recent years.Education Minister James Merlino said in October 2021 that John Fawkner Secondary College had an upgrade project that was shovel ready, so where are the shovels? Where is the funding?I am philosophically committed to public education and feel positive about our familys local high school in Fawkner. I am encouraged by the enthusiasm and expertise of new leadership at the school, and I really hope the facilities at the college can be improved to match and support the quality teaching there very soon.Laila Christie, Fawkner
Disrespectful messageIn recent years I have taken three guided tours, one to Kata Tjuta and last week, two in Tasmania.I was disappointed and unpleasantly surprised that none of the three tours began with an Acknowledgement of Country, there was no mention that the First Peoples of this nation are the oldest living culture in the world and there was scant information generally about the first inhabitants as we drove to and explored various well-known tourist sites. James Cook, explorers and the English settlers however, got quite a bit of air play.I understand that some information is not a non-Aboriginals story to tell, but not to honour the original custodians of the land was not only disrespectful but a lost opportunity to inform international, interstate and intrastate visitors about the truth of our history.Susan Hillman Stolz, Rye
Midwife originsI read with amusement the theory that men dont move into midwifery because they are put off by the term midwife as it is sexist and anachronistic. It is neither; the term midwife has its origins in the ancient English and simply means with woman. In the 1980s as a bloke and a midwife working in a busy CBD delivery suite for several years I was pretty proud to be referred to as a midwife.Kym Durance, Wangaratta
Wrong answerIf Peter Dutton is the answer, the question certainly wasnt, Who will win back the disenfranchised and disenchanted former Liberal voters?Greg Tuck, Warragul
Nats in the burbsNow that the Nationals have a more acceptable leadership team, their next step is to break with the Liberal Party and field candidates in the leafy suburbs. I can guarantee them my vote.Ken Barnes, Glen Iris
Are we family?Thank you China for forcing the Australian government to belatedly offer a grovelling apology to the Pacific islands (aka our family) for successive governments contempt for the Pacific islands concern about climate change. Thank you for making Australia show the true extent of its concern by having to formally state its, at best, modest CO2 reduction targets. Thank you for showing up the presumptuousness by Australia that the Pacific islands still even regard us as family.Bruce Hocking, Camberwell
PoliticsYou are right, Scott Morrison. The voters did replace the curtains. They were just too grubby.Jack Ginger, South Caulfield
Josh Frydenberg said that Monique Ryan was in bed with Labor and the Greens. Meanwhile, he is enjoying a permanent sleep-over with Barnaby and Scott.Elizabeth Long, Collingwood
Scott Morrison (ex-prime minister), how good is that?Louis Roller, Fitzroy North
If anything needs fresh thinkers and new blood, its the Liberal Party.Meg McPherson, Brighton
The best and only worthwhile achievement of the Howard government was the gun buyback after the Port Arthur massacre.Marie Nash, Balwyn
So wonderful for the Murugappan family. The change of government feels like Australia has been released from a nightmare sentence of a wrongful conviction.Julie Conquest, Brighton
A sigh of relief swept across Australia with the news that the Murugappan family will be allowed to return to Biloela. The Coalition never understood that compassion can be a sign of strength not weakness.Eveline Clarke, Berwick
Alas, one sour apple left in the opposition bucket might be all it takes for revival.Tris Raouf, Hadfield
The image of traumatised refugees being held on the deck of a ship in the hot, tropical sun to win an election is obviously something Howard supporters can overlook.Lynette Payne, Richmond
If Peter Dutton regrets boycotting the apology to the stolen generations, he can make up for it by endorsing the Uluru Statement from the Heart.Stewart King, Carnegie
Much as Im glad Peter Dutton isnt in government, Im not sure the Liberals choosing the wilderness is in Australias best interests either.Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn
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ELECTION AFTERMATH: A prime driver on road to defeat was corruption - The Age
