Labor leadership needs generational change

A bit of advice, Albo. No zingers, no T-shirts and definitely no jogging. - Max Fischer, Wollongong

Our elections are becoming more presidential and we expect our PM to be, well, presidential. Mr Albanese, who is a good man, has many of Arthur Calwell’s qualities but, most importantly, his unfortunate voice. I can’t help thinking that the voters would treat him as badly. - Ambrose Dunne, Lismore Heights

The election result is not the fault of Labor strategists (‘‘‘Dead as a dodo bird’: Campaign architect urged to step down’’, May 23). Labor presented fair policies that would benefit all. Short-sightedness and greed and gullibility won the day for the Liberals. - Margaret Fleming, Brunswick Heads

Fortunate Baby Boomers should let drawbridge down

As a grandparent I worry about how today’s young ones will fare in the next 20 years. They are about to be locked out of the housing market as espoused by Jessica Irvine (‘‘The moment we sold out our kids’’, May 23). - Hugh Darling, Castle Hill

Your correspondent (Letters, May 22) wishes to rename older Australians the ‘‘selfish’’ generation. He is implying the Coalition won the election because of the voting pattern of one age group? According to the AEC website, 30.78 per cent of voters were aged over 60. Clearly, less than a third of the total electors could not have decided the election result on their own. I (an older Australian) know many people aged over 60 who were definitely not planning to vote for the Coalition. - Louise Gallagher, Lake Cathie

I received a scholarship at university and saved by taking my own lunches and making my own clothes (Letters, May 23). However, I also recognise the advantages I received. I did not have to work long hours to support myself through university. Youth unemployment was low, so I had a job within weeks of graduating, buying my first home meant borrowing only $100,000, I could afford to buy close to work and did not face hours of commuting. I have benefited from the franking credit legislation, compounding interest and the massive boom in housing prices. All up, I have been very fortunate. Right now though, I would love for our daughters to be able to afford their own home. We Baby Boomers have had a good run – maybe we can give the kids a go? - Anne Kirman, Kellyville

I’m a Millennial who considers many Baby Boomers to have voted greedily and selfishly. I don’t bother eating lunch and haven’t bought clothes in five years. These efforts are simply to pay rent; saving for anything, let alone a house deposit, is inconceivable for the near future. Unfortunately, my opinion of (most) Boomers has only been bolstered by the out-of-touch perception they hold of my generation. - Irene Berry, Belmore

I got a scholarship to university where the tuition was free and income support provided. That doesn’t exist any more. Kids today get a mountain of HECS debt. Also, we saved for a deposit on a house. It took me about two years. The median time now is five years and the places you could buy are very long commuting distances and would take incomes from two people to service the mortgage.

Greed isn’t having a comfortable retirement and enjoying the fruits of our labour. But the instinct to pull the drawbridge up is not helpful. I for one am happy to pay taxes to at least ensure the advantages we had, can be made available to succeeding generations. - Janet Peters, Leichhardt

Plug water going down the drain

The state government is dithering while it considers whether we should have water restrictions in Sydney (‘‘Sydney faces water limits ‘soon’ as dam levels dive’’, May 23). In the meantime it is not taking three essential actions. The first is to immediately ban coal mining that is causing the loss of water in the Sydney drinking water catchments notably of the Cataract, Woronora and Cordeaux Dams. The government is currently ignoring the advice of Water NSW of this risk.

The second is to immediately stop the creeping cancer of housing estates in south-west Sydney which depend on those dams that are most diminished in supply. That region is not serviced by Sydney’s desalination plant, and Cataract Dam is down to an alarming 29.9 per cent capacity. The third is to invest in environmentally sensitive water infrastructure throughout all of Sydney to capture, treat and re-use stormwater. Otherwise, we will go on losing it down the drains, every time we have a rain storm. - Sharyn Cullis, Oatley

The government appears to be quite good at inventing and enforcing water restrictions, but not much else. I am tired of being told every so often to use water more wisely and less of it. Well, I have reached my limit. If they can’t do something better, why are they in office, recycling their old, useless ideas? - Dimitris Langadinos, Concord West

As dam and reservoir levels dive and water restrictions are being introduced to Sydney and various other towns throughout NSW, I wonder if the same water restrictions will be levelled at the water-guzzling coal mines? It can take up to 10,000 litres to process and transfer one tonne of coal. There are about 40 coal mines in NSW. - Liz Macfie, Crows Nest

Post-election life looks up

Many left-aligned commentators, journalists and Herald letter writers are moaning about ‘‘The coming decline in Australia’s economy’’. They should stop worrying because the ‘‘Shorten effect’’ has gone – removed by the electorate.

As a consequence, people are moving into the shopping centres again, they are planning to do things and no longer fearful of their jobs and businesses, hunkering down to weather the storm. The stock market is up and people are smiling again. Life is looking up. - Michael Lane, St Ives

The Hawke government was elected in March 1983, and south-east Australia’s devastating El Nino drought broke within a couple of weeks. I wonder if our newly elected ‘‘miracle man’’ will be able to emulate that? - Sue Wagner, Mosman

There is a silver lining from the election result regardless of which side of the electoral divide you reside. The Coalition government now has three years to prove (or disprove) once and for all, their economic theorem, that it is possible to deliver generous tax cuts, deliver a budget surplus and reduce debt without cutting services. How good is the Coalition! - Michael Clayton, Hunters Hill

A dying breed

Tony Abbott as ambassador to the Vatican (Letters, May 23)? I would suggest Vanuatu or Tuvalu, where he can be in the forefront of selling Australia’s policy on climate change while watching the sea level rise.  Better take a surfboard instead of a bike. - Harald Ehrlich, Rozelle

The man disparagingly referred to by Peter Skrzynecki (Letters, May 23) ‘‘riding a bike and wearing budgie smugglers (sic)’’ is a member of a vanishing race known as ‘‘homo sapiens Australis’’, prominent worldwide in the 20th century.

They were then known as ‘‘dinkum Aussie blokes’’ and this country will be a lesser place with their passing. If Peter is lucky, he might catch a glimpse of this one riding the streets wearing his fireman’s helmet, too, even be inspired by example. - Ron Elphick, Buff Point

High cost of fraud

Among all the rhetoric about the ‘‘Bill Australia can’t afford’’ by the Morrison government we have another fraud uncovered under the watchful eye of the government that knows how to manage money (‘‘Five arrested over millions stolen from disabled funds’’, May 23). Again the figures involved are mind-boggling and I wonder who is looking after the shop. I have lost count of the number of frauds that have been exposed in recent years. The figures are always in the millions yet other arenas of public expenditure, such as pensioner payments, are penalised for a few dollars of earnings. Smaller government, less public servants to monitor public expenditure and the move towards privatisation of everything doesn’t seem to be working. I would like to hear Mr Morrison’s take on these events. - Robert Mulas, Corlette

Small price to pay

The consequences of fire hazard reduction burning are undesirable and alternatives need to be explored (Letters, May 23). It was once considered necessary to burn the bush to maintain it in good condition, but is that so? As I understand it, the native plant species which exist around Sydney do so because the Indigenous peoples used fire regularly as a tool for hunting. However, if the bush was not burned then a different variety of plants would gradually take over, plants that do not require fire for their regeneration. We could still have our bushland without it being so flammable. - Jan Perry, Chatswood West

Readers unhappy with the burnoffs should join the RFS, or at least attend a few meetings, and obtain an understanding of the process. Common sense should tell you that they cannot be conducted on a windy day to blow the smoke away and plenty of warnings are given to enable those with the need to protect their health. If you cast your mind back to the huge fires that caused tragic loss of life in this country, a little smoke haze is nothing compared with the horror of facing and fighting a bushfire and enduring its possible tragic consequences. Hazard reduction burning is a necessary part of enjoying a bush landscape in order to reduce the fuel load that feeds fires and it’s up to us all (as I do) to monitor our own health and mitigate the possibility of an adverse episode. - Rose Cunningham, Yarravel

The good and the bad

As an addendum to Dom Knight’s insightful article on Scott Morrison’s use of the phrase, ‘‘how good is’’, I notice he has never used it to describe the ABC (‘‘How good is ‘how good is Australia!’’’, May 23). So please, Scott Morrison, don’t cut ABC funding. Why would you want it to be less good? - Leo Sorbello, West Ryde

The point of a rhetorical question is to make a point. It invites thought from the listener or reader rather than inviting an explicitly stated answer. That Morrison uses an exclamation mark when he tweets ‘‘How good is ...!’’ and not a question mark says much about his understanding of the rhetorical question. While we give credit to Morrison for leading the Coalition to victory, we do not have to hang on his every word and symbol. - Ross Drynan, Lindfield

How good is ‘‘ScoMo fiction’’ (Sco-fi)? First it delivered us the fiction of a surplus that had already happened but may actually never occur and now our guaranteed tax refund on June 30 will also only happen sometime after 2020, if ever. - Mark Pearce, Richmond

How good is Australia? In 2013 we had the best performing economy in the world but apparently that was a bad thing. - Graeme Finn, St Peters

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