It’s hardly a surprise that voters are turning away from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (“Trump uncertainty puts Labor majority in sight”, April 15). Perhaps they find it difficult to reconcile his view of Trump as a “big thinker” with the chaos, fear and uncertainty created by his administration. Given Trump’s promises and results in the foreign policy domain, it’s hard to see the “gravitas” that Dutton alludes to. Maybe it’s more than that. Maybe Australians have a healthy respect for the job that our public servants do and find it offensive that Dutton would want to emulate that odious DOGE department run by Elon Musk. Maybe they don’t like inane slogans, fancy hats and hollow promises. Maybe they just trust what they know. Peter Singer, Hamilton South
Credit: Cathy Wilcox
There has generally been agreement among politicians that private and family matters are off the table, and rightly so (“Leaders duck queries on policies that could fuel house price fire”, April 15). However, if a politician chooses to use family members as part of their election campaign then the usual convention no longer applies. Surely Peter Dutton, one of our wealthiest politicians, must have realised that having his son Harry beside him on the hustings pleading financial hardship was going to backfire. What were his advisers thinking? Stephen McDonald, Goulburn
A 20-year-old apprentice carpenter is finding it difficult to save enough money to buy a house, aw shucks. I would have thought his housing-affordability expert father should be able to show him how, on a policeman’s wage, he was able to build a sizeable property portfolio. Duncan McRobert, Hawks Nest
Rather than take his dad’s advice, young Harry Dutton should listen to the former Coalition Treasurer Joe Hockey, who simply advised everyone to “get a good job that pays good money” if they want to buy a house. Easy to say. Severino Milazzo, Maroubra
The best thing Anthony Albanese has done for his re-election is to take himself out of Trump’s game of “kiss my ass”. While the Coalition repeatedly bleated about needing to make urgent phone calls and flying visits, and embraced Trump as a “big thinker”, Albanese was measured and smart, knowing there were other ways to get what he wanted. It’s a sign of real strength when you simply hold your nerve. America is no longer the centre of the universe – it just doesn’t realise it yet. Australian exceptionalism is where it’s at. Albanese gets that. Wendy Atkins, Cooks Hill
I would love to see a leader restoring Australia to what it was not so long ago. I am all for making Australia great again. I can’t believe that just because Trump coined the phrase for America, we throw away the idea. Our country is not what it used to be. Our wealth, nationally and personally, is far from what it was. We desperately need a change. Andrea Kalowski, Rose Bay
Your letters correspondents write daily, almost in unison, expressing their disdain for Peter Dutton. They echo each other and must gain comfort from their groupthink mindset. The challenge for them seems to be coming up with a new reason to dislike Dutton and his policies, day in, day out. Rob Sinclair, North Sydney
Gassy guts
Peter Hartcher’s reporting of Donald Trump’s admission that “my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me” accounts for the disarray caused by Trump’s presidency (“Trump’s gut tells him he’s got China on the ropes. He couldn’t be more wrong,” April 15). Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman in his Thinking, Fast and Slow details the flaws of intuitive thinking (“fast thinking”), including biases that lead to errors in judgment, excessive confidence and our seeming inability to recognise the extent of our ignorance, all exemplified in Trump’s approach to policymaking. What is needed in political leaders everywhere is “slow thinking”, namely, deliberate, effortful, logical analysis, something that the leaders of Australia’s political parties might also note. Paul Casey, Callala Bay
Donald Trump and government efficiency head Elon Musk.Credit: AP
Free trade is under threat, our markets are in a spin, everyone’s superannuation is in danger. I realise this is important news, as money does make the world go around, but we hear little of the disturbing changes happening inside America. Public institutions are having funds withheld unless their courses are compliant with Trump’s views, mass sackings of public service employees include the wiping of whole departments in health, disease control and most disturbingly, education, to name just a few. Freedom of speech in America doesn’t exist. Books are being banned from libraries – even our great Geraldine Brooks can’t escape with her book Horse taken from the Naval Academy library. We say that we would never let the atrocities of World War II happen again, but look at what was happening in the 1930s in some “democratic” countries. I’m surprised it’s just the markets getting all the attention. Elizabeth Darton, Lane Cove West
The Netanyahu government has successfully convinced the world that to support them is to support Judaism, and to oppose them is to oppose Judaism. But Israel has an opposition that vocally opposes his coalition of right-wingers who want to drive out Muslims from Palestine. Hence, many Jews in Israel could be seen as antisemites as they oppose the actions of the current government and want to live in peace with their neighbours. I therefore applaud Harvard University for its stance (“Harvard refuses to surrender independence after Trump threat”, April 15). Bending the knee to Donald Trump is bowing to authoritarianism. Standing against the massacres in Palestine doesn’t mean you are a Jew hater, it means you are a peacemaker – which is what American Christians claim to be. David Neilson, Araluen (NT)
No place for homelessness
Would the average person be appalled if there were a significant proportion of the population condemned to die of thirst because they had no access to safe drinking water (“Housing a matter of life and death”, April 15)? What if they were denied the water because people with an abundance were stockpiling it as an investment? Safe housing is a basic human need and in our society should be a right. When there is a shortage of supply, housing cannot continue to be an investment vehicle. We have a choice. We can stop negative gearing now and increase public housing supply, or we can slide even further into a Hunger Games society. And anybody housing an adult child shouldn’t pretend it isn’t already happening to them and their loved ones. Elisabeth Goodsall, Wahroonga
The extremely depressing and remarkable article by John Coles dramatically illustrates the shocking impacts of homelessness. That he has to wait at least 18 months before he may access social housing is obviously unacceptable. What John Cole’s account indicates is that the federal and state governments need to make eliminating homelessness their central task. It is a national emergency and shame. In a wealthy country like Australia nobody should be homeless. Alan Morris, Eastlakes
A homeless camp in Sydney’s Wentworth Park.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
John Coles’ article about homelessness should be compulsory reading for all those in government or wannabes. The Herald has made a major contribution by giving a voice to the voiceless, whose situation is much talked about, but little effective is done to provide at least temporary homes for them rather than just getting the police to move them on from public places where they’ve sought shelter for the night. And it would make an interesting economic exercise for school students to compare and contrast Coles’ article with one of the weekend articles about the multimillion-dollar homes being flipped among the mega-haves, and what that comparison says about our society. Anne Ring, Coogee
As a responsible community, faced with the immediate problem of lack of housing, we must at least provide shelters. As John Coles writes, it is surely a human right to have a safe, dry place to sleep at night. He and thousands of others need a roof over their head, so before all those full-scale houses get built, let’s at least provide shelters – today. Penelope Layton-Caisley, Marrickville
After my father returned from World War II our family lived with my grandparents. In 1947, my parents were offered a housing commission house in the far outer suburb of Westmead. They accepted, despite my grandfather announcing he wouldn’t go that far even on holiday. After seven years of renting they were offered the chance to buy the house, which they did. Why can’t that type housing policy be implemented today, instead of the half-baked ideas being offered at this election? Ted Hemmens, Cromer
I get frustrated when I read letters such as Peter Koller’s saying that the Coalition and Labor have too much interest in investment properties to change the tax rules (Letters, April 15). The Coalition probably yes, but Labor went to the 2019 election with policies to change these laws and lost the unlosable election. Little wonder the policy has been dropped. The majority of the electorate chose self-interest over reform and re-elected an incompetent government, so the real culprit here is us, the people. But these laws can be changed when the electorate wants it. Neil Edwards, Caringbah
I can only hope that Premier Chris Minns read the letter from solicitor Howard Charles about the parlous state of our residential building industry (Letters, April 15). Minns recently suggested we weren’t “far off” overcoming industry shortcomings. Either the Herald is leaning Trumpwards and publishing false or misleading letters, or the premier is, let’s say, gilding the lily. Through recent first-hand experience, the latter scenario is looking good (or bad, if you get my drift). Brian Jones, Leura
If we are going to have incentives to build more houses and incentives for people to buy them, can please have a limit to the size of each of these dwellings. Part of the lead time for housing is directly related to the size of the house. The bigger the house the longer it takes to build; the bigger the house the more it will cost; and the bigger the house the more materials it consumes, and thus the greater the environmental impact. Can we have some sanity? Maureen Donlon, Wagga Wagga
Same old problem
If you think the Liberals will ever do anything serious about making housing more affordable, you’d be wise to recall that the crisis is not new. Here is an extract of a letter I had published in the Herald 20 years ago: “Housing, especially in Sydney, is probably less affordable now than when interest rates peaked in the 1980s at about 17 per cent. Will this housing affordability crisis, particularly for low-income earners, prove to be the dark horse in the election?” I’d also noted in the same letter that the Liberal government at the time, under John Howard, had rejected a number of key recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into first home ownership, particularly the need to review negative gearing arrangements. Private investment in housing, in other words, was given priority over home ownership. And let’s not forget that in 1999, capital gains tax was halved, further fuelling housing investment speculation, leading to soaring house prices. By who? John Howard. Has anything changed? No. And will it under Peter Dutton and the Liberals? Be careful what you wish for. Shaun Davies, St Peters
Housing affordability has been an election issue since John Howard’s day. Credit: Sage
As a housing developer of many years I agree with Steven Lee (Letters, April 15). The government needs to build the affordable housing themselves, on their land. They used to do this and called it housing commission. The problem with the private sector building “affordable housing” is that the cost of new housing is almost 50 per cent tax, including the non-refundable 10 per cent GST on the gross sale price. For far too long housing has been the government’s golden goose. Things are usually taxed heavily to stop them being made or sold, and housing is no different. Tax new housing heavily, as it is, and it won’t be built in the numbers needed or at the price people can afford, regardless of all the incentives to buy that are thrown around. Taxing new housing is a clear and obvious disincentive to building them, yet it’s funny how in all the debates, the government never talks about this. Peter Icklow, Pymble
Law of pragmatism
Chief Justice Bell’s proposed reforms will not be just welcome to the legal community, but will also benefit clients (“Top judge lashes lawyer training”, April 15). Surely there is a case for looking at the model used by a certain college of law in the UK, which teaches subjects needed by postgraduate practitioners but not always covered in a degree course. Six months of hard work is followed by a minimum of two years’ practical training, or articles. I don’t expect the latter to be introduced in Australia, but as a former Federal Court judge, I believe teaching of practical subjects is worthwhile. Kenneth Raphael, Elizabeth Bay
US hardly critical
I won’t be inconvenienced by China’s ban on exporting rare earth minerals to the United States (“China halts critical mineral and magnet exports,” April 15). I may not be able to buy working military hardware, missiles or spacecraft from the United States, but all of my electric motors, car headlights, spark plugs, computer chips, capacitors and smartphones can be purchased from countries unaffected by the bans. The world will soon learn to live without the US. Bill Kierath, Bathurst
Spacey cadets
Does anyone else think that photo looks like it was taken at the worst sleepover camp ever (“Stars in schmick suits ’bring spice to space”, April 15?) The one where you faked an illness and Mum came and took you home. I know there must be at least one aeronautical engineer there, and I’m guessing it’s the one at bottom right. She has the look of someone who knows that if anything goes wrong, it’s going to be all up to her. Linda Hutchinson, Naremburn
I wondered if the flight of the Blue Origin rocket into space yesterday will serve as an exploration of the effect of space travel on the earthly application of Botox. On face value, there were a few samples on board. Scott Illingworth, Kiama
I’ve never read a statement that better summed up the screwy priorities of the US than “damn, you look good. You’re going up in space looking hot.” Colin Stokes, Camperdown
The all-female occupents of Blue Origin’s flight: Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Lauren Sanchez and Amanda Nguyen.Credit: NYT
Palmer paid too much
Your correspondent Alan Leitch correctly says Clive Palmer’s absurdly named Trumpet Of Patriots party is riding Donald Trump’s coat-tails (Letters, April 15). However, a significant difference is that while Palmer paid $100 million to get a single senator, Elon Musk paid $250 million and got a whole government. Nick Andrews, Bellevue Hill
On yer bike
Lisa Williams, when and why did “vicious circle” become “vicious cycle” (Letters, April 15)? To me, vicious cycle most accurately describes the increasing numbers of reckless pushbike riders on footpaths. Tony Doyle, Fairy Meadow
Quick wits
Correspondent Rob Wills mentioned the value of hecklers at political meetings (Letters, April 15). It reminded me of reports of one such meeting in South Australia, where a heckler in the audience called out to Bob Menzies, saying “tell us all you know, Bob, it’ll only take a minute”, whereupon Menzies gravely replied without batting an eye, “I’ll tell ’em what we both know, and it won’t take any longer!” Ken Finlayson, East Corrimal
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