I experienced myself this week how nasty politics has become just by volunteering to hand out how-to-vote cards at a pre-polling centre (“Alert over threat at polls”, May 2). I was abused, that is the only word for it, by two separate people who were going in to vote, the first of whom tore up the proffered card in front of me. The intensity of vituperation aimed at me shook me deeply. On top of that, two volunteers from another political party took it upon themselves to lecture me on the sins of the party I was helping. Volunteers are there to support the democratic process, and many people are grateful for their help. Voting should not be an occasion to loudly vent political grievances or abuse and re-educate volunteers – rather, make your point in the polling booth. Stephen Walter, Paddington
Liberal supporters during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Devonport, Tasmania, on Friday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
This campaign has been like no other in terms of its nastiness and the avalanche of out-of-area volunteers being shipped in to overwhelm local volunteers. I handed out for pre-polling in the Hunter electorate, where all parties usually have one or at most two local volunteers from each party. These are usually older local people who engage in friendly banter, with respect for each other. This time, the Nationals had up to seven volunteers at the booth at any one time. All were young, and all came from afar. One young National called out to each voter “Sleazy, greasy Albanese” as they entered to vote, and would not be deterred when politely asked not to denigrate candidates. It was certainly a different atmosphere this year, and not the pleasant experience it has been in all my 30 years of handing out leaflets in this electorate. Trump has a lot to answer for. Toni Lorentzen, Fennell Bay
Having voted at each of the 21 federal elections since 1969, I was greeted yesterday at the Willoughby early polling station by behaviour I have never seen before. A mass of some 25 blue-shirted Liberal staff, edging knees and arms out onto the footpath in a threatening and intimidating manner, showed little respect for orderly democratic process. The four independent representatives, a Greens person and three of four Labor people kept a respectable distance to allow easy passage to the booth. Let us keep Trump-style brownshirt tendencies out of our otherwise superb election processes, and not have our political affiliates descend into deplorables. Duncan Cameron, Lane Cove
Thank you to the Herald for reporting on the sudden surge of Exclusive Brethren volunteers for the Liberals at polling stations. I have been handing out “how to vote” forms for Labor surrounded by up to six of these blue-shirted volunteers. It is challenging to say the least. I can only hope that voters can see through this and ask themselves what’s the agenda here? Rhyan Andrews, Faulconbridge
It is not only the marginal seats where volunteer leaflet distributors are loosing their cool. I (against my politics) live in one of the truest blue seats in the country. I refused leaflets at the pre-poll, not only because I had my mind made up, but more importantly because I was mindful of all the wasted paper and trees. My refusal gained me a very sarcastic comment from a “true blue” volunteer, which was completely unnecessary as our electorate has never been at risk of changing hands. Heather Johnson, West Pennant Hills
Only one poll counts
I guess I’ll never get back all those hours spent reading analysis of opinion polls finding Albanese is on the nose and that we’re witnessing a one-term government. Can we finally accept that running opinion polls week in, week out is a waste of journalistic resources? Australians frequently hate governments for almost three years before re-electing them. Peter Dutton looks poised to learn there is only one poll that counts. Rob Mills, Riverview
Credit: Alan Moir
A cunning plan?
Is it better to have cautious progress that can be sold to the electorate than the bolder approach to reform advocated in Friday’s editorial (“If re-elected, it’s Labor’s lucky second shot”, May 2)? Bill Shorten was courageous in outlining proposals for tax reform and lost the 2019 election. Worthwhile proposals can be exploited by political opponents and, in what is a close contest, render the government unelectable. Any achievements in the first term of government are lost. We’ll have to see what the election outcome is, but caution may prove to have been a wise approach, rather than a sign of weakness or lack of ambition. Don Packham, Leichhardt
I cannot more strongly agree with your editorial. And, I’m afraid, the only way Labor will make significant long-term, overdue policy decisions on tax reform, climate, housing, donation transparency, domestic violence and Indigenous affairs is if it is in minority government and the crossbench forces its hand. Fingers crossed. Rowan Godwin, Rozelle
One Nation-whisperers
John Howard excommunicated Pauline Hanson from the Liberal Party in 1996 because of her attitude to Indigenous Australians and Asian migrants. In 2025, all is forgiven under Peter Dutton, and the Coalition has placed One Nation candidates second on many how-to-vote cards across the country. Family First (One Nation with Bibles) has also been highly preferenced. While some will excuse this as strategic preferencing, Liberal voters who follow the card should hang their heads in shame. Ray Peck, Hawthorn (Vic)
I continue to be surprised by the reverence afforded John Howard by the press, including the Herald, and even those outside the Liberal Party. Yes, he did a great thing with gun control, and the GST was a vast improvement over the previous wholesale tax. But on the downside, he changed capital gains tax so that huge benefits flow to a few investors. He removed limits on superannuation balances to make it an open-ended tax avoidance scheme. He made immigration an issue of racism and hate. He used bonus revenue from the first China resources boom to deliver middle-class welfare rather than fix ageing infrastructure. He increased funding to already wealthy private schools at the expense of public schools. He took us into war in Iraq on false premises. Let him pass into history. Steven Lee, Faulconbridge
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, James Brickwood
Climate apathy no longer an option
Neither major party can change the facts of demography: young generations now outnumber the older ones; the Boomer dominance is over. The younger cohort of Australians will face the new world of climate-related disasters that Boomers will not see. They demand, and in ever-increasing numbers will keep demanding, urgent action. They understand the implications of any country remaining dependent on fossil fuels. In Australia’s case, we cannot demand of other nations what we ourselves fail to do. If we do not continue with a rapid shift to renewables, our national security will be compromised as we are 90 per cent dependent on imported oil (largely from China). We’ll become the dumping ground for poor-quality petrol vehicles and continue to be ripped off by corporations exporting our resources and charging us for the privilege. Australians tend to cling to the safe middle ground. On the existential issue of climate change, this is no longer a safe option. Fiona Colin, Malvern East
Next year it will be 130 years since Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius, later a Nobel Prize winner for chemistry, first accurately quantified the impact of carbon dioxide on the Earth’s temperature. It will also be nearly 60 years since Charles Keeling commenced measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa, and almost 40 years since UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher called for a global treaty on climate change. So we can’t really claim that human-induced climate change is a concept we are still grappling with. Let’s continue to pick leaders who are genuine about getting us to net zero. Bede Seymour, Warriewood
If we’re doing a pollution audit for EVs, Peter Phizacklea, to be fair, we need to do the same for petrol and diesel vehicles (Letters, May 2). They also produce pollution in their manufacture/disposal, but additionally during their lifespan they produce particulates linked to heart disease, cancer, lung disease and stroke, and present an enormous cost to the health system and lives. Plus, the noxious gases nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and various hydrocarbons also take a toll on health. Then, of course, there’s carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming and threatens our planet. So if you consider the full picture, rather than cherry-pick, EVs are the car of choice for those who value a living planet. Anne Matheson, Gordon
Correspondent Paul Haege was very quick to blame renewable energy for the recent blackout on the Iberian Peninsula and parts of southern France (Letters, May 2). I am currently travelling in that neck of the woods and I can assure him that, as yet, no cause has been found other than a malfunction of the digital interface with the grid. Rather than the specific energy source, at this point the question is not from where the energy came but why there was no manual override when the digital system failed. Perhaps waiting to find out what has actually happened before jumping on a hobby-horse might be wise. I can also assure Mr Haege that both Spain and Portugal are justifiably proud of their energy use of 80 per cent renewables, since this gives these countries relative energy independence from global volatility. We should be so lucky. Marie-Louise Dreux, Dulwich Hill
While the fossil fuel industry may indeed have far too much influence on government policies, it is a myth that it receives some $14 billion in government subsidies (Letters, May 2). The vast bulk of these so-called subsidies is the non-payment of fuel excise by those industries using petroleum fuel for stationary and off-road purposes. Impose these duties and it won’t cost the fossil fuel industry a cent – it will be the farmers, airlines and the mining industry that will meet the bill. Peter Lane, Margaret River (WA)
With age comes wisdom
What a sage and grounded reminder from the oldest living person of what really matters. After the numbing media overkill of the election campaigning, 115-year-old Ethel Caterham opines on her longevity secrets that “family is the most important thing in life … possessions don’t matter a bit in the end” (“UK woman, 115, named world’s oldest person”, May 2). Given that we’re a human family, with the unlikely odds and luck of having arrived here on countless ancestral shoulders, existing on the solitary known, perfect paradise in the universe, hopefully enough voters will rise above myopic selfish motives and consider the bigger picture that will resonate positively into the future for their own, and our collective, family. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville
Ethel Caterham celebrating her 115th birthday with family and friends in Surrey.Credit: Hallmark Care Homes
Rail against proposal
The proposed Town Hall Square is intended to be a community-friendly meeting spot with trees and seats, and a venue for events like celebrations and protests (“Obstacle to civic square build”, May 2). That’s hard to envisage when a noisy double-carriage light rail service trundles through at all hours of the day and night. But given the vicissitudes of transport planning in this city, perhaps by 2031 the light rail will be as redundant as the now-demolished monorail. Gillian Appleton, Paddington
A Welcome story
Brooke Boney writes truthfully and honestly (“We know it’s not about Welcome to Country”, May 2). It’s a refreshing read and conveys the true meaning of any “welcome”. She quotes Gandhi, who said the true greatness of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. In this regard, we as a society seem to have lost our way. Geoff Hermon, Maraylya
Brooke Boney’s article is a timely reminder that we are all members of the human race, regardless of what talents, money or status we might have. Race or religious beliefs don’t give us superiority. Only care and compassion, especially for those less well off than ourselves, will enable us to survive in this world of turmoil.Josephine Piper, Miranda
Harris nails it
The silence in the US Congress over Trump’s wildly destructive antics has been particularly alarming. That’s why Kamala Harris’ wake-up call is so refreshing (“‘It is not OK’: Fight back harder, Harris tells Dems”, May 2). In a single paragraph, she amply sums up the now bleak picture, singling out a “self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favour loyalists, cash-in on their power and leave everyone to fend for themselves, all while abandoning allies and retreating from the world”. I couldn’t put it any better. Larry Woldenberg, Forest Lodge
Hate writ large
Peter Dutton did make a clumsy mistake in labelling only the ABC and The Guardian “hate media”. He somehow forgot to include most of the Herald’s letter writers. Mary Julian, Glebe
Postscript
After five long weeks of relentless campaign chatter election day is upon us, and judging by the letters, most Herald correspondents have a clear idea of who they won’t be voting for.
Coalition leader Peter Dutton’s run for office has faltered after a series of political lapses. His last-minute preference call on Pauline Hanson this week was one. “The Coalition is willing to go to bed with One Nation to get a chance at winning government. Faust made the same sort of deal and that didn’t work out too well,” wrote Barry Ffrench.
Dutton also managed to offend by saying Welcome to Country shouldn’t be part of Anzac Day ceremonies because most veterans didn’t want it. Does that include the many Indigenous Australians who served their country, many readers asked?
“How dare that man tell Australians that we do not want the Welcome to Country on Anzac Day?” stormed Vietnam veteran John Verhelst. At the dawn service he organised “people were pleased to hear the WTC, many of them veterans.”
“Dutton is pushing the Welcome to Country button hoping that those who voted no to the Voice will heed his call,” added Genevieve Milton.
A reluctance to commit to renewable energy has also dragged on Dutton’s campaign. “He should hang his head in shame,” wrote Peter Brown, who was mightily impressed by the rapid expansion of green energy infrastructure on his recent trip to Europe.
Emulating Donald Trump hasn’t helped Dutton’s case either. “To reach Political Oblivion, turn sharp-right and continue turning right,” suggested Warren Marks.
Certain readers often point out the disproportionate number of “anti-Dutton” letters on our pages. Some even hint at a conspiracy. Ross Drynan, a self-declared member of the silent majority, went so far as to say “The name of the game at the Herald’s letters desk these days is hypocrisy writ large.”
We assure Ross that what you see is what we get – Herald letter writers don’t seem to be fans of Peter Dutton. But in the name of balance, more considered and interesting correspondence from our good Liberal-leaning readers would be very welcome.
Regardless of your political predilections, today let’s just appreciate having a vote that counts, use it wisely and enjoy a well-earned democracy sausage.
Ivan Hemens, letters desk
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