Credit: Cathy Wilcox
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.
BUDGET REPLY
I don’t get it, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says that the tax cuts are going to benefit all tax-paying Australians (“Labor’s surprise bid to shake Dutton”, 26/3). But what about those Australians who most need our help, those people who are on welfare benefits? Is this a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? Jobseeker and rental assistance will not be receiving a “top-up”. However, surely a sign that Australia is a prosperous country is demonstrated by how we support those most vulnerable. By ensuring welfare programs remain adequately funded and accessible, we promote social equity and create opportunities for individuals to contribute meaningfully to society. Julie Ottobre, Brunswick East
Dutton wedged on handouts
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has cleverly wedged the federal opposition. The big question now is whether Peter Dutton’s team more than matches Labor’s temporary titillation or is brave enough to offer substantial tax reform?
Kevin Burke, Sandringham
Trickle-down theory is Trump 101
Let’s see if I’ve got this right. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor says the Liberals would deny wage earners the proposed Labor tax cuts (“Coalition to vote against Labor’s tax cuts”, 26/3). Giving money to small businesses, he says, would stimulate economic growth which eventually would benefit everyone, including wage earners. Doesn’t this sound like Trump 101? (Ye old trickle-down theory). Has that ever worked?
Noel Lodge, Lilydale
Climate change fails to rate
The $14.45 billion for Victoria in the Budget will certainly not stop this Victorian from complaining (“On this occasion, Victorians have little cause for complaint”, 26/3). In fact, I am furious about the complete absence of climate change as the most urgent problem which not just Victorians but all Australians are facing. Media reports have barely mentioned climate change or the environment. One would think the natural disasters of the past few months never happened. Remember the bushfires, cyclones, floods and droughts? But the headlines are tax cuts and non-means tested energy bill rebates.
Of course, some people will need help to pay bills, but the solution has to be upscaling the development of renewables and assisting people to make their homes more sustainable. State and federal governments must get serious about helping individuals, and preferably neighbourhoods, to have access to battery storage.
Kerry Echberg, Princes Hill
Labor ignores the poor
Labor has shot itself in the electoral foot with its tax cuts and nothing for those on welfare. Many people at both ends of the income scale neither care about nor understand the government’s rationale; they just object to the unfairness of it at a time when kids are being sent to school without lunch.
Sue Currie, Northcote
Little hope for First Nations
I watched Treasurer Jim Chalmers present the Budget. I waited and waited for some reference to the First Nations people. It wasn’t until the last five minutes of the presentation that reference was made to Closing the Gap. It does show the priority that the government has in regards to this question, and it starkly demonstrates where the First Nations people rank in our nation.
Frankly, I was ashamed, and if the Labor Party is unable to give the priority it needs, and the Coalition is unlikely to, then what hope is there for the First Nations people to advance their cause?
Bruce MacKenzie, South Kingsville
Hey, big spender
Oh, the irony! Liberal shadow treasurer Angus Taylor accuses Labor of spending money to win votes. Can’t say I noticed a single whiteboard or car park plan during the treasurer’s budget delivery.
Helen Moss, Croydon
THE FORUM
Reform needs stability
“It is a budget we wished on ourselves.” These are the wisest words of the normally sensible, champion of the underdog, Ross Gittins, in his drubbing of Labor’s budget (“Jim’s charmless budget cuts the interest in a timid government”, 26/3). His continual accusation of timidity in Labor’s approaches helps a draconian Peter Dutton into power.
Does Gittins not see the fine line that must be trodden to avoid wedging by an opposition, intent on power without reason and the ability to goad a gullible public motivated by short-sighted “hip-pocket” concerns?
Responsible long-term economic management, and with it, radical tax reform, cannot be achieved without government stability and time to earn enough trust to convince a basically self-interested populace. A government out of office cannot even start.
Alastair Pritchard, Templestowe
Timid for a reason
Ross Gittins says that this government is timid and uninspired. Because Labor’s parliamentary majority is small, to become aggressive and inspiring would mean political suicide. The opposition and the media would dial up scaremongering to 11.
Michael Brinkman, Ventnor
Cheers for aid
Two cheers to Jim Chalmers for increasing foreign aid roughly in line with inflation. Australia is relatively wealthy, and should be able to help other countries by more than the current paltry
0.18 per cent of GDP (“Labor’s surprise bid to shake Dutton”, 26/3).
At least we did not follow Britain, which cut its aid budget to prop up increased defence spending. Or copy Donald Trump in one of his most inhumane and unchristian acts by abruptly suspending USAID altogether.
John Hughes, Mentone
Sporting chance
While the treasurer is vilified for trying to find money for housing, for the disadvantaged, to help Indigenous people, for healthcare, and for the disabled, while building up our military defences and rescuing the economy in uncertain times, no one comments on the apparently bottomless purse available to build stadiums, tennis complexes, golf courses and Formula 1 infrastructure.
Indeed, money to bolster all of the sports which used to be the Saturday leisure activities of ordinary people and have become the province of the elite.
Kay Moulton, Surrey Hills
Battleship diversion
Whoever is in power, when the budget is delivered, it should not be a question of what do we get for our money, but what is being done for the most vulnerable? The opposition is a party of no policies; Labor a government of no ambition. The answer to my question is nothing is being done.
If we are to believe in restraint, and we have a deficit to worry about, how does increased military spending not contribute to debt?
Unlike doing something for the poor, say, raising the unemployed out of poverty or offering free dentistry on Medicare, both of which improve society and GDP.
Buying missiles or subsidising unrealised projects dreamt up over a game of Battleship never sees a financial return.
Anders Ross, Heidelberg
See you later
Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor’s catchphrase is, “We’ll have more to say about that later”, yet, over the past three years in opposition, “later” never comes.
After every policy headline they create, very little information follows. Here we are on the eve of an election and the opposition don’t have much on the table.
Can someone enlighten me on what the LNP have been doing since 2022? I’m assuming they haven’t been working from home, given that’s one idea I know they are against.
Robert Stephenson, St Kilda East
Lack of contrition
I do not think anyone should be surprised that supposedly top-level officials of Donald Trump’s administration carelessly added in a journalist into their little military planning powwow over the Signal messaging service (“Jaw-dropping gall from team Trump who just can’t admit a mistake”, 26/3). I mean, these are all people who are avowed loyalists to the US president but, beyond this dubious qualification, have little real-world experience in good governance.
I’m not making excuses for their blunder here, because there are no reasonable excuses. Yet, true to form, all the people involved have tried to shift the blame, mainly to the journalist who exposed them.
I think we should all be concerned about the lack of contrition and that these people have, so far, failed to understand the implications of what they did. Firstly, they used a commercially available messaging app to discuss military operations, and secondly, they added in a journalist.
Their responses can only be described as “flippant”, from Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth dismissing concerns over the content of the messages, and Trump protecting the officials.
Flippancy might be a characteristic response of some children when they are caught out but it is not a great look for people in charge of the greatest military apparatus in the world.
Jeremy de Korte, Newington
Loyalty above ability
Donald Trump’s team’s inexcusable incompetence in dealing with communications security surrounding the Yemen air strikes is a direct consequence of the US president picking people based on loyalty above ability.
Experienced people simply would not have done this. How can we trust this administration in the future? The blasé response just compounds the blunder.
Ross Hudson, Mount Martha
Eyes closed
Your correspondents (Letters, 26/3) make good points regarding Australia’s relations with Donald Trump’s America, but they overlook one major impediment.
As long as Australia is part of the Five Eyes security arrangement, we will be tied to Trump’s America. No other member of this intelligence-sharing arrangement has indicated a willingness to dispense with it, and until the United Kingdom does, nor will Australia.
We could, of course, go ahead without it, and change our security and defence posture, but what is the chance of that?
John Whelen, Box Hill South
Cleanliness claim insulting
From a personal perspective, I found Jacqueline Wilson’s opinion piece (“As an ex-cleaner,
here’s everything you blokes do wrong”, 25/3) on the supposed gender imbalance in domestic cleanliness insulting.
I wholly acknowledge that women have historically done most of the domestic obligations in a household, with patriarchy being the primary cause.
However, this article depicts all men (her words, “Yes, I’m stereotyping”) as hygienically inept yet egotistical in whatever domestic contribution they make and reads as steeped in an underlying resentment that is gender-based and inaccurate.
I don’t believe that I’m any exception to the contributor’s bias, but I’ve supported myself since I was 18 years old and have always contributed to domestic needs in relationships with an intent of equality.
Jae Sconce, Moonee Ponds
Genocide in progress
Your correspondent (Letters, 26/3) objects to the word genocide because only 2.5 per cent of the Gaza population have been killed by the Israel Defence Forces. I would think it is clearly a genocide in progress.
Let’s not wait until it reaches 100 per cent.
Jerry Koliha, South Melbourne
Welcome to country
In his advertisement, Clive Palmer states: “Australia ... It’s our country, we don’t need to be welcomed to it.” Palmer obviously doesn’t know that when any First Nations traditional owner welcomes us to any of their significant number of unceded traditional countries, that is what they are welcoming us to. Not to Australia which didn’t exist as a nation until 1901, but to their particular country.
It would be good if Palmer knew a bit about our history and First Nations culture.
Ro Bailey, Hawthorn
Look to future
The wide range of opinions on the Suburban Rail Loop (Letters, 26/3) result from people looking at the project from very different time perspectives. When looked at over the next 10 to 15 years, the SRL does not make much sense. There is no great demand for rail trips from Cheltenham to Box Hill, and it seems incredibly expensive.
But most importantly, Melburnians still think about their car for most urban travel.
However, if we analyse the impact of the project over the next 30 to 100 years, the SRL must be built. Without it, we will be developing a spreading city with a continuing high dependency on cars. Cities that commit to comprehensive public transport systems are more connected, and have more scope for open spaces.
It is a pity we didn’t build the SRL 100 years ago, like London. If we had, we wouldn’t have obliterated our creek valleys – natural linear parks – with freeways. The costly North East Link would not be being built.
Urban transport systems must be judged over long time frames.
Howard Tankey, Box Hill North
Boxed-in camping
Regarding discussion about the Port Fairy Folk Festival change from little tents to large caravans and motor homes (Traveller, 22/3): Unfortunately, this is in line with all camping trends where everything is inside your “box”.
I notice caravan parks are generally becoming less sociable. Now everyone has their own shower and toilet so you don’t meet having the morning “shave”.
TV and internet are universal within vans which are heated and air-conditioned – more reason to stay locked inside.
This trend is a shame because camping used to be a great social way to meet people.
Robert Irvine, Sunbury
AND ANOTHER THING ...
It’s good to hear my favourite car, the Ford Estimates, getting a mention in the budget.
Suzanne Palmer-Holton, Seaford
Credit: Matt Golding
Another cup of coffee a week! That will be two each seven days. I will have to lie down to calm the palpitations. And think about the national debt.
Adrian Tabor, Point Lonsdale
Was Jim Chalmers’ rare, pastel-pink tie worn as a lure for the female vote in the upcoming election? Tris Raouf, Hadfield
One July ’26 tax cut minus inflation and tax creep equals?
Forbes Sprawson, Hampton
Palmer
It would be most helpful if billionaire Clive Palmer told us exactly when and how Australia was last “great”, as he keeps telling us this will happen again.
Simon Tatz, Newport
I believe there is a spelling error in one of the political advertisements in your publication. It should read: “Trump’s pets are Parrots.”
Robert Juozas, Eaglemont
Trump
As classified information breaches go, this one was much classier than some (“Trump brushes off journalist’s inclusion in military chat”, 26/3). At least these state secrets weren’t left in a box next to the toilet.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
It would seem that one of the members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership can see nothing other than the emperor’s new clothes.
Russell Brims, Bentleigh East
Furthermore
Love the SRL, but it needs a more affectionate marketing name – how about Loopey?
Greg Curtin, Nunawading
With the SRL as a “must have”, the Allan government is must having itself to electoral oblivion.
Alan Williams, Port Melbourne
Finally
How did Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin morph into Simon Badloss? Please, for the sake of Demon fans, change your name back.
Brian Horswell, Point Cook
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
To submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number below your letter. No attachments. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.