Airbrushing of Bill Shorten augurs ill for his future

Bill Shorten should watch his back. The last time Labor won a federal election from opposition it was united under a popular leader, Kevin Rudd, and we all know what happened to him before the end of the first term of his prime ministership (“Invisible Shorten gets brush from campaign flyers”, 22/4).

It is virtually certain that Shorten would not survive as the leader of his party if Labor loses on May 18. This is partly due to the rank and file members of the party who prefer Anthony Albanese.

Now that Labor has airbrushed Shorten from its campaign material in at least 27 electorates, it seems likely that even if he wins this election he may well not survive his first term as PM. The fact that he has been airbrushed from the campaign material of his deputy leader’s electorate also suggests Labor’s hierarchy have already prepared a succession plan.

Brent Walker, Killcare, NSW

Once again Labor wants voters to believe a lie. This time the party has airbrushed its unpopular leader, Bill Shorten, from advertising material in marginal seats.

Apart from anything else, this is immoral. Even worse, it’s deceptive and it’s cheating voters. But it’s in keeping with the lies that are being peddled by Labor in this campaign to date. If this were business, the Labor Party and its leaders would be in the dock charged with engaging in deceptive conduct.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

Bill Shorten’s policies are looking dated even before he has become PM. His plan to double our renewables capacity with no benefits but plenty of downsides, flies in the face of a world becoming increasingly sceptical about the future of solar and wind power and therefore the need for better technologies for power and carbon capture. The practicality of planting a trillion trees to match the world’s man-made carbon dioxide emissions is receiving serious attention.

Wind and solar technology, due to their inherent inefficiencies, intermittency and high cost, aren’t up to the task. The IEA forecasts that by 2040 wind and solar energy will contribute just 4 per cent of the world’s needs. There aren’t better alternatives to coal-fired power, apart from nuclear.

A Shorten government would be all about picking winners in a futile attempt to build up popularity as the basis for a long-term government.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Robert Gottliebsen presents a blunt assessment of Labor’s agenda (“ALP pits children against parents”, 22/4). An attempt to fleece one section of society to enrich another is the most discredited notion in economic history. It has never delivered any benefit.

The entire policy manifesto contains or procures two forms of social malignancy. The first entails a disruption in established norms of economic and financial management without a semblance of predictability and disregard for unintended consequences.

Rather than a natural, demand-based transmission of capital assets from one generation to the next as part of humanity’s instinctive process towards familial economic survival, Labor seeks to wreck the process by dispensing with discretion and installing command-based mechanisms that would have made Lenin proud.

Second, friction and disruption of family relationships that are bound to follow is not only deleterious to social cohesion, but economically counter-productive as the holders of assets take up urgent, often ill-considered measures by withdrawing or relocating capital to the detriment of all.

George Carabelas, Mt Barker, SA

No matter how good Coalition policies are compared to the opposition, if the Liberals and Nationals fail to articulate them, they will be losers. This election will largely be based in spurious climate change data and policies. Due to excellent marketing by the green-left, most people not only believe climate change is real but that Australia acting alone can stop the warming armageddon.

A few advertisements showing the number of coal-fired power stations being built around the world would counteract green-left assertions.

In the last Queensland election, Labor painted the LNP as the party of privatisation. The LNP just accepted the untrue tag. I talked to an LNP adviser who said it was not the LNP’s fault, the media didn’t want to tell the story. Federally, Labor might not deserve to win, but the Coalition deserves to be beaten.

Graham Johnson, Dutton Park, Qld