Experience matters in case of Andrews’s poor handling of crisis

Jennifer Oriel’s description of lies, blame-shifting, selective memory, obfuscation and amnesia omits only one crucial factor (“Hotels run like no one was watching … no one was”, 28/9). This is that, under Labor, ministerial portfolios are allocated on the basis of factional deals, gender and ethnic representation targets, and the favour of warlords. Ability and expertise in the area concerned count for little. It is a very shallow talent pool from which these ministers are fished, with no business or work experience, outside of the unions, university politics and a handful of Labor law firms.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic

Daniel Andrews, you have thrown us some morsels and think we should be satisfied (“State must wait for freedom”, 28/9). It reminds me of Marie Antoinette saying to the peasants: “Let them eat cake.” Your incompetence has led to me being locked out of my office (for which I continue to pay rent) and unable to confer with my clients. I cannot believe that you decided that the law and ability of lawyers to confer with their clients is not an essential industry. Your attitude to people who actually create something in society beggars belief.

Malcolm Gray, Barrister, Melbourne

Those of us in Queensland have our own leadership failings to deal with but we have a state election soon to hopefully clear out the cobwebs. However, you poor Victorians have more nonsense to put up with from Daniel Andrews. Could he please explain what “COVID normal” is, as he says Victoria hopes to be in that position by Christmas?

Julie Dowd, Ingham, Qld

A waste of energy

Boosting Australia’s manufacturing sector (“Manufacturing vision drives blueprint for future”, 28/9) will be a challenge. Our small domestic market and high production costs compared with those of Asian countries saw the collapse of much manufacturing once tariff protection largely ended. We can certainly make high-quality goods, but it’s hard to sell them in a competitive international market.

Norm Neill, Darlinghurst, NSW

Sanjeev Gupta says Australia can use our natural climate advantages and mineral resources to make cheap hydrogen and steel (“We can lead in green steel”, 28/9). Gupta also notes that it will require “collaboration, commitment, ambition and follow-through — and a genuine appetite to create a sustainable future for industry and the societies we serve”. I wish I could believe that we will collectively muster these qualities.

Lesley Walker, Northcote, Victoria

Maurice Newman rightly challenges the broadbrush approach to getting Snowy 2.0 going, noting the significant increase in costs involved (“Nostalgia won’t protect this Snowy white elephant”, 28/9). This reminds me of the academic view on Snowy 1.0. An age ago, Sydney University’s Current Affairs Bulletin condemned the economics of the project but fortunately concluded that future generations might appreciate its value. Given the increasing fragility of the national electricity network, I’m betting that history will repeat itself.

Ken Dredge, Coolum Beach, Qld

Malcolm Turnbull is associated with three exorbitant legacies: the $10.5bn Snowy project, a consumer of more electricity than it will produce; the ratification of the UN’s unfair Paris Agreement; and the $90bn decision to redesign French nuclear submarines to run on diesel, not to be delivered until 2035. Yet Scott Morrison remains effusive about all three calls. On Snowy 2.0, ScoMo says he likes the numbers, while Paris he wants to meet and beat, and the submarines plan he describes as audacious. When the dubious legacies of a former PM are praised by his successor, they should be more accurately known as Turnbull-Morrison joint ventures.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW