Family home should be tested

Paul Versteege, policy manager of the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association, argues against including the family home in the assets test for the age pension (“Call to cut tax rates for rich retirees”, 5/11). He reasons that “greater federal budget savings could be found by examining tax concessions for wealthy Australians”.

This is a spurious argument and overlooks the unfairness of exempting the family home. If it is fair to exclude the family home owned by a pensioner, why wouldn’t it be fair for pensioners renting a family home to receive a commensurate allowance for the rental they have to pay?

Greg Perryman, East Melbourne, Vic

When I lived in the smart eastern suburbs in Sydney, I came across many asset-rich, income-poor residents. Many elderly home owners would love to downsize but stamp duty mainly stops them (“Elderly in $1m-plus homes raking in $6.3bn in pensions”, 4/11). People over the age of 70 also flinch at costly real estate fees.

If only the government would lower or abolish stamp duty those retirees could downsize, leaving family-size homes available for the young. They might even find themselves with a jam pot of money and therefore might not need the full aged pension.

It’s a win-win situation. Out of interest, New Zealand’s aged pension is not means tested and is available to everyone. How they do it beats me.

Marianne Stevens, Halls Head, WA

Whipping horses

Patrick Smith rightly condemns relentless whipping of horses as they run for the finish line (“Day of the big lie”, 5/11) The racing authorities claim they consider horse welfare by limiting the whippings to an acceptable number.

Yes, like allowing the school to cane your child five times but not 10.

Our Cup, and Victorian racing in general, is unique, people say. Not so; the whipping is exactly the same everywhere it occurs.

How about we make our racing stand out above all other racing localities: ditch the whip. Visiting jockeys and horses would have to learn to perform at their best without whipping. That would take great skill. Local jockeys and horses might do it better and start winning the Cup. Until the rest of the world followed our lead.

David McRae, Kangaroo Flat, Vic

No sham

Boss of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union Dave Noonan claims my crackdown on thugs like Joe McDonald was a politically motivated sham (“CFMEU to Labor: change tack on trade or cash stops”, 26-27/11). Was it also a sham when McDonald was fined over incidents that collectively cost union members more than $1 million in penalties? Or when Murray Wilcox QC, a famously progressive jurist, identified a “culture of lawlessness” on worksites that demanded a coercive watchdog?

Was it a sham when Bob Hawke, a unionist of the first order, said Labor should consider expelling the CFMEU’s worst elements from its ranks? Or when former ACTU presidents Simon Crean and Martin Ferguson also demanded the union clean up its act? Or when Paul Keating lashed it for giving succour to John Howard’s campaign to slash workers’ rights?

Our commitment to workers was evidenced by defeating Howard, repealing WorkChoices and passing the Fair Work Act. Yet when Labor was giving its all against Tony Abbott, CFMEU offices were donating more than $180,000 to the Greens’ campaign against us. These new soulmates can have each other as far as I’m concerned.

Rather than standing up for John Setka, Noonan should focus on making the union movement more relevant to the changing structure of work and demands on family life.

Kevin Rudd, New York, US