Frydenberg right to intervene over Andrews’ poor handling of Covid

Thank God Victorians have got someone like Josh Frydenberg with the political courage to call out Daniel Andrews for the complete cot case Victoria has become under the Premier’s inept leadership (“Frydenberg pressure helps call time on Vic lockdown”, 18/10). Victoria will eventually recover from the Covid crisis where the Andrews cure has been worse than the virus.

However, it should never be forgotten by Victorians that when our biggest peacetime crisis came along our government and its leadership badly let us down. We should never have to be reminded of the unnecessary loss of life, loss of tens of thousands of businesses, loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, loss of educational opportunity for every student in Victoria, an unprecedented rise in mental health issues and the huge financial debt accrued that will take decades to eradicate.

Peter D. Surkitt, Sandringham, Vic

Pushing back on China

Peter Jennings rightly calls for the liberal democracies to push back on China (“Xi is testing our limits and the West must push back”, 18/10). For too long we have allowed China to play us for fools: turning a blind eye to its expansion in the South China Sea; giving China developing country status in the World Trade Organisation; allowing it to bully countries through economic coercion; and permitting it to indulge in cyber theft and cyber warfare without penalty. It is within the West’s remit to inflict pushback on China that will give Xi Jinping pause on the Taiwan issue.

A major key lies in economic sanctions through the removal of developing country status and an embargo on selected Chinese goods for export and on raw materials China needs to feed its economy. Yes, it will mean some sacrifice, but war would demand much more. The compact between the emperor and the people has always been that he would provide stability and the people would become prosperous. When that breaks down there is “great disorder under Heaven” within China and the possibility of political change.

Jim Wilson, Beaumont, SA

Independents day

South Australia’s Mount Barker political and infrastructure morass (“Major parties exposed as voters show independence”, 18/10) is a textbook example of the failure of both major parties to take note of local concerns.

A decade ago, the Rann Labor government in SA created a planning and infrastructure nightmare by rezoning the Mount Barker area for a tenfold or more increase in population to over 100,000 without providing any strategy, planning or support for infrastructure. Subsequently it acknowledged that to be a mistake but made little moves to rectify it, a lead followed by the current Liberal government.

And the greater electorate has not been a safe seat for anybody, let alone blue-ribbon Liberal, since Alexander Downer nearly lost it to the Democrats almost a quarter of a century ago. Disillusionment at the Liberal Party parachuting in candidates had its consequence in the election (three times now) of the well-regarded and hardworking independent Rebekha Sharkie.

With the mix of infrastructure mess and disdain for locals both major parties have displayed, there’s little point in painting the now independent and new Speaker Dan Cregan as a money-grubbing turncoat. He has been an active and vigorous local state member, and his independence, given the example set by Sharkie, is more likely to help him keep the seat as not. Both Labor and Liberal have made it so.

Tim Fatchen, Mount Barker, SA

Faceblocked

Claire Lehmann (“The digital Frankenstein feeding on hate, rage”, 18/10) highlights the extremes of the covert monstrosity of Facebook. May I add to these evils the insidious injection into people’s lives of the resultant fracturing of relationships? A platform that was supposed to bring people closer together by the simple process of having them post comments or activities lacking in any real personal contact is open to all sorts of misinterpretation. While this result is not as serious as those considered by Lehmann, they can and do have the effect of driving people further apart rather than connecting them.

For myself, I find it better to avoid Facebook unless absolutely necessary – it generally has had a toxic influence on my friendships. Frankenstein never influenced anything like this monster has.

Glenda Ellis, Bardon, Qld

Age of resentment

Civilisation was empowered by the Age of Enlightenment only to be suborned by the new Age of Resentment (Letters, 18/10). The woke fuzz will never cancel our cultural heritage, which sustains us all. Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon is the only bookish influencer you need. It will survive Fahrenheit 451.

Mike Fogarty, Weston, ACT