Future Fund must be preserved and secured for next generation

Peter Costello’s pride in the Future Fund and his concerns for its future are quite justified (“ ‘Don’t raid Future Fund’: Costello”, 13/11). It is to the credit of the Howard government that, after paying off the $93bn debt inher­ited from Labor in 1996, it invested the Telstra proceeds and resource revenue it received into this venture.

Two smaller future funds, intended for health and education, were swallowed up by the Gillard government and sank without trace. To his credit, Kevin Rudd set Costello as watchdog over the main fund, and it has survived and earned $144bn. As Costello reminds us, this asset reassures the money market and saves the government billions in interest on its borrowings.

Contrary to Labor mythology, the “rivers of gold” enjoyed in the Howard years actually increased after 2007 but have been consumed as general revenue. An Albanese government, desperate for funds to achieve its fantasy zero-emissions goals, must have its eyes on this nest egg and must be warned off.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic

What a pity Peter Costello is no longer our federal treasurer; there has not been another since his time who could come anywhere near his level of expertise and competence. The Howard government establishment of the Future Fund was a stroke of genius; one that, if not interfered with, will assist significantly in ensuring future generations are not forced into national bankruptcy.

But I’m afraid Labor in its greed may see this fund as an opportunity to get it out of fiscal drowning. It will also see it as an opportunity for vote buying; to look better than it is and to cover poor management of the country’s purse. All thinking Australians should be conscious of Costello’s parting words and must hold the Albanese government, along with future governments of both persuasions, accountable for protecting the fund. Indeed, we must insist the government, in areas such as defence, pay its way rather than increase its liability, relying on the Future Fund to “pay later”.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

While I agree with Peter Costello that we should not raid the Future Fund now, I can’t forget that when he established that fund he was the highest taxing treasurer in post-war history, increasing tax as a percentage of GDP from 21.9 per cent to 24.3 per cent. He sold over $70bn of government assets that previous governments had paid for and, most important, in 11 years in government the Coalition built virtually no infrastructure to replace some of what it had sold off. We are paying the price in low productivity for that lack of investment.

Barry Harrod, Fig Tree Pocket, Qld

Online censorship

As Nick Cater writes, we don’t have to reach far back into the 20th century to discover that granting the state the power to declare what can and can’t be said is a shortcut to totalitarianism (“PM’s tactics must be defeated on censorship bill”, 13/11).

As Cater reminds us, during Covid-19 we had a taste of what it’s meant for free speech to be circumscribed by the official line. In 1941, early in World War II, president Franklin D. Roosevelt told congress, “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms”: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of every person to worship; freedom from want and freedom from fear. In Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell encapsulated freedom of speech as the freedom to say two plus two makes four. If that is granted all else follows.

Under no circumstances ought any government be given the power to prescribe what we might or might not say. To do so is fatal to our freedom, for that controls the present and, as Orwell wrote in the same work, who controls the present controls the past and also the future. In the spirit of Cater’s concluding words, for those who value our liberal democracy the Albanese government cannot be allowed to succeed with its Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Bill and any bill in lieu because of the restriction the legislation of such may impose on our freedom of speech and expression.

Ian Dunlop, Hawks Nest, NSW

Volunteering tax

Let me explain the fundamentals of taxation to Dick Smith, who apparently complained that he had paid no tax in the last financial year (“Dick Smith donates $1m to the ATO after discovering he owed no tax due to his generous donations to charities”, 11-12/11). As his no doubt expensive accountant should have advised him, if you donate directly to charities, you reduce your tax liability or, as in Smith’s case, negate it. The options are to continue donating to worthy causes, or you can cease those donations and pay tax to the government where who knows how it will be applied. Either way you will be no more or no less out of pocket and you will obviously feel good. It’s really not a difficult decision.

Ross Eastgate, Benowa, Qld