Last Post, December 8

Perhaps it’s not so silly to suggest Malcolm Turnbull might join the Labor Party.

Graham Blackman (Letters, 7/12) has come up with a brilliant suggestion — get Malcolm Turnbull to join the Labor Party and thus ensure a victory for the Liberals next year.

James Nelson, Koonwarra, Vic

I expect Malcolm Turnbull will soon be making a start on his Christmas cards. Something about peace and goodwill, I suppose.

Elizabeth Moser, Newtown, Vic

Sure, there’s still a glimmer of hope left for the Liberal Party at the federal election, but there’s barely enough reliable or affordable electricity left to sustain it.

Crispin Walters, Chapel Hill, Qld

An honourable way to solve the Jim Molan issue would be for Tony Abbott to stand aside and have Molan endorsed for Warringah. This would avoid what I see brewing as a potentially nasty, left-driven fight in the electorate that could see Abbott beaten by another nondescript independent.

Ian Murray, Cremorne Point, NSW

Henry Ergas offers an erudite examination of recent political dynamics (“Spirit of Ajax won’t do Liberals much good”, 7/12). Whether this is experienced as schadenfreude by the Liberal left, or panic by its right, he constructs a political psychodrama worthy of a classical Greek tragedy, and in so doing, consolidates his position at the zenith of his authorial craft.

Robert Bright, Yorkeys Knob, Qld

It will save a lot of time if the two doctors approving asylum-seeker entry to Australia, simultaneously approved them for the disability pension the government will give them when they arrive.

Graham Johnson, Dutton Park, Qld

What a pity Bill Shorten couldn’t read Brian Povey’s erudite letter (6/12) before proposing the hare-brained subsidies for battery storage on domestic solar.

David Lewis, Kingsley, WA

Is there any other government in the world that announces the cost of its submarines before they’ve even been designed or, if you go back to when Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews first announced the ludicrous figure of $50 billion before the tendering process has even finished (“Pyne torpedoes talk of subs blowout and delay”, 6/12)? The French must think we’re stupid, and they might be right.

Russell Graham, Highton, Vic

The recent widespread protests and riots by the “yellow vests” in France, show how voters can possess high ideals — in this case about climate change — but when fuel tax hikes hit the hip pocket, there are howls of dissent and disunity. It appears that ideals are fine and dandy, as long as the cost of these ideals is borne by someone else.

Kerrin Falconer, Hawthorn, SA