Nationals’ exit from Coalition a warning signal to Liberals

The decision of the Nationals to exit the Coalition, at least for the moment, is the smartest thing they could have done.

They are signalling clearly to the Liberals that, in the aftermath of the worst defeat the Coalition has ever experienced, it must not be business as usual – in other words, a slow drift to the left.

It would have been prompted by the fact, instead of first conducting a thorough review of the defeat and developing a forward-looking strategy along conservative lines and then electing a leader best suited to prosecute the new agenda, they rushed into electing a leader from the same failed leadership team.

This was the wake-up call the Liberals needed.

Peter O’Brien, Kiama, NSW

Post election, I thought the Liberals had shot themselves in the foot, but on hearing the news of the Liberals-Nationals split it seems to me the Liberals have managed to shoot themselves in the other foot, too.

Mary-Anne Higgins, Rose Park, SA

The Nationals have taken the first step, now they need to seriously consider going truly national and putting up candidates in every seat.

They should also actively recruit sitting Liberal MPs who have had enough of the party’s ongoing slide to the wet left.

The Liberal leftovers would then be free to chase their foolish teal dreams while the Nationals could get down to the serious business of arguing for the policies the country desperately needs.

The two parties would naturally still preference each other, but I suspect the Nationals would have more appeal to traditional Liberal voters in the city and would likely end up as the dominant party in a future coalition.

Burt Bosma, Surrey Hills, Vic

If the Liberal Party is to do well at the next federal election, it will have to move back towards the political centre.

Doing so will be an opportunity for the many forward-looking Liberals to break free from David Littleproud’s reactionary National Party, which is too far to the right of the political spectrum to be elected by the majority of voters who tend towards centrism – to stability, reliability and a sense of gradual, achievable national progress.

On its own, a more progressive Liberal Party would surely be able to regain many who voted ALP.

Ron Sinclair, Windradyne, NSW

Snowy tunnel vision

The Snowy 2.0 project is already way over budget in terms of completion time and cost (“Snowy workers to strike: more in the pipeline”, 20/5).

An extra one day lost due to a workers strike will not make an iota of difference to the finish date. But higher pay rates for unionists will add a significant cost to the project. The government holds all the cards here.

But can anyone, including the sight-impaired Freddy, imagine the Albanese government following the example of Bob Hawke by saying no?

Paul Murray, Mollymook Beach, NSW

High-paid ‘boring’ jobs

I read that a tunneller could be paid $230,000 a year, and FIFO workers on the Snowy Hydro project are similarly remunerated. Given that a member of parliament in Canberra also earns about the same, the question should be asked: who has the most “boring” job?

Roy Stall, Mount Claremont, WA

The workers at Snowy Hydro are planning to strike for higher pay. They plan to put down tools and do nothing. The quandary will be to see if that is different to any other day.

Tony Hennessy, Casino, NSW

PM’s fashion sense

Anthony Albanese continues to show he’s no Zegna-wearing Paul Keating with his lack of fashion sense.

The inappropriate oversized Akubra the Prime Minister wore to the Pope’s inauguration was just the latest in his dumbing down of the office he holds.

Paul Clancy, Adelaide

Where AI loses out

Kate Pounder promulgates artificial intelligence as the solution to our productivity problems (“Bold strategy will help carve our place in AI race”, 20/5). I have yet to see AI lay a brick or hammer in a nail on any building site.

Maybe it could speed up the government approvals process. But somehow I doubt it.

Alexander Haege, Tamarama, NSW

Way out of tax threat

The proposed increase in tax on superannuation accounts above $3m will see many investors looking for alternative assets, preferably ones carrying significant tax write-offs.

Does anyone have a slightly used hydrogen electrolyser factory for sale?

Mark Scanlan, Hawthorne, Qld

It is beyond cynicism for the government to introduce a tax from which its members could be exempt. Precisely why are state and federal MPs, judges and certain “officials” exempt from this tax?

How do you define an appropriate official? These people are among the highest paid in the country and should be required to pay.

Marian Hinwood, Elsternwick, Vic