The Greens and Albanese need a serious reality check

With Adam Bandt in charge, the Greens have taken a significant turn to the left, confirming its watermelon description (green on the outside, red on the inside). The latest pronouncements from its defence spokesman (“Greens brush off concerns on China”, 18/4), confirm their increasing detachment from reality; what does Bob Brown make of all this?

The party’s original aims of saving the environment by destroying mining, farming, fishing, dams, forestry, manufacturing, etc., and with them the country’s economy, may be about to proceed with Labor’s assistance.

In their utopian future, there would be little revenue remaining to pay for the imported and subsidised solar and windmills necessary to keep the lights on; that’s assuming that they could still be made without the coal, iron, minerals, concrete and plastics we directly and indirectly export (“Coal expansion to test the Greens”, 18/4).

Meanwhile, the school curriculum will be re-written, woke codes of conduct enforced, and family values destroyed; our increasingly meagre national income will be spread yet more thinly for extra welfare payments for the increasing number in poverty, and those unable or unwilling to work. Their Marxist solution of soaking the rich to pay the increased bills will no longer work – if there are any billionaires left, they will have emigrated to more sensible countries.

As the Greens will have also defunded our defence force, a more urgent threat to our well-being looms ever closer in the Solomon Islands. Perhaps our “salvation” from this madness will come when we are invaded by another country, wanting to plunder our pristine environment for its buried resources.

Graham Pinn, Maroochydore, Qld

With Anthony Albanese’s disastrous first week of marketing himself and Labor as the alternative government, then Ben Packham’s front page article (“Greens brush off concerns on China”, 18/4) and further endorsed by Nick Cater’s column (“Hung parliament threatens to leave us green at the gills”, 18/4), any undecided voters would have to think twice about either of these political parties or the so-called independents linked to Climate 200 with their preferences supporting Labor/Greens or a hung parliament.

Many of us have not forgotten the Gillard minority government and the likes of Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Peter Slipper used to prop up Labor. Australia cannot afford to fall into this situation again.

Ian Kent, Renmark, SA

Cameron Milner doesn’t blame Anthony Albanese for the debacle of his first week’s campaigning (“Hubris at Labor HQ will not erase week from hell”, 18/4). And Dennis Shanahan says it’s time Albanese stopped acting like just an Opposition Leader (“Albo needs to step up as alternative PM”, 18/4).

However, if Albanese is prime ministerial material then he has to show us he can make the right decisions.

The trouble is, he can’t. Albanese is hamstrung by the dichotomy of his nature. He is a left wing troglodyte trying to operate in an open free market economy.

He can only espouse very few of his real policies, like 24-hour nurses, and urgent care clinics, because the rest of his leftist policies would terrify the Australian voters. We will never see the true Albanese during this campaign because his reality is not what accords with that of the majority of Australians.

Alexander Haege, Tamarama, NSW

It is unhealthy for the democratic process for one party to govern to eternity. Therefore the question becomes; when should swinging voters support an opposition into government?

My contention is that this election is not the time to replace a weakened Coalition government with a prospectively ineffectual Labor one (“Boos fest as Albanese faces tough crowd”, 18/4).

If Labor loses this election they should be in a powerful position to win the next federal election with prospectively Jim Chalmers leading a powerful economic team possibly led by Andrew Charlton (subject to his being elected in Parramatta or “shoehorned” into a safe seat in a by-election) as treasurer.

The catalyst for this change of Labor leadership structure would be Labor losing the current election.

David Lion, Bondi, NSW