Victoria needs to prepare for a return to democracy

It’s all very well for Daniel Andrews to attack Josh Frydenberg, but there are many other high-profile, well-qualified and experienced business and industry leaders, academics and epidemiologists — Innes Willox, Jennifer Westacott, Matt Comyn, Gerry Harvey and Paul Broad among them — making the same comments as the Treasurer (“Rage against the regime: end lockdown ‘torture’”, 20/20).

The problem is Andrews is typical of most, if not all, of those on the left side of politics. They have no idea how business operates, with little if any experience in the private sector. Few, if any, have ever run a business; started a business from scratch; borrowed money and put their house on the line to secure funds; employed people out of their own pocket; made major adjustments to their finances and put themselves into truly challenging financial situations such as facing the current draconian restrictions that hardly apply to any part of the public sector. The Premier should get a life.

Robin Billen, Toorak, Vic

Peta Credlin is right on the money: the only way to hold the Victorian government to account for the loss of more than 800 fellow Australians is to set up a federal royal commission as soon as the Coate inquiry reports in early November.

Brian Barker, East Brisbane, Qld

How can Daniel Andrews say of Josh Frydenberg that “all he does is play politics every day” when the Premier takes aim at the federal government in his press conference every day by stating the number of “state” nurses working in “private” aged care?

Sometimes Andrews says “hospital” nurses; sometimes he says “federally run” aged care. Whatever words he chooses, the same political point is made day in, day out. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Rowena McDonald, Toorak, Vic

If Daniel Andrews thinks he’s fooling us about his motives being anything other than political he needs a rethink. “It’s all about the politics with this bloke,” he said, responding to the Treasurer’s plea to open up Victoria. That’s the most revealing remark Andrews has made in weeks. Josh Frydenberg’s “not a leader, he’s just a Liberal”, he said. Seriously? Have a look at the areas to which he’s applying his tortoise-like “easing”? Have a look at Labor’s key marginal seats and his ring of steel. He’s right. It is all about politics: Labor’s.

The Premier has never run a business, knows nothing and cares less about the businesses and the people who run them. He takes his orders from the unions and relies on public servants and a sporadic workforce for support. “All about politics”, indeed.

Julian Smith, Melbourne, Vic

Peta Credlin seeks an answer as to why Victoria “went it alone in using private security to guard quarantine hotels”. Private security guards were employed to enforce NSW’s hotel quarantine, as revealed by The Australian’s article “Security guards suspected of sleeping at quarantine hotels” (3/7), which displays a photograph of quarantine security personnel in Sydney asleep on the job. WA also used security guards.

Ross Cleaves, Frankston, Vic

Dictators keep tabs on everybody. The CCP in China ominously takes this to extremes. Is Victoria seeking to do the same? New Zealand is a virus-free zone. Nevertheless, Daniel Andrews wants to know the name and whereabouts of every visitor to Victoria from that country. What business is it of the government to inquire into such details? It is not as if they come from the US or Europe and need contact tracing. If they were criminals Australian Border Force would have intervened. It is time the Victorian government started preparing for a return to democracy, or will that be postponed “because the numbers still aren’t right”?

Richard Topham, Deepdene, Vic

Your front-page article “Rage against the regime: end lockdown ‘torture’” (20/10) paints Josh Frydenberg as more popular than Daniel Andrews because in his federal seat of Kooyong he attracted 48,928 first preference votes at the last election compared to the Premier’s 19,649 in the state seat of Mulgrave. However, there is another way to look at this. First, the electorates have very different numbers of electors (108,424 in Kooyong as opposed to 40,588 in Mulgrave). Second, Frydenberg won 49.4 per cent of first preference votes in his seat while Andrews won 56.7 per cent.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Vic