21-07-2025
The Liberals are down and opportunity is knocking
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FEDERAL POLITICS
The headline reads ' Voters desert Coalition as Labor builds on win ' (The Age, 21/7). While I see this as good news, I would implore the government to develop some courage and take advantage of this situation where it can get something done. Cases in point: banning TV gambling ads, providing a more socially equitable tax system, and taking global warming seriously. There are many other issues. Now is the time for the Labor government to grasp their collective courage and act on some of those issues.
Louis Roller, Carlton
Who are the Liberals?
On the international stage our prime minister appears a bit daggy. But at least he's our dag. And somehow he's been able to pull together a team who can effectively communicate that they have the best interests of ordinary Australians at heart. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party is no longer the liberal party. Who are they? The Conservatives? Reform? One Nation? As Shane Wright points out, opposing everything all the time is not going to work. Can they demonstrate some constructiveness during the upcoming parliamentary session and productivity summit? A big test awaits.
Allan Dowsett, Preston
Voters look to female leadership
We always knew Susan Ley would have a difficult time as federal opposition leader due to the vast loss of Liberal seats. We need to ask why support for the PM has not increased much and the Coalition's has dropped.
Voters were looking for decisive action and a leader with a vision for the country. Ley has gone some way in this, speaking of consensus, remaining calm in difficult times thereby increasing her likeability. Most female independent MPs kept their seats at the last election or lost narrowly. Clearly we need more women in parliament and in leadership with their tendency to moderate, to bring together differing opinions and usually not to play power games. Yet the Liberals are still in the dark ages by opposing quotas.
Jan Marshall, Brighton
The problem with the Nationals
With the 48th parliament about to commence, it would be a welcome event if the Nationals do finally break away from their Coalition partner after decades of holding the whole country back on environmental progress. Based on very narrow and generally undeclared interests, their drive to do away with a net zero policy of any kind is anathema for the 21st century and an insult to the youth of this country and the world generally. Having the Nationals fully exposed and undiluted by partnership with the Liberal Party will allow the broader voting public to see the self-interest and lack of public interest that their policy entails.
Thinking outside of the square is fundamental to solving a problem but of course it is first necessary to acknowledge that there is a problem.
Robert Brown, Camberwell
A new path
Does Barnaby Joyce (' Joyce urges Coalition to ditch net zero ', 21/7) not understand what happened at the federal election just those few months ago? He wants the Coalition to dump net zero when the majority of Australians who voted for Labor, teals, Greens (and for almost anyone other than the Coalition) obviously want net zero pursued as a policy objective. Further he wants the Coalition to find points of division ignoring another clear learning from the election. The majority of Australians want politicians of all persuasions to work collegiately seeking outcomes that improve the lot of ordinary Australians. Partisan politics of the ilk we're witnessing in the US isn't what Australians want and won't improve the Coalition's chances of recovering the political capital they have squandered over the past decade.
David Brophy, Beaumaris
THE FORUM
No more regrets
Your correspondent's regret about their solar panel installation and declining feed-in tariffs ('Solar panel regret', Letters, 20/7) is a valid concern. As someone who has studied electricity, its industry and associated engineering and economics for 57 years, I can assure them that even though it feels like theft, it is true that solar energy during daytime in much of Australia is at best worthless and sometimes costly to export due to the shortage of energy storage in the power system.
The feed-in tariff will only be restored when sufficient battery capacity has been installed in homes and the grid to fully absorb the surplus daytime energy. That's why governments are subsidising battery storage.
Your insulting 1.5¢ feed-in tariff is better than most offers. You could get more value from your solar by installing a battery, moving what consumption you can to daylight hours and by changing retailer to access wholesale electricity pricing.
Ross Gawler, Malvern
