We need governments made up of risk takers

Credit:Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

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TAXATION

We need governments made up of risk takers

Sean Kelly’s article (Comment, 6/3) makes for depressing reading. The confected media rage and Coalition’s opposition to minimal changes to super dominated the headlines, rather than the need for societal and economic change. We have this collective illusion that we are a fair and equitable society, but this is unravelling. The cost-of-living pressures, inability of young people to buy a home, gender pay gap, increased levels of homelessness, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequity, incarceration rates and deaths in custody are pointers to the “wicked” problems facing our society.

We need to change our thinking, and we need a government of risk takers who are prepared to explain the reasons for their decisions and then act upon them. If not, the inequality will only increase and real change will be beyond us as a civil society. It behoves all of us to demand more courage from our politicians and to support them to make the difficult decisions.
Denise Stevens, Healesville

The Coalition must accept the need for tax reform

Can there never be a change to a tax in Australia unless it is a reduction, however worthy? The modest change to the tax rate on earnings for super balances over $3 million is fair and reasonable. The gap between rich and poor has widened and there needs to be a policy response to this inequity.

During the Howard years amidst a mining boom, changes to super were overly generous and these have become an exploding time bomb in the federal budget. Government debt is now $900 billion (The Age, 6/3) Changing economic times and circumstances require targeted and flexible responses of which the tax regime is a part. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor’s opposition to the changes and a declaration that tax reform will not be the focus of the Coalition is shortsighted and irresponsible.
Jane Robins, Moonee Ponds

In the scheme of things, this is not a brave move

Cowardly. A paltry $2 billion a year to be saved on the proposed tax on earnings in super accounts of more than $3 million. It is not worth the reform. If you want to make a dent in the deficit, how about introducing a super profits tax in the resources sector and maybe check if our friend Google and similar others are paying enough tax. Go after the really big ones, why don’t you, Labor?
Ardnas Aneem, Glen Iris

Why Labor can afford to take strong action

A good start, but $3 million in super is still too generous. Next, pay attention to negative gearing, tax cuts for the wealthy, capital gains tax etc. What is the more important government function: keeping “promises” or doing what you know is best for the population? Generally, the Albanese government is moving (too?) cautiously. However, with blokes like Angus Taylor running the opposition’s responses, Labor is almost guaranteed a win at the next election so its reform agenda (starting with these modest changes to super) can get under way as “early” as 2025.
Murray Hall, Dunolly

A longer term gives governments more room to act

If only we could extend the term for federal parliament beyond three years, our government could go bold with tax reform and voters would have adequate time to adjust before the next election.
Marilyn Moffatt, Parkdale

CGT on family homes will damage the economy

Sean Kelly suggests we don’t have a capital gains tax on the family home because “we remain chained to the political habits of the past”. There is a better reason: capital gains on the sale of a home are not real gains. They simply reflect inflation in the housing market. A tax would deprive a family that was forced to relocate for employment reasons (or who chose to relocate) of funds needed to buy a comparable property. They would have to downgrade. Stamp duty on the purchase of property already has a negative effect on the economy because it restricts mobility. A tax on the family home would exacerbate the situation.
Brian Kilday, Jeeralang Junction

THE FORUM

Sadly, self-interest rules

I wonder why it has taken about 30 years for the tax expenditures statement to spark significant tax reform. It seems like the majority of these concessions and deductions disproportionately benefit the wealthy. If the purpose of tax is to pay for government spending and redistribute wealth for a fairer society, isn’t it a no-brainer to eliminate these concessions? I hope we are not all stuck in the same loop of self-interest that seems to paralyse our governments.
Al Anderson, Seaford

Protecting their assets

Does the fairly low number of high-value super accounts inform us that the well-heeled generally have other investments in place that incur less than 15per cent tax?
Bruce Roberts, Traralgon

Pointless point-scoring

For Peter Dutton to complain about a broken promise is a bit rich. The Coalition raised this to an art form. John Howard’s “non-core promises” and Tony Abbott’s “no change to health, education or the ABC” come to mind.

Rather than this nonsense taking up valuable parliamentary time, perhaps both sides could sensibly and with one voice address the question of our massive debt. It is one that we will all have to pay back, whether it is by a tax or levy or something else. Frustrating progress with point-scoring benefits nobody.
Murray Stapleton, Darraweit Guim

Battle on our paths

When will people be taught again, as we were many years ago, to walk on the left side of the footpath? It is now an obstacle course.
Pauline Brockett, Thornbury

Non-environment minister

Last week, 100 of Australia’s leading scientists published an open letter calling on the government to prevent any new coal and gas developments.

This was in line with the advice of organisations such as the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. It noted that there are more than 100 new coal and gas projects under development in Australia.

After such a powerful letter, all we are doing is discussing whether Tanya Plibersek could have been prime minister. Maybe she could have been, but she certainly is not a minister for the environment.
Kate Kennedy, Coburg

High cost of airshow

Like your correspondent (Letters, 5/3), I have heard the “roar of planes”. However, I have been outraged at the thought of tonnes of carbon emissions spewing from those massive engines. I am left wondering whether the organisers of the Avalon Airshow are required to calculate and offset these emissions. Then of course, what happens about the extra emissions from all the visitors’ vehicles, particularly as they queue endlessly, idling, and with airconditioners running.
Kerry Echberg, Princes Hill

… amid the traffic chaos

Early on Friday afternoon, my friends and I joined a long queue of cars for the Avalon Airshow. After several kilometres, we got to the parking area, and the queue was directed by guides, through rows of parked cars, and eventually into a single row of cars shunting into parallel parking. The queue stopped and started as each car shunted into its parking spot. We spent 50 minutes in the queue.

If the guides had split us into two rows of parallel parking, the rate of parking would have doubled; four rows and it would have quadrupled. Our queueing time could have been reduced to just a few minutes.

On Saturday, it was reported that queues were up to four hours long, causing severe delays on the Princes Freeway. Clearly the parking arrangements and traffic management were inadequate. At such a major event, this was inexcusable. Organisers must be held accountable for efficient parking controls and for wider traffic management.
Stephen Mills, Blackburn South

Human rights come first

When will we realise that there are certain areas of catering to public need which should be service-driven, not profit-driven? Your front-page story – “Dodson urges PM to act on Indigenous custody toll (The Age, 6/3) – is another tragic reminder that the correctional sector is one of these.
Tom Foote, Woodend

Protect the Indigenous

The horrific death of Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson in custody is a blight on humanity and the values I hold dear. That a person in pain and in a critical condition should be ignored when she appealed for help –about 40 times in all – both outrages and disgusts me. Where is the soul of our community? How can we hold our heads up high knowing that the treatment of our First Nations people has been deplorable for so long. Stringent laws must be enforced so that Indigenous people are protected and treated with the respect and admiration they well and truly deserve.
Carol Marshall, Williamstown

Mulvany and Bernhardt

A standing ovation for Kate Mulvany – “The soul of a wild wit” (Spectrum, 4/3). Her piece on her approach to playing actress Sarah Bernhardt in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new production of Bernhardt/Hamlet, was brilliant. I am so glad she is playing Hamlet as a teenager. He is written like one. Except, of course, where William Shakespeare inserted a reference to his age, in the gravedigger’s scene. Whatever, I am looking forward to seeing Kate dazzle us as she did when she played Richard III.
Patrick Edgeworth, Elwood

The long country wait

Re “The tooth hurts” (Sunday Age, 5/3). Community water fluoridation commenced in Australia in Beaconsfield, Tasmania in 1953. It is the least expensive, most effective and safest method to reduce tooth decay in young Victorians. Seventy years on and our youth in the rural communities of Kialla, Stawell, Leongatha, Mansfield, Broadford and other non-fluoridated townships in our state continue to suffer.
Associate Professor Warren Shnider, Australian Dental Association, Victorian branch

Please lend a helping hand

Thank you for publishing Jennie Irving’s comment (Letters, 3/3). It is so heart-rending and disappointing that not one person saw her daughter’s plight as she tried to board buses and showed some basic human kindness. A sign of these times, sadly.
Susie Holt, South Yarra

Lost in space, somewhere

Peter Berenyi, that your letter only took 50 days to arrive from Mansfield to Alice Springs (Letters, 4/3) has given my sister hope. She posted four Christmas cards to her family in an Express Post parcel from Balmoral to Meredith in regional Victoria.

They have not arrived yet and Australia Post has given up – it gave her a refund for the postal bag and the cards. It could not track them past the Balmoral Post Office where she left them. That it is complaining there are not enough letters being posted to make its business viable is ridiculous when it obviously cannot manage the present volume of mail.
Judith Crotty, Dandenong North

Where money should go

The National Library of Australia’s online portal, Trove, is under financial pressure (Sunday Age, 5/3), as is Australia Post. Wouldn’t we be better served if the money being spent on keeping a few refugees in overseas detention was spent on keeping these valuable services for all Australians? The government, both current and previous, keep bowing to right-wing conservatives in marginal seats rather than doing the right thing and giving these refugees meaningful and productive lives
David Grigg, Murtoa

Take pro-active approach

Bianca Hall (Sunday Age, 5/3) sympathetically depicts the deaths of a small number of children known to child protection, and rightly notes the common parental factors such as poor mental health, problematic substance use and family violence that underlie these tragedies.

The question is whether the solution lies with child protection or society. It is the latter which decides, through their elected governments, whether it is reasonable for often vulnerable and traumatised young women and men to become parents, and the extent to which we should upgrade the funding of early intervention supports that may enable them to parent safely.

At least now, via extending out-of-home care supports until the age of 21, we are finally reversing the neglect of those children and youth we have rescued from traumatic family situations.
But the question remains: should we as a community only intervene when children and families are already in crisis, or introduce more pro-active policies and programs that address the underlying causes of child maltreatment?
Professor Philip Mendes, department of social work, Monash University

Our dated nuclear subs?

New technologies are developing rapidly. Is it not likely that by the time the promised AUKUS nuclear submarines are built, advances in underwater surveillance will render them already obsolete? Sitting targets both on and beneath the surface.
Meg Paul, Camberwell

Noisy children at play

The bickering and shouting during question time by grown-ups who are representing Australia is cringeworthy. What example is this setting for our young people? Surely co-operation and getting on with the job to achieve results for all Australians is far more important. Do our parliamentarians achieve anything at all? I hope other countries do not have access to our question time. It is embarrassing.
Jenny Perrie, Cheltenham

Waiting for some action

It can take days for a Test match to reach a final day with a T20-type contest. I guess that is the whole point.
Matthew Hamilton, Balwyn

AND ANOTHER THING

Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding

Economics

I’ve just figured it out. Dutton probably has more than $3million in his super account.
Denis Evans, Coburg

Dutton and Taylor would be screaming against Robin Hood if he dared to touch their voter base.
Ron Slamowicz, Caulfield North

I wonder if Paul Keating is watching the RBA give us the recession we didn’t need to have.
Ian Payne, Epping

Politics

I’m glad I voted for an independent at the last election after seeing what “cabinet solidarity” can do.
Kerry Rieve, Brighton

Will Stuart Robert be kept on Peter Dutton’s frontbench?
John Boyce, Richmond

Tanya should have, would have, could have. We’ll never know.
Craig Tucker, Newport

To think that we once had a federal minister stand down over an issue with a stuffed toy.
Michael Cowan, Wheelers Hill

Furthermore

I wonder how many Ukrainians could opt for a Bali/Thai holiday to sit out the war (6/3)?
Vera Lubczenko, Geelong West

Re Harry’s counselling sessions (5/3). One diagnosis which was missed is RDS (relevance deprivation syndrome).
George Greenberg, Malvern

Poor little rich boy. Give me a break. Bring on the republic.
Jim Valle, Malmsbury

Re aged care staff shortages. Pay them adequately and they will come.
Christine Kagiaros, Windsor

I am delighted the wonderfully quirky Swamp cartoon is back (4/3). And it’s made in Australia.
Suzanne Palmer-Holton, Seaford

It is time to resurrect our trusted Postmaster-General’s Department.
Ronald Elliott, Sandringham

Inadequate train services? Try 40 to 60 minutes outside peak hours, north of Eltham.
Lindsay Donahoo, Wattle Glen

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