Household debt is the economy's real enemy

Twisting words, distorting facts

Statements by Mathias Cormann and Scott Morrison on the proposed tax cuts are for the lower-income earners, and the higher-income earners will get their chance later, show how out of touch they are. By my estimate, people on $87,000 or $200,000, for example, will get the same tax cut. But both will get a much greater return than those on $50,000. It's not rocket science, and the politicians are getting away with language that distorts the facts.

Chris Larson, Oakleigh

It's not that easy, minister

Scott Morrison says he wants to "get people off welfare and into work" ("Morrison promises more than tax cuts" The Age, 5/5). It would seem he thinks leaving Newstart at $40 a day is achieving this objective. But increasing employment is problematic and complex – the jobs need to be actually there and they need to be reasonably close to people's homes. He seems to be blaming people for not getting work. We all do not start off on a level playing field. Research has shown people generally prefer more resources to go to hospitals, transport and schools than into tax cuts. School resources particularly are important to get people job ready.

Jan Marshall, Brighton

The political equation: higher or lower

Ross Gittins (Comment, 5/5) sides with those who want to raise taxes. The political contest is between those who claim that raising taxes will improve the performance of the economy and those who claim that lowering taxes will improve its performance. It is hard to believe that taking more of the money we earn out of our pockets and allowing the government to decide how best to spend it will make the economy perform better.

Michael Angwin, Surrey Hills

The wealth must be redistributed

The progressive approaches of French President Emmanuel Macron of dialogue between different cultures and sustainable development contrast with his retrograde taxation policy. Very similar to President Trump's taxation policy, his tax cuts to the wealthy are viewed by economist Thomas Piketty as revealing both Trump's and Macron's "profound lack of understanding of the inegalitarian challenges posed by globalisation" and not taking into account that the recipients of these tax reductions have received an out of proportion benefit from growth during the past decades.

Piketty warns that these policies risk an increase in the difficulties of meeting the challenge of climate change because poorer struggling citizens are likely to resist a carbon tax when the wealthy are not paying their fair share of taxes. Where are the national leaders with the foresight and courage to demand this contribution from the most wealthy?

Jennifer Gerrand, Carlton North

FORUM

Eking a life

In reference to the assertion by MP Julia Banks that she could live on $40 a day, I would say this: I am not on Newstart. I am 55. A financially abusive divorce rendered me homeless and unemployed. I was raised upper-middle-class, private school prefect, dutiful civic citizen, taxpayer, volunteer and saver. I did everything right. The reduction in my circumstances was not the result of being lazy, foolish, or irresponsible.

I live on $240 a week from an income-producing asset. (That's $34 a day), and a tiny nest-egg. I work as a cleaner in exchange for room and board. I have two university degrees, but ageism in the real workforce (not the theoretical one) has rendered my hundreds of applications useless. I will not lie about my age on my resume.

My weekly bills are: groceries $90 ($120 if I eat meat), mobile phone about $20, internet connection about $12, companion dog $28, petrol $50, and medications for me and my dog about $30. (Yes, really). A yoga class of $15 a week is my greatest luxury.

PTSD makes giving up smoking a losing battle so far and it costs me $112 a week. And then there are costs such as car service, registration, office supplies, repairs of all kinds. I have no entertainment or holiday budget.

That's $357 or $245 if I gave up smoking.

If I received $270 a week from Newstart as my only income, I would not be able to afford to live at all.

Name and address supplied

The $40 question

I work in the homelessness service system. It would be great if Julia Banks could come out and pass on some advice to my clients around how to live off $40 a day. All of them receive Newstart allowance and are constantly falling into rent arrears and going without food.

Tim Cronin, Strathmore

Payment required

Do you want better services in health, education, welfare and transport? Then be prepared to pay higher taxes instead of wanting continual tax cuts. How can you expect these things when you're not prepared to pay for them?

John Cain, McCrae

Bear the cost

The upshot of cafes being forced to comply with workplace laws could mean the closure of many if this cost is not passed on to the consumer. Is it so outrageous that all employers comply with the law and those that don't are not able to operate? After spending a long weekend in Warrnambool recently, every cafe and hotel had a sign advising customers there was a 20 per cent surcharge on the public holiday, thus creating a level playing field.

Gia Underwood, Northcote

PC walks into a bar . . .

Jacqueline Maley tries to dismiss all comedians worried about political correctness as commercially unsuccessful members of a bygone and irrelevant era (Comment, 5/5). Comedians like Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr and John Cleese, all commercial successes, have expressed concern about the tyranny of pervasive political correctness. Jokes tend to be funny when they contain uncomfortable kernels of truth, and political correctness isn't great with these. Perplexingly, Maley lauds Michelle Wolf's routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner without realising that the right's calls for civility serve exactly the same purpose as the left's – to conceal awkward truths.

Thomas Baker, Camberwell

Improvement needed

So sad to read that Carla would not complain of harassment again ("Doyle told to attend interview or face medical assessment", The Age, 4/5). In the time of #MeToo it is surprising that the handling of her complaint has fallen so well short. We must do better.

Russ Incoll, Mount Eliza

Money blinds

The primary purpose of two of our most important services, education of our children and hospital/medical care, sadly have now become "big business", losing sight of their fundamental roles. Third World countries aspire to educate their children for education's sake and to have medical services that are about treatment and care.

Australia used to aspire to these too, but now it's all about the money.

Joan Johnson, Camberwell

Airport scanning

Surely the major airports will be able to fund the introduction of the proposed scanning technology at domestic airports in Australia from the profits made from their car parking fees.

Marcia Roche, Mill Park

Not good enough

I recently travelled from Berrigan, in southern NSW to Albury and my mobile phone indicated "no service" during part of the journey. Relative to other parts of Australia, this is not an isolated area. So why is it burdened with unsatisfactory telephone services? It produces a plethora of agricultural products that contribute greatly to the GDP. The lack of reliable phone services must not only have a deleterious effect on businesses, but also the safety and health of the local residents. No wonder country people feel that they are treated as second-class citizens compared to their better connected city counterparts. If American military personnel can orchestrate a drone strike in Yemen from a base in the US then one would have to conclude that the technology is available to improve our telephone services.

Susan Nisbet, Caulfield North

The recycling game

The article ("How the MCG got ahead of the recycling game", The Age, 5/5) stated that the MCG uses 50,000 takeaway coffee cups each month. An asterisk next to this fact points out in small print that only the plastic lids are recycled. This means that 600,000 takeaway coffee cups are sent to landfill each year by the MCG. Perhaps they should ditch the current cardboard lined with plastic takeaway cups and return to the cheap and nasty, but recyclable, all plastic takeaway cups of the past. Or maybe a BYO ceramic mug rule should be introduced. Perhaps not, after all mugs and football games don't mix.

Andrew Powell, Caulfield North

Not the real world

I found the article ("Hold the loan", The Age, 5/5) particularly worrisome due to its apparent detachment from the real world of working Australians. It describes the intrusive behaviour of lenders and then lists a series of lending scenarios for borrowers. The table includes income streams, typical spending and apparent borrowing limits.

One stream is of singles earning $95,000 a year borrowing up to $600,000 and the second is of a couple earning $170,000 borrowing $1.1 million. The ABS stats for November 2016 to November 2017 describes the average weekly salary as $1567 or $81,484 a year. The average annual income for young home buyers is lower than $81,484. So why choose $95,000 as the single person's income? It may be what a young professional employed in the city might enjoy, but that is not an amount representative of the circumstances of an average Australian worker, particularly a younger person seeking to buy their first home.

Glen Ryan, Grahamvale

Assault on the brain

"The Australian Beverages Council, which represents the soft drinks industry, says suggestions sugary drinks are bad for our brains should be taken with a pitch of salt." ("Sweet memories going out of my head", The Age, 5/5). Won't help – salt is also bad for our brains.

Wayne Robinson, Kingsley, WA

Fuelling anger

I must agree that the article ("$1.7b wind farm to power homes and fuel anger", The Age, 5/5) does indeed fuel anger. On the one hand you have state Liberal MP Richard Riordan describe the project as "ideologically driven folly that would scar the landscape and create intermittent energy supply" which is cringeworthy in its simplistic assumptions and a position one suspects is inherently ideologically driven itself. On the other hand Planning Minister Richard Wynne has ruled that an environment effects statement is needed because of the potential impact on native plants and animals. I assume from previous wind farm approvals that any such impact would be minimal and yet apparently "controlled burns" which have a very severe and demonstrable impact on plants and animals are OK?

Geoff McNamara, Newry

Learning skills

One of your recent letters made a claim for teaching towards literacy, numeracy and (a new word for me) "oracy". I noted that that would make three skills-based areas of learning.

What is disturbing is the suggestion that learning/schooling is just about skills and information. School needs to be about the whole person (socially, culturally and physically ) and most importantly it needs to be about brain development.

The areas that promote this most directly are music, art, drama and creative play. They are also the areas that most students warm to. And they are also the areas that are hard to measure in a skills-based system.

At the very least, if students spend time enjoying themselves in creative ways we can be assured that skills-based learning will be improved by attitude and stimulation and improved brain development.

Carol Oliver, Musk

Double fantasy

ABC TV has a double fantasy special this Tuesday. First, there's the federal budget, followed by the "the Real Camilla". A must night to be in.

David Kerr, Geelong

Looking for the vibe

Classified notice in Saturday's The Age: Australian government wishes to identify owner of land abutting Melbourne Airport. Try the Kerrigans in Bonnie Doon.

John Rosenbrock, Mount Martha

AND ANOTHER THING

Waste

What is the value of those annoying stickers on fruit that I have to peel off and, in spite of my efforts, find in compost?

Graham Parkes, Halls Gap

Politics

Job cuts at Environment Department: endangered animals heading for extinction. Tax cuts for voters: endangered government seeking self-preservation.

Mary Mack, Box Hill

No wonder Julia Banks thinks she could live on $40 a day, she owns six houses.

Rod Oaten, North Carlton

Australia 2018 by Peter Dutton. The sequel to George Orwell's 1984.

Les Anderson, Woodend

Sounds just what we need to help an aleing economy ("Scott Morrison to cut taxes on kegs", The Age, 4/5).

Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook, NSW

If Scott Morrison is called "Sco-Mo", why isn't Daniel Andrews called "Dan-An"?

Mervyn Robbins, Coburg

Tax cuts for low and middle-income earners. I suppose that it is merely a coincidence that a federal election is likely in the next 12 months?

Garry Meller, Bentleigh

The sheep will be getting my vote this year.

Kristen Doell, Altona

Furthermore

The most shocking revelation of the banking royal commission has been that the regulator is not regulating.

Susan Scalise, Ascot Vale

To lose one record may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose 20 million looks like carelessness.

James Goding, Princes Hill

So, AMP cleans up its act by appointing a former CBA CEO to chair its board. Really?

Rob Butler, Shoreham

POTUS, a porn star and the pay-off – another day at the office.

Danny Hampel, Elsternwick