Morrison finds his inner bully

Where is the outrage? When Mark Latham loomed over John Howard with a bully's handshake there was outrage. When Donald Trump stalked Hillary Clinton during their debate there was outrage even here. On Friday night when outbursts didn't work, Scott Morrison could not contain himself; he chose to move away from his podium, cross the stage and get right up in Bill Shorten's face and take time from Shorten. Let's call this out for what it is — a bully in a suit, on a stage with an audience and a smile on his face.

Morrison didn't need a mobile phone and a facebook post, he had television cameras to capture his moment of glory.

This was "101 How to be a Bully and Get Away with It" from the Prime Minister of Australia on prime-time TV. Shame.

Wendy Tanner, Footscray

Roll on election day

This election is giving misogynist homophobic, Islamophobic and racist nobodies a platform to disseminate their hate speech. Bring on May 18 so these nobodies can go back to being nobodies.

Sarah Russell, Northcote

Judge them by their record

On democracy, election campaigns and early voting there are two truisms. The only real poll is the election, and the real election campaign is not what a party promises for the future, but the record of what it delivered during its term in power.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East

More of the same from the Coalition

Scott Morrison tackles the man instead of the policy. I guess the Coalition still hasn't come up with anything new.

Tom Vanderzee, Preston

Morrison's taxing message

The Prime Minister in attacking Bill Shorten's policies is ringing the tax bell incessantly. It seems that all the opposition policies are branded entirely with the word tax, the retirement tax, the housing tax, the environment tax and so on.

Is the Prime Minister aware that in condemning the opposition's policies with this one word that he himself is imposing an even bigger tax, a negative tax, on us the voters? The Prime Minister is robbing us of the opportunity to assess what there is of his policies and what he sees as the faults in the opposition policies, enabling us to make a democratic choice.

Patricia Parkinson, Main Ridge

THE FORUM

Mauled by the mob

Dear Sam Duncan ("Boo hoo, what's all the outrage about?", The Sunday Age, 28/4) yes booing has always been part of the game. You agree the booing of Adam Goodes was racist but you give credence to the lie that most booed because he staged for free kicks.

You also said it went for weeks. It went for almost 2 years. It was racist and it was vicious. A great man and player pulled down by the mob.

Tony Newport, Hillwood, Tas

It's a company tax

It doesn't matter how often people say that company tax is somehow a tax instalment paid on behalf of shareholders (Letters, 3/5), it is not.

Company tax is a tax levied on a company's taxable profits, full stop. A company might then distribute some of its profits, as dividends to shareholders, and might attach a franking credit. The gross value of the dividend is then taxable income for an individual shareholder, and would be taxed at their marginal personal tax rate.

The purpose of the franking credit is to ensure that the same income isn't taxed twice – once by the payment of company tax by the company, and then by the payment of personal tax by the individual shareholder. But if the individual shareholder does not earn a taxable income, then no personal tax is payable. The issue of double taxation of the company's profit does not arise, and the franking credit is not required.

The refund of the franking credit is thus, in effect, a refund of company tax paid. In that case, no tax ends up getting paid on the company's profit, and that's just not right.

Graeme Russell, FCA, Clifton Hill

Think before you post

Luke Creasey reportedly says, "I think this is a really important lesson for young people that your social media footprint will follow you". I agree, but perhaps he and others should also consider the damage or hurt the foul stuff does to their targets actually at the time of the post.

Youth (Creasey) or inebriation (James Ashby and Steve Dickson) are pretty pathetic excuses for the view of the worldthat must underlie their behaviour.

Alice Glover, Thornbury

Weed them out early

As more and more examples of ill-prepared and unsuitable candidates for parliamentary seats emerge, perhaps the AEC could introduce a protocol for all political parties to apply to those seeking endorsement.

The protocol should encompass the ethical, moral and legal responsibilities expected of parliamentary representatives. There should also be a checklist that would need to be met before endorsement, with a substantial non-refundable deposit paid by the candidates for the vetting service.

This should eliminate the crop of dual citizens and misfits who seem to emerge to bedevil all parties prior to the elections and result in less embarrassment all round.

Peter Crocker, Strathmore

Who needs experts

A note to ex-PM Tony Abbott ("Abbott slams 'experts' in heated debate", The Age, 3/4) ... Whenever your prestige car requires maintenance of its electronic systems, I'll do it for you because I'm not an expert in that area of engineering. If you should need thoracic, cranial or cardiac surgery, I would happily do it for you gratis because I'm not an expert in surgery. And if your house ever requires electrical re-wiring I'll be there to do it for you in a flash because I'm no expert.

Graham Williams, Glen Waverley

It's super, not a trust

There seems to be a general confusion as to the purpose of superannuation and Kelly O'Dwyer was ahead of the pack saying its purpose should be clearly defined in legislation.

Governments have over the years given tax concessions to superannuation contributions so in retirement people can use that money to support themselves and not be as likely to need the government-funded pension.

However, reading letters seeking financial advice in media such as The Age's Money section, individuals seem keen to find ways not to have to draw down on capital in their superannuation, rather wanting it to be available to their beneficiaries after their death.

This is in fact using super as a trust. Self-funded retirees should be aiming if possible for their super to run down to a level where they qualify for a government pension on the day they die and if by chance there is anything left the beneficiaries can then have it.

Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn

Look beyond the CBD

Congratulations to the City of Melbourne for planning to give pedestrians a better go at crossing Melbourne streets.

Could I suggest they look at Victoria Parade and Nicholson Street? To cross this intersection you need to qualify for the Olympic 100 metres. The light changes from green to red before you have even crossed one of the lanes. Another 20/30 seconds would allow people, particularly the aged, to cross both lanes in safety.

Rod Oaten, Carlton North

More money would help

During the leaders debate on Friday night, Scott Morrison seemed to suggest that the future of our education system ultimately depended more on teacher quality than it did on levels of government expenditure. As if teacher quality is a simply a matter or talent, know-how or resilience.

Sure, funding isn't the magic bullet. However, money to bolster literacy support services, enable meaningful planning, assessment and collaboration time, as well as provide for ongoing and transformative professional development, would clearly go a long way to achieving the sort of outcomes that students, parents and policy-makers desire.

In fact teachers, like myself, want to do and be our best in increasingly complex and difficult working conditions. But make no mistake: a "good" teacher is not an accident or freak of nature; they don't exist in spite of proper funding.

Kirk Weeden, Frankston

Australia will suffer

Labor appears unable to commit to a decision to ban further development of the Adani coal mine, citing concerns about such stuff as jobs in Queensland (necessary to win over voters) and "sovereign risk".

I wonder what punishment will be meted out to Australian taxpayers when this mining – Adani and the subsequent opening up of the Galilee Basin – destroys far more jobs dependent on uncontaminated aquifers and the integrity and beauty of the Great Barrier Reef?

Jurate Flanagan, Mount Stuart, Tas

Shades of Marc Antony

"Win or lose: Dutton backs Morrison for leader" (The Age, 4/4) has overtones of Marc Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral. Antony praised Caesar to appeal to the mob and to distance himself from the plotters of his downfall.

Dutton has shown no bounds in his ability to distort. His statements on climate change, refugees, the reopening of Christmas Island, African gangs and people afraid to go out at night show his unfettered ambition and his ability to distort the truth. His latest statement that people in his electorate are terrified by the prospect of a Shorten-led government is another illustration of a man intent on appealing to the mob.

Win or lose, Morrison and the Australian people should not believe a word of what Peter Dutton utters.

Peter Roche, Carlton

Instant proof

Tim Soutphommasane's accurate analysis of the decadent status of market liberalism (theage.com.au, 4/5) is exemplified by a report from the Business section on the same day – the CEO of the Macquarie Group "earned" $17 million in the past financial year.

Peter McCarthy, Mentone

Call it what it is

Uber is back in the news with a class action brought against it and reports continue uncritically to refer to it as ride-sharing.

This is the misleading description that Uber applies to itself to mask its true nature. Customers aren't sharing a ride with someone to a common destination in some sort of car pool; they are paying a driver to take them from A to B.

Essentially, Uber is a taxi service which allegedly entered the market illegally and somehow cajoled the Victorian government and other governments to renege on the arrangements they had instituted with the licensed taxi industry. It was a shameful capitulation to an aggressive business model of disruption and disdain for laws and regulations.

Perhaps the class action will bring Uber to account.

Tony Ralston, Balwyn North