Now that socialism has come to the aid of capitalism, why not go a step further as regards Virgin Australia? As well-resourced foreign shareholders, such as airlines and an English billionaire, do not regard their investment worth supporting, the Australian government should nationalise their shares to be able to control how much top management can pay themselves and borrow more money. If continuing to return the economy into Australian hands is regarded as a step too far, then after the pandemic has passed it would surely be preferable to talk to Air New Zealand to provide a second airline rather than leave it to those whose only interest is profit. Loch Wilson, Northcote

End of frequent air travel welcomed

Does Virgin Australia going into receivership mean the days of cut-price air travel are gone? I hope so. It's plain to see that fewer flights across the world is good for environmental health. Lockdown has shown that interstate and overseas business travel could be replaced substantially by video and audio communication. Air services are necessary to support Australia's travel industry, but higher costs will make us think carefully if we really need to fly somewhere.

Andrew Smith, Leongatha

A virtual monopoly for Qantas assured

By not supporting Virgin Australia, the Morrison government will hand Qantas a virtual monopoly. Short-sighted government when Australia will need many jobs, a viable domestic travel industry and affordable airfares into the future.

Gavin Kempin, Port Melbourne

Bring in Air New Zealand

Ken Barnes (Letters 20/4) suggests to avoid a Qantas monopoly Air New Zealand should be given rights to operate on Australia's domestic routes. They did have this access; it was called Ansett Airlines.

Ken Hand, Eltham

Deja vu for some Virgin employees

When Ansett collapsed, some former employees went to Virgin. They are now reliving the stress of job loss.

Kaye Jones, Nagambie

True cost of air travel recognised

Foreign companies, in an effort to compete with Qantas, have forced the cost of air travel down to an unprofitable level. These companies have apparently been happy to run Virgin Australia at a loss, while profiting from other routes and services. The true cost of air travel should be measured by a level of profit to the operators, plus the cost and time of getting to the airport, the pre-flight rigmarole, and the environmental cost of thousands of flights each day. Government money could be better spent to improve our rail services, particularly between Melbourne and Sydney. If this service ran fast and reliably, the number of flights between the two capitals would halve.

John Marks, Werribee

THE FORUM

Face mask problem

I realise how important it is for doctors and nurses to wear a face mask and for others who feel they need to wear them but I have a problem. I have a hearing impairment and I lip read. So, for me to understand what that person is saying, I need to "see" what is being said.

Rosemary Berrell, Ashburton

User pays

It may look and sound great that the government and the ACCC are trying to rein in tech giants such as Facebook and Google as they effectively leverage content from media organisations to generate massive revenues with little going to content producers. There is, however, one crucial element missing from efforts to right this wrong. The end user. People who are happy to use Google and Facebook at no cost, and the far too many who refuse to pay for media subscriptions. The old ad revenue model is broken, meaning now, more than ever, end users must start stumping up some cash to keep it afloat. Until discussion around this occurs, talk of sanctions and codes are just froth and bubble and not real measures that will make a difference to ailing media organisations.

Paul Bugeja, Footscray

Abbott preferred

The prime ministership of Malcolm Turnbull was a disaster for both the Liberal Party and the nation. Turnbull, a man of left-wing values should never have been made leader of a centre-right party. The Liberal Party should instead have rallied around Tony Abbott who was prepared to make tough decisions in the national interest.

Peter Curtis, Werribee South

Unreliable memoir

The publication of extracts from Malcolm Turnbull's memoir show he is seeking to rewrite history and that his recollection of facts is unreliable. Turnbull would have us believe that he has never wavered in his concern for climate change and that his second loss of power in 2018 was attributable to that concern. The fact is his party had lost faith in his leadership because of its low standing in the polls. The irony lies in the possibility that his party's standing in the polls may not have bottomed had he supported action on climate change. We can never know for sure but there is the possibility that had he spoken up about climate change during his time as prime minister he may still be PM.

Malcolm Park, Noble Park

Wisdom of women

It is interesting that women, generally, have spent the stimulus payments on the necessities of life ("Food v video games in a gender spending divide", 20/4) and men have spent the money on video games, music, car-related expenses, alcohol and taxis. Makes the point that women are the fiscal managers in most households and are able to spend money where it is needed before they spend it on non-essential items. Without women a lot of households would be in financial difficulties.

Margaret Collings, Anglesea

Sharemarket disconnect

Can anyone explain why the Dow Jones Index went up 3 per cent on Friday when the US has an increasing number of deaths from the coronavirus, and the ASX All Ords went down by 2.5 per cent yesterday and Australia is flattening the curve so impressively. Why is there such a disconnect between the markets and what seems to be happening in the world.

Ian Thomas, Armadale

Turnbull interview

It is said "we all fail time and time again, but we only become a failure when we blame others". So it may be said about our previous PM Malcolm Turnbull. It was painful to watch his interview with Leigh Sales (7.30, 20/4). Painful because you felt for him and his utter disbelief that people in his own party had rejected him again as their leader in the 2018 coup. It was painful because of the betrayal he felt from those he thought were his supporters. And it was painful because of the weight of disappointment so many of us felt with our unrequited expectation that under Turnbull, we might become a more progressive, empathetic and fairer society.

Nick Toovey, Beaumaris

Exceptional place

I found the comments by Peter FitzSimons (The Drum, 20/4) riveting. He echoed my thoughts: how can so many US citizens not understand the necessity to self-isolate? Even more disturbing is that Donald Trump supports them in civil disobedience against the state governors trying to deal with coronavirus. Of course, the answer lies in the fact that Trump's supporters believe they should not expect their government to support them with proper health care or education. They believe the US is exceptional and that it is up to every person to be a lifter, not a leaner. They work two or more jobs for minimum wage, believe that socialism equals communism and have nothing to fall back on if they can't work.

Jan Jolley, Airport West

Leave no trace

I would love to download a tracing app. It would allow me to relax a bit about possible infection, in the knowledge that if I do find myself sitting next to someone on the tram who later develops COVID-19, I might be warned to get tested before I become infectious. On the other hand, I have no confidence in this government's ability to manage such information ethically. There needs to be an independent body to monitor the use of this information. They would need to be given extensive powers of investigation including the protection of whistleblowers. Their duties would continue until the winding up of the app and the deletion of all information collected.

Caroline Williamson, Brunswick

Party of disregard

If the Victorian Liberal Party thinks it is acting responsibly by denigrating Professor Brett Sutton ("Liberal rebels defy leader's virus order", 21/4) and the Premier during this time of pandemic, it is deluded. It does not deserve to regain government anytime soon.

Liz Riordan, Newtown

Costs remain

It seems to me that travel agents, like other service industries, provide a service for which they deserve to be paid. They have wages, rent, phones, computers and expertise and when cancellations are necessary, these costs do not disappear.

Terry Beath, Melbourne

Flight refunds

Reading about Cathay Pacific refunding total airfares to customers, it's perplexing why Jetstar won't do the same. Jetstar emailed me cancelling my trip this month that I booked and paid for in January, and giving me a credit that has to be used within a year of my original booking. I have emailed asking for my funds to be refunded on two occasions and it refuses.

Patrick Alilovic, Pascoe Vale South

No downtime for cash

When I tried to use the online order tool of a local restaurant, it said the site was temporarily unavailable, which they weren't aware of when I rang them. So they took my order over the phone. When I picked up the food and tried to pay by credit card, it wouldn't work because the internet link was down. So I had to pay by cash, which I had wisely taken with me. I can't wait for the "cashless society", which many people are eagerly pushing at the moment.

Geoff Dalton, East Malvern

Bill relief

I'm wondering when or whether utility companies are going to step up to help their customers at this time. With the "stay at home" directive, stand-downs and home schooling, many households will see their bills rocket as winter sets in. Considering utility companies enjoy a captive market for their essential products and that demand will still exist when this crisis eases, surely a moratorium or at the least a generous discount on bills is not unreasonable.

Peter Voice, Deep Lead

A voice of reason

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, is the leading light and voice of reason in the fight to combat the coronavirus pandemic in America. And, US President Donald Trump and his fellow supporters want the good doctor fired. Wow, what kind of stupidity is this?

Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW

Local not global

It's becoming clear that we must increase the number of goods manufactured in Australia. Pleading or cajoling by the government will not make this happen – unpalatable as it is to some, we need to put tariffs on some imports so there will be an incentive to produce goods locally. China will probably reciprocate by putting tariffs on our produce. We can ride this out as there are many countries who will buy our produce. It will take some adjusting and we will never reach the monetary benefits we enjoyed before coronavirus, but we will become freer and, as more nations follow us, we will all start benefiting from this recalibration of international trade.

Henry Diner, South Caulfield

Full report sought

When are we going to see the unredacted report on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse? The full report should be released now.

Margaret Ludowyk, Brunswick

Make it here

It is good to learn that we can once again manufacture surgical masks and ventilators. We could even get back to growing all our own food, and manufacturing our clothes and all the impedimenta with which we fill our houses these days. Millennials and their parents are probably all unaware that in addition to designing and building automobiles, we used also to design and build ships and aircraft. What we are living through right now is one of the downsides of a global economy.

James Ogilvie, Kew

AND ANOTHER THING

Golf debate

I'm not arguing against the ban on golf, but it should be recognised there is automatic distancing with the inability of most to hit a straight ball.

Barrie Bales, Woorinen North

Maybe golf is banned for safety reasons. There could be a few duck-shooters lurking in the bushes. Margaret Ward, Eltham

Your correspondents about the golf ban (Letters, 21/4) ignore the key question. Why is golf banned in Victoria yet allowed in other states?

Peter Walsh, Beaumaris

Seventh state

Some talk about New Zealand becoming the seventh Australian state. Jacinda Ardern would make a great Prime Minister of Australia.

Michael Brinkman, Ventnor

Oil price

The price of oil has gone negative in the US. Does that mean servos will soon be paying us to fill up?

Reg Murray, Glen Iris

If Donald Trump is going to put millions of barrels of oil into US reserves, how much is Scott Morrison going to put into Australia's reserves?

Scott Ramsay, Strathdale

Coronavirus

The lockdown has brought me great relief. I have had a good excuse for putting off my visit to the dentist.

Reg Murray, Glen Iris

If Facebook and Twitter are on your phone, it's hard to see what your objection to the COVID-19 app could be.

Steve Melzer, Hughesdale

I agree with Joan Mok (Letters, 21/4) – we need to give Peter Dutton a break. How about Christmas Island, Manus or Nauru? Belinda Burke, Hawthorn

Copyright

Breaching copyright is stealing. I can't see a burglar getting away with an apology for theft.

Robin Lohrey, Howrah, Tas.

The Prime Minister should get the AFP to investigate illegal distribution of Turnbull's book. They are pretty good. Just ask Angus.

Peter Carlin, Frankston South

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