Tony Walker is spot on with his comments on the Liberal Party ('Contortionists hijack Menzies' legacy', 10/7). I particularly like his Menzies quote: "We took the name 'Liberal' because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments; in no sense reactionary, but believing in the individual, his rights and his enterprise."
Tony Abbott and the other conservatives should follow Cory Bernardi's lead and as conservatives should form a Conservative Party and allow the Liberal Party to stick to its founder's ideal of a "free go" for everyone. We all want that.
Spencer Leighton, Torquay
The regressive side to the story
The presentation of a wonderful, cuddly Bob Menzies (10/7) omits his attempt to ban the Communist Party of Australia in 1951. It wasn't liberal or progressive. The High Court rejected his proposed legislation as unconstitutional and when Menzies took his attempted ban to a referendum it was lost. Another founding member of the Liberal Party in 1949, Alan Missen, argued that banning a political party would be acting like communists in other countries and within Australia ideas had to be defeated by counter arguments. Missen's case was progressive. Menzies' case was regressive.
Des Files, Brunswick
How to win elections: a Bob each way
Tony Walker rightly highlights how Tony Abbott's ideological clique have wilfully chosen to ignore their party's founder's inherent "progressivism" and unsentimental pragmatism. Menzies was never fussed about intellectual arguments as to whether he was a "Burkean conservative" or J..S. Mill "liberal".
His credo was, simply put, to win elections on behalf of what he termed the "forgotten people"; the "unorganised" shopkeepers and "home makers", for example, neglected by big companies and unions. If that meant championing women's political party participation in the 1930s and '40s, so be it. If that meant in government preserving the ALP leader Ben Chifley's social welfare agenda in the '50s, minus the ALP's nationalisation agenda, the pragmatic price was worth paying.
Menzies, if he were PM in 2017, would no doubt have embraced renewable energy, increased immigration, and even "gay marriage", because ultimately what mattered to him was pursuing those causes that ensured electoral success.
Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza
Remembering the forgotten, it's simple
What would Bob do? Any reading of his legacy explains why his progressive approach to many issues led to him become Australia's longest serving prime minister. Most current politicians are overshadowed by the intellect of Menzies. The current member for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg, seems to have forgotten what made Menzies both popular and effective. Menzies' "forgotten people" speech has frequently been quoted. The voters of Kooyong have become the latter-day forgotten people.
William Chandler, Surrey Hills
Dear Tony, failure is no success at all
Tony Abbott has been criticising Malcolm Turnbull for the same things he failed to achieve when prime minister. This behaviour goes some way towards explaining Abbott's fall from grace, and also demonstrates that he has learnt nothing from his own abject failures. The surprising thing is that he still has any following at all, which perhaps we can leave to the psychologists to explain.
James Ogilvie, Kew
FORUM
Not enough
The state government plans to sell valuable land under the guise of public housing renewal across Melbourne. But a meagre 10 per cent increase in units (with a focus on smaller units) will barely dent housing waiting lists.
The winners will be developers. On a North Brighton site without local services rezoning will allow 300-plus private units in towers up to nine storeys in a neighbourhood of single-storey cottages. Similar marginal outcomes are planned for eight other estates, with more mooted. Once the land is in private hands its future public value will be lost. Again taxpayers will pay dearly for government incompetence and public housing under-funding.
Richard Holt, Brighton
Violence is violence
Deliberate violence committed on the football field is not "a grey area" (The Age, 8/7).
Football players, unlike boxers, do not consent, either explicitly of implicitly, to be deliberately struck by an opponent. It is not in the rules of the game, and footballers (professional or amateur) should be charged with the criminal offence. That they also front a disciplinary tribunal is immaterial. There is no "double jeopardy" as one is criminal, the other civil.
To say "Oh, but it's part of the game" is to condone and encourage thuggery.
Harry Kowalski, Ivanhoe
Unplug, and be free
Jessica Irvine asks the question "why should today's youth be getting more anxious over time?" ('Prisoners of our own device', 10/7). Could the answer be an addiction to the virtual reality of social media and the confused need to accumulate likes and re-tweets as some form of twisted social currency. Too much of the content on social media is ratcheting up increasing levels of social envy and an irrational fear of missing out.
Perhaps it's time to unplug and turn the social media off for a while. Be alone and let your creative imagination and thoughts run wild and free and rise above the banality of social media fluff.
Paul Miller, Box Hill South
Acknowledge the past
The "frontier war" research by Newcastle University and the publication of a map detailing 150 massacre sites in Australia is further proof of Australia's violent colonial history.
As the primary victim of that history – of institutionalised racism and brutality – Aborigines have always been acutely aware of the atrocities they suffered.
It is for the rest of Australia to acquire an understanding of our dark colonial past. And, as researcher Lyndall Ryan pointed out in her ABC interview recently, we should not shy away from coming to terms with that painful past. It will not do us any good as a nation if we act the ostrich and pretend we did not have that troublesome past.
Ryan informs us that in America that aspect of their history is openly acknowledged.
As a mature nation we should do the same.
Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW
Another view of gas
Your editorial ('Australia is being gouged by gas industry', 10/7) fails to explain how dumping our existing profits-based tax for a production-based royalty would deliver lower gas prices. It also fails to acknowledge the damage retrospective tax changes would inflict on Australia's overall investment reputation.
Comparing Australia's tax approach to Qatar's is misleading. Qatar is the most profitable LNG producer in the world. Australian projects can take decades to become profitable.
The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax was purpose-built for Australian conditions. It taxes profits after companies have recovered costs. It was designed to attract the investment needed to underpin secure and reliable energy supplies.
Your editorial also advocates intervention in the gas market to increase supply. This is likely to be counter-productive.
The best way to increase supply and put downward pressure on gas prices is to remove the bans and moratoriums that exist in Victoria and some other states.
Noel Mullen, deputy chief executive, Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association
A bigger threat
The biggest threat to Australia (and the world) is not North Korea's ballistic missiles, but the loss of our country and biodiversity through environmental degradation, waste and overuse of resources, the increase in inequality, the disrespect for Aboriginal and post-European history and culture as everything is being built over in the name of "development", and the inevitable loss of our quality of life.
The drive for economic "growth" on a finite planet and resultant overpopulation is what is the essential ingredient of our demise. We have lessons to learn from our Indigenous people who managed to thrive for thousands of generations without compromising their country.
Jennie Epstein, Little River
Generation gap
The recent and impending increases in power prices is another blow to people on modest wages. Our governments have been elected to provide an environment where the average person has a fair go. When they sell off community assets such as those involved with electricity generation and distribution for an immediate financial gain but lose the ongoing income, and control over the prices that are inflicted on the public, the community suffers.
Environmentalists should realise that you cannot remove generation such as Hazelwood from the grid unless you replace it with other rotational equipment to maintain system stability and therefore reliability. In the case of Hazelwood it took almost seven years from approval to the first generator being placed in service, that is, more than twice the three years' notice asked for by Alan Finkel.
Alex Brown, Ashburton
A guide to parenting
Candice Hadden Letters 8/7) suggests that I have no right to criticise the Miss Universe competition on the grounds that I wrote a book called the Princess Bitchface Syndrome. This is, as Dr Spock would say, not logical. The title was derived from the description of an acting-out 14-year-old girl by a frustrated mother and describes the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to parent a small sub-section of teenage girls who go through a challenging developmental stage. It has now been reprinted 10 years later co-written with researcher Elly Robinson and is regarded by many working with young people as a useful guide for parents.
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Balwyn
Keeping up the fight
For those involved in causes for justice, refugees, the environment and anti-racism, the French undercover agent, Christine Cabon's role in bombing the Rainbow warrior ('No Apologies', The Age, 10/7), and her lack of remorse, is a lesson in how far spies will go to secure, in that case, French nuclear tests.
It must make those wanting a war-free inclusive world more determined to continue that necessary fight for justice despite infiltration and intimidation.
Melanie Lazarow, Brunswick
Teaching insecurity
Barry James (Letters, 10/7) suggests offering interest-free home loans to new teachers for the length of their contracts, reverting to regular interest rates at the end of their contracts.
It sounds great, except that after the contract they would be out of work and unable to repay the loans. Then what?
This has been an issue since contract teaching became the norm in Victoria. Many young teachers have been unable to get a home loan at all because who wants to give a loan to someone whose job is insecure?
But improved conditions in general, that might work in tempting new people. Anyone who thinks teaching is all about long holidays and short hours has no idea how it works.
Sue Bursztynski, Elwood
Philosophy at work
No, Richard Begley ('Women bear the brunt of Islamophobia, study finds', The Age, 10/7) Islamophobia, even if one stretches the meaning beyond "an irrational fear of Islam", cannot be defined as "a type of racism".
Why? Because Islam is not a race, it is a philosophy, a political, social, cultural and religious movement. It is a choice.
Furthermore, Islam embraces people of all races, including Caucasians.
How can a white non-Muslim criticising a white Muslim be racist?
John Christiansen, St Kilda
Coward and bullies
I suspect that the reason women bear the brunt of Islamophobia is that the people engaging in this behaviour are cowards and bullies and pick on a safe target – women. We have to keep calling this out until it stops.
John Massie, Middle Park
AND ANOTHER THING
Trump
So Donald Trump accepts Vladimir Putin's assurance that the Russians never helped him beat Hillary Clinton.
Malcolm McDonald, Burwood
While visiting Portugal recently, we came across some good advice to Donald Trump in big letters on a building – MAKE LOVE , NOT WALLS!
David Ginsbourg, East Bentleigh
The G20 is now the G19 because Trump got the grumps and didn't want to Putin.
Bruce Dudon, Woodend
Other matters
Can someone take Malcolm Turnbull aside and tell him that if there is no rain there is no water to generate anything. The man is delusional.
Doris LeRoy, Altona
Perhaps Bernard Tomic could be employed to volley any ICBMs straight back to North Korea.
David Johnston, Healesville
Regarding the editorial (10/7) that said the country receives more from beer excise than the PRRT. I was reminded of my father telling me that he was drinking for the country.
Sean Mellerick, Croydon
Summer of male cricket? Don't really see a problem, after all we do have a world-class women's team.
Denis Evans, Coburg
Sunday morning 10am: petrol 109.9cents Bundoora; 132.9 cents Glen Waverley.
Jen Gladstones, Heidelberg
It's ironic – Barnaby makes light of renewable advances and Malcolm's primary concern is power – his own.
Greg Curtin, Blackburn South
Maybe Tony Abbott's training in the seminary has led to a God complex, i.e., a person who refuses to admit the possibility of their failure, even in the face of irrefutable evidence.
Julie Conquest, Brighton