Who can forget Labor bleating about inheriting $1 trillion of gross debt from the Coalition, some two years ago. This bleating was despite Labor being responsible for much of it, including the unfunded NDIS and the out-of-control NBN.
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Further, the Coalition had no choice but to pump money out of Treasury's door during COVID or see our economy suffer a deep slump.
Now we read that our gross debt will grow to $1.1 trillion under Labor, despite a commodities boom filling the coffers. And Labor has the hide to claim they are better economic managers. I pity our children and grandchildren who will be paying this off.
Ian Morison, Forrest
LNP has nothing to say
Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor are in agreement that the third Chalmers budget is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. It's the comment you make when you have nothing to say.
I'm aware some economic "speak" needs to be simplified but surely they can do better than that. Angus Taylor knows nothing beyond a few catch phrases. It's comedy gold when he suggests Chalmers knows nothing about economics.
Jim Chalmers writes his own speeches, something numerous other Treasurers haven't done. Josh Frydenberg's speeches were written by Treaury and he was prepped for them. He was a maestro at meaningless economic jargon.
We were using an enormous amount of "fiscal firepower", back to the bullet anaology. His most regular phrase was that we were on the "bridge to recovery". It seemed to be a very long bridge to Chappaquiddick, leaving a trillion dollar debt on the way.
The media "take" on the budget is directly related to the political allegiance of the news outlet. The Daily Mail focused on the critical issue of the expensive frock Laura Chalmers was wearing during the budget speech.
Almost every vox pop since had people either suggesting there was nothing in the budget for them or they would hand back the $300 power credit because they didn't need it. It's impossible to please all of the people all of the time.
Hopefully the third Chalmers budget has a vast amount of fiscal firepower and puts us on the bridge to recovery.
Peter McLoughlin, Monash
Lost the plot?
Treasurer Chalmers appears to have lost the plot . On the one hand he has fittingly cut back on the largesse shown to the well off by the previous government on the Stage 3 tax cuts, even though the Albanese government initially agreed to it for crass political reasons.
On the other hand he is now uniformly giving away $300 to everyone, including the well off, whether they need it or not.
When questioned on the subject he said he was doing it this way as it was the simplest way to administer it. Go figure.
Mario Stivala, Belconnen
$300 payment is unfair
Labor talks a big game on equity but giving every household $300 off their energy bills fundamentally misunderstands equity. Not everyone is experiencing cost of living pressures in the same way. It is inflationary to give more money to the rich.
Running community pantries in Canberra's Inner North we see people that cannot afford to eat and rely on support from their neighbours. Can we ask those who don't need the $300 to donate it to community pantries?
Can we ask that they put it to community electrification to deliver actual cost of living savings in the short, medium and long term? Electrification is better for all Australians (bar the fossil fuel industry of course) and for the environment.
What happened to Labor being the party of the people and taking serious action on climate change?
Amy Blain, Ainslie
NDIS not 'back on track'
Labor has drafted NDIS legislative changes similar to what the Liberals failed to enact, but even worse. Bill Shorten campaigned against the Liberals but is now is the very minister trying to them through.
Disability organisations are being consulted under gag orders, causing media silence and leaving the community in the dark.
The NDIS purports to be a disability insurance scheme where everyone contributes so that the few who become disabled can have their needs met. Tax cuts at the expense of the NDIS are like cancelling everyone's home insurance.
People with severe disabilities will lose basic supports like food, water, showering and exercise.
The NDIA is going to be able to kick anyone out without the right to appeal. I had my eligibility revoked without reason under the original legislation and appealed. The NDIA conceded they had no evidence and I got back in. Under the proposed legislation I could not have had supports reinstated.
Please help break the silence. Readers, you have until this Friday, May 17, to comment on the NDIS Senate inquiry.
Naomi Hart, Weston
It's about time
Australians should welcome the government's commitment to make money laundering through housing purchases more difficult. Since 2015 the previous conservative governments refused to join the concerted international efforts in this regard, seemingly at the urging of the real estate industry.
The reform will have a positive effect on home buyers' ability to purchase property by lessening unfair competition from international and local launderers.
Blocking criminal abuse will prevent criminal groups and others from growing stronger at the expense of the Australian financial system.
John Ryan, Griffith
A point of view
Crispin Hull opines ("Tweeting twits and the staggering cost of defamation cases", May 7) that publicly telling someone to "piss off back to Pakistan" may not be a breach of Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" because of "the race, colour or national or ethnic origin" of the other person.
Mr Hull points out that S18c makes no mention of religion, however there is specific mention of national origin. Pauline Hanson telling Derryn Hinch to go back to New Zealand isn't the smokeless gun that Ms Hanson and her lawyers think it is. It's simply an incident that wasn't litigated at the time. Shall we call it "tendency evidence"?
Of course neither Hinch nor Mehreen Faruqi holds citizenship of any other country, so the words are ignorant as well as intended to offend.
Peter Marshall, Captains Flat, NSW
Hatred and violence
The cry "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" may seem inspirational and altruistic to the uninitiated, but this phrase is a call to annihilate the nation of Israel. It is a call for the genocide of the Jews.
This phrase was promoted by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1960s then adopted by Islamic terrorist groups including Hamas, which has governed the Palestinian people since they were elected in 2006.
The slogan claims that all the territory now controlled by Jewish people from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is Palestinian.
Since the barbaric Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, the slogan has been repeatedly shouted and displayed at pro-Palestinian protests in Australia. It is inciting hatred and acts of intimidation against Jewish people in our universities and communities.
Calling for a Palestinian state should not include calls for violence against Jewish people or for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Julie McMahon, Belconnen
You can't be serious
Roderick Holesgrove is kidding right? (Letters, May 8). A student leader is sanctioned for expressing unconditional support for a murderous terror group, and, in an echo of classic anti-Semitic tropes, he says it must be because of the supposedly all-powerful "Jewish lobby".
I would have thought most Australians would have been horrified by the comments.
It's also ridiculous that he cites The Canberra Times article only mentioning those Hamas killed on October 7 but not people Israel killed subsequently as evidence of media bias.
There have been countless articles repeating Hamas's claims about Israel's campaign in Gaza, but this article happened to be only about Hamas. Events subsequent to October 7 weren't relevant.
Alan Shroot, Forrest
A drop in the bucket
On April 7 The Canberra Times reported that the federal government will contribute $50 million towards light rail Stage 2B.
That sum would be just 1.25 percent of the $4 billion cost for Stage 2B and, therefore, should be considered as nothing but a token gesture by Katy Gallagher to give spruiking rights to Barr, Rattenbury and Steel in this ACT election year.
In giving funds to Canberra's light rail the federal government is disingenuous. It previously said such projects must be cost-effective. Light rail is not an economic or a competitive rapid transit system.
M Flint, coordinator, Smart Canberra Transport, Erindale Centre
TO THE POINT
IT'S COME TO THIS
So now we go to jail for telling the truth.
Anne Willenborg, Royalla, NSW
MINISTER FOR INJUSTICE?
The first person imprisoned over crimes in Afghanistan is not a war criminal, but the man who exposed them. It's clear that Mark Dreyfus is not the Minister for Justice.
Peter Stanley, Dickson
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Goody I thought, it's The Budget. But it turned out to be Antiques Roadshow and New Tricks.
Annie Lang, Kambah
GREAT NIGHT OUT
Who wouldn't want to stroll across to the "Leopard" on Shell-Shock Corner of a Friday night, and then up to the Fuzzie Wuzzie Angel roof-top bar for an uninterrupted view of the Giants vs the Swannies over a couple of schooners of Bofors Ack-Ack craft pale ale?
Geoff Pryor, Narrabundah
NEVER A GOOD IDEA
How did Sofronoff KC ever think it was okay for a person conducting a sensitive inquiry to selectively and regularly brief a journalist? As the former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal he must have known he was acting in a dodgy way. Was he so naive he believed the journalist would not publish what he gave them?
James Mahoney, McKellar
WAIT FOR THE GOUGE
One concern about payments by card, rather than cash, is that card fees will soar. Already travel agents charge very high fees for credit card usage.
Felicity Chivas, Ainslie
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?
I would have thought boxed fresh food delivered (May 14) would be more expensive than supermarket shopping. My observations are that Canberra restaurants and cafes are pretty full. What is really meant by the "cost-of-living crisis?" Obviously some people are hard up. But how does this compare to futile and cruel wars, genuine poverty in many countries and the environmental crisis.
Roderick Holesgrove, Crace
THE EVIL OF HAMAS
Don McCallum is right, Hamas is evil incarnate (Letters, May 13). But that evil extends well beyond its October 7 attack. Hamas deliberately makes widespread destruction and death in Gaza inevitable in any Israeli response by permeating the entirety of Gaza with its military infrastructure and using its civilians as human shields.
Arthur Parnwell, McKellar
POWERBALL DRAWS
Powerball's first division should be capped at $20,000,000. Any excess should be used to raise the value of all the lower divisions. This would be fairer.
David Lee, Braddon
ALL THE FACTS
Re Sue Dyer's concerns about the Cumberland City council's bid to ban a book on "same-sex parenting" (Letters, May 12). What Ms Dyer omitted to mention is that this book was intended to be placed in the children's section of the public library and recommended for seven to 10-year-olds.
Sebastian Cole, Ngunnawal
STOP HELPING ISRAEL
We can't be complicit in the killing of Palestinians. We've had our own genocide.
Bob Howden, Kambah
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