Letters to the editor: Arrogant franking credit policy cost Labor the election

The government was able to run a scare campaign and, as a result, they won.

When Bowen was so arrogant as to say that if people didn't like the franking credit policy they could vote Liberal they did.

I was so incensed by his comments I called into Andrew Leigh's office to say Bowen should be pulled into gear.

I was told the policy would only cost the party 100,000 votes. I said I believed it would cost millions of votes.

This result is a rerun of the 1993 election. Hewson could not explain the impact of his consumption tax on a cake and Labor, under Keating, was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Be wary about polling results. Surely pre-polling must now be in doubt. The last poll, on election day, is the one that counts.

I've worked as a polling officer in the past, and my recollection was that if the intention of the voter was clear, even it the voter did not strictly adhere to the instructions, it would be counted.

This time, with so much in contention, and with confusing messages, and wanting to make sure my vote counted, I found myself voting for people for whom I have contempt or about whom I have been able to find nothing to recommend them to me, in an effort to make sure that I do not cast an invalid vote.

The most important issues for me are climate change and social justice, and based on this there were just six Senate candidates I felt reasonably confident would represent my most important concerns. I seriously considered just leaving it at that, but in the end I gave in to fear, and spread my remaining votes around the rest of the rabble.

This is just not good enough. If I felt I could only vote for four people, and was prepared to have my vote extinguished at that point, I should have been able to do so.

This rule has to be cleaned up or, if my original understanding was right, it should be made absolutely clear to the voter. If my intention is clear, the vote should be valid.

I thank Malcolm Mackerras (Letters, May 15) and Martha Kinsman (Letters, May 17) for their expert advice relating to Senate voting options. Having voted by putting just one number above the line I wonder, but will never know, whether my vote was discarded by an ill-informed AEC scrutineer. Apologies to Anthony Pesec if this was so.

I was told I had to number six boxes if I was voting above the line. When I queried this, the response was "this is what is on the ballot paper and this is what we have been told to inform voters".

For those who would say I was just being stubborn, I had no wish to direct any preferences (other than to put Z last).

I believe the complexities of the system are what generate many votes which are declared informal.

This, together with what is termed "the donkey vote", must contribute to the number of asses in the Senate.

Hawke was the environment PM . A pity they are not all like this. One thing not mentioned is it was the Hawke Government, in conjunction with states and territories, that developed the National Ecological Sustainable Development Strategy (NDES).

Australia was the first country to do this and was consistent with the 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit's Agenda 21.

The NDES set out targets and strategies for Australia to develop in an ecologically sustainable way.

The Howard government was not interested and the NDES was abandoned. If Australia had stuck with the strategy we would have now fulfilled a range of desirable outcomes such as low carbon emissions, maintenance of our biodiversity and protection of our water resources and low emission forms of energy production.

Alex Mattea castigates Kerr for sacking Whitlam (Letters, May 18).

While that may be true, it's not the whole truth. Having removed Whitlam, Kerr called a general election. The Coalition won 91 seats in the House of Representatives to Labor's 36.

Perhaps the process of changing government was "dodgy". That said, a majority of voters apparently did not think so.

Re your article "Kangaroo shot four times" (canberratimes.com.au, May 18).

I'm sure you will get a few kangaroo lovers critical of the police's actions as this appears to be what the article is aiming for.

The police were completely in the right. Unless there's a joey in the pouch, there is no "kangaroo hospital" for the animal to be taken to.

When an adult kangaroo is seriously injured you have two options: put the animal out of its misery now, or call a ranger and let them do it for you. The action the police took was the same as what the ranger would have done. The only difference was the choice of gun.

While the shooting was somewhat brutal, it meant the animal's death was over with quickly and the animal was not made to endure the agony of waiting for the ranger.

It was the least cruel of the alternatives. They did the right thing.

Magda Sitsky (Letters, May 18) suggests ballot papers be circular in order to eliminate the donkey vote.

A better suggestion would be to adopt the "Robson rotation" as used in ACT elections. Robson rotation is a system of listing the names of candidates within columns on a ballot paper in several different orders. It is intended to give each candidate an equal share of each position in a column, thereby ensuring that political parties are not able to influence the voting outcome by asking for candidates to be listed in a particular order. No donkey vote.

The Robson rotation should be adopted not only for the House of Representatives ballot paper, but also for the Senate ballot paper, with the listing of columns on the Senate ballot paper in several different orders.

Another worthwhile ACT initiative is the prohibition on political party representatives and advertising within a prescribed minimum distance from the entrance to a polling place.

If Morrison has won the best response is by W B Yeats:

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere,

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, While the worst

Are full of passionate intensity."

Adani has its mine; the farmers will lose their groundwater; Queensland tourism will suffer as no-one will cross the world to view the dead Barrier Reef; no political party will ever campaign on a bold vision; elections will be just endless attack ads ad nauseam and climate change will worsen.

To what do we owe the unexpected Coalition victory?

Russian interference? Or just another big "up yours" from people who aren't as stupid as Labor, the Greens and the media would like?

Take it from me; the only reason the left is sucking eggs again is because it can't see itself like others can.

Zali Steggall may have won in the seat of Warringah however, if she had won any of her sporting battles the way in which she took victory in this election you would hope she would have had the integrity to refuse the medal.

Through subversive means, and the most unsporting tactics ever deployed in Australian politics, the people of Warringah have voted out a man that would have done more in one month than Steggall will achieve in a full term of Parliament.

Have we become to complacent as a Nation? Now we have a PM who brought coal into parliament and said it won't hurt you.

Well PM it may not come back to bite you, but it will definitely bite your children's generation.

Now we have another three years of sitting on the fence and lining the pockets of the likes of Adani.

Adani built one of the biggest solar farms in the world Where? In India.

Now we are going to let Adani pollute our beautiful country and we voted to let it happen.

We have a Prime Minister who believes in miracles. What next, a supernatural explanation of climate change?

Vale Toby Abbott. You could say he had a Liberal head but a One Nation heart.

On Sunday I was awoken by a strange rumbling sound. It was the gnashing of teeth by Canberrans who had just watched the ABC news featuring the election results.

The election had something for everyone. Abbott and Phelps were not re-elected, Mundine did not get elected and Shorten resigned as leader of the ALP.

A victory for scare mongering and for bull-twang over considered policy. A fairer and climate responsible Australia is the loser.

Labor and its supporters must feel devastated at losing this election. It's how all Australians should feel. Palmer has stolen their democracy.

The people have spoken. Turnbull; eat your heart out. Shorten must have consulted John Hewson on how to lose an unloseable election.

Are the Coalition bedwetters who quit, apparently expecting a Labor win, regretting their decisions?

Scomo's in and Shorten and Abott are gone. It's true. All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Morrison's victory is as good as a Collingwood premiership.

We are facing another three years of government by mean and tiny minds. And Peter Dutton survived. Queensland's voters have a lot to answer for.

Given the handicap Shorten has been to Labor for years one must hope the party doesn't ditch its surprisingly principled electoral platform, but only its leader. The replacement should be either Penny Wong or Tanya Plibersek.

Now the hubbub is over, we can reflect on Gibran's observation from The Prophet: "In much of your talking, thinking is half murdered". Of course, some murdered more than others.

Chris Bowen said, "If you don't like it [Labor policy], don't vote Labor". Got it, Chris.

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