The next federal poll is two years away, everyone, cool down

June 12, 2026 — 8:00pm Photo: Megan HerbertTo submit a letter to The Age, email letters@theage.com.au. Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.The current political discourse in the media on the rise of One Nation and the struggles of the Coalition alongside Labor’s performance and response needs to be cooled. The election is two years away and much can happen in that time. Labor needs to get on with tax reform, deliver services, housing and address cost-of-living issues for those in need and stop pampering to the vocal elite who seem to have little interest in the wellbeing of everyone in the community other than their pockets. If we were all willing and able to pay more tax the current debates around the NDIS could be alleviated and wellbeing advanced and if we cut immigration who will service our aged care homes, coffee house, drive the delivery trucks and serve in the supermarkets?Ray Cleary, CamberwellVoters need to think more broadlyColumnist Waleed Aly (Comment, 12/6) raises interesting points. He points out many turning points that changed some people’s perspective on where we might be heading as a nation, such as the effects of the global financial crisis, Brexit, COVID, inflation, to name a few. I question that voters, if politicians cite the things we feel are the most important, are in fact not sure what is most important any more as there are so many issues that need to be addressed. It’s hard to put them in any order. Is it housing affordability, inflation, education, health, immigration, climate change? No party seems to offer a solution to all.No doubt when we go to the polls we will pick the issue on the top of our list and go with it, but I feel this next federal election will require more thought than simply picking the things we may personally benefit from. To have Australia functioning as a whole united country we will need to think broader and inclusively because everyone of us has an impact on the other.Sharon Hendon, Glen IrisThe rise of a naive cohortWaleed Aly refers to One Nation as attracting women more than men and younger, tertiary educated people. Given the long-held xenophobic and grievance-ridden vibe of Pauline Hanson’s policy-bereft political party, it is tempting to conclude that an ahistorical, naive and youthfully ignorant cohort has, in its default way, now come to the fore. Bred on the superficialities and distractions of social media, they may not be exactly comparable to the blue-collar male ″⁣deplorables″⁣ once derided by Hillary Clinton; but surely rank ignorance compounded by an absence of basic ″⁣civics education″⁣ has to be a common denominator here.Ironically, they may also share some of the deeply cynical characteristics of those querulous older male politicians who have led us into the current parlous political situation. Deeply depressing.Jon McMillan, MorningtonTHE FORUMHacking at beautyWell done Stonnington Council (″⁣This hedge was their pride and joy. Then came the council email to ‘butcher’ it″⁣, 12/6). In one fell swoop you have forced a beautiful streetscape into looking like a war zone.The alleged 30cm infraction on your footpath aside, was any consideration given to the environmental impact, both visual and natural, in the order to decimate the hedge?Now everyone has to live with a visual eyesore that will take years to recover, if it ever does, and you have recklessly created a high-profile target for vandals to set fire to. So much for keeping Melbourne green and trying to halt climate change.Maybe the council in all its wisdom would have preferred a Colorbond fence that would never have ever extended one millimetre over an arbitrary boundary instead of a natural barrier?You know, a man-made metal fence that could be dinted and rattled to keep the ratepayers awake at night and graffitied endlessly, instead of a picturesque, value-adding, all-natural habitat.Mark Kennedy, SebastopolBuy big, pay bigIsn’t it standard practice to pay more when you use more? We already pay more for oversized luggage, larger parcels and bigger rubbish bins. Why should oversized utes be any different (″⁣Campaign revs up over road tolls for behemoths″⁣, 12/6)?Bigger vehicles take up more space, create more pollution and impose greater costs on the community. If you want to supersize your vehicle, expect to supersize the cost.Julia Paxino, BeaumarisChance to explainIt is definitely a worry that One Nation could become the major governing party (“Yes, One Nation can win the big one”, 12/06) especially as its lack of policies indicates it is really just another “No” party. Pauline Hanson will address the National Press Club next week and will finally have to explain what the vision and policies of One Nation mean for Australia.Unless her messages can be properly interrogated and reported to the broader public many voters will still be attracted to her party in response to their continuing disappointment with the policy offerings of the two major parties.Denise Stevens, St KildaA long bow drawnColumnist Dennis Glover (Comment, 11/6) stretches a very long bow in comparing the Ukraine-Russia war with World War I. Yes, the number of casualties in today’s war are truly shocking. But the First World War was a “whole of world war” involving the Allied powers (France, UK, Russia, Italy, US and Japan) against the Central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria).And, as we well know, Australia was also a significant participant.Glover goes on to reason that the failure to achieve peace in 1916 “upended the world” and “caused the Bolshevik Revolution ... led to the rise of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin ... the 50 million deaths of the Second World War ... and the Holocaust”.But his argument is off the mark. World War I was one factor in all the subsequent events he lists, but just one factor.For example, the Bolshevik Revolution had its roots in earlier Russian history, namely the earlier Russian revolution of 1905 occurred well before the outbreak of the war in 1914.David Fry, WindsorABC, rethink morningsABC management should not be surprised that ratings have fallen (“Some green shoots, but ABC still struggling”, 12/6). While the article does not give a detailed breakdown of audience numbers across the day, it would not be unexpected to see listener numbers dropping in particular for the Breakfast program, 5.30am to 8am, Mondays to Fridays.What did management hope for, when appointing a presenter whose chief previous expertise was not in radio but on the football field?Even for this rusted-on ABC 774 listener, an MCC member and cricket and footy match attendee, the year-long emphasis on AFL matters, with chat about other sport codes when relevant, is too much of a good thing.The Breakfast program has become a morning version of Grandstand. I’ve moved over to ABC FM classical, thanks.Bronwen Bryant, KensingtonSensible viewsIt was good to read some sensible, alternative articles to those ones of hysteria to the federal government’s proposed financial laws (″⁣Don’t fall for vested interest’s howls″⁣, by Graeme Samuel, 10/6, and ‴⁣⁣I have a theory about Hanson’s rise″⁣, by Ross Gittins, 11/6).People who are complaining that they are going to lose support given to them by other taxpayers show an unreasonable level of privilege and entitlement.Negative gearing claims should only be matched to the income from the property in question, not the owner’s general income and multiple properties as now.Lorraine Bates, BalwynNeeded, good intelStoring data “in the cloud” has always sounded a bit like something out of Enid Blyton (Letters, 12/6). It’s no surprise to learn that in today’s real world there’s actually no Magic Faraway Tree leading to a land where Big Tech looks after everything.Instead of worrying that data storage facilities may swallow all our habitable space and gobble up our resources, I suggest giving this “cloud problem” to AI to solve.Human intelligence demands some worthwhile return on its investment.Jenifer Nicholls, WindsorNegligent guardiansFuture generations, should our species survive, will rightly judge us harshly for spending so much time and effort bombing the heck out of each other and demonising other races and religions while ignoring global problems of climate change, pollution, forever chemicals and extreme poverty.Sadly, as self-appointed custodians of our planet, we have been extremely negligent.Vikki O’Neill, AshburtonThe point of it allYour correspondent (Letters, 12/6) says, “There will be a significant reduction in the availability of rental properties for tenants if negative gearing benefits are no longer available to investors.” Expect, too, a concomitant increase in the number of first home-owner occupiers, who would otherwise be tenants. That’s the point.Lawrie Bradly, Surrey HillsTry new tack, TrumpDonald Trump’s chances of a Nobel Peace Prize continue to drop the more he involves himself in the Middle East. He should try a new tack, eat humble pie and get out of the place.John Walsh, WatsoniaFewer expectationsRather than legislating requirements for energy and water usage, in regards to data centres, the federal government states there will be non-binding ″⁣expectations″⁣. I had ″⁣expectations″⁣ of a Labor government and look where that is heading.Dawn Richards, HuntingdaleBy the letterPerhaps the Liberals could split all their seats: A-K they could allow One Nation to run in and One Nation could not run in seats whose names were from L-Z. Perhaps One Nation could allow some Liberal members to participate in their preselections in the A-K seats. One Nation could run in all National-held seats.Warren Thomas, IvanhoeForever potholesI had decided that I would not apply for the registration partial rebate since the government needed the money. Then I got the news that our car would need two new tyres and that two wheels require repairs due to pothole damage. My fear is that once the repairs are done, the potholes will still be there.Kevan Porter, AlphingtonRebate v repairsTwo million drivers have applied for the registration rebate. At $160, on average, each, this is a considerable sum. What if that had been spent on the deplorable roads instead?Peter Rebbechi, Kilmore Photo: Matt GoldingAND ANOTHER THINGAICould AI be put to work to design a system that inhibits the potentially dangerous insurgent growth of AI?Terry Kelly, CoburgAI – a good servant but a bad master.Mark Hulls, SandringhamOppositionOf course Pauline Hanson has no chance of becoming PM, just as Donald Trump was unelectable in 2016 and 2024 (Comment, 12/6).John Hughes, MentoneWho will be Minister for Dress-Ups in parliament in a Hanson government?David Baylis, Drouin EastChange or die – if only Angus Taylor’s slogan related to the need for bold economic reform rather than merely political survival.Bernd Rieve, BrightonIf the Coalition shares preferences with One Nation, they will be trying to share seats.Malcolm McDonald, BurwoodTwo million dollars raised in two days. I am extremely pleased that the cost-of-living crisis has not affected Pauline Hanson’s battlers.Denis Evans, CoburgIf you are thinking of voting for One Nation and you trust scientists apropos climate change, then think again. If you think the science of climate change is mumbo jumbo, you have found your tribe.Phil Labrum, TrenthamFurthermoreTo the phrase tomorrow never comes, can be added, Trump’s peace with Iran is only a few days away.Nat Srinivasan, Surrey HillsAn easy find for Zoos Victoria’s deficit of $5.6 million (″⁣Zoos to cut up to 70 jobs, 10/6), take it from the $10million going to duck shooting season.Helen Breier, BrunswickWhat the public will never see: the figure the SA government is paying the AFL to host Gather Round until 2029. It’s ″⁣commercial in confidence″⁣.David Cayzer, Clifton HillThe country is facing inflammatory populism, global heating and now an impending El Niño. Where are the leaders who will put out the fires?Jenny Smithers, AshburtonFrom our partners