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Secret meetings in suburban Melbourne of conservative Liberal men discussing overthrowing the first woman Liberal woman before the funeral of the immensely talented and well-respected Katie Allen (“Libs’ ill-timed coup plot a new low in politics”, January 30) – that’s why most people are shaking their heads. No respect, no idea about learning from earlier mistakes, no ability to read the room. Just self-interest and pathetic behaviour. They all need to start planning for new careers after their next election wipeout. Wendy Atkins, Cooks Hill
The editorial shows just how nasty, ego-driven, insensitive and bolshie Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie and their visible backers are. Trying to kick their female leader out and plotting before a female colleague’s funeral for their own ends; says it all. Apart from the victims, not another woman in sight in this travesty. I feel for another victim, distressed widower Malcolm Allen, who now must be incensed at the disrespect his late wife received, even before her coffin left the church. These blokes don’t deserve respect or to lead their party, ever. Jennifer Fergus, Croydon
The editorial says right-wingers Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor’s rush to beat up Ley is “a mystery”. Not to those who have watched the conservative side of politics struggle with its “woman problem”. A female leader would be anathema to a good many in the federal Coalition, which has been so disinclined to trust its few women. We’ve had a male Minister for Women (Tony Abbott), while Scott Morrison regularly spoke for his female ministers, cluelessly mansplaining while they stood obediently behind him. And let’s not start on pre-selecting women to safe seats or Hastie’s firm belief that military combat units should remain “exclusively male”. A female leader in a climate that still supports conservative, male-only clubs? Just no. Alison Stewart, Riverview
The editorial suggesting that changing the Liberal leader “feels like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic” is spot-on. The sensible tactic would be, as the Liberals have no chance at the next election, to leave Ley to try to revive the Coalition, put out to the electorate some sensible new policies and try to regain lost ground. If, as is likely, she does badly at the next election, the Libs can, as they always do, replace her. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach
The editorial speaks of “the former Coalition’s current death spiral”. Every indication now is that the assembled doctors can do no more. The patient is no longer viable. It is time to find a competent political operator from the Coalition circus – if such exists – to sign the death certificate. RIP. There is much admiration of Robert Menzies within this cohort. There is surely someone, somewhere among them with the awareness and wit to see that the only viable way ahead for the centre-right is to emulate Menzies and foster the emergence of a new party that bears some relevance to present-day Australia. Brian Haisman, Winmalee
Really, does the Coalition deserve to even exist? On the remembrance to the Bondi massacre they announce their split, most publicly. On the day of the funeral of one of their most respected MPs, they squabble over Liberal leadership. Is there any heart in the Coalition? John Verhelst, Huntleys Cove
Katie Allen showed exceptional qualities in all of her life’s endeavours, but it was beyond sad to see, on the same page, articles of her service juxtaposed with the tawdry machinations of Hastie and Taylor. Like a sad parody of Shakespeare, they came not to bury Allen but to praise their leadership credentials. John Bailey, Canterbury
Titanic shambles
After striking the iceberg and with the captain refusing to let go of the wheel, the ship’s officers assembled to decide who should take command of the sinking ship (‴Shambolic’ leadership talks between challengers gives a lifeline to Ley”, January 30). Refusing the offer to be first mate, one of them idly wonders whether the passengers might find the discussion a bit “self-indulgent”. Colin Stokes, Camperdown
The shambolic leadership talks in the Liberal Party may give a lifeline to Ley. Littleproud may survive for now, thanks to the civil war within his party. However, the collapse of the Coalition didn’t begin with Ley and Littleproud. This alliance has been losing its way ever since Abbott’s stint as prime minister, but now appears to be in its final throes. They can’t even agree on the major issues, and gave up addressing voters’ concerns and expectations long ago. They refuse to acknowledge a rapidly changing world, and now stand for nothing. They once held the centre ground, but foolishly relinquished it to Labor. The Nats and Libs need more than a change of leadership, they need a complete makeover. They have learned nothing from the drubbing at the last election, and are on track for an even greater defeat next time, even if they do reconcile. Graham Lum, North Rocks
I don’t think Nationals leader David Littleproud has any more bullets left. He fired all his shots, such as forcing the Liberals to abandon the net zero target by 2050. Thinking he had Liberals on the ropes, he went further with his threats that he couldn’t work with the Liberal leader Sussan Ley, effectively calling for the Liberal Party to have a spill. Littleproud overplayed his hand, and now the rooster is coming home – he is being challenged, and he will prevail, but the process of National leadership is unfolding. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. If the Liberals’ right plays into Littleproud’s hands, the Liberal party in cities is finished and Littleproud will boast about retaining all National seats. Mukul Desai, Hunters Hill
You don’t need a crystal ball to see future splits, dummy spits and spills in the Liberal party with the Hastie and Taylor standoff. Each sows the seeds for more leadership disputes. A slow-motion bus crash. Ross Coleman, Glenbrook
It seems time’s up for Ley, but rivals would do well not to rush to fill her role. Perhaps, they should tailor their approach in that regard. After all, a hasty decision may later be regretted. Edward Loong, Milsons Point
Hastie aspirations abort Taylor-made coup. Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook
Regional v rational
The answer to your correspondent’s quandary (Letters, January 30) may lie in the maiden speech of Wes Fang MLC (October 11, 2017), where he explains why he joined the National Party – “I chose The Nats for one simple reason: Unlike most other political parties, we are a party based on geography, not philosophy.” So, there is the answer – they believe in nothing. Terry Funnell, Parramatta
When I read the Letters page I often have an instantaneous positive reaction to some letters and then see a familiar name below. Anything from Graeme Lum (North Rocks), Adrian Connelly (Springwood) or Nola Tucker (fellow Kiama resident) seems to gain my support. Perhaps they should be the group to set up a new political outfit – called, say, The Sensible Centre Party? At least their policies would be well-written. Jenni Stapleton, Kiama
Timely call to protect children
Hugh De Kretser’s plea to humanise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to 14 years is timely and profoundly appropriate (“Jailing pre-teen children shames our human rights record”, January 30). A Human Rights Act would be educative, a system for political, judicial and community analysis and great for social cohesion. In Australia, from politicians to the courts there is little outrage, insight or awareness about how to protect children, even where “parens patriae” applies. The state sponsors child strip searches. Delegation leads to greater incarceration and for Indigenous children it is internal colonisation. We must hear and respond to the concerns of the international moral leadership. Anne Eagar, Epping
Why are so many pre-teen Indigenous children incarcerated? What crimes are they committing? Is the best we can offer, just new facilities, such as the new soulless Darwin, where stir-crazy children have run riot? The children need a reason to live and a way to achieve it. Providing opportunities for expanding their lives overseen by caring teachers, would open doors. Sure, this would take time, but it has to be better than what’s currently offered, which is clearly not working. Shame on us. Wendy Crew, Lane Cove North
Too many of us think that locking up people is the solution to all crime, even when it comes to children. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report of 2025, 6.6 per cent of children aged between 10 and 17 in Australia are Indigenous, yet they make up 65 per cent of those in detention. Something is deeply wrong and needs to be put under the spotlight to see why we are imprisoning so many of our Indigenous children. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury
Green and gold
As our colours for sporting events are green and gold, we need a flag of those colours (Letters, January 30). I suggest a sprig of wattle on a green background. One flag for all. Canada has shown the way. Dorothy Balcomb, Orange
Cathy Wilcox’s depiction of various uses and abuses of our flag struck a chord with me. Whether we approve of the design, its use on towels, shorts, thongs, decorations and all manner of trashy souvenirs and accessories surely demeans this symbol of our national identity and pride. To me, respect for our flag, in whatever form, is diminished by having it covered in sand, stretched over bottoms, flapping from car antennas, clinging in tatters to roadway overpass mesh and left tangled in tree branches. Whatever new design we settle on, and that time is surely coming, we need to think more carefully about acceptable ways to display and use this important national emblem. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills
I agree with your correspondent that we should consider changing our flag to the Aboriginal flag that pays tribute to our Indigenous people. Additionally, the side benefit would be seeing Pauline Hanson go troppo not just at the change, but at depriving her of wearing the national flag when she’s in one of her tizzy fits. Victor Marshall, Meander (Tas)
Free waterfall proposal
I’m onboard for the ride with the innovative ideas of Domenic Svejkar on lifting underground Sydney waterways to the daylight, especially the historic Tank Stream that runs down to Circular Quay (“The pitch to revive Sydney’s hidden waterways”, January 30). But let’s think even bigger. “Daylighting” the Tank Stream right up to the level of the Cahill Expressway could create a most spectacular waterfall, another modern wonder of the world right opposite that other wonder, the Sydney Opera House. And my suggestion then finally fixes that infamous expressway eyesore. No consultancy fee for me is required as I offer the proposal free and most would agree that it is worth every cent. Paul McShane, Burradoo
While it seems feasible to have communal compost bins on public streets and verges there seem to be too many “lowlifes” around to stymie efforts to produce compost and thereby reduce landfill. As an example, a beautiful pedestrian bridge, with steps and lift access, was built at Forestville. Apart from graffiti, the lifts are often in a disgusting state. They have been used as toilets. People have vomited and spat on the doors. Imagine what could happen to the compost bins. Judith Rostron, Killarney Heights
What a lovely idea put forward by consultant Domenic Svejkar. Yes, “plant street trees for much needed shade, bring back nature and biodiversity into the urban environment”, all wonderful ideas, but well may we ask ... Where in this now concrete jungle with new houses cheek by jowl, are we to retrofit all this nature? Dorothy Gliksman, Cedar Brush Creek
Sleep science
The well-being of our society rests very much on the quality of its sleep (“King’s students told to learn solo on days with late starts”, January 30). The Kings School moving to a later start to the school day on Wednesdays is a small step towards acting on the findings from sleep scientists that not only for educational, but also for social and safety reasons, the typical sleep structure of adolescents should not be disrupted by beginning school early. Later school starts are associated not only with higher attendance rates and better grades, but also fewer behaviour problems, lower rates of substance abuse and, importantly for older adolescents, a significant reduction in car accidents, the major cause of deaths in this age group. These may be inconvenient truths for family and workplace timetabling, but a move to beginning school later would be for the greater good individually and socially. Paul Casey, Callala Bay
My son’s high school in Wollongong (over two decades ago) timetabled a split school with early for younger students and a midday start for senior students. The change was based on a premise of sharing resources and facilities. That worked well from the school perspective generally, except for my son when the early morning surf was up. There was no resisting that temptation and with both parents working, direct overseeing and control was limited. It may be a case of zemblanity, the opposite of serendipity, but he now lives and works in Las Vegas and the surf is five hours away. Janice Creenaune, Austinmer
We used to live near a family whose children attended a private school many suburbs away. They left home by 7.30am and rarely arrived home before 4.30pm. I swore we would never put our children through such an exhausting schedule, and they attended our local high school. At a pinch, they could wake up at 8am and still make it to school on time. I often wonder if their achievements at high school were simply because they could stay awake all day. Anne Kirman, Wilton
Parochial protest
The shades of a multitude of Australian writers from last century and before must be fuming at your correspondent’s assertion (Letters, January 30) that before the broadening impact of television our literary heritage consisted of merely parochial poets and authors such as Banjo Paterson [sic], Dorothea Mackellar, Mrs [sic] Aeneas Gunn (now published as Jeannie Gunn), Henry Lawson and C. J. Dennis. Judith Wright, Kenneth Slessor, R. D. Fitzgerald, Bruce Dawe and Les Murray spring to mind and that is only a smattering of poets. Arthur Cooper, Alstonville
One serve, not two
With tennis, or more explicitly, the AO, being at the top of the sporting viewer tree, I wondered why the game permits two serves, in other words, it allows a mistake with no penalty. No other top line professional sport allows this, which begs the question, why two serves? By allowing one serve only, you would cease to have big servers dominate a game which is at its best when long rallies, producing ground strokes, predominate. I’m appealing to tennis officialdom to change the rule to one serve only. Tennis will be the winner. Max Redmayne, Drummoyne
Surely it is not beyond the considerable resources of Tennis Australia to provide a separate and private venue for racquet smashing for contestants at the Australian Open? Naturally, video surveillance would be banned, and a rack of used racquets could be provided, just in case one per player is not enough. This might reduce the aggression and audible grunting that is now a feature of modern tennis. I am sure readers could suggest other objects players could take their frustrations out on. David Brown, Robertson
Like cricket, maybe tennis should also have a Duckworth Lewis system, where a player two sets up and leading in the third should be declared a winner even if they retire hurt. Unless the injury is so bad that they are ruled out of the rest of tournament. Ariyur Rangarajan, Baulkham Hills
Yes to Djokovic statue
I am all for honouring this great champion with a statue at Melbourne (“Ten-feat statue: Does Djokovic deserve permanent place at Melbourne Park?” , January 30). Djokovic may not be liked by every tennis fans but his achievements, especially winning 10 Australian Open titles along with other titles, speak of his greatness. Let’s not be so parochial as not to recognise a great athlete just because he is not Australian. Bipin Johri, Epping
If Novak gets a statue, don’t forget the mask. David Sayers, Gwandalan
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