Copyright smh
Sussan Ley compounds her churlishness in criticising Albanese for wearing a Joy Division T-shirt (“No joy for Ley as PM’s T-shirt brings division to parliament”, October 29). This comes after her misstep demanding Rudd’s sacking from his US ambassadorship. Earlier, she sent a letter to the American Congress vowing to revoke Australia’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, undermining the sovereignty and unity of the nation. It is not her role to set foreign policy – that belongs to the elected government. Her opposition should have remained in-house. Ley would be served to take a more bipartisan and constructive approach. Are ad hominem attacks all she has to offer? Salvatore Sorbello, Campsie Sussan Ley was a little off the mark with Albanese’s T-shirt reference. Far from celebrating Nazis, it was a more subtle dig at the shenanigans going on among Australia’s far-right political factions. Albo, armed with encyclopedia-like knowledge of the Triple J Hottest 100 winners, knew Joy Division won the 1990 rankings with their song Love Will Tear Us Apart. So as he alighted the flight from the far right of America to land back in Australia, the prime minister was making a poignant reference to the love being torn apart by Barnaby Joyce’s flirtations with One Nation. Unfortunately, I think subtlety is lost on the Liberals. Chris Andrew, Turramurra Utter nonsense from the leader of the opposition. It’s a storm in a T-shirt. Tim Parker, Balmain I note Sussan Ley has used her time in parliament to condemn Anthony Albanese’s choice of T-shirt on tenuous grounds of links to antisemitism. What a gobsmacking waste of public time and resources. What an astounding irrelevancy. The Herald reported this week that the Centre for Public Integrity claims the Albanese government has failed in six of seven fields it evaluated (“Teals, report give PM a fail on transparency”, October 28). Surely, we need a viable opposition debating matters of policy and keeping the government honest? What we don’t need is Ley using her position to give credence to Murdoch-press-fuelled culture wars. It is clear that the Coalition is setting itself up for many years in the wilderness. Meanwhile, the lack of a viable opposition will provide a fertile ground for hard and soft corruption in the federal government. Come on, Ley, get your eye on the ball and do your job. John Storer, Bulli The title of the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols must be familiar to the pearl-clutching Sussan Ley. I suppose that a politician whose party is in disarray, an ineffective opposition with no sensible policies and zero vision for Australia, has to say something to try to remain relevant by any means at all. Never mind the bollocks, Sussan, try to concentrate on doing something positive for the future of the nation and forget about the trivia. Barrington Salter, Elanora, Qld Anthony Albanese, when acting as PM – a leader and a representative of Australia – should be dressed more fittingly than in a T-shirt, let alone one with promotion, marketing or advertising of any sort. While I don’t always expect a suit and tie when a polo shirt would suffice, this attire is for his backyard barbecues.Jenny Greenwood, Hunters Hill
