Libs on a plane bound for electoral oblivion

I would take Shaun Carney’s departure lounge analogy a little further – the Liberal Party is already boarding the plane bound for electoral oblivion (“Reality is coming for Angus Taylor”, June 11). When I trained as a psychiatric nurse in the 1960s I learnt that a common ego defence mechanism used by children was projection – it wasn’t my fault, it was their fault. However, we grow up, and as adults take responsibility for our behaviour. Blaming the Labor Party for an electoral decline dating back to Tony Abbott’s landslide victory in 2013 is childlike at best. Unless the Liberal Party tells us what it stands for before the next election, the plane will have taxied down the runway and taken off. Gordon Lambert, Kiama Downs

I believe Shaun Carney is only partially right when he blames the lack of Liberal policies for the party’s declining support. The main reason is that Australian politics has become a game of opposites. If one party proposes a solution to a complex problem, the other proposes the opposite. Housing affordability, the economy and immigration are all complex problems but who has the best solution? Voters are confused and turn to simple solutions they can understand. Isn’t it time for the grown-ups to have nuanced conversations and admit they don’t have all the answers or miracle cures? I could trust a politician who admitted that. John Boast, Hunters Hill

Shaun Carney is right that the decline of the Coalition is partly the result of their long-term “policy drift”. In its last period of government (2013-2022) the Coalition spent a lot of energy undoing Labor’s reforms, notably carbon tax, but precious little on pursuing any reforms of its own. Its anti-reform agenda has been particularly notable in the field of Indigenous affairs. This has not always been the case. It was under Liberal prime minister Harold Holt that the 1967 referendum recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution was conducted. Neville Bonner (Liberal) was the first Indigenous person elected to the Australian Senate while Ken Wyatt (Liberal) was the first in the Reps. Fred Chaney (Liberal) was an outstanding, reforming minister for Aboriginal affairs. In recent times, however, it has been the Coalition that has pushed back against the Voice, the Aboriginal flag and welcome-to-country ceremonies. Current polling suggests that those Coalition members who survive the 2028 election will be sitting behind prime minister Pauline Hanson, who has spoken against Indigenous rights for her entire 30-year political career. Wyatt and Chaney would never have done that but i