One exception

Linda Jaivin makes many sensible points, not least her scepticism about the wisdom of Australia readily following the United States into battle (“On Penny Wong’s press club speech”, April 22-28). However, she alludes to Australia answering Washington’s call in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, and asks how that turned out for those countries and for us? Without suggesting that this invalidates anything else in her article, I would contend that the answer for the inhabitants of South Korea is that it turned out pretty well.

– Michael Sanders, Hazelbrook, NSW we are “completely locked in with the US” in foreign policy terms. Sad, but true. In the (almost) unthinkable situation of the US warring against China in defence of Taiwan, Australia would have no say in whether we support our great friend and ally. Then prime minister Tony Abbott’s 2014 Force Posture Agreement ensures that the US military would have total access to all Australian military capabilities. The marines in Darwin, the B-52s stationed at Tyndall

Air Force Base, the tentacles of Pine Gap’s sophisticated tracking and targeting devices – all would be activated immediately. This would be damaging in the extreme. And all this prior to the proposed nuclear submarines plan. Yet the government is preparing us for a budget that will not include raising payments to the unemployed, or any substantial plan to deal with homelessness. We need to challenge the sacred cow of the military expenditure in the interests of commonsense justice on the home front.

– Jo Vallentine, Coolbellup, WA quoted was from Monday, September 4, 1972. I would say there is nothing new under the sun, but that is not quite true – the quantities of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are higher than any point in human history, and there is a lot of trouble ahead, regardless of whether Labor sorts out a real EV policy.

– Dr Marc Hudson, Parkside, SA