As recently as 1984, the Australian Tax Office routinely published the names of taxpayers and companies found to be engaged in tax breaches or evasion ("Senate plan to shame tax dodgers with register", August 16). Naming and shaming is one punitive measure to preserve the integrity and fairness of our tax system.
Steve Ngeow Chatswood
Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
Naming and shaming companies that do not pay their share of tax? All that will do is provide another measure of success for the company. They don't care, except about the money. There will be almost no flow-on effect anyway, but especially where there is effectively no choice but to use these companies' goods and services.
All the government is doing is saying that (as usual) they do not have a clue and that it is all too hard.
Christopher May Balgowlah
Gonski failing
Apart from your editorial ("Despite the sceptics, NAPLAN has important story to tell," August 16), the momentum seems to be fading for the Gonski idealism. Our public schools (where children's needs continue to be greatest and most numerous) continue to be hampered by funding shortfalls for needs-based programs and facilities and young lives continue to be tempered by a lack of individual programs and necessary interventions. These are not only literacy and numeracy based, but welfare-related: depression and the effects of domestic violence and drugs and alcohol on the family unit, for example.
Our public schools are ideally suited with trained professionals to develop young lives and "unlock the true potential of each child". However, the lack of Gonski funding in the final two years will hamper progress.
Janice Creenaune Austinmer
G20 reassurance
It is a great comfort to know that the massive overspend on the G20 by the Abbott government was actually a saving of $33.6 million ("G20 bills are still rising nine months on", August 16). We can feel so much better now because it seems Labor would have spent more had they been in charge. This kind of creative accounting has put my mind to rest. I now know that by being overcharged for my new laptop I actually saved a motza because my brother would have paid more had he bought it for me.
Graham Lum North Rocks
Dumb and inept
It is hard not to feel many Australians are being priced out of further education with 30,000 fewer TAFE enrolments this year after fees rose precipitously, some up to $10,000 a year, under the NSW government Smart and Skilled program ("Rush for free TAFE courses", August 16). Offering 5000 free scholarships to younger people in July to mitigate this disaster hardly adds up. There are still 25,000 people in a rising population who, however smart, will remain unskilled with these fee hikes. This presumably includes older people who, having been retrenched, are still expected to work till 70 and might have considered retraining. They are not eligible for the scholarships.
As social policy, Smart and Skilled looks more like dumb and inept.
Jennifer Briggs Kilaben Bay
Use parcel boom
An amazing piece of news about postage ("Price of stamps to double under new mail system", August 16). The Australian Post chief executive, who earns $4.6 million a year, has really worked hard at his job. Letter postage is down; solution, double the price. No mention of the fact that parcel post is booming and with a little bit of creative thinking and good management of the total budget the costs of the fall-off in letter postage could be balanced out to maintain a reasonable overall profit. This way Australian Post can maintain letter delivery and those much-loved and convenient post offices.
Ken Pares Forster