Royal commission to change Australia 

Keith Thomas writes: Re. “‘I thought it was my fault’: victims begin their stories at abuse royal commission” (yesterday). This royal commission will change Australian society for the better for generations to come — not just for the victims, but for the institutions, the peace of mind of parents and for openness in society generally. I feel confident that many abusers have already been deterred from abuse and many children — totally ignorant of their close escapes — are today continuing their happy, innocent lives. I would nominate Julia Gillard, Peter Fox and Joanne McCarthy as Australians of the year.

Cabinet sausage fest

Andrew Haughton writes: Re. “Crikey says: it’s raining men in Abbott’s cabinet ” (yesterday). Suddenly there are no daughters in sight, no wife in sight, just one woman in cabinet, and Tony Abbott is living in a monastic cell in Canberra. Is this, perhaps, the “Real Tony”?

John Richardson writes: So Crikey is shocked by the fact that Tony Abbott’s “inner” cabinet will boast only one woman. Why? Mr Amgen has always said that he won’t change his frontbench line-up except by necessity, which appears to be precisely the case. As for any gnashing of teeth over the parlous state of female representation on the conservative side of politics, how come it wasn’t an issue over the past three years or in the “non-election” we had to have? But at least Bronwyn Bishop finally gets to play Lady Macbeth!

The lie of good economic management

Peter Matters writes: Re. “Essential: Coalition voters suddenly discover a good economy” (yesterday). Hypocrisy on the subject of the economy is the standby of any of Her Majesty’s opposition. The lie that Labo(u)r governments are by nature spendthrifts is a so often repeated mantra of the opposition that the electorate has now swallowed it. In our time the lie  has been particularly effective — it has pressured former treasurer Wayne Swan to keep on promising a balanced budget at a time the drover’s dog knew it would be impossible to achieve and even if had been achieved against all the odds, it would have been very poor economic management.