Rundle’s tips for the ALP

John Gleeson writes: Re. “Rundle: four ways the Labor Party could save its bacon” (yesterday). Guy Rundle could have mentioned Shorten ratcheting up the ante on asylum seekers. Possibly the most anti-socialist statement in living memory, a betrayal of what the party stands for, and an example of how much Shorten is a paralysed deadbeat unfit for leadership. There is no way I or the people that I know will consequently vote for Labor whilst Shorten is leader. Rundle could also have mentioned that a party that produces the likes of Shorten needs drastically overhauling.

Richard Barlow writes: I think Guy Rundle saying “Labor saved the country from global recession but we went too far, and we’ve learnt our lesson” is about as accurate as his election predictions.  Rudd/ Gillard Labor used the right economic levers at the right time to prop up demand in a rapidly weakening economy.  The cost of Labor’s approach was a manageable budget deficit, the price of not taking that action would have been mass unemployment, business failures, and a real loss of economic potential.  If I am wrong then the current government should simply balance the budget now.

Accidents and Uber

Ian Franklin writes: Re. “How Uber rolled the taxi industry and won the world” (yesterday). I’m not in the “industry” and never used Uber (I just don’t use taxis a lot) but I do have a simple question: what happens if a Uber car is involved in an accident where the passenger/ hirer/ app user is seriously injured (and the Uber driver is “at fault”)? Will that person still be covered under the NSW compulsory third party insurance scheme? If not, who would they have to chase for a claim of compensation? The driver (who could presumably put themselves into bankruptcy to avoid a big claim) or Uber itself? Isn’t this what the third party (albeit VERY expensive) scheme was set up for? Change is inevitable, Mr Taxi Industry, but I think this is an important and simple  question to cut through all the media hype and industry bleating.