On Malcolm Turnbull

Janet Gardiner writes: Re. “Rundle: Turnbull is the most contemptible prime minister we’ve ever had” (Wednesday) 

Congratulations, sir. You have beautifully articulated the nausea so many of us feel at the spectacle of this man tossing overboard, one by one, the values we (naively?) thought he held – and all for the tawdry prize of a few more months as PM. And as for that condescending smirk . . . Loved your bit about the open-necked white shirt – delicious.

Peter Burnett writes: Re. “Rundle: Turnbull is the most contemptible prime minister we’ve ever had” (Wednesday) 

In his broadside against Malcolm Turnbull, Guy Rundle congratulates “Sydney ICAN” for winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Sorry to be parochial, but the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was born and bred in Melbourne. Possibly this is why Mr. Harbour Side Mansion declined to congratulate ICAN, beyond the obvious reason (under orders from the Turnbull government, Australian diplomats tried to derail the negotiations for the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – ICAN’s signal achievement). Turnbull now has to live with the knowledge that, under his government, Australia refused for the first time ever to join negotiations for a multilateral disarmament treaty. So much for regional relations, given the treaty has already been signed by most of our close Asia-Pacific neighbours (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu etc). To the everlasting shame of Turnbull and Bishop, we’ve stood with the Trump administration as it works to modernise the US nuclear arsenal and threaten ‘fire and fury’ against anyone who gets in the way.