Henry Kissinger’s complicated legacy

It is also little wonder that Kissinger didn’t take too kindly to the newly installed Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam’s letter of December 20, 1972, to Nixon, critical of the continuing US bombing campaign in North Vietnam. Curran’s brilliant article explains why Kissinger reacted so aggressively to an “upstart” Australian PM urging the US to get serious in its peace negotiations with Hanoi.

Ralph McHenry, Brighton East, Vic

TV images make a difference, Mr Downer

Alexander Downer (“What Kissinger would have advised on Israel-Hamas”) rightly argues that government should articulate clear and simple objectives, rather than trying to balance domestic opinion. This is clearly becoming a challenge here for both the government and opposition in defining, and gaining broad support for, programs and budget allocations in policy areas needing fundamental reform rather than incremental change: for instance, climate change, the energy transition, wealth disparity, tax reform and public education.

He concludes with the intriguing statement that the thinking through on the basis of a clear strategy should not be in reaction to TV images or perceptions of different voter interests at home. Yet the availability of imagery can be positive. The Vietnam War and the Biafran famine were among the first examples where TV images of the real consequences of political and military decisions were displayed, and which influenced public perceptions and, in turn, politics.

Ron McLaren, Griffith, ACT

Wrong starting point for stargazing

Having read the planets, your newly appointed astrologer Alexander Downer muses on “What Henry Kissinger would have advised on Israel-Hamas”. As with any failed stargazing, his methodology seems right but positioning wrong.

To divine the minds of notable foreign policy pundits (Machiavelli to Churchill to Kissinger), we must get the starting point right.

Kissinger always started from and ended with non-negotiable US hegemony. Anything in the way, including inconvenient swaths of humans, must of course be exit-managed.

Downer coyly acknowledges the random extermination as “ruthless dispensation” akin to pest control.

Ramani Venkatramani, Rhodes, NSW

That’s Rockefeller, not Kissinger

The man in the photo on page 12 (December 1) at Sydney Airport in 1976 is not Henry Kissinger. It is the then US vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, with his wife, Happy. They are talking to Nancy Kissinger and the Peacocks.

Greg Quinn, Balwyn, Vic

Whitehaven deal won’t dud employees

In response to the article “Managers ‘stripped of entitlements’ in Whitehaven-BHP deal”, I would like to clarify a number of incorrect assertions. Whitehaven Coal has made it clear in all public and private commentary on this acquisition that transferring employees from Daunia and Blackwater will be offered employment on terms that are no less favourable than their current terms. We remain fully committed to delivering on this assurance.

The notion being advanced by the Collieries’ Staff and Officials Association that we are stripping employees of their entitlements is plain wrong. This has been communicated directly to employees and their union representatives, including the CSOA, on numerous occasions. We will continue to work with all employees and their union representatives to finalise this process, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Whitehaven team upon completion of the acquisition.

Daniel Cram, executive general manager – people & culture, Whitehaven Coal

Targeting Western Australia with envy

Once again the politics of envy are coming into play as the states jostle for position ahead of Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting to confront the disastrous cost blowout in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Canberra Observed). And, once again, attention is focused on the special GST deal Western Australia negotiated with Canberra when Malcolm Turnbull was PM.

At that stage WA was being penalised for its success in developing the state’s vast resources. The GST reimbursements had slumped to 30 per cent of receipts and were heading south. The state was clocking up record budget deficits and state debt as it attempted to continue to provide the publicly funded infrastructure that mining projects require. This has been described as simply “digging up dirt and selling it”. If it was so easy, why aren’t other states also developing their resources – and reaping the rewards – instead of bleating?

The WA mining sector, supported by development-oriented state governments – Labor and Coalition – is a standout amid growing concern about the impact of declining productivity on the national economy.

New Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, please note.

Peter Kennedy, Mt Lawley, WA

Ganging up on the west over GST

Saul Eslake’s continued barrage against the GST arrangements is curious (“Danielle Wood must help undo GST deal”). As a Tasmanian, he would be aware that his state has been dealt with harshly by federation, having been denied the industry subsidies and various other forms of protection that the mainland east coast assumes to be its birthright – yet he is all-in with them where the GST is concerned.

He identifies GST as “untied” money but ignores the vast inequity caused by preferential gifting of tied funding. What better way is there to improve a state’s finances than by underquoting the cost of federal projects of dubious benefit – e.g. Snowy 2.0 and the Inland Rail? And how much such largesse has Tasmania or WA ever received?

He should remember that WA was thrown out of the federal lifeboat during the Great Depression, World War II and the mining super-tax era, memories of which are intergenerational.

Mr Eslake should stop saying WA is the “richest” state. “Rich” means wealth. Assets. It is not revenue. If he genuinely wants to pursue recent wealth gains he should look at house price increases in Sydney and Melbourne – two of the biggest windfall gains. They should be his tax target.

Tom Dalgleish, Mandurah, WA

Sweet memories of CSR’s rusty revolver

Alan Gibson’s “Bankers of calibre” (Letters) reminded me of my service as assistant paymaster at CSR’s Pyrmont sugar refinery in 1954. Once a week, the paymaster and I were driven from the refinery on Pyrmont’s waterfront to the Broadway branch of the Bank of New South Wales to pick up the weekly pay for the 300 employees. My main job was to hold our one Smith and Wesson .38 revolver while the paymaster collected the money.

The revolver was never fired in anger. Indeed, it couldn’t fire, as its barrel was thick with rust – having, I was told, been that way for years.

John Laurie, Freshwater, NSW