The government wants to take a good look at salaries paid to the branch heads of the Australian Future Fund.

These high ranking public servants have salary packages with associated perks far in excess of Malcolm Turnbull’s for sitting on their backsides each day discussing flowcharts.

John Macleod, Berry

Great to see that Arthur Rorris is making progress winning back the wages of underpaid young workers.

I have to quibble at the Mercury's use of the term "union boss".

A boss is someone who is not accountable for his or her actions.

Union officials are, however imperfectly in some cases, accountable to the workers they represent.

"Boss" is one of many terms which the right wing in politics have succeeded in importing into our language.

You could add "nanny state", "political correctness" and "liberal elites" to the list.

Peter Cockcroft, Corrimal

Is there anything sadder than a dribbling old political foot soldier railing against the changing of the tide, the rabid foam of his dementia splattering the microphone in the senate?

I am constantly confounded by how politicians of his kind can in fact sleep at night.

Ian Macdonald’s bewildered rantings over the loss of parliamentarian’s privilege is hypocrisy in the extreme.

This parasite on the public purse for the last 27 years has been part of the Howard, Abbott and Turnbull governments that have systematically eroded worker’s rights and entitlements.

They have stolen our jobs and sent them overseas and facilitated the wholesale importation of cheap, easily exploited labour for those jobs that remain here.

He and his ilk have sown the populist wind of destroying unions, driving down wages and undermining secure jobs for us and our children.

I for one am ecstatic that he is now reaping that same populist whirlwind and missing out on at least a bit of political privilege.

Andrew Sefton, Thirroul

I read an article in Wednesday's Mercury about a swim school in Figtree torturing kids etc.

I work in this area from time to time and in my view nothing could be further from the truth. Kids are never thrown into the pool, they are coaxed in by an experienced instructor with their parents poolside .

A lot of the time the occasional crying is from siblings that are not even in the pool. This lady instructor is training these kids to survive.

It is a beautiful thing to see when a two year old child can get safely to the edge of the pool thus being able to save their lives if they are ever in danger of drowning.  

It is a sad situation when people with a bee in their bonnet cannot resolve issues maturely. What price a human life?

Especially a child’s life.

I hope whoever is doing the whining has taken the the time to speak to the parents of the children, who now know how to save their own lives in a mishap, and asked them how the training made them feel.

The kids leave this Figtree pool laughing and giggling not screaming and gagging.

William J Lenane, Bulli

ED’S REPLY: For the record, neighbours were complaining about the noise coming from the swim school, not the technique.