On page 208 of Jenny Hosking's book The Palace Letters the Washington Post states "Queen Elizabeth II's office assured her representative in Australia that he had the power to bring down the Australian government a week before he took the extraordinary move in 1975."
With advice from Sir Garfield Barwick, who was chief justice, a democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was sacked.
Australia should have been a Republic years ago. I won't be buying a commemorative King Charles tea towel or coffee mug made in China.
Tom Wren, Mangerton
Transition authority needed
AGL faced considerable pressure from the former federal government to keep the Liddell coal-fired power station open for 5 years longer or sell it. But investing in batteries and renewables generation made more sense for the diversified energy company. We will soon see how this pans out.
It is evident, though, that governments can't always be relied on to judge things well in the midst of a complex energy revolution, that can be harnessed in the public's best interest, but not denied.
That's why a national energy transition authority, to provide independent advice, and help protect the socio-economic needs of the most-affected workers and regions, is a timely idea.
Jim Allen, Panorama SA
Socialism and Catholicism
Might I respectfully suggest to Adrian Devlin (Mercury, April 28) that if he thinks socialism is contrary to the Catholic faith, he should discard "socialism" as his preferred term of abuse and look up its real meanings. He might also inform himself better by reading up a bit more on Catholic Social doctrine.
The injunctions of Jesus and the Bible to love your neighbour as yourself, illustrating it with the story of the Good Samaritan, to look after widows and orphans and the stranger within thy gates etc. sounds a lot more socialistic to me that the right-wing heartlessness that the Coalition (and Devlin) regularly espouse and practised.
David Goss, Woonona
Something's gotta give
Must agree with Rob Seguna (Mercury letters, May 2) that big changes needed at the Dragons if they are to give their long suffering fans any hope for the future. But why stop at the playing personnel? There is an obvious culture problem at the club that starts right at the top. How embarrassing is it that new players have admitted they only came to the Dragons because they had no other choice. And that's not to mention the litany of off field indescretions in recent years. Time to put a broom through the management.
Dave Jennings, Towradgi
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