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Ben Carroll’s rapid policy revisions are a welcome sign of the ALP seeking a return to the Victorian mainstream. But he needs to widen his mainstreaming efforts. Possibly the most glaring example of the Allan government moving out of the mainstream was its disenfranchisement of local councils and residents over plans to increase housing density in the inner circle of suburbs.

Most people get it. Victoria needs to make more housing opportunities available where services are available and where people want to live. The Allan government’s first policy failure was to ignore that higher density housing requires more services. Its second failure was that it designed a policy that gave privilege to well-off downsizers over first home buyers while professing concern for the latter. Third, it made way for six-storey developments in suburban streets where, possibly, only a three-storey development could be sustainable. Housing policy is crucial if Carroll is to take the ALP back to the mainstream where former premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby left it.Michael Angwin, Hawthorn

The ripple effects of the SRL will flow on

The Suburban Rail Loop will go down as the greatest waste of money in this state’s history. It will make the cost of ripping up the East-West link and the Commonwealth Games contracts look like pocket money, and the Labor Party is responsible for all three of them. As is so often the case with Labor, hubris got the better it, and for that Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan will rightly be blamed. For all their faults, the Liberals would never be so reckless with taxpayer money, yet now they face the prospect, should they win the election, of having to throw bad money after good to either rescue or ditch the SRL.Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully

Loop is a path to the future

The Suburban Rail Loop will future-proof Melbourne’s liveability as the city grows. Connectivity and strategic building density will mean less car use and less congestion on the roads.Jon Langford, East Brunswick

Please premier, keep project alive

Opposition to the Suburban Rail Loop brings back memories of the strident criticism of the City Loop when it was first proposed. Where would the city be without it? Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan deserve praise for pressing on with the SRL in the face of strong criticism. It is to be hoped Carroll keeps the project going.John Walsh, Watsonia

It should have started out west

There is a stampede to bury the Suburban Rail Loop (along with its tunnelling machines) and needlessly write off the billions of dollars already poured into it. But I doubt if anybody would dare raise a voice against this project if the initial works had started on the western section of the loop – as they should have – rather than in the east; a short-sighted, vote-seeking ploy that has sullied a brave idea. Given that Melbourne is projected to have a population the size of London by 2050, are we seriously going to ride into that reality without a single, major underground railway line to our name (the UK capital boasts close to a dozen, as do most of the world’s successful mega-cities). If we must pause SRL East, then switch all our efforts (and existing contractual commitments) to the SRL West and its transport-starved residents – incorporating the airport rail link – before completing the SRL East and North. Our museum piece of a radial rail network – paired with buses and quaint tram services throttled by clogged roads – just won’t cut it.Ross Couzens, Burwood

Victorian pride has been chipped away

In a democracy you get the government you deserve. The Andrews government was voted in three times, each time with a bigger majority. Successive generations will be hit with debt for many years. Am I proud to be Victorian? I don’t think so.Doug McKenzie, Brighton

THE FORUM

AI challenges

Columnist Kylie Moore-Gilbert (Comment, 30/7) is right: the greatest risk posed by generative AI is not the technology itself, but the erosion of the critical thinking that underpins professional judgment.

As a law lecturer and former prosecutor, I’m seeing the same challenge emerge in legal education. Students can now produce polished legal arguments in seconds, yet many struggle to explain their reasoning or detect AI-hallucinated legal authorities.

Law is becoming an early warning sign for every profession. Damien Charlotin’s AI Hallucination Cases Database documents hundreds of cases worldwide involving lawyers who relied on AI-hallucinated legal authorities. This compromises our justice system.

The real challenge is not AI, but how we teach. We need learning that makes thinking visible, using AI to strengthen reasoning rather than replace it. That is one way to narrow what I call the “credential gap”: the growing gap between what qualifications signal and what graduates can actually explain, verify and apply in practice.Rachel Kessel, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Making money

It’s not only businesses that are hooked on paying for AI (“Silicon Valley’s AI spending spree comes with an Australian invoice”, 28/7). Once, a person seeking information required only a simple Google search. This threw up many links – the first page was more than adequate. Today a Google request seems to throw up mainly related ads with fewer relevant links. We are being pushed towards the upgraded AI search options which respond and engage with us to refine our queries further for an even more targeted answer. The search engine I use is now limiting the number of responses and suggesting to use their paid model to continue. The inexorable monetisation of the shiny new replacement – for what was a completely adequate free service – is underway.Peter Thomson, Brunswick

Pay scales

We have seen plenty of tables showing the pay rates of differing professions over the years. Given the current pay demands from both teachers and doctors, it would be good to see from a state perspective where our money is going. I would find it interesting to compare teachers’ and doctors’ wages with those on the Big Build, especially in roles like health and safety, traffic management and training.Fiona Parker, Flinders

What’s on offer?

I ask people planning to vote for One Nation to check out the photo in The Age (30/7). It shows four of the ″shining stars″ of One Nation. Have a good look. Study it for a while. Then have a think about what these four could possibly offer you, your loved ones, or our country.Lee Guion, Portarlington

Political ignorance

As your correspondent (Letters, 30/7) notes, many, if not most, people are profoundly disengaged, uninterested and ill-informed about politics. They do not understand the basics of how we are governed and the responsibilities of different levels of government. They don’t understand the relationship between parliament, government and the public service. People want less red tape, until something goes wrong and they want the government to fix it – without, presumably, making new rules. It seems many vote based on three-word slogans, with little understanding of what is involved. That more than 20 per cent of the population in Victoria indicate they will vote for a party with no policies, no candidates, no leader, no existing members of the Legislative Assembly, nothing except a Queensland senator who is capitalising on anger and dissatisfaction and who can’t be a part of a Victorian government says much about voters, and none of it good.Louise Kloot, Doncaster

Build it, premier

Re the Premier Ben Carroll reviewing, or even cancelling, the SRL. The Labor Party that I know and respect builds public transport, not tears it down.

Cancelling this project, thereby forcing people into their cars to get around a growing Melbourne, would amount to social and economic vandalism.

Airport rail has been served up by Carroll as distraction, and possibly an excuse to move on SRL. Good governments should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

The question of the cost of the project is often asked. What I rarely hear spoken about is the cost of continual urban expansion and car dependence, which will be reinforced if this project is cancelled.Cameron Hart, Southbank

Step up, lord mayor

What a sadly accurate letter bemoaning the demise of Melbourne from a former CEO of Tourism Victoria (30/7). As the bones of this once elegant city remain, maybe a determined effort from the lord mayor to spend less time at Tullamarine and instead concentrate on restoring the city to a safe , attractive environment.Susie Holt, South Yarra

Holding off firestorms

Your correspondent’s top rating (Letters, 30/7) of this government’s shift to renewables over flagging coal-fired power stations is on the money. What he doesn’t say is that this shift is not just about providing for our energy needs, it’s the only possible way to hold off the fury of the summer firestorms driven by good old fossil fuels continued contribution. The opposition says it’ll keep the power stations bandaged for way past their use-by date – until they can work out what to do next. No target for reduced emissions means no pressure to act, so buckle up for a bumpy ride. It will be bad enough with the levels of greenhouse gas we already have, but the thought of giving up on the fastest possible move to renewables we can find makes me tremble.Carolyn Ingvarson, Canterbury

Teach kids civics

I agree with your letter writers (30/7) that with the passage of time voters will look more kindly on the current state government and acknowledge the positives to transport, education, etc. and that many voters are ignorant of the responsibilities accorded to state versus federal politicians yet quick to vilify politicians in general. Compulsory Civics classes in years 6 or 7 could provide a solution. In Denmark, children are taught, among other things, the reasons for taxation; why taxes are collected; how the money is used along with their civic rights and responsibilities. There is much less incidence of tax evasion and more willingness to contribute to society. Imagine if our children understood this and the different levels of government to which taxes are paid. An informed electorate? Now, I would vote for that.Rebecca Mangan, Mt Eliza

Not the answer

There are serious flaws in Ross Gittins’ proposal (Comment, 29/7) to prod increases in productivity by the government “simply ordering business to give workers a big pay rise”.

His suggestion that would trigger more investment in plant and equipment to increase productivity to offset the wage rises is not at all certain. The days of combining labour and machinery have somewhat faded from both the reduction in manufacturing industry, and the structural change in employment by which the majority of the workforce is now in the labour-intensive services sector. Indeed the lower productivity of today may in large part reflect the difficulties both of improving and measuring productivity in services.

It is also questionable whether government now has the capability to order wage increases, given the now decentralised wage fixing system.Big increases of wages ahead of productivity gains may engender more inflation with consequent higher interest ratesThomas Hogg, East Melbourne

The profit motive

Ross Gittins has attempted to solve Australia’s chronic low productivity with another of his solutions out of left field. He suggests that the government forces an increase in all wage rates at the same time. This would force businesses to invest in new plant and equipment, which would increase productivity to remain competitive and so return to the profit levels lost by the forced increase in their wages bill – simple. Maximising long-term profits is the key driver of business. If they saw opportunities to invest in new plant and equipment, surely companies would be taking up those opportunities now, to maximise their profits and stay ahead of their competitors, not wait for Gittins’ forced increased wages so-called incentive.Andrew Lee, Anglesea

Lobbying for influence

Letters correspondents have pointed out Pauline Hanson’s relationship with Gina Rinehart as if this were a new form of influence. In reality, major parties have deep financial relationships with wealthy donors. However, the main everyday influence is lobbying, access to which is assisted by donations. This is not a bug but a feature of our democracy. Hanson is at least upfront about her donor connections. The rest of us should stop the sanctimony and accept she is similar to other politicians, just one wearing less political sunblock.Mark Freeman, Macleod

First, fill the potholes

Ben Carroll’s first act is to initiate a royal commission into the construction sector; he will win more votes if he tackled the potholes.John Cummings, Anglesea

AND ANOTHER THING

Politics

Before one applauds a promised royal commission into the construction industry in Victoria one should wait to see the terms of reference.Ian Pitt, KC, Brighton

A royal commission? I can hear the paper shredders from here.Leon Burgher, Leongatha

For Ben Carroll to garner any personal credibility at all, he must frame the terms of reference to the proposed royal commission as “irrespective of who it hurts, follow the money and even if only petty cash is involved, name the guilty”.Bill Howard, Essendon

On the SRL, to bore or not to bore - that is the question for the new Victorian premier.Lindsay Zoch, Mildura

It’d be mean and petty of the new premier to not go ahead with putting in place a statue of Daniel Andrews. Like him or not, he was a giant; and he meets the Kennett criteria.Peter Price, Southbank

Jacinta Allan’s resignation speech was a class act. Well done Jacinta.Mary Keating, Flemington

How can a One Nation Victorian leader and any announced state candidates be considered anything other than cobbled together?Ian Macdonald, Traralgon

Furthermore

Where would London and Paris be today if over 100 years ago their subway projects had succumbed to short-sighted politicians, NIMBYs and armchair “town-planners”?Bernd Rieve, Brighton

Thousands of people dying in the heat in Europe can’t be true. Tony Abbott assured us that ″climate change is crap″.Ken Sussex, Lilydale

Perhaps those climate change deniers among us can go to a French or Spanish cafe and express their beliefs aloud.Ross Hosking, Blackwood, SA

I see the AFL is having a “blockbuster” Saturday Round 23, none of which will of course be broadcast free to air. Well done AFL.Alan Inchley, Frankston