LETTERS

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

Joe Hockey's story of his refugee family making good in postwar Australia is indeed inspiring (''Politics of division will kill ambition'', March 5). However, Mr Hockey fails to mention that during those years rates of taxation for companies and wealthy individuals in this country were vastly greater than they are today. Thanks in large measure to this revenue, and a less hysterical approach to public debt, governments were able to build the infrastructure and provide the services that underpinned the long postwar boom.

Without this economic and social environment, people like the Hockeys would likely have found Australia a far tougher place to prosper. For today's wealthy elite and their political representatives to constantly demand ever-lower taxation not only smacks of selfishness but also of short-sightedness.

Geoff Saunders Jamberoo

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Mr Hockey misses the point. Swan and others, myself included, do not object to outstanding individual achievement and success. The objection is to the abuse of power, not the success itself.

Simeon Glasson Bondi

As one of his constituents, I feel disappointed that Joe Hockey has trotted out the ''envy'' card again in the discussion about the contributions of mining magnates to Australian society.

Nobody denies people the fruits of their success but there is an issue of equity. The Australian people, not just these individuals and their families, shareholders, employees and some parts of their communities, should receive a more substantial part of what belongs to ''our common wealth'', to provide for the common good now and in the future. The land belongs to all, not to companies or individual states.

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True success lies in making a real contribution