Greed is not just the province of banks, as Teresa Grace (Letters, 7/2) observes, but is everywhere. But how can organisations in their own right be "greedy"? They aren't. Their behaviour is dictated by people. The ultimate culprits, and drivers, are shareholders. Oft-heard remarks like "shareholders demand more returns" conceals the avarice shown by fund managers all the way down to the "mums and dads portfolios".

Chris Waters, Ormond

A cosy little scam

Tony Dillon (Comment 7/2) confuses income tax with company tax treating PAYG income tax payments as if they're the same as company tax; they are separate taxes just as GST is a separate tax.

The franking system is a device to avoid shareholders having to pay income tax on share dividends, when company tax has already been paid in respect of those dividends. John Howard and Peter Costello changed the franking system so that even if you did not pay any income tax the tax office credited you with the company tax that had been paid on your share of the company's income. It is a cosy little scam which I and other comfortable retirees have enjoyed.

The reality is, it is just another way that companies effectively avoid paying company tax on part of their income to the unjustified benefit of a very small segment of the community. If this was a rational system, it would also be rational that the tax office refund my GST bill for the year. It is not a rational system.

Tony Liston, Middle Park

Corporations Act needs amending

Meg Paul is surely correct (Letters, 6/2) when she pointed out that we should not be surprised by the outcomes of the banking royal commission. Until the Corporations Act is amended with respect to banks and financial institutions so that they have to put the interests of customers ahead of those of shareholders, we will certainly be back in the same mess in a few years.

It's axiomatic. Presently bankers and other financial institutions can claim they are always required to put the interests of shareholders above everyone else. As long as this continues within a competitive and exploitative environment unfortunately the same problems are bound to occur.

Tony Adami, Caulfield South

Time for watchdogs to wake up

Surely Kenneth Hayne's referral of our biggest financial institutions to ASIC and APRA is absurd. These are the organisations that were set up in 1991 and 1998 respectively to protect our interests and to make sure that the financial institutions "toed the line". The present situation is, in large measure, due to both their failure and their inertia. Now they are to be given more money to act as watchdogs. It is good to read that Mr Byres (APRA) now has a "roadmap" and that Mr Shipton (ASIC) will consider "these matters" as a priority. The former has presumably been lost without his map, while the latter has, at the very least, been "asleep at the wheel".

Peter Valder, Toorak

FORUM

Fairness in eye of beholderIt would be interesting to hear Bill Shorten or Chris Bowen attempt to refute the lucid argument presented by Tony Dillon (Comment, 7/2). Dillon says there is no difference between a PAYG wage earner getting a refund from the ATO and a shareholder getting a refund of franking credits. If they are both under the tax-free threshold, neither of them would be required to pay any income tax and should have any tax that has been withheld refunded to them.

In principle, Dillon is quite correct, but the ALP is unlikely to agree. It will imply that income derived from share ownership is not as legitimate as that earned from paid employment and hence should be taxed differently. And shares are only owned by rich people who do not vote Labor anyway. The ALP claims its policy is based on fairness, but as Dillon shows fairness is very much in the eye of the beholder.

Rod Wise, Surrey Hills

Flaw in Dillon's argument

There is a flaw in Tony Dillon's argument. The $3000 paid to the ATO by the company and thus not paid to Person A is the company's tax liability, whereas the $3000 paid to the ATO by the employer of Person B is Person B's tax liability calculated on the basis that Person B earned $10,000 per month for the entire year. In the first case, there is no evidence that a refund is owed to the company – let alone to Person A. In the second case – as Person B has no other earnings over the year in question – a full refund is due to Person B.

Colin Smith, St Kilda

Whining tedious

I am over the boohooing of letter writers about their prospective loss of cash refunds for tax they haven't even paid for franking credits.

We all look at these things from our own perspective, but I don't remember this much fuss over this government reducing the value of assets assessed in order to receive the age pension. We, along with a lot of friends and acquaintances, were affected to quite a degree by this decision. I would like the government to explain why it was OK to take from our group of taxpayers, but not apparently from far more affluent taxpayers with their franking credit refund rort.

Jane Bushby, Flinders Island

Ending barbaric practices

Shirley Macleish (Letters, 5/2) on gay conversion therapy, says "you might as well insist on left-handed people becoming right-handed". Indeed. A southpaw friend of mine, "educated" by Catholic nuns in the 1950s, used to have his left arm strapped to the desk to prevent him using "the Devil's hand" when writing. It didn't "cure" my friend. I hope this barbaric practice has ended. Well done, Mr Andrews, for putting an end to the even more barbaric practice of gay conversion therapy.

Mike Puleston, Brunswick

Fires and climate change

The Black Saturday commemoration ceremony paid tribute to profound personal and community losses and the trauma suffered by hundreds of victims. We heard of the courage, generosity, kindness and resilience of ordinary people coming together to survive and support each other. There were uplifting stories of healing, hope and lessons learnt from Australia's worst natural disaster.

But what about the underlying causes of Black Saturday? We know that global warming is driving an increase in drought, dangerous fire weather and the frequency and severity of bushfires. Climate change has driven catastrophic fires in California, Greece and elsewhere in Europe, and climate change is driving massive fires in Tasmania, where ancient forests, never before burned, are ablaze right now. Surely, what we must learn from Black Saturday, before it is too late, is the need to tackle climate change.

Jill Sanguinetti, Narbethong

PM doesn't get link

It's sickening to see Prime Minister Scott Morrison hugging a Townsville flood resident when these extreme events are precisely the impact of burning the lumps coal he loves so much. When on earth are we going to get serious about aggressively reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

Indy Lingam, Alphington

Enough with the drums

As a rock'n'roller for over 50 years, I remember being overjoyed back in the late 1970s when drum solos finally became passe; daggy.

Alas, as I switched on for my first edition of The Drum for the year, expecting to hear that catchy old ripper of a theme, I was assaulted by a never-ending drum solo.

On and on it went. As Ellen Fanning tried to outline the evening's subjects, the pounding accompaniment made it a challenge to understand anything she was saying. Hey ABC: turn the drums down!

Billy Miller, Yarraville

Facile statements

Facile motherhood statements are alive and well, and currently residing in the White House.

Terry Boseley, Moonee Ponds

We can pay more

Ross Gittins argues that structural problems in the economy, including weak wages growth, require us to pay more tax rather than less (Comment, 4/2). Kelly O'Dwyer's reforms aimed at reducing welfare for the wealthy are welcome, but they don't go far enough. Like many retirees, I'm more than willing to give up imputation credits because there are so many better and fairer ways for those funds to be spent.

So many policies that would improve well-being for both rich and poor alike can't be implemented because we pay too little tax. We are a wealthy nation, yet our taxes are low by international standards. We can afford to have world-class infrastructure, best-practice healthcare and education and a safety net for those in need.

For too long greater private affluence has been achieved via lower taxes at the cost of public goods. If we want better public transport, reduced waiting time in traffic, national parks we can be proud of, improved mental health outcomes, and an all-of-life education system that takes into account the changing world of work, then we need a system based on fairness in the way taxes are collected and expended.

Mary Sweeney, South Yarra

Money's real purpose key

The Coalition campaign to counter foreign interference and influence, has resulted in Beijing's former top lobbyist in Australia, billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo (despite his intensive lobbying of several politicians to back his efforts to become an Australian citizen) being denied an Australian passport and permanent residency.

Apparently this has raised questions about whether the almost $2.7 million donated by Mr Huang to Labor and the Coalition should be repaid.

If this largesse was a donation, why should it have to be repaid? However, if it was fee for service, then it probably should be – unless of course, we apply the maxim, "caveat emptor".

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East

Thorburn's case weak

If Andrew Thorburn, the indignant CEO of NAB, could point to some carelessness where the bank had carelessly given customers a hundred million, or ten million or one million or even a measly few thousand – his case for carelessness would be stronger. Carelessness that only operates in one direction is very suspect.

Frank Mitchell, Northcote

Watchdogs breeding

Brilliant idea having a regulator to regulate the banking regulators. But just to make sure, shouldn't we have a regulator to regulate the regulator that is regulating the banking regulators? That is until the banks give a sufficiently high donation to the government of the day so that said government deems that, really, no regulator is actually needed and that self-regulation will do just nicely. The most definitive verdict on the final report was made by the markets – that is that the final report was more heft than substance.

Erica Grebler, Caulfield North

Engineering's perils

Tony Featherstone (Business, 7/2) is the latest in a line of commentators lamenting why young Australians flock into law or journalism degrees rather than, say, engineering.

Let's go back 20 years. I did a PhD in engineering in the late 1990s, when it was trendy for important-sounding people, usually with law/commerce backgrounds, to lecture academics on why there were too many engineers and too many engineering schools. We'd just experienced the wholesale "de-engineering" of once-formidable public institutions such as the SECV, Gas and Fuel, Telecom, MMBW and CSIRO that previously employed and trained much of the country's engineering and technical workforce.

That's arguably all in the past, but it doubtless influenced a generation of schoolkids, parents and careers advisers. Cynical as it is, perhaps it's hoped that avoiding skilled technical careers in favour of an MBA or a degree in law or spin-doctoring (most journalism graduates go into corporate PR) will improve one's chances, in the next downturn, of being the one doing the sacking rather than the one being sacked.

Perhaps if governments were to rehabilitate the status of public-interest subject-matter expertise in this country, engineering studies wouldn't be left largely to the overseas students.

Tony Morton, Coburg

A multitude of sins

If the sins of omission don't get you the sins of commission will.

Jim Pilmer, Camberwell

Doesn't add up

If Peter Dutton is correct and the ASIO Act is too weak to stop the borders re-opening, why is it stopping the borders re-opening now?

Mike Molloy, Shepparton

It's hit the fan

In the news: lawyers, cops and banks. Time to revive Lawyers, Guns and Money?

Linelle Gibson, Williamstown

AND ANOTHER THING

Banking

Good luck changing banks' culture. It's the year of the snouts in the trough .

Bryan Fraser, St Kilda

Maladministration, malfeasance, mismanagement but not failure. Too big to fail?

Peter Hansford, Ripponlea

Banks aren't at fault – it's the people in them.

Richard Sykes, Bell Park

From the mouth of a banking executive – "With the benefit of hindsight, looking back". A tautology or just the usual double-speak of banks.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill

Climate

Has anybody else noticed the weather is now defined in terms of "events" and "activity"?

Andrew McNicoll, Kew

Scott Morrison fiddles while Australia burns.

Therese Footner, Wendouree

Racing

The jig is up Darren.

Paul John, Brighton East

How could anyone prod a horse with a jigger? What would it achieve, make them run faster?

Merle Mitchell, Mt Eliza

Furthermore

Shouldn't an investor be satisfied when a tax liability on earnings has already been paid by the company?

Malcolm McDonald, Burwood

Democracy relies on an independent judiciary, and lawyers acting as registered police informants is unacceptable.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield

In China, Big Brother is very much alive and well and appears to be getting stronger.

Marie Nash, Balwyn

After the apology from Scott Buchholz shouldn't there be a resignation?

Hans Paas, Castlemaine