Janet Albrechtsen (“Get ready for Leftist hysteria if Abbott wins the election”, The Australian, 28/8) asserts that film-makers tend to hold left-wing views because they “trade in emotion rather than reason”. We are supposed to deduce from this that left-wing views in general are hysterical, another example of the ancient fallacy which C.S. Lewis called  “Bulverism”.

Be that as it may, there are other qualities that do correlate with left-wing views: intelligence is one, education is another; so it may be unwise for a conservative to pursue this line of reasoning too far.

However, it would be wrong to assume that just because someone has conservative opinions, they are ignorant or stupid. It is fairer and more rational to debate the views and values at stake, rather than the qualities of the individuals who hold them.

In the context of Liberal State dominance, it is hardly surprising that Tony Abbott claims to have converted to “States’ rights” (“The tide is turning against centralism in favour of states’ rights”, The Australian, 17/8), although his characteristically eloquent argument that “you’ve got too many cooks fiddling in the one broth” could be read either way.

But the announcement that “[t]he tide for those who favour states’ rights finally seems to be turning” is probably about 90 years too late. The 1920 “Engineers case” in the High Court, reinforced by every subsequent ruling on the subject, established that the Constitution does not guarantee States any powers beyond those it explicitly provides. Since then their residual colonial powers have inexorably shrunk with each exercise of federal power. There is no reason to suppose that this process will reverse itself merely because it suits Abbott’s current purposes.

There is an obvious flaw in the thesis of The Australian’s editorial “Labor’s salvation lies in the suburbs and regions” (16/8). If the political landscape really is divided between the “practical concerns” of suburban and regional Australia and “the moral crusades … of the gentrified Left”, why then do the nation’s wealthiest electorates continue to vote Liberal, and the poorest Labor, as they have always done?

Dennis Shanahan (‘Climate of fear killing off policy’, The Australian, 16/8) is admirably frank in laying a share of the blame for “crippling sensible policy discussions” in this election campaign at the feet of the Fourth Estate, of which he is a significant member.

Although he clearly does not say it, Shanahan’s observation unavoidably points to the flagrant anti-Labor slant which, since the campaign began, has spread from its legitimate home in the opinion pages of NewsCorp publications to every news story and even every published letter. It is no longer possible, if it ever was, for The Australian and its stablemates to deny a regime-change agenda with a straight face. This distortion of the role of a free press is poisoning the well of Australian democracy.