PM's uncivil outburst not even original

Nice try, Mr Turnbull, and rather nicely choreographed too, but as football coaches tell their slower learners: "play the ball, not the man" – it was pretty poor technique ("PM unleashes his inner attack dog", February 9). Yes, we did want to see that you could speak passionately, forcefully, and even aggressively about policy issues (perhaps climate change or asylum seekers?), but we also agreed with you when you said that the Parliament needed to restore civility in debates. The likely place for heated personal invective is in your cabinet room, not in our Parliament's chambers. Oh, and the "sycophantic social climber" tactic (better known as "duchessing) was an old and overused British Tory's insult to Labour politicians thought to be "rising above their station". If you still really want to be like Keating, at least come up with some original forms of abuse.

Peter Russell Coogee