IS CHRISTOPHER Pyne trying to white ant the Liberal Party and Turnbull's leadership over secret taping and publication of his comments on same-sex marriage?

Many (like me) who voted for the Coalition partly because of the plebiscite platform believe so.

However, the greater reason for writing this letter is because of Roly Sussex on the ABC on June 26.

I discovered that in Australian usage an adjective and a noun have been changed into a compound verb that is always used as a metaphor.

To "white ant" means to destroy from the inside without people realising it and is a perfect usage for leaked private conversations, especially when everybody should be distrusted for leaking in our current environment.

And to think that I have never been an English teacher!

(I will forget, of course, a certain state high school's LEAP program that won high accolades in the past where every teacher became a teacher of English.)

GLENDA CARROLL

Bundamba