THE UNLUCKY COUNTRY
Global energy companies see the problem and are investing heavily in renewable energy while Australia’s Liberal and Labor race to the bottom developing policy that will slow down the transfer of fossil fuelled power stations to renewable energy. Our status will soon become the unlucky country that couldn’t understand the difference between luck and common sense.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Brian Johnson,Gymea
WORLD CLASS PERFORMANCE
Great letter from John Pronk about his visit to the Church on the Mall to hear the Illawarra Choral Society perform Faure's Requiem. A world class performance he writes that enveloped him in "total peace and bliss". And then on the same page there was a beaut picture of Margaret Johnson's Regal Rose. Reminding us to pause listen to great music and to admire the roses. And has John says it helps to forget the budget. The editorial on the same page addressed the budget. It suggested the politicians should be drug tested not the unemployed. Perhaps they should also smell some roses and listen to some music.
Reg Wilding, Corrimal
A LITTLE TOO LATE?
Are we living the final hours? Is the world partying-on while the deck sinks into the gloomy morass? It is approaching summer in the Northern Hemisphere the permafrost is on the thaw, tower measurements from Barrow, Alaska found from 2012-14 the thawing tundra emitted the equivalent of 220 million tons of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere.
From the beginning of the new millennium world leaders should have taken notice: by now every dwelling world-wide should have energy produced by solar panels and road travel see motorists driving electric vehicles; drinking water should be delivered to residences from underground chambers fed by household water tanks.
Instead we have political contempt: coal fired power stations, fossil fuelled vehicles and other forms of transport and a cooling attitude to the water efficiency of desalination plants. What have the politicians done – virtually nothing. Politicians have washed their hands of us – passed all their responsibilities onto the corporate sector and left us open to financial exploitation and declining living standards. Time for a change? I’m afraid it is too late.
John Macleod, Berry
WHO IS REAL ENEMY?
If ever the Australian public needed a demonstration of the moral degeneracy of Australian politics generally, and the ALP specifically, they have had it from former Queensland Labor Premier Anna Bligh. Bligh, who at one point in time supposedly represented the interests of working-class people and the labour movement, was busy this week shilling for the big banks. In her new role as Chief Executive of the Australian Bankers Association, she has been very vocal in denouncing the bank levy, putting the interests of gigantic, outrageously profitable banking companies ahead of the concerns of the people who once formed her constituency.
Long gone are the glory days of the ALP, when it railed against ‘big money’ and sought to nationalise the banking system in 1947. Nowadays, even ostensible stalwarts of the ALP find a ready-made conveyor belt after leaving office, carrying them into lucrative, private sector roles which are often ideologically at odds with their political background. Either money has a tremendous ability to corrupt genuine people, or the supposed political orientation is a façade, to be discarded as soon as convenience dictates. The Liberal and National parties are of course no different, and probably worse. At least, however, their members are staying true to the moneyed interests they have always served. With the ALP, the matter is much more saddening; better the honest enemy than the traitor.
Brett Heino, Koonawarra