Simple economic facts seem beyond Canavan’s grasp

The call from Nationals Senator Matt Canavan and other Nationals MPs to “build some new coal plants” contradicts their supposed economic rationale for dumping net zero (“Former Liberal MP quits party in protest”, November 19). They’ve chosen to ignore the science of climate change, but perhaps they should look at the economics and build time of the newest coal-fired power plant in Australia, the Bluewaters power station in WA. Construction began in 1979 and it was commissioned in 2009. After experiencing financial difficulties, it was bought by two Japanese companies, which “wrote down” its value to zero in 2020, wiping out a $1.2 billion investment. The reason? It couldn’t compete with the cost of renewable energy. Alan Marel, North Curl Curl

It has been alleged on social media that Matt Canavan, an outspoken net zero critic, has a home solar system. Mining magnate Gina Rinehart, also strongly pro-coal, has solar installed at some of her Pilbara mine sites, which is designed to achieve 55 per cent renewable energy penetration and save on diesel. To merely say renewables are “part of the mix” for Australia’s future energy requirements undermines investment and confidence in the renewables rollout needed to slow global warming. Public figures using solar but denouncing renewables must explain. Alison Stewart, Riverview

Well done to the NSW Liberals for retaining their commitment to net zero (“NSW Libs defy federal colleagues on net zero,” November 18). This doesn’t surprise me, as they were the ones who first set net zero as an objective in NSW with their Climate Change Policy Framework in 2016. Energy minister Matt Kean then drove the agenda forward and really put the state on the map regarding the energy transition. The Minns government has largely adopted the policy it inherited from its predecessor, and it’s this bipartisanship that has allowed NSW to avoid the division that has characterised the federal sphere on this issue. Methinks the federal Coalition could learn something from this, but it seems to be committed to staying in opposition. Ken Enderby, Concord

Amid growing division within the Liberal Party over net zero, Senator Andrew Bragg tells party members “we cannot allow the fragmentation of the centre right”. So does that mean that there’s a centre left and a left of left centre and a right of right of centre? Just how fragmented is the so-called Liberal Party? Does it actually have a centre? I would’ve thought this is nothing to brag about, especially from a party that insists that it doesn’t have factions. That is simply a fiction. Chris McKimm, Karangi

Inside knowledge

It was refreshing to read a letter from someone who has worked in coal-fired power stations telling readers what the real facts are, as opposed to what Barnaby Joyce wants us to believe (Letters, November 19). While the position of the Coalition is to keep coal-fired power stations going, it should be pointed out to them that Kate Coates, an insider with intricate knowledge of the system, is saying that Bayswater, Mount Piper, Eraring and Vales Point power stations should also be closed. Peter Nelson, Moss Vale

Yesterday’s letter from Kate Coates reminded me of my 1960s high school days when our economics teacher emphasised that with the discovery of brown coal at Yallourn, Victoria, there was enough coal to generate cheap electricity for the next 300 to 400 years. I wonder what our late teacher would think of those predictions now, given Yallourn’s closure after only 50 years, with many more coal mining sites likely to follow. David Sayers, Gwandalan

Libs’ war on youth

Jane Buncle’s version of the Liberal Party is obsessed with culture wars (mentioned three times) and Malcolm Turnbull era cliches about “modern” and “enterprise” and “innovation” (“Lib issue is the horse not the jockey”, November 18). Such “agile” corporate-speak did not work for Malcolm in 2016 and was why the Coalition’s campaign to end family-friendly work from home arrangements was electorally smashed. What went very strangely unsaid by Ms Buncle and every other Liberal Party functionary these days was anything about housing and homeownership, or about family, especially given that under-40s have deserted the Coalition in two successive federal elections. The only real culture war is one being waged against young Australians who aspire to have a family and own their own home. As I have written in these pages before, there is no future for conservative politics unless young people have homes of their own to conserve. Gray Connolly, Sydney

Model immigrant

What a demonstration of two completely opposing attitudes. The delusional South African neo-Nazi immigrant, now about to be deported for his abhorrent conduct (“Neo-Nazi in Villawood detention centre”, November 19), and Bhupi, victim of an alleged hate crime, who volunteers for charity (“Fears rise over anti-Indian racism”, November 19). He states, “I do believe whatever society you live in you should be a positive contributor; if your country has given you something, then pay back something.” As an immigrant myself, I couldn’t have put it any better, Bhupi. Pauline McGinley, Drummoyne

Bridget McKenzie says that if you hate gay people and don’t think women should be prime minister, you should not be in this country (“Heads of biggest banks intervene in nation’s migration debate”, November 19). On the face of it, I imagine a significant number of her colleagues in the Coalition party room would be worried they might be deported if this became a policy initiative. Andrew Putt, Katoomba

I’m not surprised that a 63-year-old man walking through a shopping centre is punched in the face and racially abused. The more we have political leaders, opinion makers and now bank CEOs questioning our immigration rate, and too many times not in a rational and sympathetic manner, the more we will have people emboldened to think it’s fine to abuse others they think don’t belong in our country. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury

Howard stirred racism

What an extraordinary idea of Sussan Ley to seek advice about dealing with Pauline Hanson and immigration from John Howard (“Ley seeks Howard help on migration and the rise of Hanson”, November 18). He is almost single-handedly the source of both issues. It was Howard who got rid of most of the moderates from the Liberal Party. It was Howard who began the racist overtones against migrants and legitimised the present extremists. It was also Howard who failed to call out the naked racism that One Nation demonstrated then and now thrives on. He had the opportunity to squash Hanson and stand up for a decent, fair-minded Australia. He did neither and in fact shifted the Liberals towards her odious views. I believe he was the most damaging prime minister of my voting life – a man who stole my country from me. Jock Webb, Narromine

Being actively courted by Pauline Hanson should sound alarm bells for Barnaby Joyce (“‘I want him on board’: Hanson invites Joyce for home-cooked dinner”, November 18). While better voter numbers might initially appeal, ensuring access to a lifebuoy, preferably one not that’s punctured, might well be advisable while crewing the good ship Discord under Pauline’s captaincy. Once Discord departs the dock and encounters the first signs of troubled waters, you might well need them, ol’ mate. Cleveland Rose, Dee Why

Bad science

Susan Tonks, secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association, calls the forthcoming 350 job losses at CSIRO “a sad day for publicly funded science” (“CSIRO to slash hundreds of science jobs”, November 19). It’s more than that – it’s a sad day for all of us and our society. What will happen to the expertise embodied in the people losing those jobs? In these days when scientific and research-based knowledge is challenged by unsubstantiated opinions and thought bubbles, we should value and employ our experts and spend more on science and science communication, not less. Mary Anne Keenan, Burwood

Where it sees itself as politically vulnerable in certain electorates, Labor throws money at heavy emitting industries like coal, steel and aluminium located there. Yet, the organisation that is critical to ensuring Australia can meet the challenges industries and workforces will face in an ever-changing world suffers drastic funding cuts. I don’t know why Liberal Party supporters are so down in the dumps; Labor is fast becoming an acceptable replica. Mike Kenneally, Manly

Hand of Gough

Public hospitals, in which I worked for 50 years, will never be fully efficient or effective so long as the jurisdictional divide in health between state and Commonwealth exists (“Hospitals run via a false economy”, November 19). It underpins cost and blame shifting, emergency department exit block with ambulance “ramping” and long waiting times for specialist consultation and elective surgery for those unable to afford private care. In 2000, Gough Whitlam, the father of Medicare, predicted that by 2030 “there will be joint federal/state hospital systems in every state”. It was a simple statement of what must happen. The current blame shifting by the Commonwealth that “the states run the hospitals” would have Gough spinning in his grave. Fixing the struggling public hospital system needs the hand of Gough. Graeme Stewart, Avalon Beach

Economist Elizabeth Baldwin bemoans the state of funding in hospitals, and specifically “wasted money”. I believe this may be a case of economists working beyond their region of knowledge. A long time ago, I built a statistical casemix model for funding NSW Health hospitals (I was a biostatistician at the time) to replace an overly complex econometrics model. I learnt that even cases in the same funding category could have wildly different treatment trajectories: biology has no rules (compared to physics) and the building block of the body, the cell, is as complex as a city. This is a wildly different scenario to economics, where the basic unit is “homo economicus”, a rational being of limited complexity. I’m not sure economists are best placed to identify waste in the medical system. Medicine is best left to doctors. Ken McNamara, Wollongong

Two-faced government

Two opinion articles in the Herald really do show up the two faces of the present government (“Albanese strides the world stage” and “Every coal and gas approval tarnishes Labor’s climate legacy”, November 18). Anthony Albanese has done a great job representing Australia overseas, but he has failed to recognise action that is needed at home, or has placed his dead hand of excessive caution on it. Labor’s approval of fossil fuel projects are the prime example. How can Australia claim the right to conduct the world climate change conference next year, COP31, when our own government can’t face up to the need for dramatic climate action? Russell Julian, Port Macquarie

So Australia will not block the Turkish bid to host COP31 next year (“Australia won’t block Turkish bid to host COP”, November 19). Does that mean the $2 billion we were prepared to spend on the COP will now go towards reversing decades of environmental destruction in this country? Greg Baker, Fitzroy Falls

Sanctioned abuse

MAGA’s acceptance of men abusing girls is a feature, not a bug (“Kelly’s defence of Epstein a new low for MAGA”, November 19). Multiple US states have debated and failed to pass bans on child marriage. In many of those states, Evangelicals lobbied for the right of adult men to marry the girls they abused, provided parents gave consent. Unchained at Last, the organisation dedicated to helping women leave arranged and forced marriages, has documented the prevalence and acceptance of child marriage in America, and it’s not good. Samantha Chung, Kensington

Wrong turn

What was Elon Musk thinking? He was in the vanguard of moves towards a cleaner world with his cars and batteries, then decided it was a good idea to go political and massively endorse Trump (an old-power advocate par excellence) and attack the liberals in the democracies of Europe (“Europe turns on Elon Musk as he blasts EU over digital rules”, November 19). Surely it’s a tenet of Business 101 that going political with your companies will inevitably have political and social (and therefore economic) consequences. For all his professed genius, Musk doesn’t seem to understand how the world works. Chinese carmakers are laughing all the way to the bank, and Tesla buyers around the world are left wondering whether they made the wisest choice. Carl Boyd, Cooks Hill

Costly tariffs

As succinctly explained by Stephen Bartholomeusz, it is now accepted by all and sundry that POTUS has shot himself in the foot (“Trump’s tariffs are bananas”, November 18). American consumers will answer at the ballot box for this series of idiotic, dictatorial edicts. Andrew Mitterdorfer, Auburn

Gentleman and a poet

Geoffrey Lehmann’s moving tribute to Robert Gray took me back to the days when Robert worked in a Paddington bookshop (“Great Australian poet dead at 80”, November 19). My occasional chats with him enabled me to acquire a contact for poet Les Murray, whom I persuaded to visit my school and speak to the students about his poetry. Thank you, Robert Gray. Your signed copy of Creek Water Journal sits proudly in my library. Michael Fischer, Coogee

• To submit a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, email letters@smh.com.au. Click here for tips on how to submit letters.
• The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform. Sign up here.