Archives: Letters to the Editor

Chandan Nair sets out with exquisite clarity the fundamental weakness that the developed world faces in our fight against our changing climate. Democracies with regular election cycles focus politicians on populist policies and short-term fixes. Politicians will not court unpopularity through imposing hardship on their electors; click-bait-hungry media exacerbate this problem. As Chandan Nair says: ‘… climate change and other existential threats make for good slogans, but weak manifestoes’.
Our world is close to a tipping points brink. If humanity is to survive we need effective solutions urgently to transition our world to a more sustainable basis. Our democracies have so far failed to address our changing climate effectively. They must reform, or evolve, to meet this challenge now. If democracy cannot rise to deliver the necessary solutions people will, in extremis, turn to authoritarian regimes of one sort or another simply to survive. Climate change will be an existential threat to democracy before it is to humanity.

China and several Asian countries maintain that under international law, foreign militaries are not able to conduct military and intelligence-gathering activities, such as reconnaissance flights, in their exclusive economic zones (EEZ). Yet the USA and Australia insist that under UNCLOS their navies and air forces have that freedom in any economic zone without needing to notify the host country.

But new deals negotiated by Washington with Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau means the USA can stop navies and air forces from other countries entering their EEZs.

Australia needs to decide whether its EEZ is not to be entered by foreign militaries without first notifying it. China recently acceded to Australia having its own sphere of interest in the Pacific Islands which it does not seek to challenge.

Yet Australia wants to challenge China’s sphere of influence in the East and South China Seas. It can’t have it both ways – insist on China not militarising Australia’s spheres of influence yet insist it has the right to do so in China’s sphere.

For more on this topic, P&I recommends:

Somehow, despite the ugliness that is in the world and the sense of futility amongst those of us who try to find the ‘why’ of the ugliness and how we can possibly hope to combat it, we believers still feel that tiny tickle, identified and beautifully expressed by Emily Dickinson.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all

John Menadue’s piece touched me in many ways. Mostly his despair, his disbelief over the brutal savagery of an aggressor that cuts down children mercilessly while crying victim. The only victim allowed in the Middle East. Yet despite this blackest scenario we must let hope flicker still. We have no choice, otherwise we lose our own humanity.

I must lodge a complaint about the use of the words – ” … the October 7th military raid on Israel by the Palestinian people.” I find this extremely offensive and wholly misleading.

I am a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause and usually find Paul Heywood-Smith’s work most stimulating. But I think this is an unacceptable statement.

Hamas unleashed an atrocity, a war crime on a large number of persons – many civilians, many children, many non combatants. If this could be in any way viewed as a “military raid” it was an illegal one and most extreme. The article seems to imply the actions were somehow on behalf of the Palestinian people. This is quite misleading.

Many articles cite low temperature changes like 1.5 degrees.
I am not a climate scientist but I used avaliable data in an effort to predict how much temperature was expected to rise if all fossil fuels were used up at the current pace. Available data led me to conclude that it would take 200 years and that the temperature rise would be at least 10 degrees C. But more likely higher.
I included the effects of permafrost and decrease in earth albedo due to melting ice.
I think it is useful to point out that kind of concrete problem so people would have something practical to think about
1.5 degrees doesn’t sound like a big deal to most people
But 15 degrees does sound like a problem.
In temperate Sweden eg in Stockholm they wouldn’t be able to have a cool bedroom in the summer even if they dug down to where the yearly average temperature reigns. Some 6 meters underground.
I can imagine that Africa would need a constant high power consumption just for cooling.
I am not familiar with Australia’s climate but you get the idea

Critics rightly argue the Israeli government should be held accountable for its policies, decisions and for the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. But let us not confuse opposing policies of the Israeli government, or advocating for the rights of Palestinians, with antisemitism.

Jews are not a race, this categorisation is wrong and dangerous. According to SBS Cultural Atlas, Israel’s population reports the following religious affiliations Jewish (74.3%), Muslim (17.8%), Christian (1.9%), Druze (1.6%) other religions (4.4%).

To speak of antisemitism in relation to the genocide of Palestinian peoples, is incorrect. To speak out against Israel is an anti-Israeli stance, not antisemitic. Not all Israelis are Jews. Positions have hardened, emotions run high especially when the term antisemitism is used to gather support and sympathy for Israeli actions. Let us be clear few accusations are more loaded than that of “antisemitism”.

As the current genocide of the Palestinian peoples continues we urge the Jewish people of Israeli to remember their own recent genocidal history and demand an immediate ceasefire.

The regular contributors to Pearls and Irritations are mostly older men.

Their insights are deep, wise and always appreciated.

However when an edition is all men, no women contributors, it’s time to review processes.

It’s time.

Women’s voice is important.

Noel Turnbull expresses concern about the Australian government’s nonchelance regarding recent global temperature records. As he puts it, the government is “busily approving new fossil fuel developments which probably make it impossible to reach even the derisory targets the government has pledged.” The likely omission of a climate trigger in the revised EPBC Act is more evidence that the government is “terrified of offending almost anyone”.
But a recent development provides some hope. The government will underwrite 9GW of storage and 23GW of variable renewable generation doubling the renewable energy capacity on the grid.
Right on cue, Murdoch journalist Terry McCrann describes the expansion as billions wasted. McCrann deserves his own chapter in any update of David Michael’s book ‘The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception’ reviewed by Turnbull.
COP28 will reveal the world is not on track to achieve the Paris Agreement. The Australian government will struggle to justify new coal and gas projects. Be prepared for a new push by the fossil fuel lobby to continue the deception. Gina Rinehart’s recent attempt in the Murdoch press to talk up mining and argue for weaker environment laws is only the beginning.

Australians (more…)

After reading John Jiggens’ article about David McBride, I find myself confused, and so am looking for an answer from people who might know.

I was under the impression that an Australian soldier can disregard orders if they believe that order to be unlawful under international law?

Is this not exactly what McBride was doing? Or am I dreaming?

In an otherwise excellent open letter to Julian Leeser, a letter that needs to be read by everybody who supports Israel in its unconscionable campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people, I have only one small note of dissent.

In his opening paragraph he says the attack by Hamas was ‘inhumane and without warrant.’

It might be argued that the attack was inhumane, after all people were killed or captured, but ‘without warrant’, I don’t think so. As Browning so go gently argues, the people of occupied Palestine have endured decades of dehumanising treatment. Under such circumstances I contend the sudden attack was certainly warranted and should logically have been expected.

Otherwise an excellent letter.

Dear Editor,

I am horrified at the decision made by the Court. The soldiers are fodders and have no brain. Seriously. Never mind most atrocities have been done by soldiers. I like to remind the top people at the court about My Lai in Vietnam.  Some soldiers did the most despicable thing to innocent people. Exactly the same and only when a courageous journalist let the world know about the atrocities were some soldiers taken to task.

I hope this ruling can be overturned. We need to stop power hungry people in this world.

Did Bob McMullen, whose political nous is unquestionable, watch video media coverage of Biden’s erratic public behaviour during Xi visit for APEC?

Biden was embarrassingly all over the place as George Galloway noted. Scathingly. This can only get worse over next 12 months . The man is a hollow shell . Of course Trump will be President, barring concocted disqualification or assassination.

Australian government elites had better get used to it.

With over 20% of Australians having Asian heritage there are strong links to the region plus there are many thousands of expatriates living and working in Asia.

But Dutton shamelessly channels Howard, Abbott and Morrison in dog whistling and fear mongering at every opportunity and he does a lot of damage both here and in relationships with our neighbours.

As John Menadue put it in September last year, “Regulation of the way we manage lobbying in Australia is an even more important issue than a National Integrity Commission. The lobbying of governments around the world by the fossil fuel industry is a major reason for the Climate Emergency we now face.”
At COP27 in Egypt, there were 636 representatives of oil and gas industries, a rise of more than 25 per cent on the previous year.
When tabling her Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill, Monique Ryan the Member for Kooyong explained how the lobbying Code of Conduct meets only one of ten key OECD principles. Eighty per cent of those who lobby Australian politicians are not even registered.
The 2023 UN Production Gap Report found planned production of fossil fuels is more than double that required to limit warming to 1.5°C. The relationship between Australian politicians and fossil-fuel lobbyists, means even new coal mines are being approved. As David Shearman puts it, Australia is widening the production Gap.
All power to Ryan and others who expose the government’s hypocrisy and work to improve legislation. Students who recently took to the streets will know who to vote for.

For years I have read Pearls and Irritations which has arrived in my inbox quietly on Sunday mornings. Many articles have been thought provoking as the writers’ opinions have challenged some of my beliefs and understandings of various topics and ideas as good journalism should.

However, this morning’s article has crossed the line.

The belief that ‘It (Israel) should be expelled from the community of nations’: How is this sage advice going to improve the current situation if Israel is excommunicated from the world stage?

If you want to give space on your web site to such views I cannot respect your publication anymore. What next? Maybe you find a contributor that believes the world would just be better off if the Jews were erased altogether? Then this whole damn conflict would just go away. Sorted.

As a fellow concerned parent, I admired and supported Gregory Andrews’ brave hunger strike for climate action. Even the most optimistic emissions reductions scenario presented by the UN offers just a 14 per cent chance that humanity will keep global heating below a ‘safer’ 1.5 degrees. Given this, the Albanese government’s continued support for gas, approval of four coal mines, and unwillingness to rein in native forest logging is unacceptable. Climate change impacts are already hurting communities across Australia. What will life be like for our children? Andrews’ five demands of the federal government – ending fossil fuel subsidies, an urgent phase out of coal and gas exports, end logging native forests, updating the EPBC Act to include climate impacts, and releasing the Climate Risk Assessment report — are both evidence-based and sensible. If only decision makers would listen to scientific fact.

Sources:

The case was not an academic exercise. It concerned the fate of numerous foreigners from multiple countries, many of them hardened criminals; exactly how many, the Solicitor-General was unable to say.  One thing is sure: indefinite immigration detention was not unlawful when the matter came before the High Court. Its legality was established by the High Court itself 20 years ago in the case of Al-Kateb.

If the High Court were now minded to take the exceptional step of reversing that decision – doing violence to the doctrine of precedents which is one of the foundation stones of common law – was that not something which should have given the judges pause? Should the court not have explored with counsel the practical implications of NZYQ’s appeal succeeding before making its determination?

Why the hurry in making a determination? Considering the time spent in detention for most of those concerned, a small delay giving the court time to hand down its reasons would cause no injustice.

The court reached its determination by a majority, but reasons have yet to be given, so the community is left wondering what those might be. This has led to the government passing emergency legislation to deal with dangerous criminals being released into the community in consequence of the court’s ruling. And, not surprisingly, a new challenge to such legislation has now been launched in the High Court. The confusion intensifies.

One can only conclude from this case that the High Court has its head so high in the clouds that its chief concern is black-letter law, not the practical effects of its decisions. In this case the practical effects go to nothing less than the good governance of Australia.

In response to John Pilger’s excellent article, I point out that 25 years ago Australia signed the Rome Statute setting up the International Criminal Court which can investigate war crimes.

Among its provisions there is this:

“Article 68
Protection of the victims and witnesses and their participation in the proceedings
1. The Court shall take appropriate measures to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses…”

Now one would imagine that our prosecutorial authorities in Canberra would feel some inclination to honour the principles which the Australian government has espoused by signing the Rome Statute, when it comes to domestic prosecutions relating to alleged war crimes.

But the trial of David McBride seems to indicate the opposite, just as the prosecution of Bernard Collaery ran contra to the principle of advocate protection in the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which we (Australia) had signed.

The Attorney General might well reflect further on whether our solemn commitment to the principle in the Rome Statute is sufficient grounds for halting the prosecution of David McBride.

The issues outlined in this outstanding article are sadly not only attributed to Aged Care. Indeed the entire Public Health System is now enslaved to “The System” where Patient Care is dictated by policies and procedures rather than the needs of the individual. He is indeed, sadly, correct in his Yes Minister analogy. The Bureaucratisation of health care has refocused the attention of healthcare providers on computers and systems that demand constant attention and input; more than many patients receive.

It is only a matter of time before the complaints and concerns regarding Aged Care are applied more broadly across the healthcare industry- hospitals in particular. Relatives and carers are increasingly expected to take on elements of Patient Care so that the Health “Care” workers can dedicate themselves to the processes demanded by the Systems to prevent or minimise litigation and prove due diligence.

Fellow Nurses of my generation are leaving hospitals in despair and frustration at the necessity to accept the
“expert-driven one-size-fits-all” model of care that is now the norm.

The Public Healthcare System could soon find itself under the same scrutiny as Aged Care as human needs succumb to The System.

For the past year, I have researched the shooting deaths of two young cops and a concerned neighbour in Wieambilla in the Western Downs of southern Queensland in December 2022. This cruel, arbitrary ugly event has been deemed by ASIO as the work of religiously-motivated extremists, not Islamic but Christian ones. The three killers were shot to death by police, just as they expected to be.

Ex-PM Scott Morrison, a happy-clapper born-again Christian, pouncing around with the UK’s ex-PM Boris Johnson in Israel, is better than anything Laurel and Hardy’s scriptwriters could come up with.

Tonight on X I saw a photo of maybe 16 Palestinian babies who used to be on oxygen support, swaddled to keep them warm and their oxygen needs low, as the hospital had run out of what it took to provide oxygen support.

Years ago, I lost a new-born daughter, Cassandra, to ‘respiratory distress’.

Scott Morison is too stupid for Australians to take notice of any more.

Gaza is the scene of serious, lethal, urgent, heart-breaking stuff.

Let’s get real.

John Kerr

When the Hawke government was elected in the early 1980’s, BHP Steel was contemplating shutting down steel production in Australia. The minister, Button, proposed a modernisation capital injection, that BHP wouldn’t repay if they could not be made profitable . It worked, despite Australia being a very small part of world production.

Right now, to replace fossil fuels, Australia has to triple its electricity production, because not only coal, but oil and gas use, need to be replaced by renewables. As the generating cost is currently about $0.10 per kW.hr for coal, $0.05 for onshore wind, and $0.025 for solar, it should be obvious to anyone that the Government should offer a guarantee for any solar installed: to Chinese, Japanese, US, and EU companies, from Perth to Sydney.

Excess capacity replaces storage, as any engineer knows, except those working for Optus.

Reb Halabi’s excellent expose on Scott Morrison’s religious zealotry taking precedence over rational thought made for chilling reading.

I was brought up in an extremist Christian Zionist group and can verify that unquestioned adherence to their fanatical beliefs in the End Times, the Rapture and Armageddon is a given.

While Mr Morrison may strenuously deny there is any conflict of interest, in his heart he knows that should his beliefs be at odds with matters of global importance, his religious convictions will always win. Look no further than Australia’s embarrassing and dangerous prevarication on genuine commitment to climate action policy while Mr Morrison was PM – God’s in charge of the weather isn’t he?

It’s a small step to supporting war in Israel when your beliefs welcome the possibility of Armageddon as a direct path to heaven for the faithful.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Nason

Abul Rivzi has pinpointed the viciousness that will envelop political discourse on the current half-million figure of new immigrants, and the ensuing social disharmony that will follow as the right-wingers give new impetus to the race card.

Is it now time to consider the more critical issue of what might constitute a sustainable population for Australia, given the frequency with which water usage keeps re-emerging as a critical issue across most of the continent?

The economy is the main driver of argument about immigration, which has spilt over to social cohesion occasionally since World War II.

This is still a here-and-now issue, but looking forward, where does population growth need to end?

Serious damage to the Murray Darling breadbasket still remains unsolved; All state capitals bar Hobart have had to install desal plants to ensure water security. States bicker over who-gets-what from the river systems, farmers cry “we’ll be doomed” every time governments attempt to re-apportion water allocations or encourage water buy-backs. Climate change will apparently increase the floods versus drought volatility, making agriculture more difficult.

I hope Abul Rivzi might turn his clear thinking and knowledge to this bigger issue outside the political one.

Tony Tucker

Mr Dutton’s recent statements about off-shore wind turbines endangering whales and dolphins have been shown to be based on disinformation. It has been reported that a Facebook post, stating that a paper supporting the ‘evidence’ for harm to whales had been published in respected publication Marine Policy. As soon as the fake was flagged by Marine Policy staff, the Facebook page disappeared.
Research from InfluenceMap shows that “anti-climate groups are using Facebook’s advertising platform and unique targeting abilities to spread disinformation, intentionally seeding doubt and confusion around the science of climate change.”
And more generally in the US, ‘think tanks’ with connections to the fossil fuel industry use community groups to oppose renewable energy and stoke division over climate change (see independent journalist Michael Thomas). It seems this divisive practice is being imported into Australia. Used by right-wing groups to further their opposition to action on climate change, they undermine any chance of bipartisan decision-making. A bit of the Aussie skepticism and b-s detection has never been more urgently needed. The miss-and-disinformation appears to have reached the halls of Parliament and threatens to derail our transition to renewables.

Heard a witty take on the US-China summit concluded in San Francisco, leveraging a popular Chinese idiom: both sides admitted that they may not pee in the same pot but vowed to ensure they will not pee on each other.

双方承认：尿不到一个壶里，但承诺：不尿到对方身上。

Thanks for reading Wang Xiangwei’s Thought of the Day on China

I have been observing the current intransigent and wonderful opposition to the Israeli and Western propaganda machines. What the grass roots opposition signifies is the growth of a massive international opposition to the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.

And what it reminds me of is the beginnings of the opposition to the Vietnam War. The same lying and mendaciousnes on the part of the ruling elites, and the same visceral and informed reaction and opposition to the lying about the barbarism engaged by these ruling elites.

What is significant in this current time is the dissolution of the dominant narrative of these ruling elites about the mass serial killings of Palestinians in Gaza. This is now becoming increasingly transparent by huge daily leaps in critical awareness and consciousness of millions of people around the world and is registered with the increasing growth of weekend demonstrations all around the world.

Millions are now saying loudly and clearly that the unimaginable atrocities committed by the Israeli military death machine simply cannot continue.

Let’s make sure that these marches keep growing to such huge proportions that the ruling elites will be unable to ignore them!

I am the mother of Palestinian children. I married into the ancient and highly respected Al Ramini family from Jenin. Our children, born in the west, have deep brown eyes, soft brown skin and they stand tall and proud and relish their Palestinian background. I am grateful that they have this heritage, but I am also so very grateful that they have never known the appalling deprivation of everything to do with being a human being that has befallen so many young people looking just like them, with all the hopes and dreams, just like them, but who were born and grew up in Palestine. Anywhere in Palestine.

Mary Kelly’s diarised account of the lives of Palestinian families is agonising. The fact that it continues to be ignored is numbing. I thank her for her honest and unsentimental account. It is being shared far and wide.

The Orthodox Greeks, who were actually close enough to recall the nutter who wrote Revelations on the Greek Island of Patmos, decided that it was NOT a canonical work and would not be read in Orthodox churches.

The hopes expressed in the article ‘Australia-China relations: Diplomacy and a win without a fight’, are hopeful indeed, for good relations with China are essential for our economic prosperity, yet Mr Albanese has made a foolish decision without debate and very little consultation, to confirm the previous Government’s decision to arm Australia with a few submarines which are specifically designed for a fight with the very country our economy depends on, and with which Australia has no major quarrel.

Cancelling that submarine deal would send a very clear message to China rather than the ambiguous message currently being sent. While we have this intention to buy submarines that are designed to goad China into a war we are sending a mixed message.

It is blindingly obvious that the USA is in decline with a massive public debt and a dollar that is increasingly being avoided as an international trading currency, and massive internal conflict that could erupt in civil war any time soon, and yes China’s economy has slowed but still with growth 2 to 3 times that of the USA, anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic can work out that China will lead the world.