Letters: Cr Jonathan Sri cops flak for supporting climate activists

Today readers have their say on Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri making his office available to activists, Barnaby Joyce doing it tough and the bid to proclaim a climate emergency.

Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri. Photographer: Liam Kidston

THAT Cr Jonathan Sri lets members of the Extinction Rebellion to use his office to plot disruptions to the city offends me.

That he compares their disruptions to the city to Anzac Day simply shows the contempt he holds for those who have served their country.

Cr Sri ignores the fact that the Anzac Day march is legally sanctioned on a public holiday and any disruption is well advertised and causes very little disruption to the city, in stark contrast to the protesters who disrupt those who go about their lawful business.

I would suggest he spends some time with those who have served and maybe he will understand the sacrifices that they made so that people like him enjoy the freedoms that this country enjoys.

Tony Miles, Chermside

UNDOUBTEDLY Cr Jonathan Sri’s heart is in the right place when it comes to concern for the environment, but he is really pushing the democracy envelope by allowing Extinction Rebellion meetings to be held in his office.

Whether or not he wants to admit it, their actions do not align with anything remotely like the Anzac Day march or anything like the people involved in that march.

The RSL is correct to feel outraged.

It is concerning that these activities are impinging on the environment of many innocent folk going about their daily business and that it appears Cr Sri considers this appropriate.

He needs bringing into line.

Claire Jolliffe, Buderim

IT SEEMS Councillor Jonathan Sri and the Extinction Rebellion group greatly over-estimate Australia’s importance.

Yes, the climate is changing, and no, Australia can make no difference to this even by reducing our carbon emissions to zero and our lifestyle to that of a Third World country. Australia’s contribution is extremely small in the global scheme of things.

If the major emitters (India, US, China, Russia) do nothing about it, the rest of the world could reduce emissions to zero with no effect on the rate of climate change.

If these countries do reduce their contributions it will not matter what the rest of the world does as the rate of change will decrease or reverse direction regardless.

Formally recognising a “climate emergency” is the sort of “feelgood” action beloved by the Greens and their ilk which mean zero and achieve even less.

The anti-coal protesters do not seem to realise that their protests are having the effect of raising emissions by forcing vehicles to sit idling in traffic jams thus increasing their hours of use.

They also do not consider that Queensland coal is among the cleanest burning available.

If India cannot access clean coal because of these protesters’ actions, it will access much dirtier coal from anywhere possible and burn that, thus raising their emissions and hastening the results which the protests are designed to prevent.

These protesters’ actions are counter-productive, stupid and guaranteed to alienate most of the community.

David J. Rogers, Birkdale

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SPECIAL The best of Warren Brown for 2018

POLLIES OUT OF TOUCH WITH BATTLERS

IT MUST have taken some guts for Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce to speak out against the inadequate Newstart allowance (C-M, Jul 29).

Now supporting two families, he said simply buying a cup of coffee at a cafe is a big deal for him.

Constituents have often complained that politicians are in a world of their own and they don’t understand what life is really like for the unemployed and the less fortunate.

I wish there was a way we could get politicians to leave their ivory towers and descend to the level of millions of Australians who are forced to manage on a Centrelink allowance.

If Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted that all politicians experienced the same frugal existence for a brief time we would have more empathetic leaders and better politicians.

Liz Haydon, Runcorn

I HAVE no sympathy for Barnaby Joyce whatsoever.

It was his own choice to have an affair on the side when he had a loving family at home who had stood by him while he chased his political career.

I also don’t agree with him about unemployment and raising the dole and Newstart payments.

The dole is there as a stop gap, not a permanent wage as many people seem to think and expect.

Also I know there are jobs out there that anyone can do.

The problem with most of the unemployed today is they don’t want to get their hands dirty. They expect to walk in and be the manager or manageress on top money with no experience, not start at the bottom and work their way up as earlier generations did.

Until this attitude is changed nothing will change.

Governments have to stop pussyfooting around and say there’s a job, take it.

The trouble with governments is they are too weak and won’t work together. They are scared of losing votes and just try pointscoring.

Ray Evans, Beenleigh South

I WOULD swap with Barnaby Joyce anytime.

Try living on the married pension of $16,000 per annum and being forced to rent with few assets.

My heart goes out to him.

Phillip O’Neill, Wynnum North

IF BARNABY Joyce is struggling to make ends meet on a politician’s salary, he should consider a career change and come to Queensland to drive our trains.

The pay is better and there should be no shortage of challenges to engage a reformist such as him.

Lyn Fryer, Ferny Hills

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CLIMATE FEARMONGERING

JO OWEN (Letters, Jul 30) wants Brisbane City Council to declare a climate emergency.

The main effect of such meaningless virtue signalling is to increase anxiety in the minds of children and other misguided people.

My generation grew up in the cold war and we contemplated nuclear annihilation but learnt about fallout shelters and survival techniques.

Brisbane City Council would help the situation by dusting off the Queensland Climate Adaptation Strategy from last century so we can all identify and plan to minimise the effects of changing temperatures.

The current emphasis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions to stop temperatures rising will not work.

The geological record, satellite observations and improving understanding of the climate system all show that levels of CO2 are not related to temperature and cast doubt on the effectiveness of a strategy based solely on reducing emissions.

Ian Wilson, Chapel Hill

JO OWEN should take a step back and study the history of floods and droughts before declaring a climate change emergency.

Some of the world’s worst floods occurred long before the Industrial Revolution, and back to biblical times. Some were caused by weather patterns, others by tsunamis.

Droughts have also occurred for centuries.

Dorothea Mackellar wrote My Country in about 1904, so droughts and flooding rains were common in Australia long before then.

We still have floods, just as we still have houses built on flood plains and questionable dam releases.

We also still have droughts, just as we still can’t build a guaranteed water supply to affected areas. We’d rather let the rainwater flow to the ocean.

Oil products are a greater source of CO2 emissions than coal, but the world can’t operate without them.

The Earth is a fragile orb in a vast universe, and a changing climate is probably lower on the threat scale than asteroids, plagues and nuclear conflict.

We have a lot to learn, and a long way to go.

Peter Corran, Wakerley

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