Letters: Holiday bad timing still plagues Prime Minister Scott Morrison

Today readers have their say on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ongoing holiday blues, climate change and the bushfires, and who are the quiet Australians.

READING comments by your correspondents (Letters, Dec 24), it seems people are upset about Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s holiday.

It’s not so much the holiday, but his timing of it that matters, and his insincere comments suggesting support for the firefighters when he returned.

What also matters is his continued lack of action on climate change and his affirmation of coal mining.

He needs to make a new year resolution to get on board with climate change in light of the evidence, and stop treading water while other countries act.

Jane Fry, Kenmore

IF THE worst thing our PM does while in office is to take himself and his family to Hawaii for a holiday when the country is in the grip of bushfires, we will be very fortunate.

I am at a complete loss to understand why those who obviously did not vote for him are carrying on ad nauseam about it.

Even worse are all the hypocrites crawling out of the woodwork, who are now seeing Tony Abbott as a top bloke because he’s a volunteer firefighter.

Yet years prior to becoming prime minister, Abbott was a volunteer firefighter and a volunteer lifesaver.

Did he receive any kudos for that?

No, the best people could do was snigger about him wearing budgie smugglers.

Carol da Costa-Roque, Annerley

I SAY to the Prime Minister, you should have had your family holiday.

Please don’t start reacting to the populist opportunists and alarmist puppets of the Opposition.

You have a great team in charge to take care of our situation without reacting to the constant negative comments by a minority who possibly don’t believe in what’s been happening for centuries and calling it urgent “climate change”.

This is the failure of the political opportunists who whinge whichever way opinions swing, so they can hopefully get some support from the misinformed.

These are the negative people who have held back societies now and in history.

You left some pretty good people in charge of our country, so don’t kowtow to the agitators who will always try to bring Australia down for their cause.

Al Payne, Yeronga

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Rural Fire Service crews fight a fire at Bilpin, NSW. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

CLIMATE CHANGE A SMOKESCREEN

THE premise that the bushfire crisis is caused by “climate change” is a smokescreen masking the real cause, ie departure from the time-proven benefit of fuel reduction.

Our esteemed fire commissioners will attest that fire cannot exist without the following three elements: oxygen, heat and fuel.

In a forest one cannot remove the oxygen from the air nor control the heat from the weather or lightning strikes. But one can control the fuel to be burnt.

Aborigines have used fire for fuel reduction in forests for 40,000 years. It’s about time we learned this lesson.

John Harper, Bray Park

I MAY be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the only people saying that bushfires will stop if you don’t mine coal (Letters, Dec 24) are the people who then get fired up dismissing it as leftist garbage.

The reality is that nobody is saying such things.

What they are saying is that our climate has changed, that burning fossil fuels has underpinned that change, and that the resulting extended drought is a leading cause of the recent fire emergency.

Of course, it’s much harder for climate denialists to rail against such logic, so they have to make stuff up so they have something to argue with.

And they wonder why there’s no sensible debate on the issue.

Stephen Morgan, Carina Heights

CLIMATE change is not the cause of the bushfires. In the majority of cases it would be a box of matches.

Don McNaught, Ningi

PEOPLE of faith know that everything, including the weather, is in the hands of God.

Therefore it is not possible for human behaviour to be responsible for changing the climate.

Peter Ryan, Brighton

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QUIET AUSSIES DEFINED

ONE of the great benefits about living in a democracy like ours is being able to state your beliefs without fear or favour.

I would like to state who I believe qualifies as a quiet Australian.

A quiet Australian is a person who doesn’t vote for one particular political party, as can be demonstrated by the Coalition win at the last federal election.

They believe climate change is happening and protesters who disrupt traffic during peak hours suggesting our government isn’t doing enough to combat its happening should be subject to the full force of the law.

They believe that protesters who invade farms should be prosecuted as trespassers and subject to the full force of the law.

They believe that the ABC should be held to account for not following its charter in delivering a balanced delivery of happenings here and overseas. Their role should be to deliver the news of the day and not give opinion.

There are many other characteristics of a quiet Australian, but I believe their most endearing quality is wanting good governance from the government of the day.

I have never seen change happening at such a frenetic pace.

Let us all hope that our governments deliver all the essential services needed to ensure Australia remains one of the most liveable countries in the world.

Bill Glasson, Buderim

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