How many more studies are needed to show what is glaringly obvious to everyone? That nuclear power is not cheap and that it is potentially very expensive (“Extra cost of nuclear power revealed”, September 20)?
Despite this, the Coalition keeps sticking to its guns. They can’t be wrong and any study that says otherwise is “shallow and flawed”. They claim the latest study cherry-picks the worst cases, ignoring that any selection is needed to make the study more realistic. Australia won’t have access to cheap labour, so those cases should rightly be ignored. Also, nuclear energy is not where you want to cut corners to keep costs down. And yet, the Coalition has decided to go down the nuclear path. How can you make a decision without the supporting numbers? If they have the numbers they should release them. David Rush, Lawson
Nuclear is not a viable option for Australia. It will be too expensive and it will take far too long to be of any use and by the Coalition’s own numbers, it will produce almost no electricity even if they are built. Every report from the CSIRO down that exposes Peter Dutton’s nuclear brain explosion has been belittled by the Coalition. The Coalition says it will release its costings eventually. Presumably, they don’t know what the cost will be yet, but given their wildly inaccurate estimates on Snowy 2.0 and inland rail, we have little cause for hope of an accurate figure. Ross Hudson, Mount Martha (Vic)
Is nuclear power the way to go?Credit: AP
Coalition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien calls the first analysis of the Coalition’s nuclear plan shallow and flawed – in other words fake news. Having cherry-picked the lowest numbers in their discussions of this policy, and choosing their examples, the Coalition will now have to present their documentation as to how low electricity prices will be under their leadership. As a taxpayer, I’m concerned about the level of accountability if there are cost blowouts or hugely extended construction times. So even if the proposed nuclear plants can deliver cheaper electricity, what happens in the meantime? The Coalition’s switch to government ownership of this infrastructure and the cash splash to those communities who accept a nuclear plant is using taxpayer money to subsidise lower electricity prices to win this argument. We are not just building a few buildings – we are creating a whole new industry from scratch. Meanwhile, another decade or so will pass and more opportunities will be wasted for a better environment. Robert Mulas, Corlette
Ted O’Brien says the US non-profit think tank the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has cherry-picked the costs for the opposition’s nuclear “plan”. Why it would do this is unclear but far from choosing selected examples, it has based its analysis on average bills for construction of large-scale nuclear plants by countries with comparable economies to Australia. As for who will put up the money, O’Brien says they will be built by a government entity while Angus Taylor says they will not be publicly subsidised. Peter Nash, Fairlight
More than a third of Australian households have solar power and they won’t like analysis from the Smart Energy Council that shows Dutton’s seven nuclear reactors will shut down solar panels for between 1.8 and 2.9 million homes. The council says that as nuclear power can’t be switched off, it will continue pushing power into the grid, “regardless of whether it’s the most expensive form of energy, or even needed”. Is this really the best energy policy Dutton can come up with, or is it simply an expensive smokescreen to extend the life of fossil fuels? Alison Stewart, Riverview
We are now told our power bills may rise by $665 a year to pay for nuclear energy infrastructure costs. Is this why Dutton is so reluctant to release his costings? Peng Ee, Castle Cove
Sorry, not sorry
Peter Dutton, if you make publicly offensive statements to a whole community, then your apology also needs to be public (“Dutton apology to ’senior person‴, September 20), not just a quiet act of contrition to a single person. And you have so much other business to also be sorry for. For starters, how about a national apology to all Indigenous communities for leading a divisive and deceptive No campaign during last year’s Voice referendum? Russ Couch, Woonona
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has suggested he apologised to one, unnamed person.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Peter Dutton makes a very public derisive comment about Australians of Lebanese background. He now believes he “shouldn’t have made” those comments. However, when he comes to apologise, how and to whom he apologised is top secret. And the reason for the secrecy is? Judith Fleming, Sawtell
Trump a global danger
While I, too, wonder at the popularity of Donald Trump, it is not just a US thing (Letters, September 20). Despite his criticisms of “African gangs”, walking out on the apology to the stolen generation, criticism of refugee arrivals from Gaza and Muslim immigration generally under Malcolm Fraser and not having made one positive or constructive statement as opposition leader, except for the wonder of nuclear power, it seems Dutton’s popularity is on the rise. Brenton McGeachie, Queanbeyan West
As ludicrous as we may find Donald Trump, he is not only a threat to US democracy but also world order and peace. For not only has he championed isolationism, racism, financial hegemony and division in the US, he has also, via formal meetings and dialogue, legitimised international dictators and despots and emboldened fascist groups domestically and abroad. I believe the rise in popularity of extreme right-wing parties throughout Europe and the social divisions and violence worldwide are at least in part due to Trump’s influence. Even NZ is creating division and racial tension through a proposed revision of a treaty with the Maori people. The US election is crucial not only for the US but for international financial, social and political stability. Rowan Godwin, Rozelle
Debate on immigration needs details, direction
Daily we’re thrown immigration numbers that rightly incite concern, frustration and even anger targeted at politicians and governments (“Migrant numbers outgrow forecasts”, September 20), unsurprisingly, given that citizens can’t control or realistically vote on this. It’s a lie to pin this entirely on the Albanese government and it is a delusion to believe a Dutton government, which would traditionally represent business interests, would introduce any responsible and fair legislation on this. Robust and fair debate is never heard and, regardless, it would be likely to face derailment by nebulous racist claims. We are never provided with evidence if and how sustained high numbers for decades have resolved skill shortages. The only real question for governments always has been why Australia, especially now in the face of climate change, environmental vandalism, social and housing crises, doesn’t have a population policy. It’s also the most significant question that should be asked of the Greens. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville
Having an annual immigration intake of 400,000 is the reason Australia did not dip into recession. No wonder there is a reluctance by the Albanese Labor government to reduce this number. Riley Brown, Bondi Beach
Peter Dutton’s blaming of the housing crisis on immigration, besides potentially fuelling xenophobia, is disingenuous. Sure, high immigration does add to pressures in the housing market. However, what the housing crisis represents is a massive failure of housing policy historically. This has been most acute during the periods the Coalition has been in power. For example, after taking power in 1996, federal government funding for the building of social housing virtually ground to a halt and by the time Labor regained power in 2007, social housing constituted only 4 per cent of the housing stock, down from 6 per cent in 1996. When the Coalition regained power in 2013, one of its first acts was to scrap the National Affordability Rental Scheme, which had then provided about 38,000 affordable housing dwellings. When the pandemic broke, economists, housing scholars and community housing providers pleaded with the Morrison government to emulate the Rudd government’s response to the global financial crisis and use the building of social housing as a central economic stimulus. The pleas were ignored and money was poured into subsidising high-end renovations for existing homeowners. Alan Morris, Eastlakes
Fare’s fair
On a recent Brisbane visit, I used the Queensland government’s six-month trial of 50¢ a trip on all public transport (train, bus, ferry, using a GoCard) and the Airport rail link fare was reduced to $11 ($12 to the Gold Coast), to assist residents with cost of living issues. C’mon, NSW, c’mon: give us Sydneysiders a helping hand. If Brisbane can do it, so can we (and so did Victoria a while back with reductions in rail fares). Colleen Riga, Potts Point
Pest control
A pest is a pest and should be removedCredit: Alamy Stock Photo
It’s not only deer that are breeding like rabbits and causing massive damage to our indigenous flora and fauna (Letters, September 20). Thousands of wild horses are still roaming the Snowy Mountains and the Department of Agriculture estimates there are about 23.5 million feral pigs destroying crops and native wildlife on the mainland. My suggestion to deal with these pests is to call on some real experts, already paid for by the taxpayer: the Australian Army. Of the approximately 57,000 regular troops, even if only 10 per cent are “combat trained”, surely this expertise combined with helicopters and off-road transport would be well suited to hunt down and eliminate these pests more efficiently and cheaply than private contractors, weekend “hunters” or hard-pressed farmers. Martyn Yeomans, Sapphire Beach
Bang for no bucks
Your correspondent (Letters, September 20) suggests students should be grateful that tertiary education is not nearly as expensive as in the US. A quick look on the internet reveals there are plenty of countries that enjoy free tertiary education while still boasting advanced, robust economies. Why not draw our aspirational goals from the first-rate? Lloyd Swanton, Wentworth Falls
Oh, crumbs
We are constantly hearing denials from the big supermarkets that they are price gouging, but here’s a recent example contradicting that by one of them, you know, the one that tries to pull the wool over our eyes by earnestly telling us we are getting our money’s worth: A conversation with a supervisor at the self-service checkout gleaned the inside dope on a particular type of chocolate biscuit. Originally selling for $5 a packet, they were then placed on a half-price special deal, after which they were slyly repriced at $6 a packet. The employee telling me this seemed as pissed off by it as I was. Alicia Dawson, Balmain
Rolled gold
Brian Jones writing a letter in reply to Bill Wyman’s opinion piece gives me great satisfaction (Letters, September 20). John Campbell, South Golden Beach
Seal of approval
The end of an era
In a recent clean-out of my house I was prepared to throw out all the old Tupperware containers, which dated back to the early 1980s (“Direct-sales model overstayed at the Tupperware party”, September 20). My granddaughter pounced on them for herself, saying a wash in her dishwasher would restore them to their original state. I was happy to come to the party. Joan Brown, Orange
Postscript
As usual, the subjects on the letters page this week were many and varied, and the reactions to them were also many and varied.
Should the public give money to both private and public schools? Can, or should, children be separated from social media? Who should be responsible for stopping bullying? Can the science of climate change be married to the world of nature? Should military medals be taken back? How long is too long, or short, a prison sentence for a terrible act? What is the answer to the housing crisis? Oxford comma, or not? There was disagreement on all of these.
However, letter writers agree on some things. Donald Trump was one – why? What? Orange? None of it makes sense, in this country
at least. No matter how many people try to explain him, no one here can understand it, and everyone hopes not to see his politics here. No one was actually crass enough to suggest that the would-be assassins should be allowed to try again, but it came worryingly close.
Another subject with general agreement was that, no matter how many politicians and public servants said, “Oh, oops, sorry, can we move on now?” about robo-debt, letter writers have not forgotten and still think those responsible should be properly named, shamed and, probably, imprisoned.
The biggest agreement, though, was about Peter Dutton and his claim that he has apologised to Lebanese Muslims. Letters poured in about that. No one in the letter-writing community, at least, seems willing to believe the apology happened unless they get proof, which Dutton seems unwilling to provide. As a few writers asked: “If an apology happens in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, did it happen at all?”
There were letters from regular writers and from people who haven’t written, in some cases, for years, so thank you all. There were also many letters from the Blue Mountains – is this a sign that spring is here and hibernation is over? All of us cryophobes will rejoice.
Harriet Veitch, Acting letters editor
- 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.