Bowen’s energy narrative runs contrary to that of the PM

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, as the new negotiator-in-chief for COP31, is declaring the end of the age of thermal coal and conventional gas expansion (“President in residence: Bowen 747 faces delay”, 26/11). But Anthony Albanese insists gas and coal exports will remain vital beyond 2050 and that new supply is needed.

These are not shades of difference; they are contradictory visions from the same government. One reassures miners and regional communities their jobs are safe for decades; the other signals to the world that Australia’s fossil fuel export era is over.

Until the Prime Minister and Bowen present a single, coherent position, every energy announcement will breed confusion and distrust.

David Hurburgh, Opossum Bay, Tas

The government needs to send our out-of-depth Chris Bowen to a reputable business school to learn that before taking on additional tasks, you should at least know the time commitments of the job.

This is particularly important if the outcome of your day job is in a shambles. The spreading of Bowen’s inadequate wings could result in a double rather than a single disaster.

Garth Newman, North Balwyn, Vic

Dragon waking up

Our China-US-Taiwan diplomacy continues to balance on a knife edge. It all depends on whether we can somehow reconcile “strategic ambiguity” with “peaceful reunification” indefinitely into the future (“Regional dangers rife as Xi pushes Trump on Taiwan” 26/11). Fingers crossed that we can do so.

Terry Hewton, Henley Beach South, SA

Asbestos fear rising

It’s disquieting to learn of there being asbestos fibres in China-sourced wind turbines. I’m no expert in these matters but don’t try to tell me that these motors are confined in a closed environment and that nanoparticles cannot escape from it and be distributed over a very wide area indeed and create havoc by way of pulmonary asbestosis.

All it takes is one microscopic particle. Talk, as ever, is cheap.

Prue Sheldrick, Peppermint Grove, WA

Industry in the dark

Lynas, our country’s leading rare earth metals producer, has lost production near Kalgoorlie because of power outages (“Lynas stranded by power mess”, 26/11).

Welcome to Third World power supply in Australia, where we have abundant fuels for energy but hopeless leaders.

Geoff Farnell, Buderim, Qld

Cbus members’ woes

Industry superannuation giant Cbus has been fined more than $23.5m for delays in paying out members’ claims (“Cbus members foot bill for hefty fine”, 26/11).

But who is to bear the brunt of the fines? Not the highly paid chairman, former federal treasurer Wayne Swan, or the executive team, but the innocent fund members who now see their reserves depleted by this payout. How is this fair?

Robert Krochmalik, Pearl Beach, NSW

Interstellar ‘dream’

What a spaced-out idea to do interstellar cultural projects (“Welcome to country, now in outer space”, 26/11).

Meanwhile, here on Earth the Indigenous children of Alice Springs are failing to thrive. Let’s undertake projects that make a tangible difference, not ones that involve pet project stargazing.

Ann Rennie, Surrey Hills, Vic

Joys of defection

Senator Matt Canavan ought to see that the likely defection of Barnaby Joyce from the Nationals to One Nation may in part be “about himself”, as he says, but it’s also a manifestation of the political malaise that has befallen the Coalition.

Why should Canavan think the defeat of the net-zero mantra was a cause celebre moment? Removing the ScoMo net-zero 2050 target was great in isolation but by itself will achieve net-zero else unless it’s linked to a policy to build new baseload power stations.

Coalition promises of lowering electricity prices are little more than empty rhetoric.

In his UN address in September this year, US President Donald Trump labelled climate change the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has labelled net zero the next Brexit.

As the Coalition lacks the conviction and/or courage to say what people are now thinking, its strength as the opposition is likely to remain largely irrelevant.

Given the sad reality of it, Joyce is making the right call to jump off the Coalition Titanic before it sinks to the bottom with all those who believed the once great ship of Robert Menzies was unsinkable.

Brian Handley, Torquay, Vic