Cash is king when it comes to coronavirus conspiracy theories

The CSIRO now tells us that the risk of contracting COVID from hard surfaces (including banknotes) is high, yet another group of high-powered boffins recently dismissed the danger as remote (“Cash a contagion risk? You can bank on it”, 12/10). Their research concluded that the virus recovered from such surfaces was so attenuated that it had been difficult to replicate under laboratory conditions. I don’t know what the layman should believe, but this much can be said with certainty: governments will seize on any possibility of COVID transmission via banknotes to end cash transactions — all to keep us safe, naturally. It is only by a not inconsiderable exercise of willpower that I resist the allure of conspiracy theories.

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Old king coal

According to John Hill (Letters, 12/10) “BHP is withdrawing from an industry association because it is campaigning for jobs in the coal industry. This, in spite of the fact BHP has a very profitable and long-term coal business.” Hill then accuses BHP of “no longer” being “a true capitalist”. It is well known in the industry that BHP is withdrawing from the thermal coal business because it recognises that it has no future. However, BHP retains large interests in metallurgical (or coking) coal because it is a vital part of its extensive steel-production operations. Smart businesses like BHP recognise that thermal coal has had its day, and an overlong twilight.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin, ACT

Rock of ages

Back in the bad old days of sectarianism, my mother read an anti-Catholic rag called The Rock. It told of slave laundries and priests behaving badly, and warned readers that Archbishop Daniel Mannix planned to infiltrate the public service and the ABC. The Rock got the last one partly wrong: the ABC now appears to be run by the Pell-hating political left, with not a sign of a Catholic (“ABC gatekeepers ignore story that doesn’t quite fit their narrative on Pell”, 12/10).

Elizabeth Moser, Newtown, Vic

Strike it out

The recent strikes by the Maritime Union of Australia in Sydney should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Just read your history, which will tell you of the strikes inflicted by both the waterside workers and coalminers on this country during World War II. These strikes were carried out when young Australian militia were fighting for theirs and our lives on the Kokoda Track and Milne Bay. The coalminers went on strike because there wasn’t enough butter for their bread and the wharfies sent artillery to the frontline minus some special parts, which made them unserviceable. These actions, in my view, were instrumental in sending our wartime prime minister, John Curtin, to an early grave and were described by one Labor MP as “acts of treason”. As an 86-year-old bloke, I don’t have much optimism for Australia ever reaching its full potential when we have minority groups who have far more influence than their numbers represent in the total population.

Barry Bolitho, Undera, Vic

Burning questions

NSW Rural Fire Service operations director Peter McKechnie defends a hazard reduction burn that got close to houses by saying, “You have to do something to try and protect the community” (“Fire’s painful past reasserts its presence”, 12/10). While I respect the sentiment, the call to “do something” worked best on the football field decades ago. Now it’s not just a place on the league ladder at stake, it’s five degrees of warming in 80 years. Plans to improve our chances of defeating both fires and global warming need to be backed by experience and evidence, not enthusiasm or lobby groups.

Lesley Walker, Northcote, Vic