Climate action deserves political unity in energy policy

Does Andrew Bragg realise the damage a 43 per cent reduction in greenhouse emissions will cause (“Lib senator set to back Labor on climate bill”, 18/7)?

We may appear to be almost halfway to our emissions reduction targets, but almost 80 per cent of that came from land use changes and forestry that won’t be repeated. Emissions from heating and transport rose. Electricity emissions fell about 20 per cent by closing coal-fired generators and bringing in solar and wind without adequate storage. As a result, our national electricity market is teetering on collapse.

Solar and wind have minuscule operating costs and can cover their capital costs in a few years, but storage will rarely cover its capital or replacement costs for batteries. The Australian Energy Market Operator has an integrated system plan but it is overly optimistic in assuming the private sector will pay for expensive storage. The federal government is already pouring billions of dollars into new transmission lines to subsidise renewables.

Ian Wilson, Chapel Hill, Qld

It was good to read that Andrew Bragg is considering backing Labor’s 43 per cent 2030 emissions target. If the whole Liberal Party were to do the same thing, what a positive start it would be to the new parliament. Young Australians would be given a lift at a time when they most need it. If my previous representative, Josh Frydenberg, had stood up, as Bragg has, for a stronger climate target, he might still be in politics and leading the party.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Vic

Numbers game

Politicians will be politicians and perceived vote-winning policies often take precedence over principles. The push by some for gender quotas seems to be mainly aimed at getting more votes, but it could well have the opposite effect in the short or longer term.

If the merit principle hasn’t worked it would seem sensible to make sure it does work. Linda Reynolds’s argument that factional quotas and state and territory quotas help to justify gender quotas simply emphasises the failure of parties to put merit and competence ahead of lesser matters (“No merit in Liberal Party gagging talk on gender reform”, 18/7).

The Liberal Party is at its best when it has a mixture of liberal and conservative values guiding it. The principle of having the best person for the job can work if there is the will, but it hasn’t worked very well in the choice of some of their prime ministers.

A gender parity policy will probably weaken the party further.

David Morrison, Springwood, NSW

British Conservative party leadership contender Kemi Badenoch gets it.

She’s running on an “anti-woke” platform, is spot-on to note that the net-zero goal amounts to “unilateral economic disarmament”, and reckons that the hundreds of billions of pounds spent by government must provide value for money – not “tick-box exercises in sustainability, diversity and equality”. Perhaps when Aussie Libs, irrespective of gender, start straight-talking the common sense Badenoch does, Linda Reynolds will find that winning elections will take care of itself.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

Lost in translation

Kevin Yam is right (“On China’s list of ‘demands’, mind the language”, 18/7), translation is an art that includes the necessity of conveying meaning beyond mere word-for-word transliteration.

As Yam knows, there is a cultural chasm between Chinese and English that only the linguistically and culturally adept can explore. Even then, a translator’s political proclivities may adduce meaning that is contested by others of opposing persuasions, as Yam’s article explores.

Beyond language, there is a cultural meaning within words that has to be understood. China has never learned to negotiate in the modern Western style. It is a cultural assumption that all interactions between people and between nations are unequal and that “the powerful will do what they can and the poor will do what they must”.

“Yao jianchi” is “powerful” China telling “poor” Australia what it must do. Middle Kingdom ruler of the Celestial Empire (aka the world) expects no less.

Jim Wilson, Beaumont, SA

Flying colours

I am never loath to criticise Qantas when its customer service does not meet acceptable standards. During Covid lockdown it was not uncommon to be kept waiting for hours on the airline’s “customer care” telephone line.

However, as a regular air traveller, my recent experience with the national carrier has met expectations with reasonable telephone wait times and prompt responses to written inquiries (“Qantas ‘absolutely not’ meeting expectations”, 18/7).

Riley Brown, Bondi Beach, NSW