Coalition needs to consider all options on road to net zero

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie puts a compelling case for new laws that would allow the nation to hit the “pause button” if any net-zero emissions commitment was found to be negatively impacting regional Australia (“Protection for the regions crucial to any net-zero deals”, 11/10).

What people in our capital cities need to understand is even though our mining and agriculture industries are located in the regions, these vital industries service and benefit the entire country, and if they are adversely impacted by net-zero so is the rest of the nation.

The Nationals’ proposal should be regarded as an insurance policy. We are told the sky’s the limit with net zero, that there’ll be jobs and green investment opportunities galore. That could turn out to be true, but in case it doesn’t, we’d better hurry up and get ourselves insured before any commitment is made.

Dale Ellis, Innisfail, Qld

Bridget McKenzie appears to be saying that if the Nationals were to endorse net-zero deals, that will require the rest of the country to “protect” (read subsidise) the regions from potential adverse economic consequences (“Nats show their hand on net zero: big bucks for the bush”, 11/10). Nothing changes, does it – the essence of horse-trading remains “show me the money”?

John Dorman, Toowoomba, Qld

Good luck to the Nats and those living in regional Australia if “big bucks” can be negotiated for the bush. However, can someone please explain to me which political party is going to look after the interests of the battlers in the outer suburbs, who will be facing ruinously high electricity and gas bills and the end of their jobs in what remains of our manufacturing sector?

Mitch McDonald, Abbotsford, NSW

If ever there were a set of circumstances that justifies Scott Morrison’s pragmatic approach towards emission reduction targets, the calamitous energy situation throughout much of the northern hemisphere fits the bill. A combination of low wind conditions curtailing wind farm output in Europe, droughts in America reducing hydropower and an under-investment in gas and coal has led to blackouts, brownouts, factory closures and power price hikes (“Scramble for gas as northern winter looms”, 9-10/10).

Tony Abbott tells us that the world’s democracies need to stand up to dictatorships, yet the West seems intent on weakening its economies through the pursuit of climate utopia and inferior renewables technologies. All at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on Chinese solar panels and Russian natural gas.

Now Australia has woken to the fact a major upgrade in defences is needed, a commensurate upgrade in manufacturing and heavy industry, backed by reliable power, is also needed.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Bob Carr (Letters, 11/10) conveniently picks a single plant in the US for which construction has been delayed as an example of all nuclear new builds. This would be like picking the debacle of building the light rail in Sydney as a reason never to build light rail.

Korea Hydro Nuclear Power is building four reactors in the UAE, two of which are operating, which will provide 25 per cent of UAE’s electricity. These have been built on time and on budget. Given how sunny the UAE is, one wonders why they went nuclear?

There are more reactors operating in the world today than before the Fukushima accident but are mostly being built by China, Russia and Korea, so we hear nothing about them.

No one is saying nuclear power is easy and like all major infrastructure builds, cost and time overruns will occur. But it is possible, with the right attitude and smarts to build them, both of which Australia sadly lacks.

Mike Young, Swanbourne, WA

Bob Carr’s opposition to nuclear power epitomises the tectonic shift in the left’s position. For decades, they said nuclear caused us to grow two heads. Now that has been exposed as rubbish, the opposition to nuclear is based on cost. As a many great minds have concluded, nuclear is the only known solution that will give us plentiful, safe and emissions-free power. If we wish to be a manufacturing nation again, we need to embrace nuclear now and put the troglodytes out to pasture.

Ian Morison, Forrest, ACT