Details matter when it comes to supporting an Indigenous voice

Julian Leeser seems to be over-complicating the issue of the voice (“Come clean on voice advice, says Coalition”, 11-12/3), which is not surprising since its proponents have been ducking and weaving with the facts of this referendum since the beginning.

The bottom line is that however much detail is provided or not, it will not change the reality of its being an inherently and fundamentally flawed concept, based on race.

It seems nothing more than a thin-end-of-wedge tactic to gain a disproportionate amount of power. That will provide huge opportunities for exploitation.

Rebecca Wright, Potts Point, NSW

In the minds of many who are well disposed towards some form of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, as the first inhabitants of this land, the principal objection to the voice proposal is the possibility of disputes between voice delegates, the government of the day and of an activist High Court.

In other words, many of us simply don’t trust the High Court on such matters.

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Nailing the Love Media

In Chris Kenny’s list of key facts and arguments (“Some facts for audiences divorced from reality”, 11-12/3) three stand out. First, the renewables push is making electricity scarce and expensive.

Electricity prices have been rising across the past decade because of the climate policy-driven switch to renewable energy, which demands enormous investment and forces the closure of reliable and affordable fossil fuel generation.

Second, Energy Minister Chris Bowen constantly talks up the renewables-plus-storage model. Yet, as Kenny points out, while many tens of billions of additional dollars are being invested in renewable generation, no nation has been able to make the renewables-plus-storage model work.

Third, when it comes to being energy-security prepared, China puts us to shame. While we are blowing up our coal-fired power stations, China has 99,800 megawatts of coal-fired generation approved for construction, 32,000MW (more than our total capacity) being revived.

Kenny says the informed among us should try to coax our Love Media-consuming friends out of their cloistered world. I’ll give it a go, but I don’t like my chances, because I fear the Love Media has a vice-like grip on its gullible followers.

Dale Ellis, Innisfail, Qld

Pandemic politics

There needs to be a joint federal-state independent royal commission to examine the harsh restrictions, lockdowns and border closures imposed on the Australian people during the pandemic.

However, it seems that our political ruling class wants to sweep under the carpet all the damage that these extreme policies and regulations caused to the economy, small business and the mental health of ordinary citizens (“Hold a pandemic inquiry, but leave politics out of it”, 11-12/03).

Both good governance and justice require a full and unfettered investigation into debacles such as the Ruby Princess disembarkation of infected passengers in Sydney, the hotel quarantine and aged-care outbreak and police brutality against protesters in Victoria, and the refusal by Queensland hospitals to treat urgent life-threatening cases from northern NSW.

We must learn from the serious mistakes that were made in dealing with this pandemic before the next one occurs.

Alan Baker, Mansfield, Qld

Nero’s games

“Panem et circenses”: Bread and circuses. Such was the reputed appeal to his Roman masses made by the notorious emperor Nero. And, judging by the budget-breaking 2032 Olympic Games, Nero would surely feel on familiar ground in today’s Australia (“The Hungry Games”, 11-12/3). What a scandal is the mounting cost of those Games! How could those who, for example, costed the new Gabba stadium have got it so wrong that the projected bill has so far increased nearly threefold? And, given the chequered history of the Olympics, why were our politicians so anxious to stage events that most overseas wouldn’t touch with a bargepole?

John Kidd, Auchenflower, Qld

History’s titans

Geoffrey Blainey has brought to life the history of early mining in Australia in a most evocative way through the life of lone horseman prospector John Campbell Miles (“The man who made Mt Isa”, 11-12/3).

Blainey rightly says people’s imaginations are fired up by the humble, individual prospector of days gone by who lend a glamour on mining often absent today. Capturing individual stories of people who helped to forge our great nation are so important to the culture and fabric of our country.

David Muir, Indooroopilly, Qld