‘Embarrassing’ PM’s cavalier approach to defence suits China

‘Embarrassing’ PM’s cavalier approach to defence suits China

After he refused to increase defence spending, as requested by the US, and declaring “we’ll determine our defence policy”, I got the impression Anthony Albanese was borrowing John Howard’s line: “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.” The Prime Minister’s attempt to display a show of strength demonstrates his cavalier approach to something as critical as defence. The risky strains in US-Australian relations will be further exacerbated by Albanese’s forthcoming meeting with China’s Xi Jinping.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Anthony Albanese’s John Curtin Oration was not only risky and ill-considered, but embarrassing on an international level. Xi Jinping will be rubbing his hands together. We need to foster a good relationship with the US, not jeopardise it. Defence spending needs a significant increase now and into the future; this speech has only ramped up the urgency. The Prime Minister appears to underestimate Donald Trump’s extreme toughness and determination. Our country has now become even more vulnerable because of arrogance at the highest political level.

Susan Dornan, Beecroft, NSW

Losing our paradise

Chris Uhlmann has referred to the poetry of John Milton to demonstrate the power of words (“Blind Milton could see net zero is a lost cause”, 5–6/7). He highlights, in particular, that at the heart of the language of lying is a fact and a truth. Uhlmann might also have gone on to write that the deep mystery that lies at the heart of Paradise Lost is that absolute truth does not arise until someone has lost something – only then can its true worth can be known. That seems to be our destination as a nation.

Nick Partridge, Shenton Park, WA

Laws of physics

Every technical advancement we’ve seen in our lifetime has one thing in common: it obeys the laws of physics. Despite this, vast sums of taxpayer and investor money have been poured into green hydrogen, a technology that continues to struggle against basic scientific limits. An article in The Weekend Australian recently listed eight green hydrogen projects that have now been shelved (“Investors shy as Bowen backs hydrogen hub”, 5-6/7).

Despite these failures, the government is persisting – this time through Orica’s green ammonia project. But what will this attempt do differently from all the others? The core problem is fundamental: green hydrogen has a negative energy return. It takes more energy to produce it than it can deliver. We wouldn’t consider making coal or oil in a lab because the energy input would far exceed the output. The same principle applies to green hydrogen.

Don McMillan, Paddington, Qld

Where are the Libs?

I am cynical enough to believe we are seeing the term reform agenda ad nauseam without any elucidation because it is without substance. Workplace reform is unlikely under a union-controlled Labor government. Tax relief for business will not materialise as it is not revenue neutral. New business growth will not occur without innovative risk takers, not government edict.

This is surely bread-and-butter stuff for the Liberals, but where are they? Is the party’s position on this still with its scriptwriters?

Terry Walmsley, Benowa, Qld

Grievance games

Janet Albrechtsen’s wide-ranging essay points to the anomalies of the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s final report (“Tell the truth: we are a single sovereign country”, 5-6/7) and identifies the commissioners who have put their name to it.

They are indeed “highly educated”. Each owes their lofty academic station to an educational process that they are now determined to disparage. How is it they are unable to see the irony? How is it that four of the five commissioners who identify as Indigenous can’t grasp that they have benefited from a system that affords every citizen equality of opportunity? And why – rather than seek to perpetuate a culture of grievance and victimhood – would they not put their energies into encouraging others to a similar path of bettering themselves?

Kim Keogh, Claremont, WA

Mission affirmed

A perilous crossing of the Demilitarised Zone (“North Korean flees through DMZ”, 5-6/7) is a reminder that the Pyongyang regime’s subjects are prepared to risk death to escape and reach South Korea. It is also a reminder that Australia’s participation in the Korean War, which began 75 years ago, our so-called “forgotten war”, was eminently worthwhile, ensuring that today 50 million South Koreans live in a prosperous democracy instead of the Orwellian and famine-ridden police state run by the Kim dynasty north of the border.

Bill James, Frankston, Vic