Finding the balance between net zero and a strong economy

Troy Bramston (“Tail wags the dog as Nats rule on climate”, 19/10) finds it farcical that the Nationals appear to have the casting vote on what climate policy Scott Morrison takes to Glasgow. The greater farce is that the government and its advisers continue to rely on climate models that are deeply flawed and fail to mirror the real world. Reliance on models to guide energy policy has led the West on a path to decline, to the delight of China and Russia.

If we open the window and acknowledge the reality we see around us – that temperatures are not rising as fast as predicted, weather events are not dissimilar to those faced by past generations and the reef is not dying – then a different approach is open to us.

This might involve ensuring access to reliable and cheap energy to help control our environment and enrich and empower our society. In Australia we can continue to exploit our vast resources of coal and gas, and perhaps use our uranium resources ahead of inefficient and unreliable wind and solar, and white elephants like Snowy 2.0 and green hydrogen. In the face of two decades of climate misinformation and now woke capitalism it is difficult for our politicians to weigh facts and stand against the tide, but a banana republic will be our reality if they continue to embrace this net-zero fantasy.

Marc Hendrickx, Berowra Heights, NSW

Troy Bramston submits that there is a role for government (via taxpayer funds) to help transition to cleaner, greener, low-emissions energy but cannot countenance “using taxpayer funds or borrowing to prop up unsustainable, uncompetitive and unprofitable fossil fuel production”. He will win over inner-city disciples and other converts with his proposition that this country clamber aboard the green energy express to Prince Charles’s last-chance saloon but he cannot with any credibility claim that Australia’s fossil fuel production – its coal and LNG – is uncompetitive and unprofitable. Unsustainable in the long term, perhaps, but in the meantime preserving jobs and serving to underwrite the national balance sheet.

Kim Keogh, East Fremantle, WA

Spare a thought for this Coalition-supporting royalist climate-change sceptic. Shocked by an increasingly green-tinged House of Windsor exemplified by the heir to the throne’s gratuitous adoption of a political role in advising our Prime Minister not to “cop out” of the forthcoming COP26 Glasgow conference (a role recently questioned by Gerard Henderson, “Royal heir chances his arm in our domestic politics”, 16-17/10) and dismayed by a Prime Minister’s apparent pivot from sceptic himself to the zero emissions hypocrisy soon to be witnessed in Glasgow, I am in an unenviable quandary.

Will my monarchist stance survive the present dutiful Queen’s remarkable reign? And unwilling to waste a vote on unpredictable micro-parties, should I continue, in nose-holding mode, to vote for the Coalition in hope of a merely passing phase?

John Kidd, Auchenflower, Qld

As treasurer in the Turnbull government Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal into the parliament at question time saying, “This is coal – don’t be afraid, don’t be scared.”

A few months later prime minister Malcolm Turnbull addressed a Liberal National Party state convention in Brisbane and said, “As the world’s largest exporter of coal, we do have a vested interest in demonstrating that modern, coal-fired technology can play an efficient part in a modern, lower-emission energy future.”

The Turnbull-Morrison governments have backed pumped hydro at Snowy 2.0 to the tune of $10.5bn, saying the project qualified as nation building, yet high-efficiency low-emissions power plants do not. For their sake, as well as ours, it’s past time the Turnbull-Morrison Libs desisted with the crabwalk and instead walked their coal talk.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

I wonder if Robert Gottliebsen has ever considered going into politics? His articles always make such good sense and raise one question: “Why can’t our politicians think of that?” (“Nations miss a chance”, 19/10). I hope that all parliamentarians read his article, especially on how we can lead the world in carbon storage and hold our heads high on the international stage without too much damage to our economy.

V. Donovan, Corinda, Qld