Heartbreaking reality here too

Indigenous youth suicide equally deserving of attention

In no way do I wish to diminish the scale of the tragedy in Christchurch, but another “social evil” is happening in our own country that has nothing to do with Muslims or immigration (“Suicide now ‘normalised’ among indigenous youth”, 19/3). The weekly deaths from suicide this year of indigenous youth is heartbreaking, yet these deaths pass almost unnoticed by our politicians and the wider populace. At least The Australian placed this story on the front page.

Aboriginal health academic Gracelyn Smallwood points to the “widespread despair” engendered by poverty, unemployment and high rates of incarceration within the community. She adds that racism is another contributing factor.

While we deplore the white supremacist ideology of people like Brenton Tarrant, we should all look into ourselves for hints of the same prejudice against indigenous Australians. It is imperative the grim reality of these youths be highlighted with similar emphasis to the terror attack in New Zealand and other such attacks. The irony is that while hate of others may inspire terrorism, indigenous youth hate themselves, committing their own acts of self-destruction.

Paulyne Pogorelske, Melbourne, Vic

It’s truly tragic when suicide among indigenous youth can be described as “normal”. Surely the only path forward is one that looks to the future, instead of concentrating on the black armband past. Education and meaningful employment are the answers.

Helen Scheller, Benalla, Vic

Virtue of truth

Thank you Simon Benson for the article “Climate plan ‘wrecking ball’ for economy” (19/3) with its clear statements about the huge costs of proposed climate/energy policies and in particular Mark Butler’s obvious denial about the massive damage Labor’s policy will do to the economy, society and the power supply.

The Coalition’s policies are pointless and damaging, but Labor’s are much worse. Thank you, too, to Graham Lloyd for pointing out in the accompanying article that this exercise in stupidity has been reduced to a virtue signalling contest, in which the two main players add more and more useless measures.

But perhaps the worst aspect of this farce is the inability of so much of the voting public to see it for what it is — a concocted crisis with a pointless and expensive solution.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT

Contradictions abound

Celia Hammond, the Liberal candidate for Curtin in Western Australia, demonstrates, as a former vice-chancellor, a commendable commitment to freedom of debate when she says of global warming, “there is a lot of science and a lot of contradictory science” (19/3). As a scientist who has presented papers at four international science conferences in the past two years and convened a session on natural cycles of climate change that diminish the predictions of change associated with increasing greenhouse gases, I can affirm she is correct.

One can think of dozens of examples of recent contradictory results but one must suffice: two papers published last year in the journals of two prestigious US scientific societies. A paper by Lewis and Curry showed the global warming associated with increasing CO2 (climate sensitivity) to be of an order half that published by the International Panel for Climate Change in 2014. A contemporaneous paper by Dessler and Foster largely affirmed the higher IPCC values while narrowing their uncertainties. Both Judith Curry and Andrew Dessler are eminent climate scientists who have given expert testimony to the US Congress.

The climate sensitivity debate is 30 years old and science does not yet have the answer. Celia Hammond is right to recognise this point.

Michael Asten, Hawthorn, Vic