Productivity must improve across our economy

A good dose of Paul Kelly realism can be refreshing or depressing. His column (“Labor at mercy of productivity politics”, 22/3) tells the realistic state of productivity in Australia. No one wants to move on this and the service indus­tries are immune to it. Farming, mining and parts of construction have improved productivity through mechanisation and computers. But most of Australia is expensive to do business in. Adelaide’s new hospital was the most expensive civil construction per metre in the world, but apparently the Gabba redevelopment in Brisbane will trump that. Something to hang our hat on, l suppose.

Murray Horne, Cressy, Vic

Troubled history

Let no one ever question the swings-and-roundabouts nature of international politics. While Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are engaging in mutual protestations of eternal amity, we should not forget the events of 1969 when China and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war over their shared border along the Amur River and even farther west in Xinjiang. During this confrontation Russia consulted the US over ways to best contain and neutralise China’s nuclear potential. Now it looks as if Xi, with his renaming of six Russian population centres along the Amur, including Vladivostok and Khabar­ovsk, into their Mandarin names is satisfying nationalistic wishes he may first have dreamed of as a 16-year-old boy back in 1969.

John McHarg, Maylands, WA

Gerard Baker lamented the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Hussein (“Two decades later, the Iraq war is hard to defend”, 21/3). At the outset, one fellow critic was prescient. Perry Anderson essayed the risk assessment and the geo-strategic implications inherent (“Force and Consent”, Harper’s Magazine, January, 2003). “The thinking behind the Republican plan to occupy Iraq? It involves a gamble. But a calculation that misfires is not thereby necessarily irrational – it becomes so if the odds are plainly too high against it … even if the odds are low. The operation is clearly within American capabilities, and its immediate costs – (which) do not at this stage seem prohibitive.” The fey misadventure in Afghanistan now invites similar forensics. On leaving the presidency, Donald Trump left his replacement, Joe Biden, with a fire in his in-basket. Too many veterans were languishing in hospitals as a consequence of a flawed foreign policy. Afghanistan was its own realisation. America had lost interest, so it abandoned an ally. It was just all too much.

Mike Fogarty, Weston, ACT

Issue of freedom

Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) knows what the suffragettes had to suffer 120 years ago. Then, women were persecuted for supporting a woman’s right to vote. Now women are persecuted for demanding women’s-only spaces (such as toilets and change rooms) and women’s-only sport. And Parker is demonised for defining a woman as an “adult human female”. This doesn’t seem too extreme or hateful to me. The fact trans groups and other extremists have weaponised this issue speaks volumes about the sad state of free speech. If mothers want their daughters to be able to compete in girls-only sport and change in female-only change rooms they need to speak up – now.

Wayne Alexander, Eltham, Vic

Before Moira Deeming’s supporters promote her post-life beatification, perhaps they should consider her as a suitable publicly paid employee? She made a public appeal in the Victorian parliament for all to come to support her protest in front of parliament. She also is known as an advocate for rape victims to reject abortions and turn to God. She is against Covid-19 vaccinations. She is entitled to oppose legally assisted dying; however, this is supported by most states. If the Liberal Party wants some relevance in Victoria, voices such as Ms Deeming’s should not be given any oxygen at all.

Rob Park, Surrey Hills, Vic

Climate malaise

Microsoft’s chief environmental officer Lucas Joppa (“Third to miss targets on emissions”, 22/3) explains how Australia is failing to meet climate targets. Our companies are over-dependent on technology to solve their emissions problems. Reading between the lines, we have a lazy mindset that suggests we do not have to make changes in our practices and habits. But the whole point about targets is not to suddenly get into gear in 2029 or 2049. You must be making changes every day, and in every way possible, to reduce your carbon emissions. If you have a target to lose 10kg by Christmas, you don’t continue overeating until December.

The consequences for not achieving your weight loss may not be dire, but this week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report again spells out the life-threatening consequences of not achieving emissions reduction targets.

Fiona Colin, Malvern, Vic