Renewable energy in grid 36pc and rising, no need for nuclear

There’s no doubt Australia’s transition to renewable energy is challenging and it’s easy to be critical. But let’s not omit to celebrate our ambition and achievements.

According to the most recent Clean Energy Australia report, last year renewable energy accounted for 36 per cent of Australia’s total electricity generation, more than doubling in five years from 17 per cent in 2017.

Extending this growth out to 2040, together with the new developments in cheap, long-life iron-air battery storage, as Alan Finkel says, nuclear power will not be required in Australia.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Vic

Dale Ellis thinks we need coal power to keep our industries and businesses operating into the future (Letters, 11/9). China, the world’s chief manufacturer, has a different idea.

In February 2022 China’s National Energy Administration announced that new coal-power stations should only be built to support grid stability or the integration of renewable energy. New coal stations should not be permitted solely for the purpose of bulk power generation.

Of course, a transition the size of China’s cannot happen overnight and coal power is still significant. Nevertheless, since June more than half of its installed capacity is from non-fossil fuels. And this year and next its planned spend on renewables will exceed the rest of the world’s, combined, by 20 per cent.

Clearly China isn’t worried that firmed renewable energy is incompatible with manufacturing.

Lesley Walker, Northcote, Vic

Alarm over Sleepy Joe

Known for decades that his preferred policy response was to be big on talk, little on action, Joe Biden’s political fitness for office for many observers was in question prior to his move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But surely now, given Adam Creighton’s latest report (“ ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna go to bed’: Sleepy Joe Biden’s press conference shambles”, 11/9), Biden’s mental unfitness for office is there for all to see. It’s especially sad that Biden’s wife, Jill, has not tapped her husband on the shoulder to tell him to find a dignified exit. Sadder still that Vice-President Kamala Harris would have to step into the breach. Indeed, president Donald Trump’s caveat emptor about the Biden-Harris duo, “be careful what you wish for”, was prescient then. It’s prophetic now.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

Choosing judges

In my opinion the only really good reason for deliberately choosing a woman as a judge simply because she is a woman is to provide here and there a role model for girls (“ ‘Diversity vital’; state solicitor backs gender-based judge selection”, 11/9). The Solicitor-General of WA apparently believes that “diversity” should trump outstanding ability in choosing members of the judiciary where there is a “diverse” candidate qualified for the job.

Most of us ordinary people would prefer the authorities to appoint judges who are tops on ability, integrity and experience. Sometimes those people will be women. The Solicitor-General seems to be implying that normal processes won’t bring many women forward. Feminists may conclude that he has some questions to answer.

David Morrison, Springwood, NSW

It makes no sense to appoint a judge based on gender. Whether they are male or female is irrelevant to judging the facts of a case. What next, appointment of a certain percentage of judges who do not identify as either a man or a woman? Judges should be appointed on merit and any other criteria taking precedence is ridiculous.

Riley Brown, Bondi Beach, NSW

Me, myself and I

Your correspondent observes: “It’s rare these days to hear anyone referring to themselves as ‘me’; it’s invariably ‘myself’. Even the King, I see, is at it” (Last Post, 11/9). True. How many know, or care, that “myself” is a reflexive pronoun, only to be used when you’ve referred to yourself earlier in the sentence, as in, “I cut myself shaving”. One might however expect that a person such as King Charles, educated in, and surrounded by, the erstwhile “Queen’s English”, would resist the fairly recent language abomination of substituting “myself” for “me”.

Poor “me”, arguably under threat of extinction, seems always to have caused consternation. Possibly because its misuse was a social class and education marker, “me” has often been displaced by “I” in an effort to get it right. Hence aspirational Moonee Ponds housewife Edna Everage aka Dame Edna’s attempted posh-sounding, but grammatically incorrect, “Excuse I”.

Now, with the new contender “myself” steadily usurping the rightful place of “me”, it will soon be, “Excuse myself”. We can call it the “King’s English”.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic