Andrew DysonCredit:.

It seems that, just as there are climate-change deniers who refuse to accept climate science regardless of its exhaustive research and peer review, there are those who refuse to accept science of similar veracity, from world-renowned authorities, on the dangers and damage caused by logging, including salvage logging. This may be because, as writer Upton Sinclair said: ″⁣It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.″⁣ The devastating revelations of the State of the Environment report appear to support the notion that pecuniary interest will almost invariably outweigh the interests of our fauna, flora and ecosystems.
Helen Moss, Croydon

Action needs to start now, not tomorrow
It’s great Tanya Plibersek has promised to act on the environment in 2023 (The Age, 20/7) after Australia has seen a decade of inaction. The State of Environment 2021 report outlines the critical state of the environment and long-term prognosis for our flora and fauna. It’s clear that action on the environment needs to happen immediately. Unfortunately, stating new legislation will be created in 2023 after wide consultation will encourage the fast-tracking of land clearing and environmental degradation. The usual suspects know the writing is on the wall so will see the window of opportunity created by an ambiguous 2023 deadline and do everything they can to maximise their profits and set up projects for the next decade. There needs to be an immediate halt on logging in old-growth forests and any works taking place where threatened species exist.
Rohan Wightman, McKenzie Hill

We must tackle the root cause
The acknowledgment by Tanya Plibersek of the plight of Australia’s nature is welcomed. However, promising remedies, such as stronger environmental regulations, more funding for endangered species, larger protected areas, cleaner energy, only tackles the symptoms and not a fundamental cause of nature’s decline, society’s ever-growing ecological footprint. Unfortunately, the pro-growth lobby is loud and persistent with its advocacy for bigger cities, more mines and increased consumerism. Please challenge them. Their view that growth is the solution rather than the problem is not just incorrect, it is destructive. I want my grandchild to see koalas in the wild. I want our wondrous nature to recover and flourish.
Ian Penrose, Kew

Minister’s confusing signals
Will Tanya Plibersek restore trust and our environment? Australia leads the world in mammal extinction due to a legacy of failed environmental protection laws, budget cuts and inefficiencies. I’m heartened by the minister’s promise to bring ″⁣structural change″⁣ to protect and restore 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of ocean by 2030. Yet I’m confused. She acknowledged the major cause of environmental decline from climate change, yet Labor supports the WA Scarborough Gas Project that will release over three times Australia’s annual carbon emissions. She acknowledged the deforestation pushing our unique mammals to extinction, yet she is not ″⁣ruling in or out″⁣ forest conservation.
Ying Gu, Hawthorn East

It’s too late to turn the ship around
It is too late to save Australia’s environment. For instance, even if a massive regeneration of native forests occurred, that would merely provide the key ingredient for another Black Summer. In turn, that produces massive carbon emissions which worsen climate change. Capturing carbon in trees is great until they burn. And they will burn. More forests certainly provide a home for native species, until they perish in ever more intense fires. Rather than delude ourselves with talk of the ″⁣need for action″⁣, we should contemplate the very unpleasant future that awaits us and our descendants.
Rod Wise, Surrey Hills

FORUM

Red tape nightmare
We hear constantly of the teacher shortage due to COVID-19 isolations and other issues and how pre-service teachers are able to supplement this shortage. As a pre-service teacher, this is merely only the case in theory.
In order to apply for a permission-to-teach registration, the school has to justify why they have been unable to fill the position with a fully qualified teacher; the time that is required to complete this application is near impossible for schools who are already
short-staffed.
Additionally, the Support Your School Initiative, I’ve found, is something for which a lot of schools have no idea they’re eligible. So how exactly are we, as pre-service teachers, actually able to support this shortage? We’re here and we’re ready to work; yet any job that is applied for is understandably placed in the “too hard” basket by employers due to the level of bureaucracy required.
Bella Cavedon, Pascoe Vale

The premier should go
When the former member of parliament Geoff Shaw misused his parliamentary car, Premier Daniel Andrews said he had to be sacked. Now the report by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has come out on the government that Andrews leads, and it is a scathing indictment of the Labor Party.
Labor, under Andrews, has been exposed as doing far worse than Shaw. The politicians need to stop writing the rules themselves and have lawyers draw up some binding rules with penalties for breaches that use words like
″⁣must not″⁣.
Andrews needs to follow his own words and resign.
Douglas Potter, Surrey Hills

Links in the chain
Probably just a coincidence that we have an environment in crisis, a faltering economy, a struggling health system and increased inequality with its associated myriad social problems after
10 years of Coalition government.
Phil Alexander, Eltham

Call to national cabinet
Surely, there is an urgent need for a national cabinet meeting on Australia’s extinction crisis. This is a huge job and premiers could come bearing plans and undertakings to tackle areas within their control. Land clearing and elimination of feral creatures are two such areas.
A meeting between the federal government and industry leaders could do the same.
Georgina Simmons, Mornington

Not very persuasive
The length of Daniel McDiarmid’s letter (The Age, 20/7) is not matched by the strength of his argument. He labels Professor David Lindenmayer’s comments on timber harvesting and bushfires as both wrong and misleading.
His response to Lindenmayer’s scientific analysis of the link between salvage harvesting and bushfire severity fails to present a contrary and persuasive case. The best he can do is to raise doubts and pose questions. At no point does he marshal evidence to disprove the proposition that salvage operations cause greater harm than good. But he does offer a fine example of an oxymoron in yoking together “forestry organisations” and “ecosystem management” – as least as far as VicForests is concerned.
Tom Knowles, Parkville

Stand up for Assange
Congratulations to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for interceding with United States President Joe Biden on behalf of Julian Assange and for offering Assange asylum in Mexico.
It is a sad state of affairs when the president of Mexico is a stronger advocate for the freedom of an Australian citizen than the Australian prime minister.
It is difficult to believe the Australian government’s rhetoric about standing up for freedom and democracy against autocracies such as Russia and China when our politicians don’t have the courage to stand up against the US for the freedom of just one man.
Peter Martina, Warrnambool

Over to you, PM
Ian McFarlane, head of the Queensland Resources Council, and former Howard and Abbott government minister, is spearheading a campaign against increased royalties on the resources sector, from major price increases and windfall profits.
In 2010, the federal Coalition mounted a vicious mendacious campaign against moves to impose a super profits tax from booming commodity prices. The British Conservative government is now taxing windfall profits to help consumers cope with the rising cost of essentials – and Columbia professor and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz is urging Australia to tax power company super profits to help households with surging power prices.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the Albanese government is not proposing such taxes. What an appalling reflection of the toxic environment created by the Coalition that hampers any rational consideration of equitable, responsible tax initiatives.
There is little evidence of the Coalition changing tack if it sees any political advantage in demonising such initiatives, regardless of the damage to the nation. Unless Anthony Albanese can rekindle some policy courage, and the will and skill to sell good policy, Australia will remain divided and diminished.
Norman Huon, Port Melbourne

State we put ourselves in
We cannot hold responsible the government of the past nine years for the devastating state of our Australian situation. We are the ones who have endorsed their policies or lack of them. We got what we voted for.
Ivor Chappell, Barwon Heads

The light in disguise
The irony. Indoors, like Tony Wright (16/6), watching on our TVs the very birth of the universe millions of light years away, while our own here-and-now sky is snatched away by an army of over-lit, wind-tunnelling skyscrapers, or should we say “skystealers”.
Pamela Lloyd, Brunswick West

Dingley outrage
Being a 50-year resident of our village, I am apprehensive that the new planning minister, Lizzie Blandthorn, may not recognise the deep feelings of we villagers in opposing the possible rezoning of what was the Kingswood Golf Club premises. A petition to council, in the early days of this sorry saga, of some 8000 signatures indicates the extent of concern.
Full support of Kingston Council (and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus) was gained but a decision has been taken from its hands, and, after many moves by the purchaser-developer, our worst dreams may come true in the hands of a new minister.
Geoff Palfreman, Dingley Village

Whither America?
American pro-gun advocates are often quoted saying: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.″⁣
Now we know how false and ridiculous that is. More than 400 armed officers couldn’t stop one man taking 21 lives at the Uvalde Elementary School. And these were people trained and authorised to use deadly force to protect life.
What hope is there for the US as a society?
David Parker, Geelong West

Sensible mask move
Schools implement myriad rules to facilitate student wellbeing. Wearing masks is best practice under the current circumstances. For the naysayers to be asserting “mandate by stealth″⁣ is at best ridiculous and at worst, harmful.
Claire Merry, Wantirna

Stay clear of the fringes
It is worrying that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is reported to consider the teal seats a ″⁣lost cause″⁣ (20/7). The most likely strategy if you abandon the middle ground is to make a populist push to the fringes and that looks too much like what has happened to the Republican Party and US politics.
Robert Attrill, Balwyn North

It’s just madness
While much of the focus from the State of the Environment report will be towards cute, furry mammals and the Great Barrier Reef, we need to recognise that the loss of species we rarely even notice disrupts the fragile and essential interconnectedness of our ecosystem.
We are seriously at risk of triggering environmental tipping points that will place the survival of all species at risk. By the time logging in Victoria’s native forests is scheduled to cease in 2030, there will be no old-growth forest left.
Scientists indicate we need urgent and concerted action to reduce emissions below 70 per cent by 2030 yet we’re arguing about 50 per cent and still considering new fossil-fuel developments.
This is just economic and environmental madness. We can’t have a healthy economy in a degraded environment.
Dr Peter Cook, Essendon

Trust each other
I was a harsh critic of Scott Morrison and his government. I mourned the 2019 election results. I was relieved and encouraged by the last election. However, I agree with Morrison that we are foolish to put our trust in governments to solve our personal or even our national problems.
In a democracy, governments are a reflection of society and community. We need to be able to trust each other to each play our role responsibly, compassionately and ethically. God is not involved for all of us, but to thrive, looking beyond ourselves will be.
There is no need to keep kicking Morrison. He is no longer in power and taking his words out of context and mocking him seems to be unnecessarily “triumphalist”.
We can learn from mistakes his government made and punish any illegal corruption but sneering
is unnecessary.
The US is a nation where politics is more than a clash of ideas. Do we want that sort of hyper partisanship in Australia?
Michael Langford, Ivanhoe

All in God’s plan
For once I am inclined to agree with the former prime minister. I am sure that it was part of God’s plan for the Coalition to lose the 2022 election. A bit of a mea culpa for her previous mistake in 2019.
Phill Johnstone, Cape Woolamai

AND ANOTHER THING

COVID
No use creating mask mandates until the ones that are in place, on public transport, are policed.
Doris LeRoy, Altona

Wearing a mask outdoors is a good way to keep your face warm in winter.
Marie Nash, Balwyn

Hurstbridge line 7pm, not a mask in sight. This government has given up.
Tim Connard, Ivanhoe

With apologies to Oscar Wilde, if there’s one thing worse than being told what to do, it’s not being told what to do. Make your own decision about masks.
Breda Hertaeg, Beaumaris

Morrison
Scott Morrison is quite right when he says governments can’t be trusted, particularly when they fail to release reports.
Bruce Dudon, Woodend

A former PM encouraging people to distrust the elected government. How bad is that?
Bernd Rieve, Brighton

Morrison was simply making a religious point. Governments are fallible. God is infallible. So trust in God not governments. Fundamentalism.
Robert Humphris, Malvern

Since Scott Morrison has admitted that he doesn’t believe in government, he should retire from politics and stop drawing on the public purse.
Felicity Harkness,
Mont Albert North

Furthermore
Hopefully the behaviour and victory of golfer Cameron Smith will show Nick Kyrgios how to be a winner.
Graham Cadd, Dromana

It’s time for Tony Abbott to fly to London and repeat his claim that ″⁣coal is good for humanity″⁣ and that climate change is doing ″⁣more good than harm″⁣.
Ian Bayly, Upwey

Am I the only one who doesn’t believe Australia’s Commonwealth Games swimmers and athletes are ″⁣our heroes″⁣?
Brian Morley, Donvale

Most Viewed in National

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article