Plan needs to shift
Another government decision with no vision for the future is being proposed with the government giving $1 billion to assist in building a railway line for the new coal mine in Queensland.
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Why not think outside the square and build a railway line to Darwin linking into the existing Townsville to Mt Isa and Alice Springs to Darwin railway lines.
This would have great benefits as the coal would not have to be shipped through the Barrier Reef and the new railway lines would potentially open up the north of Australia to development.
Stopping the coal mine development is not the way to go as it will provide a cheap source of energy to power India’s new power stations so more people have electricity connected to their homes.
Australia does not seem to want to build new generation coal fired power stations to promote short and long term development and become a world leader in environmental control in this area.
Moving the Coal Washery to Darwin reduces the risk of contaminating the Barrier Reef plus also reduces shipping through the Barrier Reef and the risk of an accident.
John Walker, North Wangaratta
Science is not wrong
I wish to thank Bill Baxter (‘Article out to mislead’, The Border Mail, April 22) for reminding us that miners aren’t the only businesses with large water allocations, with the Baxter family properties benefiting from their proximity to the world leading irrigation resources in the Murray Valley.
However, Mr Baxter accuses Mrs Esler of deliberately setting out to mislead in her Living Lightly article (The Border Mail, April 19) about the proposed Adani coal mines. If any criticism can be made of the article it is that it understated the problem.
The 12 billion litres of water mentioned in the article is actually the volume of water to be extracted annually from the Belyando River. On top of this, Adani has been granted unlimited access to groundwater, and Adani’s own documents estimate the amount required to be 9 billion litres per year.
The Adani project is one of nine proposed new “mega” coal mines in the Galilee Basin. Construction of the infrastructure required for the Adani project will increase the viability of the other proposed mines in the basin. That is why there are dozens of community organisations and thousands of people across Australia prepared to do whatever is necessary to stop it.
Estimates put the amount of groundwater to be taken by the coal mines proposed for the Galilee Basin at up to 2007 billion litres.
The details are not hard to find if you are interested.
Mrs Esler’s views regarding the urgency of action on climate change, far from being ‘unfounded and plain wrong’, are consistent with those of every national and international scientific body.
Patrick Esler, Albury
Same old ‘solutions’
We are well into the 21st century but we still have old men from the Liberal-National Coalition attempting to persuade us that we are all frightened of crime. This time it’s Peter Walsh from the Nationals (letters, April 21) telling us how if they are elected they will drag us back to the tired old law and order policies that the right wing always go for, increasing prison numbers and costs, achieving nothing in terms of reducing crime, and ultimately making more hardened criminals.
His letter includes the usual comment that “It is important to address the factors that lead people to crime” but then promptly ignores these factors and gloats about how harsh a Liberal-National regime would be. If he were to take the unusual and radical step of actually listening to the experts in the field he would learn that his approach is ineffective, inhumane and expensive.
The fact that he hasn’t done that before rushing to print suggests he is unsuitable to represent us in Parliament.