Safe seats finish last
In sharing Bill Traill’s frustration with regards to the lack of action in replacing the “classic”, but antiquated V/Line fleet (‘Upgrade of track to finish in 2020’, The Border Mail, July 3), I feel as long as politicians are wedded to neoliberal puritanism – added to the fact that there are safe political seats – we are just going continue with what we currently have for the foreseeable future.
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As Stuart Davie wrote in a recent letter “…it is time regional MPs worked far closer to get more for regions and stood up to the city MPs.”
Unfortunately, the overwhelmingly Liberal National regional members are not interested when there is a political point to be scored when in opposition and, when in government, are only going to deliver what will make them look as though they’re doing something for their safe seats.
From my point of view, with the way the tables are set with impotent safe seat opposition MPs, to paraphrase a line from House of Cards, it’s time to turn the tables and elect a non-LNP MP – like the people of Shepparton did in 2014 with Suzanna Sheed and federally in Indi in 2013 with Cathy McGowan.
Geoffrey Butt, Wodonga
Corboy wrong on coal
Marty Corboy’s opinion piece in The Border Mail (June 30) is calling for Victoria to build coal-fired power stations using ‘high energy, low emissions technology’. This would be ridiculously expensive.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the independent energy research firm, recently released a damning report on the cost of such coal-fired power stations in Australia (which the Coalition likes to call ‘clean coal’), stating they would be ‘the most expensive form of new energy supply’ the federal government could possibly choose to invest in. The cost of coal with carbon capture and storage technology added – which will be the only way new coal could be built, if we are to abide by our national and international emissions reduction commitments – is estimated to be approximately $A352/MWh – or around three times the cost of wind or solar.
The states which are most dependent on coal have been those with the greatest power bill price rises. For instance, Queensland and NSW have had price hikes over 100 per cent, while states with the most renewable energy (Tasmania, West Australia and South Australia) range from 66 to 87 per cent.
Mr Corboy wants coal-fired power because he believes it will improve our electricity reliability. Yet 98 per cent of blackouts are caused by events affecting powerlines, regardless of the energy source.
I support Mr Corboy’s call that ‘it is nothing short of a national tragedy if we do not utilise what we have’, but disagree as to the source of energy. Hydro, wind and solar are far better sources of power, along with gas. It is critical that action is taken as soon as possible beyond politics.
J A Grinham, West Albury
NAIDOC: get involved
NAIDOC Week runs from July 2 to July 9 and has the theme “Our Language Matters”.
The emphasis of this week is to celebrate the unique role language plays in linking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to their cultural identity, land and people.
Today only around 120 of some 250 distinct indigenous languages are still spoken, with many at risk of being lost. Youth Off The Streets is trying fix this.
My organisation has specific programs to connect our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to their culture and I believe that this is one of the best ways to help our young people make positive choices and achieve their full potential.
Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has been a privilege. I’ve seen so many young people turn their lives around through simply connecting with their culture, land and people.
This NAIDOC Week, I implore you to take part in your local events.
