I left the bank and immediately phoned the corporate office. I was fobbed off and heard back from someone only after saying I would close my account. That person identified herself as head of sales and, after some prompting, informed me that the bank was following a 'government directive'. I asked her to email me the directive which she agreed to do. At the time of writing this, no email has arrived.

It is time to stand up to these intrusive rules and regulations being introduced by governments and institutions. The reason I was given was that it was to 'protect elderly customers from being ripped off'. Recent reports of certain bank activity would indicate this is an area Australian banks are somewhat expert in. Citizens rights are being eroded by governments all in the name of protecting us from terrorists and thieves. Over the years authorities have used opium and religion, among other things, to control the masses. Now it is fear. That's me done with Hume Bank.

In reply to Graham Parton (December 11), I say thank you for proving my point by replying with another straw man argument about the earth being flat? Or that I ever said there is no climate change now or ever in the distant past.

Myself and most who question the current stupidity point to the ridiculous comments and predictions spewed forth instead of real facts, for example, rain won't fill dams, we won't see snow after 2022, more people are dying from climate events etc etc. Bluster and repeating false facts presented by people with no relevant expertise and a reason to distort does not constitute fact, for example Greta Thunberg, and has no more basis than Bruce Pascoe saying that our indigenous forebears were not hunters and gatherers but lived in villages and farmed large tracts of land etc.

As for the statement that man-made climate change causes drought and fires or that the government can make any difference, that is preposterous. A very brief look at records shows we have always had droughts and fires and always will, and the causes and severity will depend on a multitude of reasons. And just because someone doesn't agree with you on one thing does not mean they are ignorant or disagree in total.

Whether climate change is a catastrophic global threat to mankind or an orchestrated, highly organised, left-wing political agenda alternatively suggested by some, is a contentious issue. One will be proven conclusively only in time. What is not contentious is the right to free speech, and an individual's freedom to exercise a contrary opinion on on any subject matter, a view clearly not shared by Graham Parton (letters, December 11). For Mr Parton to request The Border Mail to withhold publication of those who oppose views on climate change, or any other issue is an absolute affront to the regional circulation readers of this newspaper and the free speech principals of our nation.