Despair as Coalition fails climate test

The Prime Minister won’t legislate for 2050 net zero emissions because it would mean he’d have to take real action now to reduce fossil fuel pollution. Morrison is trying to project an international image of a government that cares about climate change. It’s not convincing and it has the added disadvantage of the “flat-earth” types in the National Party. Dennis O’Hara, Wanniasa (ACT)

Many farmers are already leading the way in regenerative agriculture with no-till dry-land farming and tree growth contributing to the carbon credits market. The time is right now for conservatives to codify a net zero policy. Anne Eagar, Epping

Credit:Fairfax Media

It is a pity that we can’t mitigate climate change with media stunts or Morrison would be a world leader for action. Graeme Finn, St Peters

The National Party need to clean their glasses. They are covered in coal dust. They can’t see past their noses, let alone into the distance. They are shameful in their attitude in not caring for the future of their children and grandchildren, let alone other citizens of the world. John Rome, Mt Lawley (WA)

Morrison will do well to be bold and lead from the front. Martin Luther King jnr said a genuine leader “is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus”. Steve Ngeow, Chatswood

Politicians should never have approved casino

Both sides of NSW politics gave the nod to James Packer’s “vision” of using prime harbourside land for a casino (“Packer’s jewel now rudderless, vulnerable”, February 10), supposedly to attract Asian high-rollers and boost tourism and employment. Warnings that it could be used for unsavoury activities and would not enhance tourism were ignored. Rejecting the questionable proposal would have preserved the beauty of the harbour foreshore and saved James Packer from embarking on a project that may well end in financial disaster. Nan Howard, Camden

Packer’s Folly at Barangaroo is not only a monument to Crown’s failings, but to all those NSW politicians who bought into a dream based on avarice and arrogance. Philip Cooney, Wentworth Falls

Just demolish the whole edifice, with stakeholders footing the bill, and build a park that all Sydney residents can enjoy. Win, win. Liz Liddelow, Avalon Beach

Call me stupid but I can’t understand how Sydney now has a second casino that not only uses prime Sydney foreshore land but also corrupts the skyline from all sides of the city. Remove it and give this land back for public amenity. Bernadette Mitchell, Mona Vale

Commissioner Patricia Bergin has restored some faith in the belief that institutions exist to safeguard against insidious corruption. The fear is the community has become immune to the human misery and corruption associated with gambling and its awful by-products. Vanessa Tennent, Oatley

Dominic Perrottet probably should have saved his comments about ugly buildings until after we heard that the high-rollers’ eyesore erected on prime public land may soon become our newest, ugliest white elephant. Colin Stokes, Camperdown

The government’s reputation has been damaged through its mismanagement of the Stronger Communities and Bushfire Local Economic Recovery funds. If it were to ditch the proposal for a second casino it would prove that it does, after all, have some moral fibre. Peter Mahoney, Oatley

There was an arrogant air about the Crown development from day one. First, the proposal to erect the tower on a pier in the harbour, rightly squashed, then the increase in the CBD height limit, somehow allowed. Then the fact that hoi-polloi pokie players would not be catered for, as only really rich gamblers were wanted. Now it’s all come back to bite them on the bum. Joan Brown, Orange

Is this the beginning of the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” curse? George Fishman, Vaucluse

Do-nothing PM hides behind virus

Ross Gittins is right (“The Canberra policy vacuum”, February 10), COVID-19 has elevated our leaders’ popularity because they are perceived to be doing something beneficial to the country. But it has also distracted from urgent issues like climate change, health, education and the fair use of public money. Pathetically, the PM has used it as an excuse not to do anything that might unsettle the Nationals, while Labor has been cowed into making itself a small target. The result is stagnation. Will a leader who is game enough to reverse the backward slide ever emerge? Ron Sinclair, Bathurst

“The trouble with policies is that they’re much harder to sell than for your opponents to misrepresent,” says Ross Gittins. I have a simple, long overdue fix: a “wealth tax” with a threshold of $4 million, affecting only 3 per cent of households. If Labor ran this in the election lead-up it could offer free childcare and many other policies that would benefit women and the dispossessed “young” at the expense of the wealthy top 3 per cent – those who have benefited greatly during coronavirus times. I’m no Scotty from marketing but I reckon even I could sell that. Steve Johnson, Elizabeth Beach

Ross Gittins is right in saying Scott Morrison will do nothing that might hurt his chances of winning the next election. For this reason the rollout of the vaccine and lowering unemployment are his main policy goals. Anything that will make the world a better place is too risky. Using the Nationals as a reason to avoid taking action on climate is clever and serves the purpose of slowing things down. Chris Moe, Bensville

National security farce

Everyone involved in exposing Crown’s greed, deceit and arrogance, including the Herald, are to be commended (“Taking on a corporate giant: a whistleblower exposed the rot”, February 10).
Witness K and Bernard Collaery are subjected to secretive prosecutions, already costing millions and well into their third year. Behind this farce lies the greed, deceit and arrogance of the government spying on East Timor in 2004 for financial gain. Exposing corporate rot has the backing of the law. Exposing government rot means fighting government interpretation of the law, in this case including recourse to that convenient cover-all – “national security”. The pursuit of these two courageous Australians is unfair and threatens the concept of open justice. Susan Connelly, Lakemba

Heritage vandals

You need not think that the underlying mantra “Progress is good. Heritage is bad” is the bastion of only those in Sydney (Letters, February 10). Local government in rural and remote towns of NSW is full of little Dominic Perrottets, all expressing heritage conservation through Local Environmental and Community Plans. But scratch the surface and see that wolves in sheep’s clothing are alive and well. Featureless architectural design is all the go. And where is the independent umpire in all of this – the historical adviser? Nowhere to be seen, something to do with limited resources. How convenient. Raymond Quigley, Gulgong

Out of balance

Spendthrifts are on the left and frugalists have the right to opt out of paying their share, according to your correspondent (Letters, February 10). Those retirees that now live tax-free with big superannuation balances in the pension phase arrived at these privileged positions thanks to long-gone contribution levels much greater than currently available. Assets sold down and salary sacrificed could be dumped and lumped merrily into super. It’s time the ageing costs of all, health and longevity, were equally shared using that “dirty” concept, the unmentionable bane of conservatives – tax. John Kingsmill, Fairlight

Kings Cross hypocrisy

I defy the average visitor to Kings Cross to know the location of the near-invisible safe injecting room (“Backlash against injecting room as lockout laws axed”, February 10). Members of my family have known the Cross for more than 60 years. We remember it when the sale of drugs and drug affected people were often visible. This changed dramatically when the injecting room was established. It’s not the injecting room that brings drugs and alcohol affected people to the Cross. Jill Napier, Phegans Bay

The purveyors of alcohol in Kings Cross self-righteously disparage the main drug and alcohol initiative in the area and the only one to have largely addressed the former plague of overdoses in their streets. Not to mention that it has brought furtive, alienated IV drug users in contact with counselling and other exit strategies. Bear in mind it was alcohol that created much of the anti-social behaviour and suffering in the Cross which led to the lockout laws. If business councils ever want to know what gives their members a bad reputation, they can’t go past this astonishing example of sanctimoniousness in Kings Cross. Alex Mattea, Sydney

I do hope the NSW government will also be announcing an increase in funding for the St Vincent’s Emergency Department to deal with the increased cases that will inevitably follow. Roger Gallagher, Merrylands

I have always been supportive of Victor Dominello, but wonder what city he is living in when he says he wants Kings Cross to be a place for families. Not only is there an injecting clinic but “lockout laws” are to be lifted, which doesn’t bode well for somewhere to take children. Jenny Greenwood, Hunters Hill

First-day blues

Your correspondent (Letters, February 10) says Kiwis start school the day they turn five. Wouldn’t the day after be kinder? Good luck if your birthday falls on a weekend. Stephanie Edwards, Roseville

One for sorrow

Lachrymose but lacks remorse (“Humble pie: tearful McGuire steps down”, February 10). Martin Jaffe, Lilli Pilli

Astro gridlock

Is it incumbent upon the Martians to install give-way signs to avert collisions between the upcoming influx of probes from Earth? Ken Osborne, Bowraville

We know best

I emailed my federal member to say: “What is happening to the family on Christmas Island is just not right.” The response: “What is fair and equitable is right.” The application of this Trumpian view to the wretched situation of the Biloela family is downright depressing. Peter Bulkeley, Buderim (Qld)

No, fangs

I’m picturing a Rotolactor-type scenario (“Help milk a spider, but don’t do it yourself”, February 10) where herds of spiders are placed on a rotating platform, milked and returned to pasture. I’d hate to be the worker who attaches the milk extractors to the spiders’ fangs. Michael Deeth, Como West

The digital view
Online comment from the story that attracted the most reader feedback yesterday on smh.com.au
WHO releases report on COVID-19 origin after independent investigation in Wuhan
From Bonnie: China needs to understand that finding out how and where COVID-19 developed is not about blaming any particular country. It is in everyone’s interest to understand the origins of COVID-19 so we can minimise the chances of an outbreak of another pandemic.