LETTERS Wasted rates I am astounded that Mornington Peninsula Shire is wasting ratepayers’ money in sending our mayor [Graham Pittock] and another councillor [Hugh Fraser] to Paris for the International Conference on Climate Change. I think it is highly appropriate that our federal Minister for the Environment, [Flinders MP] Greg Hunt attend and deliver Australia’s commitment to reduction targets, but I cannot see any reason why councillors need to attend (“Mayor backs climate plan at Paris talks”, The News 8/12/15). Local government councillors do not need to attend to learn what other countries are doing to reduce climate change, that information will be well publicised as Australia’s targets will be compared to other countries. Local governments are not in a position to take any action to achieve to our national targets anyway, they don’t run coal fired power stations, wind turbines or solar power stations. Yes, climate change is important and Australia does need to take action to reduce carbon emissions, but none of these actions are within the influence of local government. It is no wonder that our rates increase more than CPI when money is spent on such wasteful junkets. I call on the Mornington Peninsula council to ban all such spending and stay focused on the job we ratepayers pay them to do and not get distracted by issues beyond local government authority. Roger Skipsey, Mornington
Hunt can report Why are Mornington Peninsula Shire ratepayers being asked to foot the $12,000 bill to have councillors [the mayor Graham] Pittock and [Hugh] Fraser attend the climate change talks in Paris? What qualifications do they have to attend and what do they hope to learn or achieve? How will we even know whether they attended any of the events – will they be held accountable? Even if they were to report on their trip, they could so easily get all of the necessary information from the daily papers or from Googling “climate talks outcomes”. Our very own federal MP, [Environment Minister] Greg Hunt, is in attendance. More importantly he will be sitting at the tables where the real talks are held. I am sure council could learn more from a meeting with the minister when he returns from the talks than they will from Crs Fraser and Pittock. Oh, and the cost of such a meeting? A car trip to his local electorate office at Hastings. No passports needed. This smacks of a right royal “jolly”. Irene Wyld, Cape Schanck
Population problem Your article contains so much gobbledegook that I had to read it several times to discover what our mayor [Graham Pittock] and councillor [Hugh Fraser] had achieved in their holiday trip to Paris, costing ratepayers $12,000 or $8000 (or something). Apparently our councillors supported the stand of our federal Environment Minister [Greg Hunt]. Phew! Thank heavens for that. Also, it seems that our mayor mingled with world leaders and spoke with the international
press in attendance. Gee whiz. I sure am impressed. Climate change problems are, of course, the domain of federal and state governments. Incompetent local councils should keep out of it and take advice from learned and qualified experts. Being very interested in the causes of climate change, be it cosmic or power stations, I often wonder what is the formula used to hold this huge planet's temperature rise to 1.7 or 2.0 degrees? Have the experts factored in the plague population of seven billion people, which will be 15 billion in no time, then soon 30 billion? If we had one child a family, or even two, for 100 years, and reduced the plague to a sustainable two or three billion, perhaps there would be no problem and we could keep our power stations. No one seems to want to address this part of the equation, the most important part. Each human breathes out carbon dioxide continually and eats tonnes of vegetables and animals over a lifetime. Compounding population rise is our real roblem. Solve it and pollution and carbon problems will be no more. Understand that we cannot forever continue increasing our population (consumers). It will have to stop sooner or later, or you'll get very, very sick and hungry. Brian A Mitchelson, Mornington Editor: The description of the National Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy included in the article was supplied to the shire by Mr Hunt’s office.
Naked decision
Remember the story “The emperor’s new clothes” where an emperor was persuaded by two slick salesmen to be measured for a new suit, which would be invisible to him, but seen by his constituents? When finished, the emperor paraded in what he thought were his exotic new clothes; but the public saw him naked. A stupid emperor had fallen prey to flattery and pride. These salesmen (climate septics) have returned masquerading as coal buyers and many politicians have fallen for their silver tongues. Even though hundreds of thousands of Australians marched in the street to demonstrate that the naked politicians were indeed unable to see how foolish they were to fall for the prime minister’s statement that if we do not sell the coal someone else will. Like the original story when it was an innocent child who asked why the emperor was naked, school children today could tell the politicians, should they listen, that coal (carbon) should stay in the ground. Putting extra CO2 into the atmosphere will lead to higher temperatures which, for Australia, will be disastrous for coral reefs, crop and food growing to say nothing of the melting ice in the Antarctic. Why is it that our prime minister and environment minister have a desire to sell as much black coal as possible and destroy our feeble RET (renewable energy target). Can they not see they are, in the eyes of the thinking world, totally naked. Peter Strickland, Balnarring
Dredging for port I have been in correspondence (sadly one way) with Environment Minister and Flinders MP
Greg Hunt, on the subject of the Liberal Party’s ongoing support for a gigantic container port at Hastings. Since Mr Hunt declines to directly answer me, I’m afraid it’s back to the media to try to get answers. This letter is therefore based on interview given by Mr Hunt and sourced from his own website. When a journalist asked “… will the development of a Hastings port require any dredging in Western Port?” Hunt: “My understanding is that it would be, if necessary at all, a fraction, a scintilla, a micro-component of that which will occur if the Port of Melbourne is the only container port in Victoria.” He is clearly way out of touch on this issue as the most common and well-researched dredging figure is 24 million cubic metres. The News has quoted coastal erosion expert, Associate Professor David Kennedy as saying “The proposed development is almost certain to have major environmental impacts on the marine and coastal environment of Western Port” and “… the potential impacts could be more widespread” due to “a general lack of knowledge of sediment transport pathways within the bay”. Given Western Port’s frightening “build Hastings port” future as outlined by Associate Professor Kennedy, will Mr Hunt now reassure Flinders electors in writing that he will assess any future Hastings port proposal under his own oft repeated powers under federal law and not (as per the agreement he signed with Matthew Guy as state planning minister last year), devolve these powers down to state level. This is a very large fox in the Hastings port henhouse. Kevin Chambers, The Gurdies
Political spin Let’s cut through the political spin announced by [Environment Minister and Flinders MP] Greg Hunt at Paris COP21 and look at what is really happening. Australia has just been ranked the worst among OECD countries and the third worst in the world on tackling climate action. Why? Our emissions of CO2 per capita are one of the highest in the world. The current policy framework is inadequate to reach its minimum 2020 target of five per cent below 2000 levels. Our RETs (renewable energy targets) have been significantly cut back. We have just approved one of the largest coal mines in the world to further increase emissions. Direct Action is a weak policy which does not cover major emitters. We are still trying to shutdown climate research bodies ARENA, CEFC and divest from CSIRO. Our emissions are increasing and we will use our Kyoto credits to hide future emission increases. Our representation at Paris by Mr Hunt has sadly been a rather large embarrassment. We hope the rest of the world can play its part in Paris. Kelvin Stingel, Mornington Peninsula Greens
and urged me to put him straight. More than 2200 years ago an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer, Aristarchus, of Samos, theorised that the Earth revolved around the Sun as did the other planets. It was peer reviewed favourably by Archimedes I believe. I take a keen interest in the global warming/ climate change debate and like to read intelligent, expert opinion on both sides of the debate, but Henry's letter started off factually wrong and went downhill from there. Robert Murray, Dromana
Wasted words I think John Cain, (“Marginal the way to go”, Letters 8/12/15) needs a gentle reminder about how government actually works in Australia. It is not the blowhards and single issue representatives that form government, but the party that gets the majority of public support. A quick glance back at local history is all that is needed to prove this point. People marching up and down Main St, Mornington, disrupting all and sundry to save the Mornington train. Train’s gone. Same motley crew doing the same a few years later to save the railway station. Station’s gone. Friends of Tassels Creek vowing to stop the Safety Beach [Martha Cove] marina. Marina’s built. Blairgowrie marina. Marina built. Blue Wedges was hell bent on stopping channel dredging. Channel dredged. Authurs Seat chairlift. Same story. So Mr Cain, if you think the MP for Flinders [Greg Hunt] is going to change government policy just because you have written him a letter, well good luck with that. Michael G Free, Mt Martha
Time to share Share the Dignity provides homeless and at risk women with sanitary products to allow them a sense of dignity at a time when they need it most. No woman should suffer the indignity of choosing between eating and buying sanitary items. Share the Dignity has had such an amazing response from Australian women, who are referred to as "sheros", and with their help has been able to provide domestic violence refuges and homeless shelters with substantial donations of pads and tampons. Usually these are the last items to be donated, yet the first to be taken. There is a pink bin for unopened donations of these goods at Bella on Main boutique, 96 Main St, Mornington. Together we can help women in need. Melly Shute, Mornington
Letters to the editor can be sent to The News, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 or emailed to: team@mpnews.com.au Letters should be kept to a maximum 300 words and include name, address and contact phone number for verification purposes.
Revolutionary thought Henry Broadbent ("Incorrect Physics", Letters 8/12/15) states that "500 years ago everybody thought that the Sun orbited the Earth". All my Greek friends were upset about that
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Mornington News 15 December 2015