Elite deniers a danger

There have always been groups who reject overwhelming scientific evidence because it conflicts with their personal ideology, such as those who reject child immunisation or evolution. With global warming it is different, however, because the power and money of these rejectionists is so great that they can block action to avoid possible global disaster.

A billionaire group in the US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars setting up think tanks and websites to discredit climate science. Their well-established tactic is not to fund scientific research, but to sow doubt by recycling phoney arguments, such as that global warming has stopped.

As a result, it has now become heretical in the US Republican Party to accept the concept of a human-enhanced greenhouse effect. This blocks effective action by the world's biggest economy on global warming, so undermining reciprocal action in lesser economies. A similar process can be seen here, where for instance Gina Rinehart funded the visit of the eccentric non-scientist Christopher Monckton to promote warming denialism. In view of what he allows in his papers, Rupert Murdoch is a key member of the phoney argument group.

A wealthy elite is risking the world's future, by arrogantly putting rigid political ideology ahead of a balanced view of reality, based on science.

Paul Pollard, O'Connor

Andrew Hunter strangely fails to understand that the original concerns over wind turbines and health were raised by the empirical observations of medical practitioners in Australia and England and, later, the United States.

Many official reviews conducted by governments and/or the wind industry failed to acknowledge the empirical concerns of the same medical practitioners, let alone the flood of complaints and growing outcry against the harm wind turbines are causing. Instead they kept repeating the mantra that there is no published scientific evidence to substantiate these concerns.

If there were ever a contemporary issue that reflects a return to the dogmatic blindness of bygone eras combined with systematic oppression of empiricism, it would be the persistence of industrial turbine monstrosities of unprecedented size and numbers, with their deleterious effects on the wellbeing of rural residents who are forced to live right next to them.

George Papadopoulos, Yass, NSW

Rich sense

John Brudenall (Letters, August 23) says that under the Liberals ''The rich will have fibre optic, the rest of us the old copper wire''. Sounds good to me. The government makes it available but not compulsory, so the rich will not be subsidised by those who don't want or need the latest and greatest. Those whose wants are larger than their pockets will not be subsidised. It is not a survival issue, or even a quality of life issue.

P. Edwards, Holder

Vale Harold Grant

He plied his trade as wordsmith in these columns for years. And the columns of this paper will this week tell the final tale. Truly a Christian, poet, scholar, and a gentleman, who helped thousands resettle in this land of milk and honey. Poetry is what is lost in translation -Robert Frost. Vale Harold J. Grant - a man for all people and seasons.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

On the plate

On the matter of trite and cheap number plate mottoes (''It's a motto of opinion'', Panorama, August 24, p2) I once owned an imported car. The Canberra plates would not fit the recessed plate enclosure. I had a set fashioned to suit and approved by Motor Registry until a recalcitrant complained.

Five-character personalised plates seemed the only option at a cost of several hundred dollars. I offered to cut down the original government-issued plates, as an alternative, then I noticed another issue. If having removed two inches from the centre of the plates then rejoined, the altered and perhaps more befitting Canberra motto would have read: ''CANBERRA - (heart o) F THE NATION''. A preferred option though to ''FEE (l the p)OWER''.

Phil O'Mara, Macgregor

Palestine injustice

One of the points made by Sharyn Mittelman in ''Israel's actions display a desire for peace'' (Times2, August 23, p4) defending Israel's bona fides in the current peace negotiations is that ''for years, Israeli leaders have prepared the public for the painful concessions that must be made'' to achieve a peace agreement. In reality the steps that Israeli leaders have taken have been limited to acknowledging that certain settlements and illegal outposts deep within the West Bank would have to be abandoned.

On the other hand, Israeli leaders have done nothing to prepare the Jewish population for the one concession upon which Palestinian acceptance of any peace proposals is crucial.

This is an acknowledgment by Israel of responsibility for the injustices perpetrated upon the Palestinian people in the months before and during the 1948 war.

The heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not primarily about territory; rather, in so far as the Palestinians are concerned, it is the injustice of the 1947 UN resolution creating the State of Israel which was then compounded by the expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians in circumstances we now refer to as ''ethnic cleansing''.

Justin McCarthy, Chapman

Roger still kickin'

What on earth was Oliver Brown (''Federer still capable of the beautiful game'', Sport, August 24, p11) thinking of when he wrote ''No sportsman alive has elicited such eulogies as Roger Federer'' and then went on to tell us he (Roger) had earned the right to choose the moment of his adieu. No, Mr Brown, accolades may be but certainly not eulogies, at least not yet.

Bryan Docherty, Garran

If it is true that 1 million voters make up their mind on polling day, shouldn't we reconsider the wisdom of compulsory voting? Why compel people who haven't the interest to review issues well beforehand to make a last-minute stab at it? What is likely to jell in the mind of the undecided voter at the last moment? No doubt a memorable three-word slogan rather than in-depth analysis of complex issues. Could these 1 million last-minute voters be one reason why politicians love slogans over analysis?

Compulsory federal voting was introduced in 1924 due to fears that the Federation might fail through lack of voters. Compulsion may have seemed necessary in those days but now getting out to vote is so easy it can be done on the way to shopping. Why force people to vote if they have no interest in exercising their democratic right?

Some argue that compulsory voting makes all people take a real interest in politics. This is akin to saying that compulsion to have a driving licence makes all drivers take a real interest in the road laws, whereas in fact most drivers only know the bare minimum to scrape by.

Of course, with voluntary voting scams such as old people's homes being trawled for voters in return for a free lunch might occur. But any such distortion would cancel itself out by multiple parties participating.

It is said that compulsory voting favours left-leaning parties and voluntary voting the right. Nevertheless Barack Obama won office with voluntary voting. Perhaps those citizens with real interest get mobilised and in turn mobilise others instead of taking attendance at the polling booths for granted.

Australian Federation started with the desire for voluntary voting. The Federation is now well entrenched. Surely it is time to revisit the perhaps unwanted side effects of compulsory voting.

Penleigh Boyd, Reid

Queensland experience

Tony Abbott has promised a commission of audit if he wins the election, to have a close look at the Commonwealth's finances.

Here in Queensland we know what that means. We had one of those after the Liberals won our last election. It was used as an excuse for destroying everything that the Liberals just didn't like, for cutting back whatever services they could, for putting up fares and every other government price, and for mass sackings.

If the federal election does go to Abbott, Australia can only admit that it was warned, and that it did indeed choose to have all the brutal, unnecessary changes that he wants to inflict.

G.T.W. Agnew,

Coopers Plains, Qld

Mandate myth

One of the most egregious bits of claptrap that emerges in every election campaign is the claim that being elected to form government gives a political party a ''mandate'' to implement its policies. Even in an election campaign it would be hard to find anything further from the truth.

Getting a majority of seats in an election proves nothing more than a small majority of voters, in a small majority of electorates, prefers a small majority of that party's policies to the other. That does not come within a bull's roar of giving anyone a mandate to implement any particular policy.

Roger Quarterman, Campbell

Equal scrutiny

With less than two weeks to go in the federal election campaign wouldn't it be good if the media in all forms spent some time and coverage scrutinising the Coalition's policies, its costings and how it will pay for them.

Not only is Labor being openly bagged by the Murdoch media and by rabid radio shock jerks, now the usually more impartial media outlets seem to be constantly analysing and criticising Labor's election campaign. In the meantime, Tony Abbott and the Coalition seem to be Teflon-coated when it comes to any media scrutiny. The electorate deserves better. So in these crucial final weeks, can we expect some equal scrutiny and analysis of the vision and policy offerings of both major parties?

Barry Harris, Curtin

So very un-Australian

Am I the only person who is very concerned that an American is telling us who to vote for in the Australian election? The same American who boasts that his newspapers have saturated the Australian market, which means, of course, we only get his views. Yes, this is the same Rupert Murdoch who hacked into the phones of the British people. The real worry is what does he want?

We the Australian people will decide on our next government.

Fran Harris, Hall

Baez connects the bias

I went to the Joan Baez concert on Saturday. Poignant and still so topical was her resurrection of Woody Guthrie's 1948 ballad Deportee. It tells the tale of 28 illegal Mexican fruit-pickers rounded up by US authorities and sent back to the border on a dilapidated

ex-military DC-3. The plane was overweight and overdue for maintenance. A seal in the pressurised fuel system failed; fuel sprayed on the hot engine, caught fire and burnt through the wing. The plane broke apart in a fireball over Los Gatos Canyon. Authorities gathered what body parts they could find and bulldozed them, unnamed, into a mass grave. As the lyrics tell us: ''You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane, all they will call you will be deportees.''

Now, 65 years later, Australian immigration authorities are similarly determined that we never know the names or stories of refugees coming here. Dehumanising them ensures no sympathy.

I'll sadly hum Deportee as I vote in September, knowing that both parties want to treat refugees as cruelly as the US treated migrants in 1948.

Martin Aubury, Scullin

I am one of the unfortunates caught out by Friday's work stoppage that left my garbage and recycling uncollected.

The dispute's been resolved, but the government has decided it won't empty my bins until the next scheduled date. In other words, my garbage won't be collected for another week and my recycling won't be recycled for a fortnight.

Needless to say, both my bins are full and the garbage is just starting to smell. To make up for this shemozzle, the government is offering one free delivery to the tip for residents desperate enough to take their rubbish there themselves. Never let it be said that generosity was the government's long suit.

Garbage collection, dull as it is, is one of the government's most important functions. Public health and a tolerable environment depend on it. It's not optional and it's not something the government should do only when it wants to. Empty my bins, please. Now.

David Robertson, Red Hill

Racism not root cause

When John Lemandri, ex-US Marine, sends his condolences from the ''white community'' to

all (?) Australians after the shooting death of Christopher Lane (Letters, August 23) he attributes racism as the cause but somehow ignores the fact that the white American community has a fair slice of ongoing accountability to address in that regard. As does the white Australian community.

A simplistic focus on race certainly deflects any deeper analysis of the hyper masculinity and rampant gun culture that is so tied to America's patriarchal roots. When children commit heartless acts, the whole community needs to question itself and find solutions with love at their core.

Amanda Lutz, Melba

Shame on ACTEW

I agree with much of your editorial (''Let's not politicise capital works audits'', Times2, August 23, p2) but am appalled at the cavalier approach to public funds exemplified by the Cotter Dam cost blowout from $145 million to $409 million. Justification of the $264 million overrun to ''unforeseen wet weather'', is given by ACTEW without shame, embarrassment or apology.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

BISHOP BOMBED

As a swinging voter I am in no doubt as to who I will now vote for after watching Julie Bishop's ''tacky'' behaviour at the Liberal election campaign launch in Brisbane. Even John Howard looked embarrassed.

Brenda Jones, Curtin

NO CLASS ACT

Julie Bishop as warm-up act for Tony Abbott. Crude joke about bottoms. A class act? I don't think so.

Janet Cossart, Stirling

NOTE MACBETH

Julie Bishop may be right that Kevin Rudd has a bit of a temper, but I can understand his frustrations with the more crass, unlovely and bone-headed parts of the electorate.

But he may well need more sleep - ''the innocent sleep; sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care, the death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, chief nourisher in life's feast …''

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

SPEEDING UP

The prospect of high-speed rail draws closer with the report recommending the first stretch between Canberra and Sydney (''Report backs high-speed rail'', August 26, p1). Now let's hope the project sees further into the future and dispenses with the rails on the ground approach and looks slightly heavenward as the Maglev goes shooting past on a single raised rail.

Joe Murphy, Bonython

RAIL DISTRACTION

High-speed train between Canberra and Sydney in 20 years, says Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese? Sounds like an election distraction to me.

R.C. Warn, Weston

DRUG SEIZURE

With regards to Tony Abbott and the purchase of Indonesian boats to prevent people smuggling, I wonder if he has also considered purchasing drugs from the drug suppliers as a means of getting them (drugs) off the streets?

David Ingles, Richardson

TIPPING THE BOAT

Turn back the votes.

Brian Voce, Bungendore, NSW

PROMISES, PROMISES

The first election promise an Abbott government will break is the promise that the 12,000 public servants in the jobs he will cut will not be sacked. The Liberals promise that the vacancies will be achieved through natural attrition - retirements and resignations. Don't believe it. Anyone unlucky enough to be in an agency or job that is abolished will no longer have a job.

John Brudenall, Reid