Letters, September 14, 2022

Great disappointment
AS the Australian Federal Government election grew close earlier this year I gained the strong impression that, at that time, the Labor Party Opposition was strongly in favor of introducing greatly improved legislation, if elected, to better protect animals and the environment in general.
Recently the Albanese Government has announced that 10 new Australian ocean sites covering close to 47,000sqkm will soon be open for oil and gas exploration.
This news amazed me.
It may not be widely known that seismic surveying is a common practice associated with oil and gas exploration and that this operation can cause great stress to whales including hearing loss, habitat expulsion, disturbed  feeding and breeding, and loss of communication between whales.
There have even been a number of reported instances where whale deaths have been closely linked to oil and gas operations, but to date the cause of deaths are unproven.
The decision by our Federal Government to open up such a large area of ocean for oil and gas exploration, which almost certainly will cause great stress to whales and in fact to many other marine animals, seems to be in direct contradiction to what the heralded intentions of the Opposition Governnment were prior to the election.
A great disappointment.
Brian Measday
Myrtle Bank

Political secrets
I READ with interest the reply by Robert Armstrong to my letter of August 31 and wonder where the obvious hatred of Scott Morrison comes from, surely not the fact that Morrison did not personally inform Robert of his decision to double up on a few ministerial positions?
If that is the case I can at least sympathise with Mr Armstrong as I was similarly annoyed with Anthony Albanese for not announcing his intention to establish a Ministerial position for a referendum on a republic during the build up to the Federal election, but waiting until he was elected.
Very secretive!
I do not hold a vitriolic hatred of Albanese, I simply do not share his far left political beliefs.
Sarcasm they say is the lowest form of wit.
Stay safe and well.
Clive Bulmer
Forreston

Flooding issues
IN 1995, we purchased a commercial property at Mt Barker, built in 1992.
At that time, no provision was made for the removal of surface and storm water from the property, as required by the Building Permit.
In 2018, we received an email from the council stating that surface water from the property was spilling over the footpath. On inspecting this with a representative from the affected adjoining property, we determined that there was no issue with the surface water until the footpath was installed in 2015.
Previously the water had been running into the roadside gutter in a controlled manner. The council didn’t make provision to take the surface water under the footpath.
We next heard from the council in 2021 regarding stormwater flooding into the neighboring property, with the suggestion that the pipe from stormwater entering into the council easement drain could be blocked. On investigating this, we found that this pipe and easement drain did not exist.
We finally met with the council on site in July 2022. Surely the building permit should not have been issued until these matters had been complied with?
What is the council’s responsibility?
Has anyone had the same experience?
AJ Maywald
Victor Harbor

Policy failures
ANYONE wanting proof that our government’s renewable energy policies are futile should take note of the same policy failures overseas.
Back in April, the Californian government announced with much fanfare that the state achieved 97.6% of its energy from renewable sources.
Fast forward several months and they are experiencing electricity shortages.
Apparently, the main cause is the current heat wave and overuse of air conditioning.
Something’s not right when more sunshine equals not enough renewable energy.
Incidentally, California will also phase out all petrol-powered vehicles by 2035.
If the system can’t cope with the basic human right of using air conditioning to stave off heat stroke, how will it cope with millions of power hungry EVs?
Looks like the only purpose the public charging stations will be good for is propping up tarpaulins for the homeless.
Likewise, the UK was blowing its trumpet about its renewable energy achievements.
Everyone was assured that this was the cheapest form of energy – some even claimed that it’s free. Yet their electricity prices are sky-rocketing.
So, what went wrong?
The answer is simple: wind and solar generators are weather dependant and rely on other forms of energy to support them.
Plentiful gas from Russia was powering Europe which supplemented UK’s energy needs.
That cosy arrangement ended abruptly when Russia invaded Ukraine.
European nations scrambled to secure their own energy needs thus driving up fuel prices. As such the UK’s electricity prices are rising by 80%.
The inevitable outcome is more business bankruptcies and rises in poverty and crime.
So next time you’re waiting for the power to come back on, consider this: intelligent, rational people learn by other’s mistakes.
Our government is determined to repeat them.
Who are they trying to appease and why?
K. Stachovic
Meadows