Letters: Build AUKUS muscle to pursue peace

It could turn out to be an exercise in futility

Paul Keating may be right about the enormous expenditure on a handful of submarines being a futile waste, but not for the reasons he gives.

In 2000, Burton Richter, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for Physics, published an article in The Washington Post, headlined “It doesn’t take rocket science”, about Ronald Reagan’s expenditure on “Star Wars”. He used elementary probability calculations to show that this was an exercise in futility. One wonders whether our Department of Defence carried out any comparable risk assessment.

Nicholas Fisher, North Sydney, NSW

The thin end of a radioactive wedge

Going to nuclear-powered subs is the thin end of a very radioactive wedge. America is a military industrial complex on the lookout for its next pretext. The rotations of US nuclear-powered naval vessels have been ongoing. But handling nuclear materials ourselves raises the risk of leaks into that nice new swimming beach near Garden Island and painting a target on Point Piper.

Sydney house price problem solved? Never been happier about not affording harbour glimpses.

Making enemies of major trading partners with deeper pockets never ends well.

Jane Salmon, Killara, NSW

Avoid creating tensions for Chinese Australians

I have no doubt The Sydney Morning Herald’s series on China potentially declaring war on Australia has destabilised civil discourse. As a Chinese-Australian doctor, a patient aggressively interrogated whether I was of Chinese heritage, and exclaimed that I should return to China to support its global domination effort. My loyalty to the Australia in which I grew up could be tested in the event of war, it was insinuated.

Another patient refused any healthcare delivered by a clinician not born here. After shouting “Go back to China!” (my parents are Malaysian-Chinese), this young woman stormed out.

I’d caution the press to be careful about creating tensions for Chinese Australians while you stoke the fires of China v the West/Australia debates.

Joseph Ting, Carina, Qld

Superpower that needs to be kept in check

It is patently obvious that the rationale for AUKUS is to contain Chinese expansion in the Pacific. Paul Keating’s comments should not be dismissed, because he rightly states that China is no threat to Australia.

The country that has caused more invasionary mayhem in our region (and elsewhere) has been the US with its forays, under dubious pretexts, into Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the US that we need to keep in check, not China, without the use of submarines.

Trevor Bail, Deakin, ACT

Funding questions also apply to NDIS

People ask where Australia is going to find $368 billion to pay for submarines. They could ask where are we going to find even more to pay for the NDIS.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield, Vic

Morrison’s legacy is keeping us in the dark

Alexander Downer says “Morrison’s legacy will turn Australia into a significant power” (March 13). More accurately, Scott Morrison set us on a path, good or bad, without any engagement with the public or debate in parliament, with significant risks and without providing any detailed scoping, capability assessment or costing for future budgets.

Ron McLaren, Griffith, ACT

A shopping list isn’t much of a shield

How ironic that Australia has been feeding China’s insatiable demand for minerals to build warships. It’s been all win-win up to now, while we’ve grown rich and lazy on the proceeds. We haven’t choked at the cost of AUKUS. Little public protest. No spontaneous gatherings, either, to heap praise on the government for its foresight.

We are not within a bull’s roar of any kind of mobilisation, despite the red flags fluttering from mastheads. The nation is still shopping.

Trevor Kerr, Blackburn, Vic

Talking down defence capability is dangerous

Some of our defence “experts” have much to answer for. Talking down Australia’s capacity to face a possible Chinese assault plays into the hands of those who may not wish us well.

It used to be called defeatism, a.k.a. pacifism.

Michael J. Gamble, Belmont, Vic

Winning back teal seats won’t be easy

Phillip Coorey says it will be challenging for Josh Frydenberg to win back Kooyong given the growing number of younger voters in the electorate who “overwhelmingly do not vote for the Coalition” (“Frydenberg’s task to snare 3500 votes”, March 14).

One of the issues younger voters care strongly about is climate, so if the Coalition was fair dinkum about wanting to win back seats like Kooyong, Goldstein and Higgins from climate-focused independents, you would expect it to be improving its policies.

But since losing the 2022 election, it has voted against enshrining the modest 43 per cent emissions reduction target in law and is refusing to strengthen the safeguard mechanism, a policy it initiated.

If the Coalition continues to ignore the zeitgeist, it’s hard to see how it can win the hearts and minds of younger demographics, or for that matter the eight out of 10 Australians who want the government to take conclusive action on the climate.

Matilda Bowra, Fitzroy North, Vic

Woodside has much to learn from Orsted

Woodside made almost $10 billion in profits last year. It is investing in oil in Mexico and continuing its Scarborough gas project, described by some as a “carbon bomb”. Institutional investors are therefore justified in calling out Woodside’s inadequate climate response (“Woodside investors call for board to face music”, March 15).

Danish energy company Orsted switched from fossil fuels to renewables and its stock has risen 64per cent since 2016. Transformation is possible. Companies like Woodside must use their profits to pivot towards a decarbonised future.

Amy Hiller, Kew, Vic

Why APPEA is keen to spruik carbon capture

Of course the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association would promote carbon capture and storage (Opinion, March 14). Its CEO, Samantha McCulloch, spruiks this so-called solution because it relies on the continued mining and selling of gas and coal. What could possibly go wrong?

Brenda Tait, Kensington, Vic