On Ian Plimer’s climate change denialism

Ken Boyne writes: Re. “Ian Plimer takes on the ‘totalitarian’ greens in latest book” (yesterday). I wonder if federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne will be directing all Australian schools to ensure that their libraries are stocked with at least one copy of Plimer’s latest work?

Kim Hudson writes: I remember the days when Plimer sued for misleading and deceptive advertising over claims about Noah’s Ark, and now here he is saying “wind farms and solar panels use more energy to build than they will ever generate”. Irony, anyone?

George Brandis backs the wrong team

Joe Boswell writes: Re. “Who — and what country — is driving Brandis’ conservative shift?” (Monday). How far can someone go in working for the interests of another nation while disregarding their own before becoming a subversive? As Kissinger pointed out, the USA does not have permanent friends or enemies, it only has interests. A minister who serves the interests of the USA to the detriment of Australian interests and sovereignty lacks loyalty and is obviously unfit for office in this country.

Public sector debt is the least of Australia’s financial worries

Roy Ramage writes: Re. “OECD points to sensible fiscal policy, not ‘budget crisis’” (yesterday). As bad as the federal government debt is and as poor as the Abbott response will be, it is nothing when compared to private sector debt within the banking system. It was running at $2, 232, 441, 699, 400 at 9.00pm yesterday and is continuing to climb. That’s right — in the trillions. What happens if interest rates go up? If Abbott is concerned about how they bring the federal deficit down we should be utterly terrified of private debt because we have no hope of redressing it as China comes off the boil.

There has never been an accounting of who lost what during the last recession and few if any did jail time ,while tens of thousands lost their money and now have to work till they drop — if they can get a job. There will be no consumer-led recovery while Australia has approximately 1.7 million people on one of six pension schemes and an official unemployment rate of approximately 6%. Stats here are always questionable especially with the auto industry shutting down and the continual demise of  main-street Australia. So with an increasingly small tax base overlaid with three tiers of rent-seeking government whose legions of public servants need their pensions paid, it matters little what those born to rule in Canberra come up with. I reckon we are stuffed.