Act now for climate change
I agree wholeheartedly with MP Roma Britnell that we can all make a difference in the face of the climate emergency. But politicians can do so much more than community volunteers. And so much faster. Roma encourages people to stop protesting and perhaps clean up the beach, plant some trees or reduce plastic. These are worthy activities but none of them will contain global warming to below two degrees required to prevent catastrophic impacts.
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We may have less than ten years to do this. What can achieve this is politicians making decisions to make a safe, liveable future for the children of today. This means rapid transition away from fossil fuels, rapid use of carbon sequestration and rapid changes to more sustainable agriculture. As a farmer, Roma knows that south-west Victoria is a global hot spot for cow produced methane, a far worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. My advice is that Roma could spend some time now, urgently working with our dairy sector to help secure its environmentally sustainable future.
The 1500 community members who attended the climate strike don't need advice on how to make a difference. But our politicians, blindly pretending that an emergency is not heading our way, definitely do. Talk is cheap. Serious action is needed right now.
Bruce Campbell, Warrnambool
Britnell in no position to criticise
Local MP Roma Britnell's recent attempt at political point scoring, against the "city centric" state government, involved, yet again, an attack on the condition of roads in the south-west. Ms Britnell would have us believe that if there was a Liberal Government in power things would be different. However, when last in government in Victoria the Liberal Party cut $100 million from road maintenance state wide and sacked 450 VicRoads employees. Ms Britnell is in no position to criticise the current state government about roads.
Ms Britnell also attacked our "Chinese centric" Premier for visiting China the same number of times he has visited the south-west. Ms Britnell should be congratulating Daniel Andrews about this rather than criticising him.
Because of mismanagement by the Liberal Party Australia's relations with China are at their lowest for 30 years. The Australian Federal government - and increasingly Australian business - are personae non grata in China. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently refused to meet our Prime Minister Scott Morrison for a bilateral meeting at the recent Osaka G20 meeting. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham was also refused a measly bilateral meeting early in August. At least three major Australian businesses are stuck waiting to see regulators in China for major deals and freighters full of Australian coal continue to sit off China's coast.
In contrast to this debacle Daniel Andrews has been strengthening Victoria's economic and cultural ties with our largest trading partner. This means more trade and jobs for Victoria, including markets for the food and fibre produced in the south-west.
Peter Martina, Warrnambool
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