Australian-made policy benefits will be in the longer term

We need continuing constructive, active contributions from government policy.

Ron McLaren, Paddington, Qld

Futility of war

What an irony that on Anzac Day we commemorate the sacrifice of those caught up on our past wars when we are at grave risk of becoming involved in another one.

What is it that we should remember on this day? For the sake of our young ones we must, in addition to honouring our involvement in past wars, recollect and reflect on the futility and waste of war.

We must, in the words of former governor-general Peter Cosgrove, avoid sending our young men and women off to “wars of choice” rather than those of defensive necessity.

Terry Hewton, Adelaide, SA

Act now on Musk madness

Elon Musk equates his call for “freedom of speech”, permitting the posting of stabbings and similar on his social media platform X, to that of the United States’ consistent call for “freedom to bear arms”, the outcome of which is continuing social disruption.

Social media now inevitably and quickly deteriorates into name-calling and slanging matches, as the exchanges between Jacqui Lambie and Mr Musk demonstrate (“‘Enemy of the people’: Musk lashes out at Lambie”).

Mr Musk’s call for freedom to publish anything, however horrific, will have the same negative impact as the freedom for the right to bear arms – a freedom that Australians know they will be better off without.

A stand must be taken by Australia now if such disruption is to be avoided.

Peter Alexander, South Yarra, Vic

A better way to combat Iran

I found Alexander Downer’s tirade on Western leaders’ actions being similar to the policies of appeasement in the 1930s exaggerated to say the least (“Appeasing Iran has proven weak and provocative”). Ayatollah Khamenei is hardly Adolf Hitler. Yes, Iranian intrigues against Israel and the Sunni Arab countries through its proxies should be upended sooner rather than later.

Mr Downer castigates former president Barack Obama and incumbent Joe Biden for not being firm with Iran but says nothing about former president Donald Trump, who walked away from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and allowed Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Rather than employing fanciful policies to erode and stymie Iran’s actions – such as declaring the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation, hoping that a people’s revolution would get rid of the mullahs, and imposing sanctions that do not work without the co-operation of Russia and China – the key to combating Iranian meddling in the Middle East is regional co-operation.

This is, however, conditional on the removal of the rabid right-wingers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the US government acting to defend Sunni Arab countries if attacked by Iran, which it has not in the past, and – more importantly – conclusion of a defence treaty between Saudi Arabia and the US, and Saudi recognition of Israel.

Declaring a ceasefire in Gaza will also go some way towards cajoling Israel’s potential Sunni Arab allies. Ending the perpetual conflict with the Palestinians will also significantly erode Iran’s primacy in championing the Palestinian cause and stop it feeding the Islamic radicals on the West Bank.

Roy Clogstoun, Maleny, Qld

Corporate reality check

Of course all companies and stakeholders need to be honest about the complexity of transitioning the world from polluting to clean energy (“Goyder to face music at Woodside AGM”). If, however, gas and oil companies from Woodside to BP and Shell are allowed to continue to delay and retreat from climate targets to maintain high profits from extracting and processing said fossil fuels, then humanity fails to preserve the one stable environment that we have in which to safely reside.

That is the simple truth. We have a precious opportunity to avert climate collapse and leave a legacy for future generations by switching to clean energy. This is the real reality check that corporate leaders desperately need.

Amy Hiller, Kew, Vic

Unhappy with handouts

I’m saddened that the “Richest firms get $331m in grants to cut emissions” while they have been the ones profiting from fossil fuel energy use for generations. And I can’t say I’m happy that Glencore and others can find millions of dollars to advertise their newfound green credentials but seemingly can’t afford to actually be green without a handout from us taxpayers.

It’s time we put a serious price on all fossil fuel pollution to recompense the damage it is doing and actually slow it down.

Tom Hunt, Oak Flats, NSW

Not Kean on Matt’s summary

Matt Kean vaunted “the sensible fiscal management that had driven 12 years of prosperity of our great state” (“An unwise treasurer is losing NSW’s AAA rating”). Was he referring to the largest and second-largest budget deficits in NSW’s history, which he brought down during his two years as treasurer?

Give me Daniel Mookhey’s version of “sensible fiscal management” any day.

William Coleman, Gulmarrad, NSW