NO MORE GETTING SLUGGED AT THE BOWSER?
The Labor governments pipe dream to have Aussie motorists driving "electric" cars borders on stupidity. Firstly they deny people the right to a normal supply of energy that they can afford and were "used to", by closing down such sources of energy supposedly to save the planet from further destruction because of them.
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These electric car prices are out of reach of most people to start with, let alone the electricity needed to afford to run such a car, along with the needed outlets to supply it. This socialist-orientated government is hell bent on destroying our nation and its people and needs to wake up to its ridiculous ideas.
Yvonne Rance, Griffith
UNUSED MINES COULD BE USED FOR POWER GENERATION
Australia's 80,000 disused and abandoned mines have enormous potential for nearby communities. These range from rehabilitated pits converted to recreational lakes to sources of critical minerals and renewable energy.
The Genex pumped-hydro project in northern Queensland for example will generate up to 900 jobs and store its water in two pits of the old Kidston goldmine. It has a storage/generation capacity of 250MW for eight hours (2,000MWh) and will ramp up in less than 30 seconds.
A second example of long-term storage is Broken Hill's underground Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system being built for Transgrid by Canadian company Hydrostor. The air is stored in purpose-built caverns and, when needed, is released to spin a turbine. When completed, it will be the world's biggest CAES facility and provide at least 8 hours of storage. Another exciting use of old mine sites is the recovery of critical and rare metals from tailings dumps.
Critical metals are vital for clean energy and advanced technologies like smartphones, computers, solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles. Reusing and rehabilitating old mine sites could well be the next "mining boom" in regional Australia.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
MORE TO BE DONE ON WATER SECURITY
On the floor of federal Parliament we heard the Water Minister Tanya Plibersek allude to the real reasons behind the Murray-Darling Basin Plan which, through its implementation, will destroy many farmers and increase food prices at the supermarket for all Australians.
This was touted as a plan for the environment, however it is more about ensuring there is abundant cheap water in South Australia for various uses including industry, recreation and canal-based housing developments. Yes, some will be used for the environment, however it is acknowledged in many scientific circles that we have already recovered more than can be effectively delivered for environmental purposes, and trying to push more down the Murray River will cause immense damage as we effectively turn it into a drainage channel.
Ms Plibersek told Parliament her government was committed to delivering the Basin Plan "in full", even though we now have greater knowledge of the social and economic pain this will cause.
There are numerous options that South Australia could embrace to secure a more reliable water supply for industry, recreation and urban use, which would also alleviate the need to destroy farmers in the east.
Unfortunately, the SA government has no appetite for these options because they are more expensive than cheap water delivered down the system from Hume Dam. And now we have a federal government with little care factor for the farmers and their communities which will suffer the consequences.
This is a sad reflection on a divided nation and one, it seems, that is heading towards more division rather than one working as a unit to develop best practice policy.
Sue Braybon, Tocumwal
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