Your say: week beginning October 19
On the struggle between Albanese and Chalmers, and looking beyond net zero: an edited selection of your views.
On Monday October 19, readers shared their thoughts on two recent articles published by The Conversation.
Jim Chalmers faced a dilemma in his health insurance top-up policy, balancing evidence-based decisions with political considerations. Excluding pensioners from the subsidy could lead to unwise financial choices in order to qualify for the age pension and associated benefits. The controversy also shed light on Anthony Albanese's reluctance to cede power or support a successor, reminiscent of past leadership struggles involving prime ministers and their treasurers.
In the article on extreme El Niños and the urgency of reaching net zero emissions sooner, Jim Chalmers and Treasurer Anthony Albanese clashed over priorities. Some readers argued that net zero only signifies stopping the addition of CO₂ to the atmosphere, leaving existing excess CO₂ that will continue to impact the climate for centuries.
The writer likened achieving net zero to adding blankets to stay warm in winter; removing those blankets in spring cannot prevent overheating, as the existing blankets must still be eliminated. Net zero is merely the beginning, followed by the need to actively reduce the current CO₂ levels.
Written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
