LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

BIG FOUR BANKS

I AM becoming heartily sick of the continuing rhetoric of our senior federal politicians “spruiking” about the dreadful behaviour of the “big four” banks in not passing on the recent interest rate cut.

Does Treasurer Frydenberg and his cronies (Mr McVeigh included) not recall the recent Banking Royal Commission that exposed the illegal and at times reprehensible behaviour exposed under the scrutiny of our government and its ineffectual “watchdogs” that are supposedly there to protect us from such behaviour?

Of course the banks will not pass on the rate cut in full — they haven’t for any of the cuts in the past few years, the “big four” are the “tail wagging the dog (government)”. And it is ludicrous to say “shop around” — they are all the same with a common policy of only doing the minimum for customers to maximise profits for shareholder.

It is about time some political backbone starts to emerge — Morrison narrowly won the last election on the promise of better and more accountable government. When is going to start?

For the first time in my long life I am embarrassed to call myself Australian. Our country has become a farce, run by fools who only think of their re-election and pay little heed to building a better Australia.

PETER J. CASTLETON, Toowoomba

CLIMATE CHANGE

IT IS an indisputable fact that global temperatures have been rising for the past century and it is the opinion of most, but not all, scientists attributing that to rising carbon dioxide levels. I am committing a horrible offence when I say that perhaps, just perhaps, scientists are, like everyone else, subject to tunnel vision especially when they are seeking vast amounts of cash to further their own researches.

A classic instance of this has been the dire warnings over at least half a century that the Great Barrier Reef is subject to almost instant extinction unless their particular field of research on the reef is massively funded by both the State and Federal Governments. Although the money did not come forth, strangely enough, the reef is still there.

Ice ages have happened a few times in the human record but the occurrence of heat ages are ignored by everyone except probably the arborists. It is therefore undeniable that, like everything else, temperatures on the earth are subject to natural change. As a result, many geologists sit on the fence when confronted with the current temperature rise.

Therefore, the current rise in temperature may be natural, may be caused by human activity or may be caused by a combination of both. It is vitally important to find this out and, to the best of my knowledge, there has been no investigation by independent judges to determine this. It is time to do so if we can find some government that will withstand ridicule from all those convinced that mankind is solely to blame.

The vast amount of money spent on global warming comes from each and every person living on this earth and, as a result, affects the standard of living of everyone. If global warming is caused by human activity, it is money well spent. If it is natural, it is a complete and utter waste of money. It is time to investigate.

PETER SHERIDAN, Kearneys Spring

SPACE WALK

ON SUNDAY night, I enthusiastically watched a live NASA spacewalk on the exterior of the International Space Station over the internet. The spacewalk was the first of twelve to replace aging batteries powering certain ISS electrical systems.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch and her colleague’s duty was to replace a couple of old nickel hydrogen batteries with new lithium ion batteries. During the dangerous procedure the two astronauts were given cautions and warnings on things they were not to touch to prevent a life threatening situation.

These astronauts certainly earn their keep on these missions, as the work is full on physically and mentally demanding and highly dangerous given the circumstances.

It was interesting to watch the station move from complete darkness into sunlight as the sun rose much faster than it does for us mere Earthlings. DAVE FREDERICKS, Toowoomba