Government’s strategy to fight crime costly failure
I REFER to the article page 11 (TB 6/10) Harsh penalty call and the comment MPS back Queensland crime call.
I suppose 10 cars stolen on Sunday night is a good crime call and it is obvious whatever the latest initiative the Palaszczuk government has initiated must not be working.
This is borne out by two of her representatives in Townsville fully supportive of it. Mr L Walker is in the article quoting figures but no mention of the figure of 10 cars stolen in one night.
He also goes on to say that we (whoever we are) will continue to back our police to catch offenders and support effective programs to prevent youth crime. How about making the Youth Detention Centre a place where criminals do not want to enter let alone keep making return visits to - that could be a start.
One of the Premier’s other representatives Mr S Stewart said the presumption of bail laws had resulted in offenders being remanded in custody more often and longer. So having had a lull in car thefts for about a month then all of a sudden all hell lets loose.
Are the crimes being committed by the so called 10 per cent referred to by Mr Walker, which have been let out, or is it a whole new bunch of would-be thieves who are flexing their muscles who fear nothing as there is nothing to fear.
We the taxpaying public are not allowed to know if the increase in crime is being committed by repeat offenders, as we already know the laws and strategies implemented by the Palaszczuk government so far are a complete and utter failure. The published figures speak for themselves and nothing will change until someone looks up the definition of deterrent in the Concise Oxford Dictionary: “A thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something.”
So if the current crime is being committed by repeat offenders what is being done to discourage them from reoffending again and again and again.
If the Premier spent more time on trying to rein in crime and less on the Olympics then the elderly who are
afraid to walk the streets and car parks even in the daylight hours may have a better and secure way of life.
Having read the Editorial (TB 2/10) – society must do more to help kids – reading the editorial it beggars belief and is an indictment on how government departments and the government as a whole could allow a situation as documented to exist in the first place, let alone allow it continue over a period of years. It has been said before and I will say it again the government in my humble opinion is totally inept.
Having said that (stating the obvious), no matter what type of upbringing an individual has he or she knows the difference between right and wrong and if they do not, seeing their mates getting involved with the police for committing the same type of crime should start alarm bells ringing for them but without a deterrent nothing will change.
According to media reports yesterday yet another five cars were stolen overnight. Those new laws Mr Stewart likes referring to are certainly working and having a huge
impact on the number of houses being broken into and vehicles being stolen.
DAVID THOUMINE, Cranbrook.
BE NICE TO BANK WORKERS
TOWNSVILLE residents, please watch the way you talk to young people. I work in a bank and security is the way we keep our customers and staff safe. As part of condition of entry, with signs everywhere, you need to take off your hat, sunglasses, hoodies and bike helmets.
Young bank workers have been bullied and abused because they are following policy to ask you take your hat and sunglasses off.
Middle aged men are the worst, I am sad to say, and this is the generation that their parents would have clipped them over the ear for showing bad manners by not taking your hat off when entering a home, business or being in front of ladies.
If someone is committing a robbery or fraud we need to see them on camera to identify them. Simple as that. Some of our young people are so afraid they don’t ask so it looks like we only ask some and not others. It’s because they are afraid they don’t ask. It is a reflection on you when you behave this way. Please stop the abuse and be kind and considerate. GENEVIEVE KINDT,
Cranbrook.
GRID-SCALE BATTERIES MYTH
I have to address recent letters regarding the myth that big batteries will be the answer to firming power to the electricity grid to compensate for the unreliability and fluctuating nature of a wind and solar based electricity supply.
The first myth is that lithium batteries are a renewable source of energy.
They are manufactured from rare earth elements and the resource is definitely finite and will run out just the same as coal, oil and gas. Just like solar panels and wind turbine blades, lithium ion batteries are difficult or economically unviable to recycle. They will all end up in landfill and create a huge waste problem for the future. According to the CSIRO less than 3 per cent of lithium ion batteries are recycled or repurposed in Australia.
Another myth is that wind and solar will make electricity cheaper. The CSIRO Gen Cost report 2018 does indeed state that wind generated electricity is marginally cheaper than coal produced electricity. This report did not take into account the cost of firming their generation with hydro, gas, batteries or coal as back up.
At present this firming cost is masked because 70 per cent of our electricity is generated by coal.
In November 2020 independent consultants tabled a report in the NSW parliament with the results of elaborate modelling work to generate the total levelised cost of electricity under various future scenarios.
Case 1. The current situation with 70 per cent electricity produced by coal – $68.87/MWH. Case 2. Replace brown coal generation with nuclear – cost rises to $72.48/MWH. Reducing emissions by 23 per cent. Case 3. Replace all coal with nuclear – $90.23/MWH and reduce emissions by 93 per cent. Case 4. The construction of generator technologies projected by the Australian Energy Market Operator to 2040 and the cost will be in the order of $250/MWH. Case 5. Replace coal with gas – $100/MWH. Case 6. 100 per cent renewable mix comprising solar PV, wind, hydro with pumped storage and huge batteries $415.15/MWH.
There should be no need to quote figures for anyone to realise that if you build a grid system based on technologies that require firming to supply power in the event of no sun and/or a wind drought for 20 hours then you must pay more for electricity. If the NEM requires 30,000MW of electricity during peak dinner period then you must have a back up dispatchible generation system capable of that supply. The cost of batteries for that amount of energy would be astronomical.
It is fine for a couple of multimillionaire failed ex-prime ministers to jet around the world spruiking the need for Australia to follow Great Britain and the US down the path of CO2 reduction. Great Britain and the US have something we do not have and that is a nuclear powered, zero emissions component in their electricity generating system. These gentlemen will have no trouble paying their energy bills, unlike the average Australian who will be feeling the bill stress on their electricity account.
In the end what will Australia achieve by reducing our 1.3 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions? Not a thing. We will not reduce the effects of climate change in any way. China and India will fill the void we leave 1000 times over and we probably achieve Third World nation status.
MERV JOHNSTON, Kirwan.