Liberal backbencher Scott Morrison (Image: AAP/Private Media)
Liberal backbencher Scott Morrison (Image: AAP/Private Media)

Warren Devrell writes: Re “The murder of Reza Barati — a dress rehearsal for later, bigger lies by Morrison”: I can only recall one occasion in which Scott Morrison told the truth and that’s when he said: “In Australia, we look after our mates.” It’s just that he forgot to tell us who the mates were: Santos, BHP, Woodside and all the other polluters.

Richard Crofts writes: As time passes more and more of Morrison’s lying is exposed: the far-right pseudo-Christian claims, the divine right to rule, believing he was chosen by God to lead Australia, the miracle of his election… the list goes on. The hubris he displayed was breathtaking. He told lies when the truth was easier, just because he could — a habit practised over many years and he became a master at it. He could have won gold for Australia in the world lying championship.

Nothing was exempt. He fooled Australia for a decade or more — as well as all his previous employers. His record stands alone as the worst prime minister in our history, the only record he will ever hold and I doubt it will ever be challenged.

Ray Schriever writes: Certainly, if Morrison had ever told the truth about anything he would be the last to know it. Maybe when he claimed he didn’t hold a hose it was as close as he ever got. But the question shouldn’t be about his lack of honesty, his obsession with power or his overwhelming narcissism. It should be about how he ever managed to get to the positions he has held and still holds. How could an entire electorate in a free democratic society elect and reelect such an unworthy candidate? The second question is: how did the Liberal Party reduce itself by appointing the sewer dregs of society to public positions? The problem is more serious than one very little man.

Waking from the dream

Bernie Stever writes: Unfortunately for Labor, the dream run it’s had is starting to look like an obstacle course (“Labor’s mixed signals on mates don’t augur well for a reset from the Morrison years”). There’s political discourse among the true believers of the ALP seeking some kind of nirvana after years of conservative shenanigans. Unfortunately, this will be a long, drawn-out campaign now it’s in power. The first rule once you’re in power is to stay there.

The screechy, always anti-ALP media will continue their relentless attacks based on rancid opinion pieces rather than evidence-based news reporting, especially when it concerns their owners’ interests. It’s the main reason they hate the ABC, Crikey and Guardian Australia, among others, so much. This explains the drift to the extreme on social media, etc. 

So the approach of Anthony Albanese, indeed all ALP premiers/chief ministers, is “slowly, slowly catchy monkey”. After all, they’re executing a longer-term deliberate strategy, not the announceable strategy of the previous administration. It’s also a different parliamentary mix with Greens, teals, independents and minor parties in both houses to wrangle with.  

So far, I think, it’s a case of stabilisation and lining up the ducks, rather than actually doing everything all at once for everyone all the time. As the previous regime showed frequently when it announced unfunded projects or fast-tracked ones to its mates, it ultimately delivered bad policy/outcomes for the wider population.

Hot under the collar

Bill Castleden writes: With great eloquence, Bernard Keane in “Climate criminal Woodside gets value for money from its political donations” has well-described how Woodside bribes the WA community to be compliant via its sponsorship of The Dockers, the Little Nippers, the WA Ballet and at least eight other significant organisations, and how it also renders our politicians supine with its huge donations to the Labor Party and the Coalition partners.

And yet, climate change is upon us, and already it may not be reversible. Despite climate scientists and the United Nations calling for us to stop pouring fuel onto these climate-change fires by stopping all future extraction of new fossil fuels, Woodside is intent on developing the Scarborough gas field off the north-west Australian coast. We all know this will pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere until the 2070s, risk polluting the ancient rock art of the Burrup peninsular and cause a major and unnecessary extra threat to the world.

Woodside’s board has approved the expenditure of $16 billion to get the Scarborough development underway. If this $16 billion was invested in renewable energy, it would safely ensure that Woodside would become one of the country’s largest generators of green energy. Instead, it is busy prosecuting protesters and gaily ignoring the climate concerns of many Australians while hiding behind a website redolent with justifications and greenwashing. This is making Woodside a markedly unpopular organisation.

Surely not all Woodside’s directors are climate deniers? What would it take, I wonder, for the board to ensure that Woodside becomes a $16 billion Australian renewable energy company now, and not (as will become inevitable for all fossil-fuel companies) at some distant point in the future?

Brian Mollan writes: Keane is spot on. The back-scratching between Woodslide (not a typo), the governments and most media is blatant. If this occurred in a Third World country it would rightly be called corruption. But of course in a Western so-called democracy you can’t call it that. Except that the land of Oz is not a true democracy; it is a moneyocracy, where The Big Money, not the people, has the power. 

In Western Australia, we have the appropriately named SS (“State Security”) Police, the tools of the fossil fools. They have the freedom to totally disregard privacy laws and rifle through a female protester’s underwear drawer at will. Nobody is asking how the SS happened to be lying in wait at Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill’s house. O’Neill feels distressed — what a shame. What about the mega-distressed planet that her extremely well-paid efforts are polluting?

Dr Judith Bourne writes: The evolving climate crisis scares the heck out of me. These activists’ actions are out of sheer desperation. I am a grandmother, a scientist (PhD) and am totally exasperated that cronyism, egos, greed, etc, are stopping sensible action — even at this late stage when all the signs are so glaringly obvious. 

The media should be covering the climate crisis truthfully, in a balanced, well-informed way. Right now coverage is abysmal. Thank you for showing the way with informed, unbiased reporting. (PS: I’d love you more if you did a proper analysis of why native forest logging on public land continues. It’s uneconomic, unpopular, carbon-polluting, wildlife-destroying.)

Brian Wooller writes: Recently I had the misfortune of seeing how far Woodside management goes in its influence with legal authority. At a noisy but peaceful protest outside Woodside’s Perth headquarters, the police issued two “move on” notices. One was given to a gentleman standing next to me on the pavement. The accusation was that he had been told to move and hadn’t complied. He was standing by the entrance to the building and not blocking access. We had taken great care in positioning ourselves to allow pedestrian access. The final irony was that a police officer then stood on the same spot for the remainder of the 40-minute protest.

The behaviour of the police was clearly provocative. A comment made earlier by another officer made this quite clear when he objected to our presence, suggesting it was intimidating. We all need to be mindful that if private sector companies can wield power through the public sector — in this case the police — then our free and democratic society is compromised.

Tony Whitely writes: Woodside made a net profit after tax last year of US$6498 million (A$9912 million) and yet it is protected and cosseted at both state and federal levels for an average annual spend on political donations of only $260,000 across the major parties. It’s unbelievable that the major parties can be bought so cheaply and betray the public interest for such a trifling sum. It’s an absolute total corruption of our political system! And what an incredible return on investment for Woodside, a gobsmacking 38,000:1. I’m speechless.