Anthony Albanese opens Climate Week in New York with a clarion call about climate action.
asserted
Albanese → open → action
“We need to meet the problem head on” and “unfortunately, without strong action” climate disasters will get worse (“Albanese takes climate warning to New York, but fossil fuel experts test credibility”, September 22).
asserted
experts → need → credibility
Australia, the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter, is still approving new fossil fuel projects, has a Clayton’s carbon offset system, has a 43 per cent target for emissions reduction that is not enforceable, and gives billions to fossil fuel companies through diesel rebates and direct project funding.
asserted
that → approve → rebates
Like his gambling advertising reforms and government transparency, he talks the big talk, but his actions speak otherwise.
asserted
actions → gamble → talk
Rowan Godwin, Rozelle
PM Albanese must surely have developed a thick skin after 30 years in politics.
asserted
Albanese → develop → politics
How else could a leader proclaim the need for greater measures to curb global warming in front of an international audience, despite having approved 37 fossil fuel projects since assuming office?
uncertain
leader → proclaim → office
Admittedly, Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels is trending downwards, but any reduction is offset by an increase in our coal exports.
asserted
reduction → trend → exports
No doubt this is facilitated by more than $1 million in donations from the fossil fuel industry before to the 2025 election.
asserted
this → facilitate → election
I welcome Prime Minister Albanese standing up on the world stage and acknowledging that our climate is warming and that we need to meet the problem head on.
asserted
we → welcome → problem
But since coming to office, the government has approved multiple new, expanded or extended coal, oil and gas developments.
asserted
government → come → developments
If Australia is going to call on the rest of the world to confront climate change, we need to confront it at home, too.
asserted
we → go → home
That means stopping the approval of new or expanded fossil fuel projects.
asserted
That → mean → projects
Our actions need to match our words.
asserted
actions → need → words
Suzy Bessell, Cremorne
Herald readers have been treated to compelling opinion pieces from Richard Flanagan on AI (“Albanese is selling out Australia to AI colonists as artists face ruin”, September 18) and Tim Winton on gas and climate disasters (“Big gas drillers give us so little and take so much”, September 19).
asserted
drillers → treat → much
If Geraldine Brooks were to write about Albanese’s failure to permanently protect native forests we’d have a trifecta of Australia’s literary heavyweights highlighting three major policy blind spots.
asserted
we → write → spots
Amy Hiller, Kew (Vic)
Unholy alliance
Snake oil just doesn’t cover it.
asserted
oil → cover → it
Exclusive Brethren leader Bruce Hales, who says he is “so close to the Lord Jesus that he can feel his heartbeat”, advocates – like Gina Rinehart and “the redhead” – digging up God’s “limitless resources” (“More power to the redheads: Brethren leader backs Hanson”, September 22).
asserted
leader → say → Hanson
In what universe is our planet not burning up?
asserted
planet → burn → ?
As for using our uranium to “build a few bombs”, that surely is a window into the man’s soul.
asserted
that → use → soul
Bearing arms is against Brethren doctrine, but by all means pray for it and advocate for it, via God, in the political sphere.
asserted
Bearing → bear → sphere
One Nation national director James Ashby will not comment.
asserted
Ashby → comment → ?
The Coalition continues to defend the Brethren.
asserted
Coalition → continue → Brethren
Will the “intense scrutiny” now being applied to examine their activities, including ties with neo-Nazis, curtail their actions at polling booths next time around?
asserted
scrutiny → apply → booths
Fiona Colin, Malvern East (Vic)
Poisoned by greed
Governments are finally noticing the rot they’ve allowed to creep into our universities (“Vice chancellors may have to justify their pay packets”, September 22).
uncertain
chancellors → poison → packets
I graduated with my PhD in 2015.
asserted
I → graduate → 2015
Well before that, the rot in my university was evident: managerialism had taken over.
asserted
managerialism → take → university
One of the major eight universities, it got rid of its school of philosophy within the faculty of arts and social sciences.
asserted
it → rid → arts
What respectable university does not have a school of philosophy?
asserted
university → have → philosophy
Philosophy is at the core of the intellectual rigour that should be embodied in higher education.
asserted
that → embody → education
One of my supervisors was offered redundancy because the claim was that no one was enrolling in his courses.
uncertain
one → offer → courses
But people did not enrol because the managers did not advertise them.
asserted
managers → enrol → them
Decades ago, our governments were seduced by the education export dollars and lost all interest in the role of education in building the intellectual capital of a nation.
asserted
governments → seduce → nation
They are obsessed with the neoliberal managerialism that has poisoned our once-great universities.
asserted
that → obsess → universities
The ridiculously inflated salaries for some senior university staff has undermined academics’ trust in their own educational institutions.
asserted
salaries → undermine → institutions
A simple formula of linking VCs’ pay to professorial salaries might stop the rot.
uncertain
formula → link → rot
Even the most senior academic staff (including VCs) should not be paid more than double a full professor’s salary.
asserted
staff → include → salary
And accountants’ and managers’ pay should be capped at the salary level of an associate professor.
asserted
pay → cap → professor
This would ensure that the more highly qualified academics remain the most highly rewarded members of the academy.
asserted
academics → ensure → academy
After all, universities are educational and research institutions, not businesses competing to accumulate wealth by underpaying the very academics who embody their profession’s principal and principled raison d’etre.
asserted
who → compete → profession
In addition, vice chancellors are happy to accept inflated salaries of over $1 million, plus other perks.
asserted
chancellors → accept → million
…and 59 more, not listed.
The Aporia
