Provide much more safe, clean accommodation for homeless and other disadvantaged people in our ″great″ city of Melbourne. Homeless come first Daniel Andrews, priorities please. Question time should be used to call ministers to account rather than give them opportunities for self-promotion. Listening to a member read – usually very badly – a question prepared by someone else in order to hear a minister read – again, usually very badly – a prepared answer is an abuse of parliament and a waste of valuable time. An obvious reform is to stop the “Dorothy Dixers” in question time. Nix the Dixers The new government has the opportunity to increase the accountability and integrity of the parliament. Why are landlords not held accountable for buildings to be made more energy efficient? My daughter and her partner are unable to get into the housing market and it is they who must pay for the wasteful use of energy by others. Only by judicious use of curtains over doorways to contain heat to one room and wearing lots of extra layers is a semblance of warmth maintained and the electricity bill kept somewhat contained. Gas is used for cooking, there is no ducted heating. It has very little insulation, high ceilings, a small electric heater in the kitchen, a fireplace in the living room, windows that do not seal properly and no solar panels. As far as I can see nothing has ever been renovated in this house since the owners moved out (to a warm northern state) in terms of energy conservation. When the energy crisis hits home In relation to your correspondent (Letters, 6/6), my daughter and her partner live in a rental house in Mitcham. Coincidentally, not only is the shift from gas good for our wallets it is great for the climate and our planet, too. The best way to do this is to ramp up investments in renewable energy and accelerate the electrification of households to get off expensive gas. With the surge in global prices of coal and gas, we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and their volatile market prices. This highlights that Australia does not have a problem with gas supply instead, it has a problem with gas exports. The problem is not supply, but exports Despite the gas industry’s claims that we need more new gas projects to meet domestic demand, it needs to be noted that 72.7 per cent of Australia’s gas is exported overseas, with only 7.4 per cent of our gas used for domestic electricity generation. It will hopefully be Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who oversees a similar scheme nationally because, as the article ″Scramble to ease gas supply shock″ (6/6) suggests, what other solution to the gas crisis is there? If he had a marketing bent we could probably expect to see the ″GasKeeper″ program announced. Next up, the ‘GasKeeper’ program In 2006, Western Australian Labor premier John Carpenter introduced the state’s gas reservation policy, which requires gas exporters to set aside 15 per cent of production for local buyers. I don’t understand why our more conservative writers and speakers seem enamoured of nuclear power and dismissive of renewables – might it be that when renewables are dominant the ability to aggregate and dominate the energy market will diminish? Margaret Lothian, Middle Park The diminishing returns at play Well said Nick O’Malley. How do we safely store the radioactive waste? Advocates for nuclear power will have to address these issues if they are to persuade the public that nuclear energy is the answer to our energy problems. Communities near a nuclear plant will rightly be concerned about the potential for a nuclear incident similar to Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. From planning to commissioning of a nuclear plant will take from 10 to 15 years. There will be opposition from traditional owners of land rich in uranium. Uranium mining will itself produce massive carbon emissions and is a finite resource. There is nothing wrong with informed debate, but nuclear power is starting on a severe handicap when compared to free and infinite renewables. Nick O’Malley (Comment, 6/6) provides food for thought about the use of nuclear power to solve the energy crisis. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. To submit a letter to The Age, email Please include your home address and telephone number.
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