Letters to
the editor

My record holds up

It was amusing to read John Hewson’s revisionism about my last tenure in parliament in “The path to an electable Coalition” (June 7-13). According to Hewson I “made no contribution to substantive debate on the key issues of climate, discrimination and integrity in government”. On climate, the most important metric is what happened on emissions: they consistently went down during my tenure and have since gone up under the current government. During my time as assistant minister for emissions reduction we also developed Australia’s first comprehensive plan to decarbonise the economy, and I passed the laws to establish offshore electricity infrastructure and took the first steps to establish an entirely new renewable energy industry sector: offshore wind. On discrimination, there are four significant federal events in Australian history: passage of universal suffrage in 1902, the unwinding of White Australia that started in 1949 under the Menzies government and concluded in 1973, the 1967 referendum under the Holt government, and the passage of marriage equality in 2017. The last occurred during my time in parliament. At the time, Michelle Grattan wrote “the real victory belongs to the five Liberals (four of them gay) who forced the issue back onto the political agenda – Dean Smith, Trent Zimmerman, Trevor Evans, Warren Entsch, and Tim Wilson”. The next time Hewson visits Old Parliament House he’ll also note they display my “marriage equality” campaign pin I wore at the time as part of the Museum of Australian Democracy’s exhibition on the debate. They also display my speech notes from the debate. On integrity, it is not something that is said but something that is lived. I’ll happily stack my record up against the teal MPs that promised to oppose fossil fuel subsidies before an election and then voted for $2 billion of new coal and gas subsidies once in office. Finally, Hewson claimed, “It has come to light that Dutton personally intervened to divert crucial late election funding from outer suburban seats to reinforce races against sitting independents”. This is pure fiction. By comparison, the former member for Goldstein was the largest recipient of money from Climate 200 of any candidate in the nation. Dr Hewson is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts, which are slightly more substantial than the fleeting flicker of candles on a birthday cake – whatever its variety.

– Tim Wilson, Member for Goldstein, Brighton East, Vic

Liability fund

Thanks to Greg Bourne for an excellent summary of the North West Shelf carbon bomb project and the pathetic positioning of both the Western Australian and federal governments (“The real reason for the North West Shelf project”, June 7-13). Both of these governments are well aware that burning more fossil fuels (whether here or overseas) will increase the likelihood of more extreme weather events, which will in turn decrease productivity and add greatly to economic costs. It won’t be Woodside paying to support the drought-stricken or flooded farmers. And given that Woodside barely contributes anything to the national coffers, it will be the ordinary taxpayers who will be picking up the tab for the climate damage. Maybe it’s time for the government to require all resource companies to make regular contributions to a contingent liability fund, before Woodside and its ilk fold their tents and slip away into the night.

– Catherine Rossiter, Fadden, ACT

Sad farewell

My usual pleasure when opening The Saturday Paper was somewhat tempered when reading of the imminent departure of Rick Morton from your ranks (“Tender little ministries”, June 7-13). His contributions have been exceptional in their research and expression. He gets to the core of the matter and reveals what is often not told to the public. Thank you, Rick. I wish you happiness and success in France. Bon voyage.

– Dianne Pope, Dungog, NSW