Victor Diskordia, McKellar

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo’s address to the National Press Club on June 6 was a hard-sell of free trade and globalisation. He forgot that there has never been a free trade agreement, only many self-interested trade agreements.
He forgot the selective protectionism of the biggest markets, Europe, the US and China.
He forgot that the blueprint for free trade and globalisation was written in 1944 during World War II in England at Breton Woods by all 44 of the Allies.
The resultant World Bank and IMF, together with the WTO which 50 years later replaced the 1948 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, have guided the world through the successive confrontations of the Cold War, the fall of the iron and bamboo curtains, the five tigers failure following the return of Hong Kong, the emergence of international Islamist terrorism, the GFC and into the current global economic and trade war.
Now is the time to wind back globalisation as China’s massive debt bubble threatens to burst. It is too dangerous to feed that bubble.
The minister’s acknowledgement of the increase in protectionism since the GFC was not countered by his reference to the growth in trade as a significant component of the US’s GDP. That could be less a reflection of the importance of globalisation than an indicator of the demise of domestic production for its own consumer market. His hard sell supported the government’s neoliberal chorus spruiking its big business tax reduction.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

I found the report ‘‘Fish stocks collapse by a third in one decade, study finds’’ (CT, June 6, p16) quite disturbing.
One of the causes identified by the scientific study is over-fishing, another unfortunate indication of poorly controlled or unconstrained greed – partly for the fish as food, but particularly for the monetary rewards from fishing.
Trawling is a particularly destructive method of fishing. It is indiscriminate, catching anything than cannot pass through the nets, and can seriously damage the sea floor, especially where there is seaweed or coral.
The claim by Seafood Industry Australia that the drop in commercial catch sizes has more to do with a reduction in catch limits is wrong. The study used direct scientific observations of fish numbers. The study also showed that climate change, in the shape of a warming Eastern Australian Current, is also affecting fish numbers. As Professor Edgar has said, the fish along our eastern seaboard cannot move any farther south because the Southern Ocean is a hostile environment for them.
This is yet another reason why we need to address global warming more seriously and urgently.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

In respect of light rail Stage 2, Civic-Woden, The Canberra Times reported on June 5 that ACT Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris said ‘‘the extra $8 million worth of technical work would provide the National Capital Authority with ‘‘all the information it needs to understand the benefits of the project and inform the recently announced federal inquiry’’.
It is very interesting and welcome to read that the ACT government sees the need to convince the NCA and Federal Parliament of the ‘‘benefits’’ of Stage 2. Let us fervently hope the minister produces a valid business case for Stage 2, for consideration by the NCA and Houses of Parliament, not like the farce that was produced for Stage 1. One may recall the Business Case for Stage 1 claimed a Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR) of 1.2, which the ACT government accepted and acted upon (naively or deliberately?), when external analysts put the BCR at 0.6 at best and which the Auditor-General put at only 0.49.

M. Flint, Smart Canberra Transport co-ordinator

Those of us who are not so financially literate might well ask why is it that the Commonwealth Bank would never be charged the trillion dollars it could potentially be fined by a court? Is it because it is ‘‘too big to fail’’?
If so, why doesn’t someone suggest breaking up the banks into smaller operations which can compete with each other outside the ‘‘game of mates’’ which the big four banks now seem to be playing?
As Murray and Frijters tell us in their 2017 book about this game, ‘‘There used to be smaller banks offering lower mortgage rates ... but many have simply been bought by the Big Four in Australia ... The fact that ... large banks have not been broken up by government shows how in this Game the regulators are on the [bankers’] side.’’
Well, why do we let this situation continue, allowing a big bank to escape the gargantuan fines it deserves, and forgoing the payment of those enormous sums back into our own national coffers where they belong?

Jill Sutton, Watson

While recently living in the West Bank, I met several of its members in Israel and learned that they suffer from discrimination almost as much as Israeli Arabs.
It takes a considerable amount of bravery and commitment to withstand the vehement condemnations they receive for their willingness to voice concerns at the abuses of basic human rights they witnessed during their service in the Israeli military forces.
Furthermore, their protests are based squarely on first-hand experience rather than the vague allegations Mr Hyams accuses them of producing.
It is a bit rich for him to criticise them for ‘‘making a comfortable living’’ when they have chosen conscience over a quiet life.

Mary Kelly, Yarralumla