Many US states have introduced voter identification laws recently, which are expected to strip voting rights from people of colour, the poor, and those vulnerable because of inability to read, and or ignorance of their potential rights.

This voter cohort are seen as unlikely to vote for Republican candidates so the party is anxious to strip them of voting rights.

Australia is very lucky to have compulsory voting and control of electoral matters vested in the independent Electoral Commission.

Voter identification is just another step by the current Prime Minister to mimic the recent US President. This is an unpleasant strategy for Australians.

It's charming that the federal government should be more focused on the effective non-issue of voter identification at polls than on making transparent the identity and cheque sizes of political donors who are well known to have long perverted our law and policy-making processes.

It's not a secret what the greater threat to democracy is in Australia.

I was gobsmacked to hear that the Australian government is presenting a bill to the Parliament to prevent voter fraud in elections. In itself that is not a bad thing although there has never been an incident of such fraud in any previous election.

However the government is scrambling now to distract the electorates from core issues by offering unimportant feints as real issues.

The rationale behind the bill is that it is important that the electoral process - voting and results - are open and transparent.

This coming from the ranks of the most devious, secretive, amoral government since day one of federation is outrageous

It occurred to me on reading your observation that the industrial revolution in the 19th century had caused widespread poverty in Europe and mass emigration to the new world that the Prime Minister, on going to Glasgow, should be ready to resist the likely belittlement that people in Britain are accustomed to handing out to "colonials" ("Scott Morrison will be the pauper at Glasgow's COP26 feast", canberratimes.com.au, October 28).

He should have a posture that says "you in the northern hemisphere started this mess, and we are willing to help you out of it, and we have a plan, but without the involvement of those not present, it will be very difficult ".

He should preferably be a man big enough to darken a doorway with a cigar in his hand.

Keith Mackay (Letters, October 29) obviously missed the point your editorial writer was making about the industrial revolution. He seems to think, like ScoMo, that the world transforms overnight without pain or consequence.

As your writer pointed out, the industrial revolution was one of the most disruptive events in history. Its effects are still being played out. The planet-wide climate crisis is just one of its unintended consequences. The triumph of global capitalism and the emergence of superpower rivalry are two more.

You've got to take the bad with the good Keith. It's not all plain sailing.

Australia has a leading role to play as countries around the world decarbonise their economies. With our vast resources of sunshine and wind, as well as our land area and technical expertise, we have a wealth of opportunities to export clean energy.

Conversely, we are still licking our wounds from a decade of political "climate wars" that have frightened federal politicians away from taking advantage of these opportunities.

Hopefully this new commitment by the Nationals and the Liberals for net zero emissions by 2050 will put to rest the historic tensions on the matter and pave the way for stronger short term targets and legislation.

We have the economic chance of a lifetime and shouldn't let it slip through our fingers.

Each day at the UN climate-change conference COP26 the "Fossil of the Day" will be awarded to recalcitrant countries by the Climate Action Network, a collective of environmental organisations.

In 2019, Australia earned its first "Fossil of the Day" at the UN climate talks in Madrid.

Over the coming days the eyes of the world will be on Scott Morrison, the fossil-fuel addiction of the Coalition and its lack of action when it comes to bending the curve from three degrees down to 1.5 degrees.

Australia, as a rich polluting country, will be up for another "Fossil of the Day" award because of its failure to take urgent action to tackle climate change that threatens our livelihoods and the whole planet.

The federal Coalition government is not a coalition at all.

It is a minority government tied by a faulty agreement to a destructive and ill-disciplined junior partner. The fact the National tail keeps wagging the Liberal dog is evidence of this.

And the fact that the Nationals have apparently (according to Barnaby Joyce) had no role in developing government climate change policy until the last week or so proves it. Barnaby's bizarre approach to governing constantly reminds us the relationship between the two parties is based on blackmail, not cooperation and shared values.

If the Greens joined Labor to govern it would be a much lesser evil than the current Liberal-National non-coalition. If that's what it takes, Labor, then do it.

The German ambassador to Australia, Dr Thomas Fitschen, has warned that high emissions reduction targets for this decade are critical if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate tipping points ("Push for tougher 2030 targets", October 25, p15). The Morrison government's oft-repeated slogan "we will meet and beat" our 2030 target (a pitifully inadequate 26 to 28 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030) is simply not enough.

Every effort must be made to avoid tipping points caused by emissions of methane (a global-heating gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide) from thawing Arctic permafrost and sediments on the floors of warming seas. Once this process begins in earnest, there is no going back: large swathes of Earth will become economically and practicably uninhabitable.

Recently billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest announced plans to develop plants to produce green hydrogen in a couple of states. Electricity from renewable sources would be used to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen components and capture the hydrogen. But I can't recall that anyone said where the water was to come from.

This week is National Water Week, aimed at raising awareness of the value of water and improving sustainable management of Australia's scarce water resources.

Could some authority with knowledge please advise where the vast amounts of water are to come from to produce the millions of litres of hydrogen needed to power the country's transport and industry?

The ACT government needs to engage with the business partners who own and operate Phillip (Woden) Pool.

This pool represents much more than just a private business. It is an important community asset, and as such should not be allowed to die such a slow death. It is indeed the only pool in the south of Canberra where swimmers can be assured of being able to swim 50 metre laps.

Perhaps some well resourced club in Canberra with a very strong community spirit may in turn be able to engage with the government and with the current owners to help develop the pool into what it needs to be - a modern indoor swimming facility.

I found in The Book Of Lost Words by Pip Williams a French word, "mairt", meaning "friend". The English presumably borrowed it from the French and it became "mate".

I wonder what we gave them besides "television". It's certainly better than "buddy" which is from the United States of America, a subculture abusing English.