Correspondence: Super and carbon emissions

Super Contributions

I am unsure if there is an upper age limit for people over 60 making the $35,000 per annum concessional contribution to super. Can a 76 year-old employee who works 30 hours a week make this contribution or is he/she only permitted the 9.25% compulsory super paid in by the employer?

MC

Max Newnham’s response: Thanks for your question. Once an individual is age 75 years or over they can only receive the benefit of compulsory employer superannuation contributions.

Is this real?

In Alan’s most recent weekly email, Kohler’s Week: US Jobs, Glum Treasury, The Asian Century, one of the links in the Readings & Viewings section asked whether a gas which eliminates carbon emissions is real. It is about as real as Jo Bjelke-Petersen's cars running on water. To solve carbon emissions the gas would have to remove carbon dioxide from the exhaust streams and smoke stacks after hydrocarbons are burned. To do that it would need to convert carbon dioxide to some other (greenhouse neutral) compound. You can do that – but you need to put energy in – about the same amount (or a little more) as you get from burning the hydrocarbon in the first place – which will defeat the purpose of the burning.

Ian Campbell

Turnbull versus Kohler

I am not too impressed with Alan Kohler’s attack on Malcolm Turnbull. I believe Australia should have an NBN – but under no circumstances Labor's open cheque book, spend what you like and we hope like hell you get it right. Turnbull and the Coalition may need some time to rescue the Labor debacle, but at least they want to try. Turnbull has many good points to make – not least is why provide 100 Mbs to someone who cannot use it and does not need it. Alan is of course entitled to his opinion, but I can assure him he does not speak for me as a subscriber to Eureka Report.

John Wetherall