What concerns me is her sentencing of a man who had already been convicted of two separate assaults against the same victim, who was on a good behaviour order, and who had been given chances to clean up his behaviour. This basher, who has quite a record for violence and other crimes on different occasions, effectively ends up with only eight months' comfortable free board and lodging in a pleasant rural setting; and an 18-month good behaviour order.

Where was her worship when a defendant successfully pleaded lack of intention through drunkenness after belting the tripe out of his then girlfriend on the main street of Weston Creek's shopping centre? She was on the bench then!

Spare citizens self-serving, precious buncombe about judicial colleagues' being prevented from questioning another judge's ludicrous acceptance of such a plea.

And, furthermore, don't latch on to the cost angle. Accumulating crime warrants cumulative incarceration, where recidivists must increasingly endure reducing comforts.

Put some iron in your belly, Ms Fryer, and show Canberra you really mean what you say.

Patrick Jones, Griffith

Having finally recognised how much violence and discrimination is experienced by women and children, we have a responsibility to make sure that there are no elements in our society supporting the idea that women (or children) are inferior, decorative or sex objects; that they are goods that can be owned; that their role in life is to look to men's needs or pander to men; that men's sexual or other needs come ahead of other people's liberty, safety, life, bodily integrity and personal choices.

Australians deserve to be free from violence, abuse, degradation, humiliation and exploitation, not only in the workplace but in all facets of their lives. The Attorney-General needs to take this task up urgently, so that Australian women and children can begin hoping to have safe and dignified lives.

M. Aken, Holder

Privatising the ACTION bus system won't be the quick fix Andrew Barr is looking for ("Barr puts squeeze on ACTION bus for reform", March 27, p1). It is great a discussion is beginning on ways to improve our bus system. I am disappointed, however, that the discussion has taken threats of privatisation as its point of departure.

At its most profitable, ACTION worked on a feeder system, where local bus services transported people from the suburbs to town centre interchanges. Sure, passengers had to switch between buses, but these changes were relatively easy. I managed it as a year 4 student going home from school every day by bus. Also, given all services met at the one point, it was easier to travel to many destinations from any given starting point.

Over time the bus network has been transformed into a mismatched combination of express trunks mixed with hub and spoke routes. The result is a network that isn't quite sure what it is meant to be, is in large parts confusing to navigate and works better in some places than others.

If you want to improve the system, don't start the debate with threats to drivers who have negotiated the right to opt into weekend rosters. Rather, start by asking what are we doing differently between now and when our system did work well.

Suzanne Orr, Franklin

Emma MacDonald ("Schoolkids stranded: transport chaos tipped for Anzac holiday", March 25, p1) writes that the government stands accused of "mishandling the transportation arrangements for up to 28,000 children". I find it hard to believe that all of the 28,000 students who attend independent schools in the ACT catch the bus – if they all did, I'm sure we would have a very different network.

The April 27 holiday is a unique situation, and hardly constitutes a need to start talking about privatising an entire network ("Barr puts squeeze on ACTION bus for reform", March 27, p1), or even "bringing in competitors" (whatever that is supposed to mean: will we have parallel buses running the same routes, or will they be charging the unsubsidised cost to make a profit?).

It seems obvious to me that this is just being used as a handy excuse to attack the bus drivers, rather than looking at the government's own responsibilities to create an even better route plan that responds well to the changing needs of Canberrans. I hope the ACT government will recognise that maintaining public ownership and direction of the public transport system, combined with the exciting upcoming light rail, is the only way to ensure the best outcomes for the ACT.

Alex Cassie, Turner

I have spent some time on Norfolk Island, settled four weeks after the First Fleet's arrival in 1788. It was not "invaded", as there were no inhabitants. It became a dreadful penal settlement, before Queen Victoria gave the island to the descendants of the Bounty mutineers on Pitcairn Island. It subsequently became a territory with an assembly just like the ACT under the Australian federal government. On March 20, 2015, the federal government informed them that it was removing the island's Assembly (Parliament) without even allowing a referendum of residents on their future.

Could the ACT Assembly go the same way if the federal government decided it did not like its politics or legislation, eg, gay marriage, euthanasia?

Ken Helm, Murrumbateman, NSW

At the Public Accounts Committee hearing on the loose-fill asbestos bill, Katy Gallagher agreed that the whole history of the asbestos contamination problem would be the subject of an inquiry. An inquiry was recommended by the committee last December. Their recommendation was unanimous, with the support of the two Labor members of the committee, Mary Porter and Yvette Berry.

Among other things, an inquiry would consider the adequacy of Ms Gallagher's response when she was told of the asbestos danger in 2005. Now that Andrew Barr is Chief Minister, will the inquiry still happen? And, if so, when?

John Kilcullen, Macquarie

I can't agree with Peter Hartcher's view that Iran is as much a threat as Islamic State ("Iran as great a threat as IS", Times2, March 31, p4). After all, IS as a Sunni group is an avowed enemy of Shia Iran. I don't support the theocratic nature of the Iranian state, and there is no doubt that Iran's hand is involved in terrorism and regional instability, but to equate Iran with IS is hard to accept. One would have to say that the Saudi Wahhabism form of Islam is not aparticularly positive force in the region and the World Trade Centre attack was carried out by a majority of Saudis. Hartcher quotes only Iran's opponents – Israel and the large Sunni states.

For a sustainable Middle East, there needs to be a rapprochement between the Sunni and Shia states. The Obama government's efforts onIran's nuclear program and the lifting of sanctions against Iran should contribute to a balancing ofthe main powers in the region.

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

As an ex-Treasury officer, I applaud some of the things suggested in the Treasury's tax discussion paper ("Treasury puts case to lift GST", March 30, p1), but not others.

The case for increasing GST to 15per cent and making it universal, is unanswerable, but there are some suggestions I disagree with – the idea that dividend imputation (whereby the tax shareholders pay is reduced by the tax their company has already paid) might not be a good thing, because it reduces the incentive offoreigners (who don't get the imputation credit) to invest here.

Apart from the fact that many Australians don't like foreigners taking over Australian companies anyway, the real reason dividend imputation was introduced was to eliminate the inequitable situation ofshareholders being taxed twice onthe profits their company earned.

Related to that, the suggestion that the company tax rate of 30percent be reduced is meaningless. If it's reduced, shareholders pay more tax (with dividend imputation, company tax ismerely an interim payment). Also, regarding the obvious dislike of capital gains tax being at 50 per cent instead of 100 per cent, although Treasury understandably wants to maximise tax revenue, the right rate depends on economic and other circumstances.

R.S. Gilbert, Braddon

I thoroughly enjoyed the article "The genial general" by Jane Cadzow (Forum, March 28, p1).

As a Yank temporarily living in Canberra, it is helpful to read background articles on well-known Australians that provide more flesh to the familiar bare-bones articles ofthe ceremonial activities of the Governor-General.

If I may make one suggestion: tosay that soldiers win medals is anatrocious use of a verb that should be forever banned from the English lexicon. Soldiers earn medals, especially ones obtained through heroic acts in battle, and will often blush at the notion that they should be singled out for their actions. More frequently, they are quick to explain they are but the representative face of a group of soldiers who acted in a manner worthy of commendation. Ithink Governor-General Cosgrove would be the first to agree.

Katherine Powers, Campbell

Lovely to know we've got a nice bloke as our vice-regal representative. How much better it would be to have a real intellectual thinking about the country and its people, about the future and our identity, speaking tous about difficult matters that transcend the pettiness of politics.

She or he should be elected by allvoters as our own head of state, rather than hidden, silent in the shadow of the British monarchy.

Sarah Brasch, Women for an Australian Republic, Weston

The initial rejection of a play on Jewish themes by the Red Rattler theatre, which has since apologised, is, of course, disturbing and discriminatory, but this does not minimise or exclude a proper concern about abuse against homosexuals in sport, as H. Ronald (Letters, March 30) would have it.

Ronald tried to frame this abuse as an isolated incident of little account, but it was persistent and distinctly heard by a number of players and had also occurred in previous games.

It is not possible to weigh up or know about every wrong in the world and set up a calculus of concern. Why then should we protest only against evils of Ronald's selection, rather than abstain from protest against discrimination against groups Ronald does not appear to favour or,indeed, abstain from calling out wrongs just as we see them?

David Roth, Kambah

Congratulations to Bill Deane (Letters, March 25) for bringing some reality to the letters pages.

It may be to the nation's benefit to encourage population of the more isolated parts of the continent, but some writers fail to distinguish between tax concessions given to enterprises that contribute to the economy and handing out money forthe unemployed to stay put.

Ways must be found and initial funding provided to raise living standards beyond a subsistence level, such as by the development oftourist accommodation, nature reserve conservation and guiding, art and craft production, the marketing of native foods, local mineral enterprises, livestock breeding, commercial fishing and pest control services. In some places, these co-operative efforts are functioning well.

Aboriginal culture and languages must be supported and can be a source of employment, but the way money is being spent now is often destructive of their societies and their self-respect.

The millions of successful migrants of all cultures, uprooted from their homelands and often arriving with nothing, must find the complaints about disadvantage puzzling, when what they see are definite advantages for the taking.

P. Edwards, Holder

I think Tim the Yowie Man ("Brumbie encounters aplenty", Panorama, March 28, pp38-39) completely understates the situation in Kosciuszko National Park when he talks about "encountering the occasional brumby while trekking in the Snowy Mountains". In the northern part of the park, regular National Parks and Wildlife Service surveys are showing an amazing 17percent a year increase in feral horse numbers. And this is despite NPWS attempts to control feral horse numbers.

Horses are, by far, the largest hard-hoofed feral animal impacting the park's fragile subalpine environment. They are an unnecessary pressure on an already stressed eco-system. And with increases in feral horse numbers like this, the pressure will only get worse. Effective control of feral species requires a range of control techniques to be available to land managers, yet political decisions have restricted the NPWS's ability to choose the most effective controls. Let's take the sentimentality out of the issue. Feral animal control requires tough decisions.

Rod Griffiths, president, National Parks Association of the ACT

Tim the Yowie Man seems set on presenting feral horses as gentle, beautiful creatures that do no damage to our natural environment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I just wish Tim would go back to the period when he dreamed of Yowies, mythical creatures that did not harm to the Australian environment.

Horses are neither mythical nor soft-footed native animals, nor do they float by our wetlands without touching the ground. Instead, we are left with vast areas of damage covering the headwaters of both the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers. Open your eyes, Tim, if not for yourself, at least for future generations.

Dianne Thompson, Fisher

PRESIDENTIAL PROFILE

Cowering behind a fence does not convey strength or leadership so much as an overblown sense of self-importance ("Senate launches inquiry into Abbott's fence", March 28, p6). If this presidential-style security regime continues, we will have a Prime Minister driving down the road in two-tonne armoured car and flying in a plane called "Air Farce 1".

B.Clarke, Monash

BREAKING RANKS

Alan Ramsey's article "Australia becoming a lackey of the US" (Forum, March 28, p4) is timely as the United States and Saudi Arabia embark on yet another example of naked aggression, this time against defenceless Yemen, while its Israeli-controlled Congress (pushed along by such neocon propagandists as the New York Times), contemplate the unprovoked bombing of Iran. How soon before we receive our marching orders from the US?

Rex Williams, Ainslie

HOT OFF THE PRESS

The radio informed me on Saturday that a controlled burn of 960 hectares in Namadgi was to take place. I had to laugh when I read the weather report in our newspaper. The ACT fire danger? "High."

Ken Wood, Holt

CARTOON CROSSED LINE

The editorial cartoon of a pilot being examined through a body scanner (Times2, March 30, p1) should get an award for the most appalling, inappropriate, insensitive, disparaging, and rude cartoon ever drawn. A very cheap laugh. I will not renew my subscription to The Canberra Times.

Geoff Harding, Mawson

BRICK BY BRICK PLEASE

So that we might check the veracity of the Land Development Agency ("Canberrans back altered brickworks plan", March 30, p3) could we have the question(s), please?

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

I was interested to read that the majority of Canberra residents are now in favour or the Yarralumla brickworks development. Should the majority view also prevail with regard to light rail?

Kate Carmody, Yarralumla

FREE TV'S FINAL FLAG

Channel Ten is advertising that it is the new home of motor sports. Just this weekend past there was the V8 Supercars races, MotoGP and the Malaysian GP. What did we get? No MotoGP, no Grand Prix racing and just snippets of the V8s! This is totally bogus advertising and we no longer have the pleasure of seeing live motor sports on free-to-air TV. This needs addressing now.

John Hurley, Chisholm

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au

Keep your letter to 250 words or less. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).