It is apparent that the AFP has exposed itself to a perceived ‘‘conflict of interest’’ situation through its collusion with the ministerial adviser of the Home Affairs Minister. It is therefore a serious public administration matter that should not be dealt with on the periphery. The reason for this, is because it impacts on the core responsibilities and requirements undertaken by public officials.

If it was the case that the AFP’s investigation processes contravened its national guidelines on politically sensitive investigations, then there is a perception that there was no impartiality in determining an outcome.

This notion also contravenes the very essence of the APS Values and Code of Conduct. Both mandate that public service officials should be apolitical, perform their functions in an impartial and professional manner, and uphold the highest ethical standards.

It also demands honesty and integrity, and appropriate confidentiality about dealings with any minister or minister’s member of staff.

Furthermore, public officials who feel or suspect that there is some wrongdoing, are within their right under the Public Disclosure Act 2013, to disclose a matter of public interest. They deserve to be protected from any adverse consequences. On the other hand, those public officials conducting the investigation should ensure the matters are properly investigated and dealt with.

I hope that when the AFP conducts future investigations into politically sensitive material that it is mindful of the APS Values and Code of Conduct, and the Public Disclosure Act 2013, and be reminded as to why such frameworks of accountability are in place.

Thomas Natera, Ngunnawal

Clive Palmer seems to possess unlimited resources to fund his advertising campaign on prime-time TV as well as in our dailies, with repetitious, puerile ads that extol his virtues as Australia’s national living treasure and the next political saviour.

Having that much funding to splurge, presumably Palmer would have remunerated all the workers that were owed more than $65million in unpaid redundancy entitlements, after his failed Queensland Nickel company collapsed under $300million in debts, costing almost 800 jobs! Or did he?

R.S. Baczynski, Isaacs

The normally thunderous federal Minister for Small and Family Business, Michaelia Cash, remains silent yet again about the latest exposure of deliberate underpayment of employees in certain retail and restaurant businesses (‘‘7-Eleven operator fined $335,000 in wage scandals’’, canberratimes.com.au January 18). Perhaps a Coalition election promise of massive increases in fine levels, stronger ‘‘naming and shaming’’ processes and other significant penalties is needed to stamp out the unacceptable rorting of workers’ wages and conditions by many business operators.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Once again it is time for politicians and newspaper types to urge equality of Australian honours to recipients.
I had the privilege of being with my wife at a state conference of the CWA some years ago when Honours Secretariat staff attended and reminded the attendees that they do not pluck names out of the air for honours; they rely on nominations from individuals and organisations.

Put bluntly, fewer nominations of women naturally means fewer female honours.

Accordingly, if Tanya Plibersek is not nominated by the ALP or some other appropriate organisation with which she is involved for an honour, then her chances of an honour are significantly reduced.

A simple computer search will easily reveal a helpful step-by-step form to make a nomination.

T.W. Campbell, Bruce

Every residential aged-care facility that I ever worked in was staffed by a caring, well-trained, underpaid and overworked skeleton crew.

Many more staff are needed to properly monitor residents who are a danger to themselves and others.
Minister Ken Wyatt may make regulations regarding restraints, but unless staffing is increased and workers paid more, then, for the safety of all residents and staff, both chemical and physical restraints will continue to be needed for too many people suffering dementia.

The central problem of the aged-care industry is money – not enough comes from governments, not enough of that goes to workers and too much of it goes to the profiteers.

Fix that please, Mr Wyatt.

Bob Elliston, Registered Nurse, Bruny Island, Tasmania

As an aficionado of the under-40s in our community, it would be good to see Chief Minister Andrew Barr take an interest in the appearance and operation of the Merry-Go-Round in Civic.

From a distance, with its ugly security gates and dreary facade, it looks more like the city annexe of the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

I also understand that the operator is a social enterprise providing valuable employment opportunities. But how would we know this?

New signage, uniforms and promotion of the social enterprise would change this.

Chief Minister, you are missing an opportunity tomake a positive mark on theminds of Canberra’s emerging voters and an opportunity for spin of the old-fashioned kind – on the back of a wooden horse, holding a barley sugar pole!

Dr Susan Boden, Canberra

Political donations are made with some expectation. Some might view that as not improper influence.

To counter that potential, why not make it unlawful for anyone to give or receive such donations, with a penalty of imprisonment, unless the donation is made: electronically to a specific Commonwealth officer, without being communicated by the donor to the intended recipient, and then passed on anonymously by that officer to the specified recipient (within a set period that allows interest to accrue and defray the cost of the scheme).

The accounts of this officer would be made public but not specify the donor.

Thus the donor has no expectation and the recipient has no obligation.

Of course, this scheme would allow foreign donations and probably prompt a call for greater public funding of elections, but what would that matter in this context?

Charles Woodhouse, Civic

It’s very interesting that China has just announced tax cutting incentives this week to Chinese businesses.

The Chinese communist government has a strong commitment to the promotion and success of its private sector businesses and responds to market changes in a very timely manner to ensure China’s strong economic growth.

Meanwhile in Canberra by contrast our government sees the business sector only as a cash cow to be plundered to fill the government coffers.

Currently in Fyshwick there are 75 business premises vacant for sale or for rent. This is 15 more empty properties than six months ago, which means that the rate of vacated properties over new leases is currently expanding at 30 properties per annum.

The major reason for Fyshwick and other commercial areas of Canberra heading towards being ghost towns is the ACT government’s oppressive and extreme rating policy.

A policy we would not be surprised to hear about from a communist government or dictatorship.

It appears that in this area of government policy the tables have turned with the Chinese communists acting in a more capitalistic manner towards business than our local government.

People could then assume that we in the ACT would have very robust public finances but apparently the opposite is the case.

Dr Khalid Ahmed and Dr Stephen Anthony have been warning the ACT government since 2016 that their fiscal policy is not sustainable.

Dr Ahmed has been quoted as saying that the ACT public finances are at their weakest for more than a decade.

What financial skills are missing from the ACT government that they are unable to understand the advice that they are given?

Or is it that our ACT government chooses not to hear this advice?

Barry Faux, Canberra

I had no idea that ACTEW was so powerless to ensure home owners keep power lines clear from tree branches and the like.

For more than two years our near neighbours have refused to clear their tree that now towers two to three metres over and above the power lines and four metres above the Optus cables.

The same tree poisons our pond with its leaves so much that we now keep it drained.

When we approached the neighbours, we were rudely told that we should prune the tree.

For more than two years we have regularly brought this to ACTEW’s attention yet still no action.

Last July, there was a neighbourhood blackout caused by a power pole a few yards away.

When ACTEW were attending to that, they noticed the potential problem from our neighbours and a couple of days later a technician came to our yard to take a look.

Photos were taken but nothing has happened.

K. Fitzgerald, Canberra

In 1626 a new warship, the Vasa, was being built for the king of Sweden.

He had ordered that the ship be equipped with two full gun decks instead of the then customary single deck.

The result was that the ship was unstable and capsized and sank in Stockholm harbour about 1500 metres into her maiden voyage.

In the 20th century the Vasa was raised from the sea bed and is now housed in a permanent museum in the Swedish Royal National Park.

Here it serves not only as a very interesting maritime exhibit, but is a permanent reminder of the dangers of allowing political interference in the proper project planning and design processes.

In the ACT we are unlikely ever to see a museum to the light rail system, but we will get an annual reminder of the dangers of allowing project planning to be determined by political whim when we get our rates notices.

Roger Quarterman, Campbell

‘‘Greece is the word’’ declares your headline about the amazing performance of ‘‘Greek excitement machine’’ Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open (January 23, p37).

Acting on your report that he is ‘‘the first Greek player – male or female – to reach the last four at a major’’ , the Hellenic Club’s board of directors should be commissioning a statue of him to grace the foyer.

In his autobiography published in 2008, the great Pete Sampras admitted to being puzzled about how he had been attracted to tennis and had excelled.

Sampras recalled ‘‘we had no real tennis tradition in the family’’.

‘‘We were Greek Americans, firmly connected to our roots in many ways. Some small nations in the Western world, like Croatia and Sweden, have a rich tennis tradition.

‘‘But Greece isn’t one of them. Culturally, tennis was completely off the radar.’’

If 20-year-old Stefanos has anything more to do with it, that’s about to change.

V.R. Condon, Narrabundah

So it’s finally arrived at ACT’s doorstep. Authorities are pleading with Canberrans to limit their electricity usage (‘‘Canberrans told to limit power usage’’, canberratimes.com.au, January 18).

Not only are we being gouged and hit in the hip pocket to pay exhorbitant electricity costs for domestic use, now there’s no guarantee we’ll even get it.

What a joke.

Things can only get worse if there’s 100 per cent green energy.

It appears the wind farms, of which there are many around the ACT/NSW border, fail to produce because of the sweltering conditions.

So what was the actual contribution to the grid from the wind farm? Not much, I’d say.

The Greens have got a lot to answer for. I’m sure our local ministers and MLAs enjoy their air conditioned offices and air conditioned cars provided by the ACT ratepayers and probably never broke a sweat.

Did they have their coffees and lunch delivered by drones, instead of stepping out into the heat?

J. Bodsworth, Phillip

Australia Day. The day pollies and public servants get honours for just doing their jobs. Love it.

M. Moore, Bonython

NUMBERS TALK

Australia is third in the UN Human Development Index, fourth in the CATO Human Freedom Index, has the 15th smallest poverty rate according to the World Bank, and most importantly, is first in the ICC cricket rankings for T20 and ODI for women.

Did someone say men’s cricket? Happy Australia Day.

Ken Mansell, Canberra

RING THE CHANGES

Change the date (of the election) so we can change the government. The sooner the better.

Keith Hill, Isaacs

PLAINS TO SHARE

The 1788 arrival of boatloads of wretched convicts on NSW shores is commemorated with joyous celebrations and a national holiday. The more recent arrival of boats bearing asylum-seeking unfortunates receive a government sanctioned non-welcome and indefinite offshore incarceration. Ah, Australia.

Heather Stewart, Weston

DOPE DIVULGED

The illicit drug use admissions by several ACT politicians – many, as it turns out, who are ministers in the government – explains a lot.

Don Sephton, Greenway

LEAP FORWARD

Given the annual brouhaha over whether the current date of Australia Day is appropriate (it clearly isn’t and we need to think forwards as a nation and not backwards) I propose the date be moved to February 29.

Bill Handke, Kambah

EVER INVADERS

On January 26 we celebrate the English invasion of Australia.

On April 25 we celebrate the Australian invasion of Turkey.

Leon Arundell, Downer

FEES AND FAILURES

The issue of universities enrolling low ATAR students into teaching and having them fail later could be stopped by paying universities for graduates, not enrolments.

D. Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic

NOT ME, SIR

Refreshing honesty from Labor and Green MLAs re their drug use. But who is surprised to hear Liberal MLAs say they never did anything wrong?

S. W. Davey, Torrens

COME TOGETHER

The eagerness of the Liberal Party to embrace long-time Labor Party member Warren Mundine and Mr Mundine’s eagerness to embrace the offer without any apparent sense of conflict says it’s time the two parties formalised a merger.

Fred Pilcher, Kaleen

NO BILLY OR GOUGH

Well may we say that Scott Morrison is today’s Billy McMahon, but Bill Shorten is certainly no Gough Whitlam, today or any other day!

Jon Jovanovic, Lenah Valley, Tas

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