Is this what we want? The government plans to remove the $10,000 limit on electoral donations. Attorney-General Simon Corbell said that was to remove "an incentive for donors to circumvent the electoral funding laws". I guess seeing the results of NSW ICAC he has reason to be concerned that ACT politicians may be just as corrupt as their NSW colleagues. But that's not a good reason to remove a law that aimed to ensure rich people did not have an excessive say in our government.

The government also plans to increase public funding of parties who get more than 4per cent of the vote. Instead of $2 a vote, they will get $8, which is a lot more than other jurisdictions. This will mean total public funding of about $2million, up from about $400,000 last election.

If we are going to spend more money on elections, we should get more public benefit for it, not just endless repeating of slogans. Last election all we had was "Labor or Green = Triple your rates". Why not get the electoral commission to do a comparison document of the various platforms? Or finance a fact checker like the ABC provided at the last federal election?

The changes will make it harder for independents and small parties. Parties who have the maximum 25 candidates can spend $1million, which for Labor and Liberal will be almost 100per cent paid for by the taxpayer. Independents can only spend $40,000, so they won't have a chance. Independents and small parties who get less than 4per cent of the vote won't get any public funding. I am an ex-Green MLA but I am not saying this to support the Greens, as we have polled more than 4per cent in the ACT for a long time. The Greens will survive this change, but potential new independents and small parties might not.

These changes make ACT elections cheap for Liberal and Labor at a significant cost to the taxpayer and democracy.

Caroline Le Couteur, Downer

Please do not allow cyanide processing of ore that contains lead, cadmium, zinc and gold at Dargues Mine at Majors Creek, NSW, nor allow a smelter to be built, threatening the village of Majors Creek, local businesses, the creek that is the headwaters of the Eurobodalla South Coast water system, and our children.

Unity Mining had five pollution incidents at Dargues in the six months they operated, as well as a collapse of their initial workings. The site is on steep land, overlooking Majors Creek township and the thriving orchards and other businesses of the Araluen valley, which bring in more economic benefit than the proposed mine and smelter. Spring Creek on the Dargues site is the headwaters of the Eurobodalla water system for much of the NSW South Coast.

Virginia and Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Braidwood, NSW

While the federal Minister for Defence might not trust a submarine builder to build a canoe, who would trust Unity Mining at the Dargues Reef mine at Majors Creek to build a sandpit for the local kindy?

Six major spills or mistakes in just six months of operation, affecting or threatening watercourses, farms and residents downstream as well as the water supply for a whole shire down on the coast and they are asking us to trust them. Unity Mining is now proposing onsite processing of ore, using environmental crowd-pleaser cyanide to release lead and arsenic along with gold from the crushed ore. So, when the mine boss was filmed during the start of the (ahem) "community consultation" process promising no cyanide, was he just making a Howard "non-core promise"? To propose the introduction of cyanide processing through amendments to existing non-cyanide conditions is an insult and an absurdity.

A full environmental and social impact study is required before the matter is considered. If that doesn't put it to bed, then the Non-violent Direct Action campaign that will follow approval (should it be given) will. The mine only got to this stage because it didn't directly threaten the lives and livelihoods of locals and downstream and downwind users of the water and the land, and the miner convinced the inquiry that it wouldn't (even if the local community had deep and justified reservations). It is now threatening us with death by a thousand cuts: a changed condition here, and amendment there, a clean-up here, an apology there ... reject Unity Mining's "cyanide by stealth".

Will Douglas, Moruya, NSW

I haven't yet seen Russell Crowe's film, The Water Diviner, but I am less than charmed by the sneering dismissal of it by Guy Walters ("When actors get history wrong, we need to worry", November 29, p20).

He cites Crowe's view that the Anzac campaign has been "mythologised", "celebrated" and that "people forget that enemy soldiers were also killed". Walters then declares, from his lordly vantage point in London, that Crowe's views are "utterly without foundation".

British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett started the mythologising with his description of the original landing, a tendency that has persisted in Australian school textbooks ever since. Has he not heard about our "baptism of fire", our "coming of age"? We have even presumed to talk about an "end to innocence", forgetting the colonial frontier violence that preceded it.

After so many books on Gallipoli, there is not much disagreement about the facts. Mr Walters gives the game away, however, with his euphemism "fallen". "Killed" (even "mown down" or "blown up") don't sound quite as euphonious as his phrase "fought and fallen". This particular part of World WarI was essentially a clash between two empires that, not so long before, had been on friendly terms. The newly federated Australia played a role on one side. Mr Walters would do well to spare us the rhetoric.

Geoff Page, Narrabundah

Crispin Hull's suggestion ("Cutting out sport is the ABC's solution", Forum, November 29, p2) is an excellent one. Much as I love sport, I can do without it on the ABC news. At this time of gathering crises thanks to climate change, peak oil and a growing imbalance between the number of people and resources, I'd like more stories on those issues, thanks. And we desperately need to keep our foreign journalists so we can get a first-hand account of what is happening overseas. If sport has to go to allow funding for them, so be it.

Jenny Goldie, Michelago, NSW

Any women aspiring to crash through the glass ceiling in the male-dominated Treasury Department can take little comfort from comments of secretary Martin Parkinson about attempts to create more senior opportunities for women ("Treasury works smarter: chief", November26, p6).

If quoted correctly, Dr Parkinson seems to be saying that the problem has been that the department has valued only conceptual and analytical skills, which is why women haven't made it to the top. The inference is women lack these skills. We are supposed to be reassured that the problem has been solved now that Treasury recognises the value of organisation and people skills, and women who only pack lunch boxes and run households finally have a chance to rise in Treasury.

Somehow, I don't think they have quite cracked the culture problem. If the most senior person doesn't get it, what hope the rest of the organisation?

Mary-Anne Ellis, Bruce

"Too late," they cried, as outgoing Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson warned Australians about the activities of the "rent-seekers" from big business campaigning for increases in the GST to fund further cuts in the corporate tax rate ("Dr Martin Parkinson slams big business for calling for cut to the corporate tax rate", canberratimes.com.au, November28).

If Martin was genuinely interested in educating Australians about the real world their political masters have created, he would have acknowledged the fact corporate vested interests have already pillaged our country, with profits as a percentage of GDP at their highest level ever, whilst nearly a third of companies have an effective tax rate of only 10per cent. Sixty per cent of companies and 70per cent of mining companies pay no income tax at all. Meanwhile, real wages are in decline whilst unemployment and underemployment levels continue to grow inexorably.

And whilst Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott argues that corporate Australia is already doing its share of "heavy lifting", the big end of town continues to plunder the pockets of Australians, whilst exporting profits to exotic tax havens and record numbers of jobs to the Philippines, India and other countries to the detriment of all but the wealthiest of Australians.

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

The federal government's assertion that the ABC can weather a 25per cent cut to its budget without compromising service provision is an outrageous affront to the intelligence of the Australian people; 25per cent is not a haircut – it is amputation of an arm or a leg.

At 12 cents a day, I reckon the ABC offers incredible value for money. The ABC provides me a trustworthy source of local and national news that hasn't been captured by narrow commercial interests. And where else am I going to find shows with the breadth and depth of coverage of The Science Show, The Health Report, The Rural Report, Bush Telegraph, Background Briefing and Big Ideas, to name just a few?

Brad Sherman, Duffy

At the recent Victorian election, the Liberal-National Party Coalition in Victoria, true to form, put ideology and meanness before fairness.

They had a surplus and a AAA rating. Yet, they refused to strike a fair pay deal for teachers, paramedics, nurses and fire fighters. More deserving and valuable professions one cannot imagine.

Despite this, the reason for their loss, according to the ex-deputy premier, is that the Coalition could not get clean air to sell their message. What stupid blindness.

Patrick O'Hara, Isaacs

In the wake of the rout of the LNP defeat in the Victorian state elections, some federal Coalition members have declared the defeat a "wake-up call".

They have not been asleep. They are deaf! They simply cannot hear the distress, pain and anguish expressed by so many Australians as the Abbott government slashes and burns very nearly every social policy, painstakingly gathered over the decades by governments both LNP and ALP, to protect and preserve the well-being of all citizens.

Tony Abbott and his acolytes are checking for "barnacles" on the good ship "Team Australia". He should be checking for more than barnacles.

Peter Funnell, Farrer

Clearly, there is an appropriate limit to public memorialising for any death, including that for a prominent young sportsman whose potential has been cruelly cut short; and perhaps it is true that such a limit has been reached in the tragic case of Phillip Hughes.

However, I still find it bewildering that anyone, such as your three correspondents, C.McKew, D.J.Fraser, and Joe Murphy (Letters, December1), could feel so strongly about this matter as to sit down and write letters to the newspaper expressing such thoughts; especially when such words will inevitably cause distress to the Hughes family.

Hughes was a gifted young player who had shown he could be a truly great one, and was poised this summer to demonstrate it. The grief being expressed is for a glorious potential unfulfilled.

Had Hughes been felled by the same ball at the end of an illustrious career, I expect the expressions of public sadness would probably not have risen to quite the same level of grief.

Yes, as McKew points out, there have been deaths in other sports that are tragic, such as the terrible deaths of two female jockeys. Even though I do not follow racing, I certainly felt sad about their deaths. But the comparatively muted level of public response to those deaths is simply a function of their relatively low public profile compared with someone known well by millions around the world, and certainly not because of sexism, as McKew speculates.

Greg Ellis, Griffith

Joe Murphy (Letters, November 27) makes a good point. Freight and checked baggage are typically weighed, and fuel is converted from litres to kilograms at .78per cent specific gravity. Passengers, carry-on baggage and catering are averaged.

Interestingly, catering diminishes to nothing in calculations on landing, as it has supposedly been consumed and equally distributed among the patrons.

Some airlines also use summer and winter weight averages. Winter coats apparently weigh quite a bit.

Another average is to calculate males and females aboard. Each comes to a zero argument whilst the sumo wrestling team is travelling with the under-16 female gymnastic team.

Your point of carry-on luggage has been an issue for decades. The answer, however, is quite simple, although never taken up by my suggestion even back to the days of TAA.

The onus remains on the passenger, yet a set of scales and a size limit frame need only be installed in front of the X-ray security belt. Anything overweight or oversize would then be rejected until repacked or left for the cleaner to take home.

Of greater interest to Mr Murphy may be the averaging of weights. The old numbers used 78kilograms as an average passenger weight. The newer weight is 84kilogram including five kilograms of carry-on baggage. Yet the limit for carry-on is seven kilograms. Please note both anomalies.

Rest assured that the accountable envelope of tolerance is well within an aircraft's performance regarding weight and balance.

Mind your head in your next travels when you open the overhead locker, unless, of course, you can place your items under the seat in front of you.

Phil O'Mara, former aircraft load controller, Macgregor

MINISTER'S MOUTH FULL

Our calendar had a very pertinent quote last week that Defence Minister David Johnston may care to observe, given his recent inappropriate comments. "Keep your mouth shut and you will never bite off more than you can chew." Salient words.

Christine Tutty, Page

FREEDOM FROM DRUGS

CPSU ACT secretary Vince McDevitt is reported as saying, "[Prisoners] are not going to get rehabilitated off drugs while the government is facilitating their habit" ("Union ease stance on exchange of needles", November 27, p5). Nor are they going to get rehabilitated while warders are incapable of keeping the drugs out of the establishment.

It is time for the warders to shut up and stop condemning their charges to death.

Scott Buchan, Macgregor

STOP THE CARRY ON

Well said, Joe Murphy (Letters, November 27) . I would say "maybe it's time" is too gentlemanly. It is definitely time the airlines enforced the limits on carry-on baggage. Quite a bit of ratbaggery goes on.

Tom Middlemiss, Deakin

SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Ah, the sounds of summer! For residents of lower Campbell, the familiar mournful cry of the common koel is now supplemented by the joyful whooping of the emergency sirens of the ASIO building, all accompanied by the basso profundo of the heavy machinery working on the development of Section 5.

Roger Quarterman, Campbell

MARRIAGE MANDATE

Senator Zed Seselja states that he does not support a free vote on marriage equality and "that is a view shared by the majority of [his] colleagues" ("Same-sex free vote would lead to chaos: Liberal MPs", November 27, p4). The Senator forgets that he was elected to represent a jurisdiction that has legislated to introduce marriage equality and is duty-bound, at a minimum, to support a conscience vote by his party on this issue. If he insists on neglecting his electorate, his electorate should neglect him.

Robert Gascoigne, Downer

SAVE STREETSCAPES

When are the planners in the ACT going to get a grip on housing approval rules? New houses and house extensions now seem to be able to take up most of the block of land. There's no room for trees, and parked cars in front of the garages poke out over the footpath. The result is aggressive streetscapes rather than soft. Bring back the plot ratios and the garden city.

John Skurr, Deakin

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