The emissions target is only a fraction of the Paris commitment, since non-electricity sectors are left unaddressed.

Also ignored is our commitment to tighten those targets so that they are sufficient to keep the temperature rise below 2degrees. It seems that the reduction required to meet a very weak target will be reviewed each year.

At least that would enable a more responsible future government to increase the rate of emission reductions.

If the emissions arm was seriously tightened, the "reliability" arm of the scheme would have to be met increasingly with storage, demand management and, I would hope, a more sophisticated analysis of the actual reliability of geographically distributed wind and solar. This might not favour coal for long.

So, on the face of it, the NEG might be supportable if only because it could be tightened uplater.

If we still had Julia Gillard's Emissions Trading Scheme, the market would have been finding the cheapest emission reductions across sectors, not just from electricity.

The Abbott/Turnbull government's continuing delay and obfuscation on emissions just delays the inevitable transition, causing it to be more rapid, with greater disruption, than it might have been.

I hope the states and territories only accept the NEG emission reductions as a minimum, and continue their more ambitious renewable energy targets.

Peter Campbell, Cook

Colliss Parrett (Letters, October17) continues his apologetics of strict laws against the use of drugs that have been declared illicit.

While it is easy to take issue with the way he expresses those defences, I always find it difficult to fault his logic.

Nevertheless, I am always left with a feeling of unease about the consequences of their application as he has been proposing over many years.

Whenever I am confronted with the misuse of drugs, illicit or otherwise, I am always reminded of a common expression from my youth, "There but for the grace of God go I".

In a similar vein, I noted in today's letters Albert M. White quoting from the Gospel of StLuke (18:11).

John F. Simmons, Kambah

Human rights and Australia. Sadly an oxymoron.

C. Lathbury, Chisholm

Once again, we have a plea from the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions for more funding.

The director complains his office will have "no capacity" to match the increased workload when Canberra's new courtrooms open next year, and perennial funding pressures have been made worse by the increasing number and complexity of criminal trials.

One way for the director's office to free up resources is to stop running cases that are doomed to fail from the outset. Not only does that hit the public purse considerably, but it also adds to the court backlog and strain on judicial resources.

A perfect example is the case of an ADFA cadet, who was acquitted of sexual assault in July this year. That case should never have made it to court. We asked the director not to run it and gave him a number of cogent reasons the prosecution wouldfail.

A jury took less than an hour to acquit the cadet after a seven-day trial.

It seems sticking your hand out for more money is easier than the director making a brave decision not to run a criminal trial when it is clearly a dud case.

Peter Woodhouse, Partner Ben Aulich and Associates, Canberra City

Adam Gantrell wrote about the reasons electricity prices are rising. ("Network costs the main driver of electricity prices, consumer watchdog finds", canberratimes.com.au, October16).

On Tuesday, I received a letter from the CEO of ActewAGL stating that "the Australian Energy Regulator has told us to change the name of the electricity network business, which manages and maintains the poles, wires, pipes, substations and mini pillars."

Already the main driver of prices rises, the distribution part of ActewAGL will now introduce its new logo "on uniforms, vehicles and signage, plus a new website". And stationery, too, no doubt.

So the Australian Energy Regulator directs an energy company to add to its already high and rising distribution costs by changing its name? In Canberra? Where the PM is chattering on about reducing costs by phasing out subsidies on renewables?

You could not make this stuffup.

Maureen McInroy, Cook

I attended a community sports day organised by Molonglo Valley Mingle last Sunday. It was a great event that attracted many residents of Coombs andWright.

Activities included touch footy, cricket, volleyball, during which people had a lot of fun.

The last activity was tug-of-war, and that brought about lots of excitement.

I would like to thank Molonglo Valley Mingle for organising this lovely event and also YMCA for their great help. On our way home, my son said he liked it very much and wished to attend similar events. Such ice-breaking social activities are necessary in every neighbourhood to create good and positive relations among the community.

Fahad Alqurashi, Canberra

The "no" campaign has one thing right. The same sex marriage poll is not just about marriage.

It's about feeling like your relationship is somehow worth less than other relationships.

It's about the real estate agent asking where the second bedroom is on an inspection (no, we aren't house-mates and we haven't hidden the second room).

It's about judging if the size of the group you are with walking between clubs means it safe to hold hands.

Voting yes will go a long way towards fixing these things, which is important not just to those in same-sex relationships, but to those watching.

There is nothing more isolating than being young and discovering that you are gay. The internal struggle from realising that you're different leads to so much angst in a young person before they have any tools to cope.

You don't know how your friends will respond, but you assume the worst, you will be an outcast.

You don't know how your family will respond, but you assume the worst, you could be kicked out.

You can't imagine a world where this thing about you could be accepted, where you could be "normal" and lead a happy life.

Seeing signs of acceptance in the world, small and large, could be all the difference to a young girl or boy's struggle.

We aren't asking for special treatment, just equal treatment.

If you haven't yet voted, please vote yes.

Justin Warnock, Canberra City

Jimmy Savile apparently had a compulsive need for sexual partners who were defenseless victims.

In other words, he was a very sick man and yet he died without getting any help.

What if his agitated brain had created physical symptoms e.g. epileptic fits? People would have called an ambulance.

Most people modify their behaviour due to the reactions of those around them but famous people get useless feedback – extreme adoration or hatred – and their behaviour can thus deteriorate with their symptoms being ignored.

Is this what has happened with Harvey Weinstein?

And is it also the case with some people in high political office? We exclaim as their behaviour becomes sicker but we don't intervene.

Being famous can be a health hazard.

Rosemary Walters, Palmerston

With another fire season fast approaching, readers might be interested to know about some of the wildlife rescued from the Carwoola fire in February this year.

Fifteen kangaroos and wallabies rescued from the fire were brought to us at the Possumwood Wildlife Recovery Centre near Bungendore.

All the rescued animals had badly burnt feet and some had burnt ears, singed fur and breathing difficulties.

Some had quite severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

One had a badly smashed pelvis and had to be euthanased. The remaining 14 animals recovered fully and after eight months in care have been successfully released back to the wild in a safe sanctuary.

Apart from giving these animals a second chance, the volunteers at Possumwood now have the experience and skills to help wildlife that become injured in future wildfire situations.

Professor Steve Garlick, director Possumwood Wildlife, Bungendore

Colliss Parrett cited a most disturbing new study, "on cannabis use that involved 1136 patients (from 18 to 40 years of age) with mental illnesses who had been seen five times during the year after discharge from a psychiatric hospital (which) demonstrates that sustained used of cannabis is associated with an increase in violent behaviour in young people." (Letters, October 17)

Controls in this study of patients, presumably all taking prescribed psychotropic medication, were so poor that causation could not be claimed, only "association".

The report in Science News of October 6, 2017 is headlined "Cannabis consumption increases violent behavior (sic) in young people in psychiatric care".

The actual study, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, makes no such claim.

The study admitted, "Even though we observed that violent behaviour tended to decrease during follow-up periods, the association remained statistically significant".

This significance is seriously liable to challenge.

The serial selectivity of data presented by Mr Parrett, a professional prohibitionist, is becoming distinctly offensive.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

Jamie Hyams (Letters, October 18) is incorrect when he states that the 1947 UN Partition of Palestine "only gave the Jews areas with a Jewish majority". Jews may have had a 60per cent majority in the areas allocated to the Proposed Jewish State (PJS), but that is misleading.

The PJS consisted of the Negev, Eastern Galilee, and the coastal plain. Arabs were the overwhelming majority and major landowners in the Negev and Eastern Galilee.

While Jews were the majority in the coastal plain, this was only because of the large Jewish city of Tel Aviv.

In the countryside Arabs were the majority population and main landowners.

Palestinian Arabs were perfectly entitled to reject the UN Partition Plan, which gave more than half of Palestine to a minority of recently arrived Jewish colonists who owned only 6 per cent of the land.

Israeli historian Simha Flapan has stated that Jewish acceptance of partition was only a tactical move in a strategy to increase the territory assigned to the Jewish state.

Paul Dixon, Fraser

Re: "ACT struggling under NDIS" (October 17, p.1).

Not so, the ACT is struggling under its light rail commitments. It will continue to do so. If the tram crosses the lake, strangling could be a more appropriate concept.

However, not to worry, rates are the Greens/Labor cornucopia. We ratepayers are more than ready to cough up and we don't mind a bit of slight handedness.

Ken Brazel, Wright

REDS UNDER THE BED

So if you believe, on the evidence, that the Soviets destructively influenced Western culture in numerous ways during the Cold War, you are "afraid of Reds under the beds, hahaha". On the other hand, if you think that Russian subterfuge ensured Donald Trump would win the US election, you are rational and perceptive?

Eris Kennedy, Wanniassa

TAKE OVER, TONY

As the advice of the chief scientist is obviously not valued by the government, he needs to be replaced.

Here is my nomination: Tony Abbott as Australia's next chiefscientist.

Anne Willenborg, Royalla, NSW

ACRONYM SPELT OUT

What NEG means: No Evidence Given; No Ethical Guts.

R.D. Blakey, Belconnen

PM CANDIDATES

If 20-odd bad opinion polls were a good reason for replacing Tony Abbott with Malcolm Turnbull, then who could replace Malcolm Turnbull when he reaches that milestone?

Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt

BACKBENCH ACTIVITY

Maybe Galileo didn't say it, but it's apt for Turnbull and his Inquisitorial backbench: "Eppur si muove" ("And yet it moves").

Eric Pozza, Red Hill

FULL MONTY

When did the government recruit Monty Python as speech writer for the Prime Minister?

Sallie Ramsay, Torrens

ABBOTT'S OLD JOB

Here's a tip for Tony Abbott: Keep right on the path of destruction andsniping.

That will guarantee you get your old job back, it's called Leader of the Opposition.

Linus Cole, Palmerston

SACRIFICIAL GOAT

Now that Abbot Tony's inveterate negativity has prevailed over a clean energy target, will he be sacrificing goats to combat anthropogenic climate change?

Dennis Hale, Beecroft, NSW

A QUESTION OF SPEED

Do the AFP and mobile speed camera operators condone a transition zone when the speed limits change on our roads? When travelling north-west along the Barton Highway in the vicinity of Kaleen, I am travelling at 80km/h until the 100km/h sign, but am passed by motorists who think they are able to be going at 100km/h when they reach the sign. The reverse occurs in the vicinity of Giralang, when the sign says 80 but often motorists feel they do not have to slow to 80 before passing the sign.

Ken McPhan, Spence

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