That is, the unnatural, semi-monastic isolation in seminaries for seven or more years of teenage boys and young adults who are banned from "particular friendships" with women or men.

The fondness of many fiercely conservative new young priests for Latin, lace and liturgical exotica raises disturbing questions about their inner lives, yet the bishops steadfastly resist responding to Pope Francis' invitation to national episcopal conferences to petition for a more healthy married clergy.

Tim MacNaught, Kingston

Jack Waterford's limp lettuce lashing of the current quintet of serial apologists for the Catholic Church ("We need a Catholic Yom Kippur", Forum, February 25, p1) misses a major mark.

These people are not, as Waterford writes, "accountable only to the Pope". They are, and must be held, accountable to the law and to the society that hosts and tolerates their arrogant, archaic, high-handed, self-important, illogical beliefs, superstitions and rituals.

Their conduct – and not least their sect's notorious code of confidentiality of the confessional – must be strictly subordinated in all respects to civil laws and community standards that require reporting of crime, evidence and criminals.

Failure to report must be regarded, and punished, as a crime – and pilloried as a social evil. If not, how and where do we draw the line in exempting the practices of other "religions" from the norms of our secular civil society?

Or should we tolerate a bit of religious stoning or bridal slaying?

Mike Hutchinson, Reid

As an observer I am confused. John McKerral (letters, February 25) said renewables receive an REC of $95 to $110 each KWh as compared to coal-fired electricity at $40 to $60 KWh and concludes "one might wonder how more intermittent renewables are going to benefit us".

On the same page Jenny Goldie stated (no figures) "given that renewables are now cheaper than coal for supplying electricity, there should be no barriers to a multi-partisan approach to energy". Really? Question – who do we believe?

Frank Kish, Bruce

Why should a person who is available to work only in the evening or on weekends be any more entitled to "extra rates" than someone who is available to work only during the day?

We are an "entitlement" society and the world is catching up as we move more and more into global commerce and have to work outside our comfort 9-5 zone to interact with our associates overseas.

Hospitality, tourism, music, nursing, police, cleaners, emergency services – the list is almost as long as the daytime one.

Workers do not enter that profession thinking "I'm going to get penalty rates". They do so because that is the profession they choose and shift work forms part of that profession.

Let's even out the workload and let people be employed when they're available – at the same rates as each other.

The argument that people are going to be worse off is true but only because that is the way the system has worked to date.

The impact of evening out wages would have a huge effect on the economy as more people would be employed and many goods and services made available over longer periods.

Businesses pay cash wages to avoid both penalty rates and tax responsibilities whereas an even payment system would make it easier to adhere to taxation requirements.

No problem with overtime rates though. If you work more than the weekly hours that are legislated for, then workers should be compensated.

Gil Miller, Barton

May I suggest as a trial that our federal politicians amend the parliamentary sitting calendar?

Most members of Parliament return to their electorates after the first four sitting days. After a weekend at home, they fly back into Canberra to start a second week of sitting.

If they were to continue sitting for nine or 10 days straight and then went back to their electorates big savings could be made on their flights, allowances and other costs.

The most our Parliament sits in any year is 22 weeks.

By sitting on Saturdays and Sundays and arranging sitting weeks so that they are not to sit on a public holiday MPs would be setting a good example.

Ken Eynon, Latham

Prime Minister Turnbull should look at his hand after he shakes hands with Indonesian President Widodo during his visit to Australia.

He will see that his hand is covered in blood – the blood of West Papuan men, women and children who under Widodo's watch continue to be murdered, raped, imprisoned and tortured.

Turnbull can wash his hand as much as he likes, but the blood will not wash off until he publicly and effectively opposes Indonesia's barbaric colonialist oppression of West Papua.

Dr Bill Anderson, Surrey Hills, Vic

Tony Abbott "noted nearly 40per cent of Australians didn't vote for the Coalition or Labor in the 2016 election" ("Abbott's five point plan for success", February 24, p5).

Professor John Hewson wrote of "the drift from the major parties, whereby now almost one in three direct their votes elsewhere". The easiest access to a summary of the 2016 Commonwealth election is Wikipedia.

The tables there show the percentage of primary votes not allocated to either the Coalition or Labor was 23.22 for the House of Representatives and 35.03 for the Senate, an average of 29.12.

That makes the generalisations of both commentators considerably wide of the mark.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

My young children and I were having a brilliant day at the Canberra show on Saturday until the time came to buy the much anticipated show bags.

I reached into my bag for my wallet. It was nowhere to be seen. We trooped off to the police station at the showgrounds on the chance it had been handed in.

Much to my great surprise it had been. To my even greater surprise it still had all the cash in it. The police said all the wallets handed in still had cash in them and what a great reflection this was on the Canberra community.

Thanks heaps to the kind person who handed my wallet in. You made a great day even better.

Good on you Canberra!

Sarah Safransky, Reid

A member of my family was greatly inconvenienced by the location of the disabled parking at the Canberra Show.

The main disabled parking area was located some hundreds of metres away from the wheelchair hire.

There was apparently a small disabled parking lot closer to the wheelchairs but this was fully occupied early in the day by people who may not have needed to hire a wheelchair.

Some more thought needs to be given to disabled access for people with serious mobility problems.

K. L. Calvert, Downer

It seems to me that health departments are unaware that self help/mutual support groups may play a role in reducing the reliance on health services.

By sharing experiences with their peers that may provide a level of assurance and support, people living with chronic health may be less reliant on services provided by counsellors and psychologists.

The self management courses for people living with chronic conditions offered by ACT Health in partnership with the community has demonstrated that by teaching healthful behaviours people become less reliant on the medical profession.

Of course the partnership with their health professionals is vital for our healthcare needs.

It has already been demonstrated through randomised trials over many years that people who participated in the course were less reliant on the medical profession than those who did not.

Self-help groups also offer that same encouragement to maintain a healthy lifestyle as well as offering vital support.

That is why I consider that SHOUT must be funded to continue our valuable work in supporting our support groups.

Paula Calcino, Oxley

SHOUT was set up in the early 1980s following a meeting of the then minister for the capital territory (the late Michael Hodgman) and five self-help groups.

The idea was to achieve the benefits of scale by having shared administration and single point of contact for the community.

I had the privilege of being the inaugural chairman of the SHOUT board of management and over the following years was gratified by the steady growth of the organisation as many other self-help groups joined.

As recent letters to The Canberra Times have suggested, the SHOUT model is an excellent one for community groups.

It would be a pity after 35 years of successful operation if lack of funding caused it to reduce or cease providing this community service.

Paul Shelley, Cook

If the ACT government can pay $86,000 to repaint a bit of metal most people didn't know existed ("ACT hit with $86,000 bill to fix bung paint job on peace park sculpture", canberratimes .com.au, February 23) surely they can find the money to support SHOUT and the thousands of Canberrans who benefit from SHOUT's existence.

Judith Ducker, Bruce

I cannot believe that a man with a history of abuse against his partner ("Man with history of domestic violence released on bail", February 26, p.6), and who has served time in jail for domestic violence-related offences has been released on an interim domestic violence order.

That the police "seemed satisfied" that the domestic violence order would "work" if the offender was released on bail beggars belief.

In sentencing Marcus Rappel for the brutal murder of Tara Costigan, Justice Burns said we need to take domestic violence seriously, and it was incumbent on courts to recognise the heinousness of the crime.

Let us hope there are no repercussions from this decision.

Maureen Cummuskey, Hackett

The author of your editorial ("Energy policy should be bipartisan", February 22, p14) will have to do a lot better in promoting growth in renewables than to claim "Coal is not the solution".

What is the minimum power input from a realistic maximum deployment of solar and wind sources that can be expected in adverse weather at peak demand time in mid-winter or mid-summer?

The answer will determine how much investment must be made in alternative sources .

The asymptote is zero power from solar and wind and 100 per cent from alternatives.

Actuaries might say 10 per cent and 90 per cent.

On the other hand, economists and others might argue that no one would invest in this massive amount of alternative power generation capacity to have it mostly idle.

Put another way, the price of electricity would go through the roof.

Ideologues may have to be satisfied with a 50-50 mix of renewable and fossil fuel generation until new technologies come on line.

John L. Smith, Farrer

CAPITAL DETOUR

Leaders from two countries, Israel and Indonesia, visiting Australia within a week , but not to our national capital. I can't see this happening in other countries. Along with the government's desire to move agencies out of the capital, one wonders if the Turnbull government really thinks there is any point to Canberra!

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

IDENTITY CRISIS

We are Australian. On ceremonial occasions we stand to attention, we do not put our hand over our heart. We ask where the toilet is, not the bathroom. We say 24th February, not February 24. There are now several words that are pronounced the American way. Please let us keep our Australian identity.

S. Roberts, Melba

STAMPED OUT

In the wake of the spectacular departure of the King of the Post Office, would the media now be willing to publish the names of all board members who started this crime? For a crime it is.

Vanessa Lauf, Bungendore, NSW

COLUMN COMMENT

Letters to the Editor are someone's opinion. Some are witty and satirical; some are serious. Not unlike Ian Warden's columns.

Paddy O'Keeffe, Palmerston

KIRRIBILLI CONUNDRUM

Tony Abbott is wrong when he suggests Malcolm Turnbull should move into Kirribilli House. He will not be Prime Minister long enough.

Mark Sproat, Lyons

LEVY SPEND-UP

Can someone tell me how the (selective) 2016-17 budget $30 household domestic violence levy was spent?

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

NEW SPIN ON WIN

I wonder, will the first Test outcome cool the enthusiasm of Indian cricket authorities to produce pitches that turn square from the start of play?

Bruce Kennedy, Melba

METER QUERY

Question for ActewAGL. Why do we have (power and gas) meters?

Greg Simmons, Lyons

NOT NEEDED

I am aware Malcolm Turnbull and his government have run off the rails but they do not need the advice of Tony Abbott to get them back on track.

Robyn Lewis, Raglan

TOUGHEN UP

No American president ever got anywhere by being thin-skinned about the media.

Francis Bucknell, Lyons

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

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).