Refund expenses only on presentation of receipts, if they are considered reasonable and justified, and publish the individual expenditures at the end of every month. We hope they applied for and won their positions because of their apparent interest in the job, not because of the entitlements attached.

W. Book, Hackett

Richard Denniss ("Closure on coal will be costly", Forum, August1, p5) tried to show that because the price of renewable energy is falling, coal is not wanted, as demonstrated by the sale for $1 of a mine in Queensland. His misinformation wrong on all counts.

The Isaac Plains mine he refers to produces high-quality coking coal for iron furnaces, which sells for a large premium over thermal coal. Iron cannot be smelted from ore without carbon, so mines will be needed for a long time. This case has nothing to do with renewable energy. This is a fully functioning mine and the sale includes all equipment and a rehabilitation liability of $32 million. The new Australian owner will begin production in 2016.

Robert Adams, Ainslie

With the British Prime Minister David Cameron describing the migrants who are trying to leave France and travel to Britain as a "swarm", it is not difficult to work out what sort of reception is awaiting these desperate people should they cross the English Channel ("Britain, France try to stem Chunnel tide" July31, p10).

Indeed, the leader of the populist UK Independent Party, Nigel Farage – not wishing to be left out of this "scary" situation – has already called for help from the nation's army.

How unfair it must be to have so many people condemned, rather than blessed.

Sam Nona, Burradoo, NSW

Having listened to the Press Club debate on marriage equality last week, we felt compelled to express our views on the topic. We gained the impression from Senator Penny Wong's comments that marriage should allow any two people, male or female, to be married. We also understood from the debate that same-sex couples have all the rights of married couples, except that they are not included in the current Marriage Act.

We also understood that the Marriage Act includes a male and female only, as it has for time immemorial. In this relationship, a male and female complement their sexual differences and are able to produce their own children, who know who their parents are in a special family relationship.

Whilst we respect the rights of two men or two women to form a civil union, we cannot see their demands for their relationship to come under the Marriage Act respects the rights of those men and women who do. We believe that the title marriage must be preserved for the relationship of a man and woman under the current law.

K. and P. Crowley, Chapman

Rupert Johns (Letters, July31) asks, rhetorically and gratuitously, what level of political lobbying caused (allegedly) Amanda Vanstone to approve a known Mafia figure's permanent entry into Australia.

Perhaps this can be gauged by simply Googling "Grassby Barbaro" and considering how much Mr Grassby may have been lobbied during his period as minister for immigration when he overrode the advice of the AFP – who, at the time, were collaborating with the Italian anti-Mafia police – not to admit alleged Mafia figures. This fact was reported by The Canberra Times, which has since reported from time to time on the rise and rise of certain members of this family.

No greater influence by constituents was there than when Grassby attempted to derail the police investigation when he churlishly implied Donald Mackay could have been murdered by his own family.

Perhaps Jon Stanhope's admiration for Grassby might extend to commissioning a statue of Amanda to stand in the lobby of the Legislative Assembly, as he did for Al pal.

Oh, and please don't suggest that any good he may have done offsets his sins.

K. Bell, Kambah

Ed Dobson (Letters, July30) consulted his 1959 reference book of Phrase and Fable to investigate the validity of human rights as a concept. It seems he made more effort in writing to The Canberra Times than in investigating the idea, as the equivalent to Ed's oh-so-rigorous effort would be consulting a 1903 reference book about fairytales in 1959.

Perhaps Ed should acquaint himself with some of the changes and events in the world that have shaped global judicio-humanitarian thinking in the last 56 years.

In that time period, we've had the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall and the attendant Stasi, the crescendo of the United States civil rights movement, our 1967 referendum, the heyday and collapse of apartheid, Augusto Pinochet and Leopoldo Galtieri, the Bosnian atrocities, boat people, and the stolen generations, to take a very few scatter-shot examples of human rights-related flashpoints.

Of course, written from the vantage point of a privileged white older male, the world looks rather rosy and it's very easy to mock what others have to fight to achieve.

I wonder whether Ed would boo or cheer Adam Goodes?

David Jenkins, Casey

Shame on our local newspaper for this headline in canberra times.com.au: "Cameron Clyne, former head of NAB, criticises Canberra's 'wilful blindness' over climate change".

The ACT government and Canberra make me very proud with our targets for renewables and determination to do as much as we can for ACT and the nation on climate-change alleviation.

Could we please have a Canberra Times policy of accuracy in referring to federal government, if that is the case, and referring to Canberra/ACT if it is a territory issue?

Jan Sismey, Isaacs

Quelle surprise. Alex White, secretary of UnionsACT thinks spending $700million on the tram will create jobs ("Light rail is good for pay, jobs and our future", Times2, August3, p4). No economic analyst really disagrees with him.

The question, were this about jobs (it's not) is whether that money could buy more jobs elsewhere. That is, whether diverting that money from the many competing, socially valuable uses of our scarce rates-dollars, abandons more jobs in those areas than are created concreting Northbourne Avenue.

I loved his saying he prefers high-cost projects with great inflexibility because pricier projects create more jobs and inflexibility prevents (efficient) change. So, he'll be really happy when the final tram cost comes in at say, $1.4billion, right? And having (already obsolete?) tracks instead of trees down Northbourne doesn't provide certainty. Its operations will prove uneconomic. Auto-drive, low-emissions cars, Uber, etc are almost here. We already find $100million each year to subsidise ACTION.

Manson Macgregor, Amaroo

The value of land will increase substantially within 400 metres either side of the tramline, according to Kevin Cox (Letters, August 1). Why, when those who live within 400 metres of either side of the route already can travel from the Gungahlin terminus to Civic in an average 27 minutes on the Red Rapid bus?

While no details of the fate of other Gungahlin bus services have been publicised, logic suggests that services to Amaroo, Ngunnawal, Franklin, Harrison, Forde, and Bonner would become feeder services to the tramline, rather than continuing to Civic. This will necessitate the inconvenience of transferring to the tram in all sorts of weather, and incurring additional delay, regardless how small.

As far as an increase in land values, the outcome is obviously an increase in rates for no benefit to residents, only for investors and speculators.

Michael J. Adler, Gungahlin

Compare Adam Goodes' situation to that of a player from another code. Rugby union's David Pocock, who plays with the Brumbies is, like Goodes, an intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive man with a strong moral conscience. Pocock has been arrested for his environmental activism (and sanctioned by the ARU) and last season incurred the displeasure of some players and spectators for calling out an opposing player who used a homophobic slur on field when sledging another player. Pocock was called a dobber and accused of being politically correct, but he stood his ground.

The opposing player was sanctioned and life went on – no ongoing campaign of booing or jeering, no systematic mob-fuelled abuse. So, what's the difference? Well, Pocock is white and Goodes is black. That's the only material difference, so far as I can see. That confirms for me that the almost two-year campaign waged against Goodes is based on racism.

The excuses offered by the booers are simply that, excuses – and shallow ones at that.

John Butcher, Lyons

The church I attend in Canberra has an acknowledgement of Indigenous people in the weekly pew sheet and a plaque acknowledging them near the entrance. Perhaps the AFL could acknowledge that the land on which the game is played was Aboriginal land from time immemorial and, according to the Museum Victoria website, "the Wurundjeri people of the Melbourne area played a similar game".

I feel ashamed that Adam Goodes has been bullied and repeatedly subjected to "a torrent of abuse" ("AFL should call games off if boo boys persist", Sport, August1, p12) because of his Indigenous heritage and his stand against racism.

This kind of racial discrimination would be totally unacceptable in an Olympic context. Those who perpetrate these actions are bringing Australian sport into disrepute.

To be a truly multicultural society, we must begin by treating our own Indigenous people with respect, acknowledge what they have suffered, and value their many important and unique contributions to our national identity.

Carolyn Straton, Macquarie

Bravo Amanda Vanstone for the general tenor of her article in support of Adam Goodes ("Perceptions do matter too", Times2, August3, p4).

What a pity it was marred by the amazingly ignorant statement "we all come from apes". Genetic studies clearly show that monkeys, apes, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens evolved along distinctly separate lines, albeit from common ancestry.

Such studies also indicate that there has been significant interbreeding between Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens, but I am not aware that this has been shown to have been successful between Neanderthal or Homo Sapiens and others of the species.

Without wishing to seem pedantic, I suggest that a communicator of Ms Vanstone's standing needs to be careful not to promulgate ignorance of this sort, which can so easily be misused by the very "yobbos" she identifies in her article, in spurious support of their deplorable insults.

As an ironic aside, I note that the spell-checker in my American computer chides me for not according capital letters to prefix the words Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens, but not for monkeys and apes.

Hugh Gibbon, Pearce

"I don't take 'ape' as necessarily racist since we all come from apes". So writes Amanda Vanstone in a sentence that highlights a massive spot of ignorance plaguing the Adam Goodes discussion.

Calling someone an ape isn't referencing someone's evolutionary ancestors; it is saying that that person, or group of people, has not evolved, that they are sub-human.

In relation to black people in particular, this is how racism was justified for centuries. It is much easier to subjugate people when the perception of humanity has been removed, or even just lessened. This is what Goodes was rightly reacting to.

It is worrying that this has to be pointed out, but clearly it still does, which should be the responsibility of Vanstone, and if not her, then her editors.

Nick Stewart, Rivett

If a person with a dark skin is called a black ape or other derogatory and unacceptable terms by a fair-skinned person, it is a racial comment. If a person with fair skin is called white trash or similar, it is OK.

Where is the racial equality?

Alan Leitch, Austins Ferry, Tas

Once again, we have a proposal from the ACT government that will inconvenience the majority of law-abiding drivers because of the behaviour of a stupid, incompetent, careless, reckless (who really knows) minority.

I refer to the proposal to further reduce school-zone speed limits to 30km/h ("Limit of 30km/h around schools considered", August3, p1).

Perhaps Chief Minister Andrew Barr could explain how those who disobey the current speed limit will somehow miraculously obey a further reduced one.

The 40km/h limit is itself redundant for most of the day, when children are not around, so a reduction to 30km/h is not required. The NSW system of morning and afternoon limits makes much more sense.

The NSW system of flashing lights also eliminates any doubt about whether the school-zone limit is operating.

If there really is such a big problem around ACT schools, then introduce the NSW system of flashing lights combined with rigorous enforcement of the current limit.

From my observation, much of the risk around schools is a result of the large number of cars present because so many children are being driven to school.

Perhaps the Chief Minister would do better to address the absurd situation where large numbers of what should be the fittest and healthiest members of our community are being driven to school at the same time as his government is having to introduce programs to make them more active.

Jim Derrick, Florey

Well, Darcy Flanagan, you may only be 10 years old, but there were 23 letters in the paper on Monday and yours was the best. I think it's great that you spoke up, and I look forward to your next letter.

John Howarth, Weston

The Canberra Times wants to hear from you in short bursts. Email views in 50 words or fewer to

letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au.

POLITICAL SOAP OPERA

Having watched the TV show The Politician's Husband, I can say the last thing Australia needs is a show about self-serving politicians. We get more than enough of them in real life.

Fred Slinn Fisher

SIGN OF RESPECT

May I presume "it is because of [her] respect for the institution of Parliament and the Australian people" that Bronwyn Bishop overstepped, or misjudged her expenditure of entitlements by thousands of dollars ("Bishop quits over expenses scandal", August 3, p1)?

Debbie Cameron, Ainslie

It is appropriate that Mrs Bishop should lose her position as Speaker: let's hope she won't in the near future turn up on the list of Australian ambassadors.

Roger Dace, Reid

Hubris = downfall. Bronwyn has finally learnt that often-taught lesson from history. With the partisan Speaker gone and Tony and the far right of the Liberal Party out of fashion, as shown in the opinion polls, Australia has a bright future after all.

John Davenport, Farrer

Now that another barnacle has been removed, should we expect "good government" to start any time soon?

Jeff Bradley, Isaacs

UNFIT TO SERVE

It seems to me that those who require a prescriptive set of rules on expenses to curb their greed and contempt for the taxpayer are unfit for Parliament.

Ian Webster, Curtin

ANYTHING BUT UPSET

Why do reporters persist in labelling Richmond Football Club wins as upsets? ("Tigers prove they're real deal in flag race", Sport, August1, p4). Richmond supporters are ecstatic, not upset!

Carol Anderson, Kambah

SHARE THE POWER

An excellent article by Julian Cribb ("Decency: that gets my vote", Times2, August3, p1) Go one step further, Mr Cribb: our next government should consist of two "prime ministers" with equal power from differing sides to keep each other honest. I am dreaming ...

V. Lauf, Bungendore, NSW

Julian Cribb accurately reflects an opinion about politicians I am hearing increasingly from family, friends, neighbours and the public generally. Out with self-serving political careerists; in with people chosen for their decency, rather than party-political hip-pocket greed, to paraphrase Julian.

Sinead O'Neil, Fisher

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).