Her aggressive approach to the former, with more interruptions than could be counted, making it impossible for Shorten to finish a sentence, much less an answer to her questions, contrasted markedly with her meek, polite questioning of the PM, allowing him to advance his responses entirely uninterrupted.

This unprofessional behaviour makes her either a staunch Liberal warrior or someone who has been seriously heavied by the powers that be to go lightly on the latter. In either case, bad news for the ABC and bad news for its erstwhile supporters.

Dr J.R.Verrier, Garran

Following participation by Archbishop Christopher Prowse in the prayer group that meets regularly in the vicinity of the abortion clinic in the city centre, a member of the ACT government has proposed legislation that would restrict public access to the area near the abortion clinic.

The prayer group is also being urged to move to outside the Legislative Assembly in Civic Square, as that is where (it is said) public policy on abortion is made. This statement shows a misapprehension of political reality in Australia.

Australia is a political democracy. If Archbishop Prowse and like-minded people wish to influence public policy on abortion, then they need to get out into the public space and engage with members of the public. That is how political democracy works.

Frank Mines, Nicholls

I don't much care if people want to hold prayer vigils outside the abortion clinic, or anywhere else for that matter.

I do, though, worry these supposedly compassionate people seem to be uncaring and unforgiving of the mental stress most women go through before deciding to have an abortion. I have not seen a placard that says, for example: "We think you are doing the wrong thing, but we do feel for you."

From a religious perspective, I am not sure what they think their prayers will achieve. Christopher Hitchens put the concept of prayer in a nutshell: "The man who prays is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right."

Eric Hunter, Cook

I enjoyed Scott Hannaford's article on the automatic number-plate recognition system and its likely development into a wider surveillance system ("Who's really watching us", Forum, July25, p1). The system generates an awful lot of data and here I have a quibble.

Data is a plural noun, the singular being datum. If data were singular, we wouldn't need a database. Throughout Scott's article (and usually throughout The Canberra Times), data is treated as a singular noun, eg, "the data is not used ..." instead of "the data are not used ..."

David Williams, Watson

I wish congratulate the government on its walk-over bridges repair programme and register my appreciation for the removal of the old and decaying and replaced with the new up-to-date (with safety barriers) walk-over bridges between Woodcock Drive and Lewis Luxton Avenue Gordon.

The new bridges provide a very safe walking environment for the community, especially for young mothers with babies in prams, young children, the elderly and people walking the senior members of the canine fraternity. My 15-year-old-plus three-legged Jack Russell, Freddy Boy, is very pleased with the new level surface and side rails.

Mark Lynch, Gordon

To keep things in perspective, isn't it correct that what astronomers are seeing of Kepler 452b ("Planet similar to Earth found", July24, p7) now, in Earth time 2015, is actually what that planet was like in our Earth time 700AD? About 1400 years ago (at light speed)? A glimpse at the distant history of a planet that, physics suggests, we can never know even "currently" exists.

(2015 + 1400 = year 3415AD, before we could know if it is/was there now!! ... if we're still here then!) The mind boggles.

Peter White, Downer

The ACT government has proposed a rezoning of the vacant Salvation Army and Downer Club sites so residential units can be built there ( "Dickson development nod", July24, p1).

It mentions it intends to start a consultation process, but it has already held a comprehensive workshop with residents.

At this meeting, there was almost total opposition to the idea of converting an area used for leisure and community purposes to a higher-density residential zone. The whole of that space has been used to date to provide facilities for residents of the inner north and the rest of Canberra.

Given this zone now permits buildings to be used for providing accommodation, residents at the meeting were in favour of establishing a retirement complex, given there is an unmet demand for these in Canberra.

I encourage aged-care providers, community organisations and leisure enterprises to help inner-north residents protect this land and to present alternative plans, which would keep this valued area for the Canberra community.

John Holland, Dickson

Stephen Holt ("Hung parliaments probable", Times2, July27, p4) thinks "the persistent presence of crossbenchers (ie, a hung parliament) looks like becoming a lasting feature of life in the House of Representatives". It's to be hoped he's wrong.

Hung parliaments are undemocratic, in that they give crossbenchers a degree of power in decision-making that's far greater than their constituency.

And the problem won't be solved until, in some way, the votes of MPs are weighted according to the size of the constituency they represent.

R.S.Gilbert, Braddon

Little wonder that healthcare costs are escalating to "unsustainable" levels if doctors are incapable of using their acumen, minus redundant pathology, to diagnose flu and acquaint patients to the fact it is a self-limiting viral malady, sans "cure" ("Doctors rebut mild cold, flu season", BusinessDay, July27, p8).

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan, NSW

An internet petition is amassing signatures with the intention of forcing the captain of Team Australia to replace one of his favourite players, Far-Right forward Bronwyn Bishop. The petition resulted from so many Australians becoming fed up with the latest in a line of trough snufflers (from both sides of politics, to be fair).

If democracy in this country is to be saved, it will not be through an appeal to the decency and sensibilities of those seeking political office. It can only happen through radical change to the conditions we attach to parliamentary representation.

The primary restrictions should involve increasing terms from three to four years, but limiting the number of terms that a member (bar the party leader) can serve to two. A party leader, to ensure some continuity and experience, would be limited to a maximum of three terms. (The United States already limits its president to two four-year terms in office.) This restriction would automatically prevent a parliament from being filled with time-serving, power hungry party stooges and "professional" politicians, with which we are currently afflicted.

In short, if we truly want a representative democracy that obeys the will (and meets the needs) of the people, we must destroy the system that creates the monster: do away with career politicians and elect only people who have a desire to serve the public for four or, at most, eight years.

S.Kennedy, Corunna, NSW

Some MPs apparently regard travel allowances as a mere perk of the job, rather than an expenditure of taxpayers' money that is only intended to cover travel expenses that were bona fide incurred by the MP for the purpose of their parliamentary business.

An MP should never submit a claim for travelling allowance if the true, motivating purpose of their travel was non-parliamentary, such as attending a party fundraiser, wedding or sporting event, even if the MP is able to identify some other subsidiary purpose that is nominally "parliamentary".

Given that modern telecommunications systems facilitate direct, 24/7 communications between MPs, taxpayers are entitled to complain whenever an MP seeks to justify claiming TA for travel that was ostensibly undertaken for a non-parliamentary purpose on the basis that the MP also happened to have a brief, face-to-face chat with another MP at the event.

The only realistic way to end the culture of entitlement among MPs is to require MPs who submit claims for TA to list each and every function they attended during their travels and for all such claims to be published on the Parliament's website immediately after they are submitted.

Bruce Taggart, Aranda

Despite her apparent expertise, Professor Kim Rubenstein ("Bob Carr's new tune undermines citizenship", Times2, July24, p5), completely missed the point of Bob Carr's presentation on Palestine and Middle East peace at the ANU on July14. Yes, he abhorred Israel's abominable treatment of Palestinians and the disproportionate capacity to influence Australian public policy of Australia's overwhelmingly pro-Israel Jewish leadership, and supported this with clear examples. At no point, however, did he seek – as Rubenstein suggests – to "undermine" that leadership's right to so act, which she argued to be the sine qua non of citizenship. Indeed, the whole point of Carr's talk – including his appeal to the audience to act to remedy the deficiencies in Australia's policies on the matter – was to criticise Australian Coalition (government) and Labor (opposition) parties for being too ready to accept such pro-Israeli propaganda.

Kevin Bray, chairman, Australians for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Belconnen

Professor Kim Rubenstein's comment piece states the obvious when she explains the rights and freedoms that Australian citizens have: not only the right to vote but to generally express their views on issues and topics through the media, meetings etcetera.

This is precisely what Bob Carr was doing. Unfortunately, he was expressing views that Rubenstein did not agree with or want to hear. Among other things, Bob Carr's address at the ANU criticised the undue influence the Jewish lobby has in Australia on foreign policy concerning the Middle East.

Carr was not saying the Jewish lobby had no rights as Australian citizens to do just that. What he was saying, it seems to me, is that the Jewish voice in Australia is far too influential when it comes to Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.The barrage of aggression and threats from the leaders of Israel against anyone who dares to offer peace, economic or welfare solutions, gives credence to Carr's argument about who is the stronger and most influential, not only in Australia but in the United States.

It seems that when people speak up for justice for the Palestinians in the Middle East, the supporters of Israel, this small, influential, nuclear-equipped state, speak louder.

John Malouf, Hawker

The scare campaign suggested by the headline "Ex-public servants to cost $110b" (July27, p1), that public service pensions impose a huge liability on the federal budget, needs to be put in some perspective.

Of course, there is a liability! And so there is for defence, health, education, welfare payments and all other government services (including parliamentary pensions and running the Comcar fleet for that matter).

One should also ask what is the unfunded liability for the aged pension ... after all, as of June30, 2014, the average of CSS and PSS pensions was $31,000 a year, which is less than the aged (untaxed) pension rate.

In the case of military superannuants, the average DFRDB pension is even less. Furthermore, such superannuation payments are taxable, while the aged pension is not, and were contributed to by fund members during their working life, adding significant revenue to government budgets over many past years.

Some perspective and cold hard facts on this emotive issue would be welcome.

Les Bienkiewicz, vice-president, Defence Force Welfare Association

Phillip Thomson ("Canberra really a city of cardigan-wearers", July 27, p5) infers that most public servants are too ready to don the humble cardigan in the workplace and should be more adventurous in their attire, to make the best impression on those who would employ them.

While I feel it is important for all employees to be suitably attired at work and that some minimum standards of dress should apply, surely a person's suitability for a job is determined by qualifications, previous experience, communication skills and whether they work well in a team, rather than if they are a style guru or not.

By whose criterion does good dress style in the workplace rely? Surely this is a very individual thing. I am sure many public servants would not necessarily feel comfortable in the outfit worn by stylist Jane Allen.

It seems to me that the article reflected a very shallow attitude to the very important task of effective recruitment and promotion within the public service.

In these times where public servants in Canberra are not assured of the longevity of their jobs, outlaying money on "stylish" clothes may not be high on the agenda.

Maureen Williams, Gowrie

I entirely agree with your style advisers that cardigan-wearing by public servants is to be discouraged.

The item of apparel is named after Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War in 1854.

Described as "one of the most pernicious boobies in the history of the British Army", Cardigan is hopefully not a role model for any public servant pursuing the nation's interest.

John Robbins, Farrer

POOR BRONWYN BISHOP

Poor Bronwyn Bishop, unfairly accused of being "out of touch" when she has just been rorting the system like everyone else. We live, after all, in a society where (so the ATO tells us, without naming names) people with multimillion-dollar incomes pay no tax. The nature and scale of Ms Bishop's extravagances are rather impressive, but she could reasonably argue they are merely commensurate with her high office

G. Burgess, Kaleen

Finance Department secretary Jane Halton's comments about Bronwyn Bishop certainly show that women are treated differently from men. If a male departmental secretary made public comments on a sensitive political issue, clearly taking sides, he would have been sacked.

Stan Marks, Hawker

I cannot understand what all the fuss is about. Surely, one would not expect Tony to send Bronwyn off on her broomstick to join Mirabella and prepare the cauldron in anticipation of Bill's arrival. Only a man of steel would dare to put a political love mother as daunting as our Eminence on probation for a minor misdemeanour. Which just goes to prove that political blood is thicker than water.

Patrick Earle, Torrens

ENFORCE THE LAW

The enforceable quality control Jack Kershaw (Letters, July27) seeks is quite simple. Construction standards, plan registrations, building approvals and inspections are all a matter of law. When that law is circumvented in developing countries, we call it government graft and corruption. It is no different here. It is the government's responsibility to enforce the law.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

MARKED ABSENT

Tanya Plibersek, who disappeared during the ALP's turn-back-the-boats debate, looks like the type of pollie who stands up, but not long enough to be counted.

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Wld

START AT BEGINNING

Let's face it, the only way to save refugee lives at sea is to prevent them from being slaughtered and tortured in their own countries. That is what the humanitarian aid organisations, United Nations, Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten need to address.

G. Hammer, Narrabundah

COLLECTIVE IGNORANCE

Get it right, Annabel Crabb ("Speaker a one-woman tour de force", July26, p15), helicopters do not have joysticks. They have a cyclic stick, a collective lever and anti-torque pedals.

E. M. Ross, Forrest

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