The action of the anti-cull activists will not stop the kangaroo cull but probably will reduce the budget for other worthwhile things such as maintaining parks and bushland.

Lara Drew (Letters, June 24) excuses these destructive acts that she claims ''target private property ownership'' on the grounds that they are ''symbolic actions'' by a group whose ''moral and ethical arguments'' have been ignored by authorities.

Using Lara's logic, I assume she would be quite calm if pro-cull activists also felt morally and ethically justified in taking the law into their own hands.

As citizens in a democracy, Lara's friends can influence the cull debate by expressing their views through the media, by peaceful protest, by lobbying MLAs and by running for public office. They do not have the right to destroy communal property.

They are not immune from laws passed by our democratically elected assembly.

Mike Reddy, Lyons

K. Keevers (Letters, June 21 and 25) asks me to justify my view that the ACT's kangaroo cull is an ecological and animal welfare disaster. This cannot be done in a short letter to The Canberra Times.

If K. Keevers genuinely wants to read the massive dossier of information that supports this position, he should contact one of the animal or wildlife protection organisations opposing this cull. K. Keevers seems to regard vandalism as a worse evil than slaughtering sentient beings.

Vandalism, he says, is unlawful while the senseless slaughter of thousands of animals has yet to be proven unlawful. But do evil laws make evil actions excusable? Every single thing the Nazis did in the Holocaust was lawful. They were a democratically elected government, and they made the laws. Life is more important than property.

Damage to property when it saves lives is not vandalism or in any way wrong.

No police officer or firefighter could argue with that.

Frankie Seymour, Queanbeyan, NSW

Positive energy

Veronica Giles (Letters, June 23) seems confused by the difference between ''just another public company'' and a community-owned energy project.

I am the project leader of SolarShare Canberra (a community-owned energy project) and can assure you we are different in several important ways: first, ownership is diverse and local; second, the organisation is controlled democratically; lastly, we are not doing this for personal financial benefit.

We have a team of enthusiastic and highly skilled volunteers who generously donate their time because they, like me, are inspired by what we can create for the Canberra community.

Our mission is to foster a connection between community members and the way our energy is generated, and to involve everyone in the transition to a more sustainable future. I think you'll struggle to find many other companies with these goals.

Financial sustainability is important to achieve this now and into the future, but it's not the only factor.

The tools of capitalism can be used for socially constructive activities or for destructive ones. We choose to use them for good. If others would like to set up a community solar project then I welcome them using the documentation and systems we've created. We will be publishing them as a blueprint for anyone.

Lawrence McIntosh, Ainslie

Space battle

I find it very difficult to find a car park space when working in Tuggeranong town centre.

Why then is Simon Corbell reducing the required parking for new offices in Tuggeranong from 2.5 cars per 100 square metres of office space to two (''Tuggeranong buildings get upwardly mobile'', June 25, p3)?

I have been a member of the Environment Institute of Australia for 25 years, and my assessment is that it is more environmentally responsible to use a fuel-efficient car than having taxes spent on subsidising empty buses.

In a democracy public servants are supposed to do what the public wants. Most of the people I talk to want more car parking; 2.5 car parks per 100 sq m is about half of what is really required. It would cost the ACT ratepayer almost nothing to increase this now, but I predict we will pay dearly when these mistakes are fixed in the future.

John Skurr, Deakin

Our liars of choice

John Whitty (Letters, June 19), Ric Hingee (Letters, June 23) et al would have us believe ''that a mandate can only be achieved in a democracy when the truth is endorsed by the majority''.

My dictionary defines a mandate in politics as ''the political authority given to a government or an elected representative through an electoral victory''.

No mention is made of whether a mandate has to be based on the truth or if it is null and void if based on lies.

The fact is a majority have voted for a government regardless of whether it was telling the truth or not. My June 17 letter suggested that the whingers and moaners to your columns merely accept this fact and look beyond the ACT borders to what the majority of electors desired.

Given that most people regard politicians as being untrustworthy and capable of lying at any time, your correspondents should simply accept that our current government (which they so obviously regard as liars) has been given a mandate, based on lies, to bring us to surplus.

It's up to the majority after all to determine if it is lying or not, isn't it? And given the Australian electorate has little faith in either party, what is evident is that last September they preferred to elect the current lot rather than the previous lot of liars to government.

P.M. Button, Cook

More good than harm

Yes, why not throw the ''baby out with the bath water'', Martin Miller (Letters, June 25), and while we're at it close all Marist schools throughout the world, including the missionary schools in Third World countries such as Cambodia where for more than 30 years a school has been run by Australian Marist Brothers for children orphaned by the civil war.

No intelligent person would agree that the shocking assault on young people and subsequent cover-up by a minority of their peers is acceptable. However, it is no coincidence, admitted by Mr Miller, that so many parents (even his friends) choose to send their boys to be educated in the Marist system.

Brendan Ryan, O'Malley

There is a mountain of evidence that demonstrates the carbon tax has not closed down cities, cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, raised a leg of lamb to $100 and ''wrecked the joint'' as Tony Abbott says. In fact, the economy has grown and so has the stockmarket under the carbon tax.

Since 2012, emissions are down 11 per cent, the biggest in 24 years, and per capita electricity consumption is down 10 per cent.

Labor has failed to exposed these untruths and it is an indictment upon Labor that Clive Palmer has to bring in Al Gore to expose Mr Abbott's deception on climate, electricity prices and the carbon tax. The carbon tax is clearly working and is doing its job.

Ray Armstrong, Tweed Heads South, NSW

Heritage slapdown

It was heartening to see UNESCO's World Heritage Committee unanimously reject the Australian government's bid to axe the World Heritage listing of 74,000 hectares of forest in Tasmania (Tassie forest push'', June 25, p1). World Heritage listing is extremely difficult to procure, yet Abbott and co deliberately lobbied to overturn it.

This mob would sell their grandmothers if there was a dollar to be made. Their blatant disrespect for the environment, renewable energy alternatives and the science of climate change makes me think they are being unduly influenced by those with a vested interest in maintaining our reliance on fossil fuels.

Rick Godfrey, Lyneham

Burying the truth

On Monday night, the ABC TV program Four Corners put the case for a Commonwealth anti-corruption agency with royal commission standing and teeth. As a former ICAC commissioner put it: ''the only way of maintaining trust, or recovering the trust, is to demonstrate that there are adequate means of discovering corruption so that the public can be confident that what the government is doing is not tainted by dishonest behaviour'' (''Call for federal anti-corruption agency'', June 23, p4).

There was such a body. It was called the National Crime Authority. This fiercely independent body had operated successfully since 1984. It was carefully crafted with ''the necessary jurisdiction to combat criminal syndicates whose activities extend across state and national borders''. It had been established ''following a series of inquiries in the 1970s and early 1980s into organised crime and related activities'' that permeated police forces and politics across Australia.

In 2001, the NCA warned of corruption linked to the vast wealth of the illicit drugs industry. This, it said, was a problem that demanded ''the highest attention of government and the community. It simply is not a battle that can be won by law enforcement alone or in partnership with the health sector'', but required ''a co-ordinated and holistic approach''.

In one of the most egregious examples of political vandalism, this body was then abolished. Its sin, it seems, was plain speaking.

Bill Bush, Turner

Terrorist hysteria

The irrational hysteria concerning mercenaries fighting overseas that may come back to Australia and cause havoc is ridiculous. It is only a distraction that the government brews up to take people's attention away from other internal issues. The Australians fighting in Syria for the most part will be killed in action or will stay overseas, and it is unlikely that if they return that they will cause problems here. If Australians want to get army training, all they need do is join the regular army or army reserve. Killer Julian Knight was a staff cadet at RMC Duntroon, for example. During the Angola and Rhodesian wars three or four decades ago, Australians served as mercenaries and those who returned have not caused trouble in Australia. The same happened in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. We should stop labelling mercenaries as terrorists because in all civil wars people get killed, sometimes brutally.

Adrian Jackson (infantry officer, retired), Middle Park, Vic

Egypt education needed

Given the long-term association Australia has had with Egypt, I am surprised there is not a greater awareness of the political and commercial sensitivities of that country, and others in the region. I spent three years at our embassy in Cairo in the 1960s which for Egypt, was a time of conflict, perceived or real. Our ambassador drummed into us at monthly meetings, freely admitting he could not be sure he was not being recorded as he spoke, that our innocence in being in Egypt for our respective functions was our best protection.

This was the truth, and it held as the core of our position, providing an incident-free posting. The diplomatic community knew that at that time there were about 80,000 informants for the government, and that its security service was ranked behind only those of the US, Britain and Israel. Then, and obviously now, any actions regarded as endangering Egypt's interests could have unknown consequences. I am strongly of the view that hard-hitting briefings should be compulsory for commercial and media employees before they leave Australia for work in any countries which don't have democratic rule of law as we know it, and do have a history of political and civil strife.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

Wrong tack by US

I fear that the US attempt to co-operate with Iran in order to defeat the Islamic army ISIS in Iraq has little chance of succeeding (''Barbarians are at Iraq gate'' Times2, June 24, p1). Why? Well, largely because ISIS is not confined to Iraq. It also dominates the opposition in Syria - where the regime of Bashar al-Assad is strongly opposed by the US, though fully supported by its newly-found partner Iran. Surely, the consequences of its 2003 adventure in Iraq ought to have taught the US the lesson that, before another ill thought-out move, the post-intervention plan should be its priority - for the sake of Iraq as well as the region.

Sam Nona, Burradoo, NSW

Football is full of surprises and the World Cup produces some extraordinary moments, though not always memorable.

Case in point is Mr Luis Suarez, the extravagantly talented striker for Uruguay and Liverpool FC. He strikes wherever he goes in a fashion not envisaged by the rules of game. When he isn't kicking the ball into the back of an opponent's goal, he's doing his best to eat them alive. Alas, young Luis is a serial ''biter'' on the field.

Parents and carers are familiar with this behaviour among tiny tots every once in a while. Young Luis just never got past that point. Some footballers get dehydrated during the game, but young Luis gets hungry!

Some have suggested Luis is just being affectionate, a thought that is disturbing to many players and sheep!

Hollywood is said to be interested in his acting prowess, which is undeniably as good as his football and on-field biting. Possibilities abound! Good thing Australia isn't playing Uruguay or Mr Suarez may have turned his prodigious appetite to kangaroos. What an embarrassment young Luis is to the world game.

Peter Funnell, Farrer

Rail unconvincing

The Chief Minister supports light rail because, although it is the most expensive option, trams are easy to board (''Report casts more doubt on benefits of Gungahlin light-rail line'', canberratimes.com.au, June 20).

To make this convenience possible, public tenants, including some who suffer from limited mobility, are to be relocated up to a kilometre away. How do they get to the tram? By bus? The justifications we hear for this tram line change daily and none, so far, has made any sense, but ''easier to board'' is surely clutching at straws.

Penny Hanley, Downer

PALMER DUPES TONY

Queensland's greenie miner, Clive Palmer, has gulled phoney Tony (''This means Gore … Palmer sparks carbon tax chaos for PM'', June 26, p1).

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

NAME AND SHAME ALL

I cannot understand why ''naming and shaming'' landlords in rates or land tax debt is a bad thing (''Investors risk losing land over late rates'', June 25, p1), provided the same rule is applied to other offenders: under-age criminals, misbehaving lawyers, doctors etc.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

AVOID FOREIGN WARS

Bill Arnold (Letters, June 25) defends the right of young Australians to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces on the basis that the West always wears a ''white hat'', while my point was that it is not in Australia's interests that they should get involved in any foreign conflict (unless as members of our country's armed forces), regardless of what colour hat is being worn.

While Bill is entitled to his world view, I would suggest that ''There are none so blind as those who will not see''.

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

Even assuming that is true, Bill Arnold, and as yet there is only conjecture, how much damage has been done to Australian passport holders, in particular those who may want to travel in the Middle East, by Israeli agents happily using Australians and Australian passports for their illegal activities?

Brenton McGeachie, Queanbeyan West, NSW

TAPPING BUSH WISDOM

I note that the National Library has, among a collection of miniature books, Richard Nixon's inaugural speech on becoming president ('''Tiniest' challenger in library collection'', June 24, p4).

Perhaps some enterprising publisher might mount a challenge with a published collection of the wisdom of George W. Bush.

It was Bush who once informed an audience that the French lacked the American spirit of enterprise and that there was no word for ''entrepreneur'' in the French language!

Robert Willson, Deakin

POLICE ACT COWARDLY

If a member of the public fired capsicum spray at a tethered dog, the police would describe the act as cruel, cowardly and perhaps lay charges (''Police quiet on dog spray inquiry'', June 25, p3).

However, when one of their own does this they investigate the incident internally. Since when are police above the law?

John Edwards, Franklin

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).