Earlier this year, two female jockeys died in the same week while working in their profession.

These two deaths were equally tragic. Yes, they were reported in the press but the sport carried on, and the nation was not required to collectively mourn, have minutes of silence before every horse race, jockeys to wear black arm bands, and have flags at half mast.

An extraordinary difference. Is it sexism at work again, or did the racing industry keep it in perspective? A tragedy, yes, but the sport goes on.

C. McKew, Forrest

Phillip Hughes' death is a tragedy for his family and cricket followers, but for the media and politicians to elevate him to sainthood paints a gloomy picture of this country.

Yes, he was a great cricketer, but why is his death a greater loss than the many who work tirelessly and silently to make this a better place?

And who never receive (or ask for) the accolades those in sport receive for doing what they love and in many cases are handsomely rewarded for?

D.J. Fraser, Mudgeeraba, Qld

Michael Clarke's current batting form may not be up to expectations but he has certainly played a magnificent captain's knock over the last few days with his untiring support for the family of Phillip Hughes and his distressed teammates ("Clarke praised for support of mate's family, teammates amid own grief", November 28, p2).

Paul Platt, O'Connor

As we mourn the untimely death of Phillip Hughes, it is worth reminding ourselves there are far too many deaths and serious injuries in the workplace in contemporary Australia. Work Safe Australia reports that by November 18, 159 Australian workers had been killed this year while at work. If Hughes' loss places an unwonted burden on family and friends, the same is true of almost all the others.

Barry Hindess, Reid

I mean no disrespect but please, no more. Phillip Hughes is dead, killed tragically by a cricket ball.

I'm over it. We're all over it. Stop ramming it down our throats.

Stop making the show bigger than his short time as a test cricketer warrants.

Joe Murphy, Bonython

On Thursday, House of Representatives Speaker Bronwyn Bishop ejected 18 MPs - a record for ejections on any one day since Federation.

She has now ejected 273 members in 86 sitting days. The previous record was 252 in 256 sitting days.

Yet on Friday, The Canberra Times, in its print issue, neither reported nor commented on those facts.

Understandably, The Canberra Times paid great respect to Phillip Hughes's tragic death.

But the ejection figures deserve timely media scrutiny. The fourth estate has a responsibility not only to report these figures but to investigate their significance to the effective functioning of the House, a central pillar of democracy in Australia.

Maybe, as Leader of the House Christopher Pyne suggests, opposition members behave like "idiots". If that's the case, we have a right to hear an informed opinion on this.

The ejection figures seem to indicate that something might be rotten in our Parliament. The people have a right to informed opinion about whether there is something rotten, why and what might be done about it.

Ken Brazel, Weston

Steve Meacham reminds us that next year will not only be the centenary of the Gallipoli landings in 1915, it will also be 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 ( "History's front lines", November 29, p13).

He tells us why, each year, the Royal Australian Engineers celebrate a "Waterloo dinner".

But there is another remarkable Australian link to Waterloo.

Even though the British colony of NSW had been founded only 28 years earlier, there was at least one native-born Australian fighting in the battle.

He was Andrew Douglas White, son of naval surgeon John White and his convict mistress Rachel Turner.

Andrew White was born at Parramatta in 1793, went to England in 1800 and joined the Royal Engineers.

He fought at Waterloo and in 1823 returned to Sydney to rejoin his mother.

He died in 1837 and must be regarded as Australia's first returned serviceman.

Does any reader know of another soldier who could claim this honour?

Robert Willson, Deakin

The National Capital Authority's chief executive, Malcolm Snow, refers to public servants' "imaginative and creative" parking to avoid parking costs ("Call for parking crackdown", November 28, p4).

I imagine this includes the day-long parking now to be seen on weekdays on Black Mountain Peninsula and along Alexandrina Drive in parking areas that I believe were intended for picnicking, walking, running or other recreational activities.

So, before such people are squeezed out altogether, will the authorities please introduce two or three-hour limits on working days in these parking areas?

But please do not introduce charges, otherwise no one will use them - as has already happened in Flynn Drive and Lennox Gardens, which are now virtually deserted on weekdays.

It was always the case that no one would pay to park there for such short periods, and that the investment in signs, ticket dispensers and policing is a substantial waste.

Alan Wilson, Yarralumla

The news that David Eastman is to be retried, though belated, cannot be a surprise considering Justice Brian Martin's expression of belief in Eastman's guilt, despite his finding that the guilty verdict of the original trial ought to be quashed ("Eastman will face murder retrial", November 29, p1).

One wonders whether the defence will, this time, have full discovery, particularly of "information given by Victoria Police to the AFP that had tended to support the hypothesis of Mafia involvement in the murder".

One also wonders whether verbal evidence by dead people who cannot be cross-examined will be re-admitted and whether the implications from physical evidence since lost will also be re-admitted.

Gary J. Wilson, MacGregor

David Eastman would welcome a retrial. He has always maintained his innocence and a retrial would open up many unanswered questions about possible motivation by others.

As well, exoneration would let him face a new life with a clean sheet.

His main worry would be the possibility of a long delay before the retrial. Given the DPP has already taken six months to announce the fact, how long will it take to reach a trial date?

In that time, Eastman will be left in legal limbo.

It is a familiar truth that justice delayed is justice denied.

Howard Carew, Isaacs

The law industry grinds on and justice dies a little more.

Tom Lindsay, Monash

Simon Corbell's proposed judicial council will be welcomed by victims and offenders alike, particularly in addressing the postponement of cases ("Move to keep ACT judiciary in check", November 26, p1).

The Canberra Times provides good coverage of ACT courts, giving Canberrans an insight into our judicial system and exposing a process that is so back-logged people can wait many months, even years, for justice.

We read of people who, with no previous record, for reasons not understood, fall foul of the law. They appear before a magistrate for the first time in their lives, readily admit their guilt and expect to be punished.

One might expect such cases to be disposed of at the first, or certainly the second hearing; yet we learn that, through inexplicable adjournments and delays, some can make 10 or more appearances in the same court over 12 or 18 months before their sentence is handed down.

This is indefensible. For a first offender, the seemingly endless proceedings are traumatic and can lead to ruined careers, broken relationships, mental health issues, even suicide.

Prosecution may be right and proper, but persecution is unacceptable in Australia.

Those among us who live blameless lives and feel qualified to condemn others may say an offender has no right to sympathy and must accept the consequences; even if that includes deprivation of justice.

But even these stalwarts of our community, if nothing else, should be concerned about the irresponsible waste of taxpayers money.

How many uncontested cases currently before the courts remain unresolved after six, 12 or 18 months?

Corbell obviously knows the failings and we hope his council can remedy what is truly a shameful state of affairs.

Margaret Owens, Narrabundah

I was surprised at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's shameless posing with images from the Close Up exhibition ("Bishop challenges public officials to change how they deliver aid", November 28, p7).

The government has cut almost $8 billion from the aid budget and still has the gall to claim that aid recipients will be better off as a result.

The damage done to Australia's image as a humanitarian nation will take at least a generation to repair because of the betrayal of trust in us by the receiving nations, compounded by the recalcitrance shown in our government's response to the international ebola epidemic.

Bishop may have "political rock star" status overseas but the necessity of air brushing her photos should remind observers that her current status is all pretty superficial.

W. Book, Hackett

Owners of the so-called Mr Fluffy asbestos homes who want to rebuild on their own block of land should be allowed to do so unfettered ("Compulsory acquisition: Fluffy owners warned", November 29, p1).

The ACT government should buy back only their contaminated house - say, for $300,000 - but not include the price of the land in the deal.

Why should owners buy back land that is rightfully theirs in the first place?

The government, by buying back large blocks of land to subdivide at a late date smacks of land speculation. If owners with minimal or no contamination wish to stay in their houses, why is the ACT government bullying them out of their houses?

Older houses are contaminated with lead paint, a known carcinogenic agent that is more widespread than asbestos. The exposure and health risk for most Mr Fluffy households to asbestos has been blown out of proportion.

Deal with the few houses that are a danger to health - and leave the others alone.

Leslie Barnard, West Belconnen

C. Parks (Letters, November 26) points out that the fallout from Mr Fluffy is far wider than just the number of Mr Fluffy houses identified by government.

Streets and properties surrounding the demolition sites will be like a war zone of trucks and tradies for years to come. Even protected status mature trees will be bulldozed and lost in the clean up method.

One hears that some houses have been identified with only small amounts of residual asbestos, following the government's 1990s clean-up.

This second bite at the cherry, involving demolition and scraping bare the site from fence to fence, is surely an overkill in those cases. Is this one-size-fits-all approach the best solution in terms of disruption for Mr Fluffy home owners and the general community, not to mention the costs, waste generated and landscape amenity lost?

Surely the houses concerned could be classified into low, medium and high levels of residual asbestos and each category treated appropriately. The National Library was not demolished and its site scraped bare when loose asbestos fill was discovered there. Buildings can be treated and made safe if there is a will to do so.

For an intelligent, sensitive and environmentally aware community, the current approach to this problem seems crude and callous. Did the process get taken out of our hands?

Penleigh Boyd, Reid

Under "Corbell clips ticket on transport report" (November 20, p2), Ross Peake writes: "The ACT government is using a national report on public transport to bolster its case for light rail."

He implies the report says "Canberra has the highest per capita use of cars of any Australian city". What does this mean, is it correct, and what is its relevance?

Canberra has a higher use of cars than major Australian cities have because those cities are so big that major use of public transport is a necessity.

Canberra's higher use of cars represents an advantage rather than a detriment.

Perhaps Canberra has higher car use than small cities have because longer distances are travelled in Canberra, thus making walking and cycling less attractive or less practicable in an environment where higher use of public transport is impracticable.

Thus, even if the statement is correct, it is irrelevant.

No intelligent person of integrity would use the statement as an argument for greater use of public transport generally and use of trams in particular.

I request The Canberra Times provide the origin of the statement (its author and his/her research), a table showing the use of cars in each Australian city, and the analyses of the various levels of use.

Bob Salmond, Melba

FLUFFY SAGA GOES ON

How can Brianna Heseltine say that the tabling of the Canberra Mr Fluffy impact statement was the end of the campaign in the ACT ("Emotions surface as Fluffy saga chronicled", November 28, p6)? The statement represented 330 people; almost double that number of affected home owners were unrepresented, of whom I am one. I am fighting to save our family home and, hopefully, the next campaign is about to begin.

Kathleen Read, Watson

BRING ON LIGHT RAIL

I can't understand all the negativity about the ACT government's quest for the holy grail that is light rail. I can't wait to drive from Weston Creek to Gungahlin so I can catch the well-patronised light rail down the central boulevard of Northbourne Avenue, alight in bustling Civic, promenade until I reached the "boulevard to nowhere" that Constitution Avenue will become, ending my journey abruptly at who knows where, only to turn around and retreat to Gungahlin to collect my car. It sounds romantic when it's mapped out.

Graeme Rankin, Holder

HOW MANY MILLION?

In John Thistleton's story ("CEO's pay cut in revenue raising stoush", November 28, p6), he writes that "Mr Betts reckons [ActewAGL chief executive Michael] Costello's pay is about $1 million". Is that $1 million a week, month or year?

John Milne, Chapman

WHAT WILL CHANGE?

The Senate has been impotent in helping the ACT but the pull of the swill trough sinecure is strong ("Gallagher says focus on Mr Fluffy crisis, not Senate spot", November 28, p1). If current ACT Labor government leaders follow in the footsteps of Liberal senator Zed Seselja, then their true motivations will be clear.

Peter Sesterka, Hawker

WORK FOR GREEN ELVES

With Kate Lundy's announcement that she will call it quits at the next election, I imagine that chap from Scrubby Creek will soon be lining up his Green elves to get the production line running again for all those signs that blighted our fair city last time.

Norman Lee, Weston

BAN THOSE FAST BALLS

The time has surely come for the International Cricket Board to finally outlaw intentional fast bowling at a batman's head.

Julian Taylor, Canberra City

THE RIGHT FORMULA

Mother's milk is best. Why? It is more nutritious; it is always fresh; the cat can't get at it; and it comes in such cute little containers!

Barry Attrick, Farrer

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.

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