The trauma experienced by the owners is not alleviated by the greed of governments.

It is grossly unfair people wanting desperately to remain in their own communities are priced out of the market.

There seems to be more satisfaction by the Asbestos Taskforce in getting the demolitions done ahead of or on time than in understanding people's feelings.

What would bring some satisfaction would be an all encompassing inquiry into the debacle.

Canvassing politicians did not reveal a lot of enthusiasm. Andrew Barr sees no sense in an inquiry.

Shane Rattenbury was sympathetic but has shown no action.

Jeremy Hanson said he was in favour but will he persist now that he was not elected?

Most disappointing was Andrew Leigh, Federal Member for the ACT, who said the main priority was on assisting those most affected to rebuild their lives, rather than engaging in another inquiry.

Andrew, what would help re-build lives would be an inquiry.

M. McConnell, Giralang

Stump up closer please

The potential for a batsman to be wrongfully given out off a no ball (re: the Australia/South Africa test match) could largely be circumvented by insisting that the umpire at the bowler's end stand immediately behind the stumps, rather than two to three metres behind them.

I umpired for many years and found it quite easy to watch the bowler's front foot land before swinging my attention to the flight of the ball.

Standing back, as seems to be the norm with current umpires, makes it virtually impossible to make such a judgment.

There was at least one other occasion during the match, where a no ball should have been (but was not) called.

Situations such as the Cook dismissal/non-dismissal should simply not be allowed to occur at this (or any) level of cricket.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

'Mad' facts of obesity

It is not the Grattan Institute idea for a sugar tax that is "barking mad" it is Barnaby Joyce's reaction.

Joyce talks about individual freedoms.

There is nothing individual about the unsustainable demand for health costs.

What is "mad" is governments not facing up to the terrible facts surrounding an obese life. A life of reduced mobility, knee and hip operations, amputations, organ transplants, dialysis, unemployment and depression.

Just two of the recent terrible statistics are annual new cases of type2 diabetes at 100,000 and amputations at 4400.

What is "mad" is continuing like this to avoid a so-called "Nanny state" while an ever increasing proportion of our wealth goes into medical expenses trying to mend these people.

A recent research statistic really shocked me; 5200 Australians die each week from misuse of lifestyle products, namely unhealthy food, sugary drinks, alcohol, tobacco and gambling.

Many more are maimed by these products' misuse.

Paul Kable, Sutton

The Canberra Times editorial "Soft Drinks are a legitimate tax target" (November 24, p16) uses the emotive argument beloved of public health zealots "you cost us money so we have the right to control your behaviour".

Almost all injury and illness can be inferred from individual actions and lifestyle decisions, with endless scope for government social engineering and authoritarian regulation of personal behaviour.

In common with other tax and ban approaches inflicted by moralising prod-noses, a tax on sugar would be paternalistic, intrusive and openly hostile to free choice and personal responsibility. It would also be unlikely to improve public health.

M. Jarratt, Weston

Consider expert copies

Sally Pryor ("More is more", Forum, November 12, p7) lists some of the "Block Buster" exhibitions held over the years at the NGA, and the expense involved in their assembly.

Yes, indeed we are privileged to see them.

However, with the continuing advance of technology, the necessity to have the original works on display must be questioned. The reproduction of a painting can be so exact the difference from the original is visually undetectable.

A policy for the NGA might be to order a collection of expert copies of the works of a selected artist for a special display.

This is not a trivial exercise; it would demand expertise of the highest order, and once achieved, the carefully preserved collection can remain in custody for exhibition or tour.

Such a policy would enable an exhibition of the works of a renowned artist to be mounted, with discretion as current accepted ones are.

Jack Palmer, Watson

The 'War on Drugs'

As an adjunct to Bill Bush's powerful words (Letters, November 20) I'd like to share a 1994 quote from John Ehrlichman, who from 1969-73 was White House Domestic Affairs adviser for Richard Nixon and thus one of the architects of the "War on Drugs".

"We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalising both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news ... Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

James Allan, Narrabundah

Ron Levy's defence of the ACT's election campaign finance regime ("Funds move praiseworthy", November 25, p33) is true if a narrow view is taken, but not if voters consider other features of the electoral system and the Assembly's performance.

Voters should carefully consider whether they are getting value for money — including the $1.7 million paid in election funding — given the three main parties who operate nationally continue to have all of the seats in the ACT's Assembly (this is unique in Australia).

Could it be the parties are taking voters' money, and maintaining an electoral system systemically stacked in their favour?

Voters should remain vigilant about the Assembly's actions and inactions concerning, for example, lack of bulk billing, high construction costs (nothing to do with the tram, of course) and refusal by the Labor/Green government to disclose who it is dealing with in the Kingston arts precinct.

If voters continue to accept that it's good enough to be doing relatively well, their elected representatives most probably will continue with doing just enough to get by.

Bruce Paine, Red Hill

Hot and cold arguable Pope's climate change cartoon (November 24, p17) was mildly amusing, however it is the supporters of the IPCC's climate change that have cognitive dissonance.

Ninety-seven per cent of scientists do not support climate change as there is no such thing as a list of all scientists and their opinions.

Science is not done by consensus but rather by what is proven right through evidence.

If a theory or model is not supported by experimentation and evidence it must be abandoned no matter how much you love the theory or model.

That is the position we find ourselves in today.

For the past 18 to 20 years the IPCC climate models have grossly overestimated the real measurable climate change.

What the IPCC has not been able to do is model the effect of CO2 and other feedback mechanisms on the climate.

The models are simply and provably wrong and need to be abandoned if we wish to understand climate change.

Damon Fraser, Weetangera

Gerry Murphy (Letters, November 25) tells us he "pored over your death notices " and discovered "a lot of old people dying ". He blames the trend on climate change. What kind of person pores over death notices in the newspapers? The kind who then blames the death of old folks on climate change.

The kind that might be in need of a medical check up to see whether his mental apparatus is working properly!

Rajend Naidu, Glenfield

Joh had the smarts

Peter Baskett's elitist letter ("Joh finally learnt", November 24, p16) strengthens reasons commonly given for Trump's recent victory.

Too many elites fail to accept that others with different backgrounds might be just as intelligent and might have better solutions to problems.

It is extremely unlikely Sir Joh did not understand the "doctrine of the separation of powers"; it is more likely that he was merely "feeding the chooks" in response to a patronising question.

Pauline Hanson won votes when a patronising interviewer tried to belittle her for not knowing the meaning of "xenophobic"; I suspect Sir Joh similarly won the day in relation to separation of powers. (For the very few people who are concerned at their lack of knowledge about the doctrine, I recommend that they Google 'The separation of powers in Queensland'.)

Trump copied Sir Joh in wording his statements to please possible voters rather than elites. This tactic enabled Sir Joh to stay in power for many years, often with large majorities, to the pleasure of most Queenslanders and the disgust of elites.

Robert James, Melba

Tedious political year

What a hopeless, pointless week (month/year) in federal politics. Same old same old. Two parties solely intent on point scoring, wedging, spin, fact distortion, blame shifting and spending their paid work time arguing, ego boosting, not listening and achieving very little.

The two parties (system) has failed us. They never change. It defies belief that our National Parliament can continually operate in such a combative and unproductive fashionand at the same time expect to be paid handsomely to do so.

No wonder there are strange and unexpected trends developing in political outcomes.

The low voter turnout in the US and England and the byelection result in Orange recently says it all.

John Mungoven, Stirling

Understanding Plato

D. N. Callaghan takes issue with my views about the dangers of plebiscites as instruments of governance within representative democracies (Letters, November 22).

These views are, he says, "leftist-Marxist-inspired nonsense". Had he listened a little more attentively he would have noted that my argument was in fact inspired by Plato — certainly no left-wing Marxist.

However, while concurring with Plato's diagnosis of the problem, I diverge from Plato's solution. Representative democracy addresses dangers Plato identified more effectively than Plato's preferred alternative.

William Grey, Tarragindi, Qld

Solutions to violence

Violent men are created mainly by their mothers. Insufficient mothering or nurturing in childhood is the essential problem. This is the message from luminaries such as Alice Miller (The roots of violence, YouTube 2008); John Bowlby (attachment theory), and R. D. Laing, all of whom lacked nurturing but eventually realised its crucial importance.

Why is this not yet admitted? Because it means psychologists will need to admit to their own repressed psychic pain.

Solution: government support for many more "personal development" organisations and workshops as exemplified by the now extinct Canberra Lifeskills.

David Collier, Narrabundah

OUT OF THIS WORLD

It seems incredible it is considered easier to make another planet habitable, than to change a social system threatening our existence on earth ("Hawking calls time on earth", Letters, November 19). Capitalism fails to provide for human existence and fails to replenish nature, as it attaches no cost to the destruction wrought on our planet.

David Bastin, Nicholls

DEATHLY SUGGESTION

Any political party even thinking of death taxes will experience death at the ballot box. Country people remember families thrown off farms in order to pay death duties. It means the end of family farms. Who else will lose their lifelong struggle to own [a home] because a government can't live within its means?

Sophi Suttor, Narrabundah

VISA PLAN'S CATCH

It is more or less accepted recent tax cuts helped the wealthy more than the poor. There is a similar catch with the 457 debate. That's not to deny that there's a problem with foreign workers undercutting the Australian workforce. A cursory scan of the statistics discloses that the vast majority of 457 workers earn well in excess of average weekly earnings. Restriction of 457 visas mainly profits the top end of town.

Gary J. Wilson, MacGregor

ON THE WRONG TRACK

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge backs his bureaucrats bullying of Mark Rogers' Medicare cuts website ("Malcolm Turnbull requests legal advice on pursuit of 'save Medicare' grandfather", canberratimes.com.au, November 24). Well, you're on the wrong track Tudgie: have a Bex and a lie down.

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove

APATHY FLOURISHES

The disgraceful videos of the animal cruelty at Echuca seen on ABC TV this week is just one further example of the pathetic values this country now accepts as the norm. Apathy is alive and well in Australia and reflected in governments across the country.

Rex Williams, Ainslie

PLAYING NAME GAME

I've noticed that on the CT website that the link to football has been re-labelled soccer. Countries that refer to football as soccer do not take the game seriously. Is that the message that the CT wants to convey?

Jack Egerton, Ainslie

PRONUNCIATION PUZZLE

Do these names sound familiar to local radio listeners and TV viewers? Meow Calm Tern Pull and Toe Knee Appott?

John Milne, Chapman

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