Meanwhile, Abbott's "Team Australia" bickers inaccurately and parochially about the economic costs of clean renewable energy, without mention of the more costly and health-destroying anthropogenic lethal heating and particulate pollution by non-renewable fossil fuels.

Philosopher Stephen Gardiner eloquently describes the current climate crisis in the title and contents of his book A perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (Oxford University Press). Gardiner's first ethical tragedy is passing on the cost of climate change from the most affluent to the poorer and weaker citizens of the world. Second, the present generation is tempted to pass the problem on to future generations. Third, our poor grasp of science, international justice and the human relationship to nature helps to facilitate inaction.

Let us hope that whichever political leader attends the Paris climate change conference in December has a broad grasp of these ethical issues.

Bryan Furnass, Hughes

Blame the staffer

R.C.Warn (Letters, July 23) wants us to believe that because Bronwyn Bishop was late, her staff came up with this brilliant idea of hopping on to a helicopter to get her to Geelong and back on schedule. How easy does Warn imagine it is to hire a helicopter at short notice? How long does it take to drive to the regional airport to board it? Does he really think it is like hailing a taxi on Collins Street?

Then it seems we are meant to assume that it never occurred to Bronny that taking a helicopter flight might actually be a tad more expensive than going by car. Seems no one, not least of all Bronny, thought twice about the actual cost until it appeared on a finance spread sheet. D'oh!

Liberal apologists like Warn want to draw a tendentious and silly distinction between the fact that Bishop was attending a party function, whereas naughty – sorry, profoundly evil – Peter Slipper was just out on the town. In doing so they are opening a big hole for the taxpayer to fall into.

And why is it with Liberal politicians and their apologists that their knee-jerk impulse every time there is some gaffe of this sort is always, always blame the staffer!

Chris Williams, Griffith

It seems that when people are elected to Parliament they then view themselves as being a higher form of life, no longer subject to the laws that govern the rest of us.

Is it any wonder that the average person's view of politicians is that when you look up the word in a dictionary, it's entirely appropriate to find it sandwiched between pimp and prostitute.

Nick Payne, Griffith

The squandering of taxpayers' money by the "most entitled" among us continues unabated, with Bronwyn Bishop the latest miscreant. However, we shouldn't forget the examples in our own backyard, such as the $35,000 trip to France, Germany and Sweden by our speaker, Vicki Dunne, and her spouse, as well as MLA Giulia Jones and a staff member. Vicki even managed to squeeze in a $9000 trip with her husband to Samoa in 2014 despite a ban on spouse travel. Amazingly Ms Dunne's paper was titled Parliamentary Integrity: An Oxymoron? Indeed it is!

Ric Hingee, Duffy

Planet choices

David Teather (Letters, July 22) makes a good point about our decision-making processes needing to catch up with our technological power so that we do not destroy our species. We need to factor in to all our decision making the harsh reality that we all live on, and share, the one finite planet and it is our only life support system. Despite what some people think, that means that civilisation also depends on the natural world.

We are all part of, and dependent upon, the earth's ecosystems. We are not separate from them. The future of life as we know it is entirely dependent on whether or not the natural world that sustains us can maintain its ecological integrity.

In this critical year for decisions that will affect the future of life on earth as we know it, we cannot do enough to protect its habitability.

Gillian King, Narrabundah

China deal a dud

Thanks to Joanna Howe ("Trade deal bad for workers", Times2, July 22, p1) for setting out the various ways in which the Free Trade Agreement with fascist China will, in practice, cost Australians jobs and erode hard-won working conditions. Apparently it's not enough that profits are repatriated.

A nice piece of journalism, digging beneath agreement/administrative weasel-words to identify their real impacts. Bravo to the CT too.

Of course, any such agreement provides reciprocal rights, right? Were we to decide to invest in their equivalent of the proposed Shenhua mine on the Liverpool Plains (in their best rice-growing region) we can run that using Australian personnel?

No chance?

So we're being screwed while the Abbot government lies back and thinks of flying off to a nice fund-raiser.

Michael Jordan, Gowrie

Federalism failed

Robert Carling ("Leaders need to embrace principles of federalism", Times2, July 22, p5) urges Australia's leaders to "abandon their comfort zones and embrace the principles of federalism". The ideology represented by Carling holds that if states assume greater responsibility for their own tax revenue and spending, they will compete to provide quality services at the best price, funded by competing state tax rates.

This invites a "race to the bottom" that rewards tax avoiders and trashes the public interest. If states and territories compete with each other to lower taxes to attract investment they will have to cut services in education, health and public housing. In the United States, the home of competitive federalism, the poor states generally stay poor and keep their people poor. Whatever extra investment has been attracted by lowering taxes has not worked to benefit the majority.

The loss of state and territory autonomy involved in Australian government oversight of federally funded functions and programs is a small burden compared to the price that would be paid by ordinary Australians if Carling's vision was realised.

Paul Feldman, Macquarie

MPs talk the talk

Our principal politicians, led by our Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition have developed the infuriating habit of telling us in their self-opinionated fashion that we are having a "conversation", will have a "conversation" or propose to have a "conversation". Pure sophistry! There are no conversations as claimed, no debate, nor the healthy, genuine conflict of ideas. But there is ample abuse, weasel wording, obfuscation and the illusion of knowledge and reasonableness.

The only "conversation" being had is with themselves or their acolytes.

Peter Funnell, Farrer

Marriage vote due

Amanda Vanstone's article outlining why she has crossed the floor on gay marriage ("Why I support gay marriage", Times2, July 20, p4), was thought-provoking. Peter Waterhouse (Letters, July 22) quickly chipped in with some teasing pros and cons. However, one wonders how many more column centimetres will be taken up with the gay marriage debate before we actually decide.

By now, I think we all know the various arguments. But if we wait for Parliament to decide we could be waiting a very long time. Indeed, how can 150 Representatives and 76 Senators feel they can represent everyone's views on this important matter? With all the cards on the table, I think it is time we, the people, should be allowed to vote.

Philip Machin, Wamboin, NSW

Freedoms aborted

Shane Rattenbury's description of a mother-to-be having to"run a gauntlet" of harassment in order to abort her unborn child is a blatant misrepresentation of the situation outside the abortion facility in Canberra ("Move to ban protests at abortion clinic", July 20, p1).

Prayer vigil is peaceful and no one is approached by the prayer group. The newspaper poll on abortion reflects the lack of support for Rattenbury's attempt to silence protest. 76percent of voters in the informal poll agree that it is an attack on free speech to deny people their right to protest outside abortion facility.

Clara Curtis, NSW

Moral morass

I fully support John Popplewell's thoughtful letter (July 22) re: the pro-life prayer vigil outside the abortion clinic in Civic. In fact Minister Shane Rattenbury is to be commended for the unintended effects of his proposed legislation to have the vigil banned. He has given wide publicity to the fact that not everyone in our society supports the killing of as many as 100,000 unborn Australian children each year.

In demanding that this vigil be banned by legislation he is underlining the power of prayer even in our supposedly secular society. If prayer were not effective he would not want to ban it.

Robert Willson, Deakin

Re: the self righteous and ever so pompous John Popplewell (Letters, July 22). I am delighted he is so proud to attend his prayer vigil. Perhaps if he and the judgmental others of his ilk were to walk a mile in someone else's shoes he would cease to be so offensively smug.

Perhaps if he had ever been faced with such a decision he could put aside his zealotry and show a little empathy. I have, and have no guilt or regrets because at the time it was the only choice.

Funny how religious types so often lack the milk of human kindness instead choosing to hate, judge and denigrate.

Julie Clark, Flynn

VOTERS' HOBSON'S CHOICE

Now that the Labor Party is copying and using Liberal Party policy on asylum-seeker vessels, maybe we could save ourselves a lot of time and money next year and cancel the election and just leave Tony Abbott in for another three years.

P. Kramaric, Jerrabomberra, NSW

PAPER'S BIAS WELL SLUICED

Perhaps it's just as well R.C.Warn (Letters, July 23) suggested The Canberra Times should pay attention to "the moat" in its eye – at least the water in the moat would wash away any bias in reporting by the newspaper!

Suzanne Vidler, O'Malley

RAIL COST IMPAIRS VIEW

Alexander Penca (Letters, July 21) says light rail is good for us "if we look beyond the price tag". Sure, but that's a mighty big "if".

Barrie Smillie, Duffy

HOCKEY FAILS ARITHMETIC

Joe Hockey gets $200,000 for defamation, has to pay up to $1 million in court costs. Yet he claims he has "won". Can it be that our top money man can't do maths?

Richard Keys, Ainslie

PRAY FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

Even if one ignores the inflamatory rhetoric of John Popplewell's letter (July 22), which does his cause little good (I caught a whiff of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "death cult" halfway through), how pathetic are his "gender-based hang-ups" that he should refer to a group of women as a "coven"?

Paul Barraclough, Queanbeyan, NSW

EXPENSIVE EXIT STRATEGY

So Bronwyn Bishop's current employer paid $90,000 to send her to an interview for another job a long way away.

Not many employers would be so generous, even if they did think it was worth the money.

Jim Greethead, Bywong, NSW

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).