Canberra Times Letters to the Editor: Elitist view on march

It may not have dawned on King but in an ideal world that would eventually mean the end of Anzac Day marches.

My late father, like many Aussie WWII soldiers, had a disdain for the type of hidebound authority King wants to impose on something which belongs not to the RSL, but to all Australians, and would probably have delighted in marching out of time to thumb his nose at such nonsense.

More likely though he would have found a march in another town where pomposity and exclusivity weren't the overriding principles.

King's view that family and relatives of fallen and deceased veterans shouldn't march behind those who served is elitist nonsense, unbefitting of the memory of those who fought for this country.

Jon Stirzaker, Latham

My family and I are absolutely horrified by the plans for the Anzac Day March in Canberra 2018.

I always felt the march was a community day and last year our family marched with my husband who is a veteran and our daughter who is also a veteran and a serving member who came from Victoria with her "underage"children to march.

To say I am horrified and terribly disappointed by the decision to exclude "underage children" and local bands is an understatement.

Jennifer Jordan, Page

It's not just (in) cricket is it? Cheating occurs in other sports too.

However, it beggars belief that Cricket Australia is acutely fixated on loss of lucrative sponsorships rather than the calculated dishonesty of ball tampering.

The current and future national cricket teams will be "soiled with the rag" of being labelled cheats, ironically the same physical act that our bowlers stand accused of. Australia's sports future is imperilled if its admired sportsmen emerge from the compromised stock for whom the impetus for a morally debased "win at all costs" approach is acceptable.

I fear that the bad behaviour and dishonest attitudes on sportsgrounds mutates into an intergenerational infection that will be harder to be rid of.

Joseph Ting, Carina, Qld

Over the past few months we seem to have had our fair share of bad behaviour on the part of our senior sportsmen. For example: a past and current NRL player being allowed to play despite being subject to assault and property damage charges; an NRL player making contact with an opponent's genitalia; international cricketers tampering with the ball; in a Test match international cricketers making inappropriate comments about another player's wife; cricketers making deliberate contact with an opposition player's shoulder and spectators subjecting opposition fielders to continuous verbal bashing.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

Young Andrew knows no bounds when it comes to making a buck, even the Nigerian scammers would be proud!

In the chamber:

"Hey Meeeghaaan ... you know how we can make a quid ... you know those family/community events Enlighten and Skyfire ... they're held at night 'cause you can't see the lights and fireworks during the day. Well at night most of the bus drivers are in bed ... so all the families will have to drive their cars into town ... Why don't we close all the car parks ... we can say its 'cause of terrorism ... then we send out the parking inspectors and fine everyone for illegal parking. I reckon we can make around $90,000 for the week!"

"Oh gosh Andy ... what a great idea."

Well Andy, you know where you can stick your skyrocket next year!

Peter Toscan, Amaroo

I write regarding St Gregory's Catholic Church in Queanbeyan.

I happened to go to this 170-year-old church the other day.

Over the years this church has needed considerable maintenance, but recent efforts by a small number of dedicated people in the church and school community have succeeded in bringing its condition back to its former and proper ambience by interior painting, repairing broken pews, and general maintenance.

Externally, too, the amphitheatre and grounds are in excellent order.

Well done and congratulations to those responsible for its recent facelift, and I am sure that if any of the community in general have the time and inclination to inspect this historic church they, too, will be similarly impressed.

Ron Hassall, Canberra

V. Harris feels that because he or she has bad TV reception in Yass Australia is "way below" Third-World status ("Lacking reception", Letters, March 26).

I don't think we're way below Third-World status, but in some aspects Australia is certainly not in the 21st century.

Take telecommunications, for example: I have been told that Fijians enjoy a much faster broadband service than do most Australians.

While it is plainly impracticable to cover the entire continent, there are far too many black holes – some of them enormous – in our mobile phone coverage.

Our transport infrastructure, particularly the rail system, lags a long way behind countries such as China, for example, where a huge network of very fast trains is being built at a speed that would leave Australian railway builders gasping.

Australia still has a long way to go before it is truly a First-World country.

Dr Douglas E. Mackenzie, Deakin

Ross Johnson (Letters, March 26) claims that if in the future 25 per cent of travellers use light rail, 75 per cent will use cars. He has forgotten any other form of transport, such as cycling, buses and walking.

Rest assured Ross, all these modes of transport will still be available to Canberrans. The light rail just adds another choice..

D. Shirley, Narrabundah

When I arrived in Australia as a migrant from Germany in 1954, I breathed a sigh of relief. Germany had risen from the ashes, but the mental damage to me was done – I needed to leave. Australia became my new home.

How beautiful it was – lovely accommodating Australian people, a stable government under PM Menzies, and the numerous opportunities this country offered.

With my family we moved freely. Five children, born in five different parts of the continent, proved that. Prime ministers, Liberal and Labor, came and left, most doing a credible job to uphold the economy to an acceptable level.

I love the concept of multicultural society. I was born with an inbuilt philosophy that people of all races should be treated as equals.

I have a huge problem with some of the Australian governments of the last two decades. To begin with: Why does there have to be an opposition for the sake of opposing? Why not use the term "alternative"?

The Abbott and the Turnbull governments hurt me down to the bone. Rowdy children can be tolerated better. I feel so sorry for the poor souls on Nauru, and other people who desperately need a home.

Former immigration minister Morrison treated the boat people harshly, but he is vastly surpassed by the cruelty exercised by minister Peter Dutton.

The present government is not listening to the people who elected it. Isn't this dictatorship?

If I didn't like this country so much – the people, the landscapes, its history, I would return to my country of birth. But no, I am optimistic and hope for a better government next time round.

Erwin Feeken, Bywong, NSW

"Obstacles", "ideological" and risking the "national interest" is how The Canberra Times (Editorial, March 21) describes Energy Minister Shane Rattenbury and the ACT government for their view that the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) is "problematic".

The NEG's goal of 26 per cent emissions reduction will ensure Australia fails to meet Paris targets as the electricity sector will need to do more than this for economy-wide emissions to meet our 26-28 per cent targets.

Any policy so far removed from the reality of climate change imperatives will soon have to be revised, perpetuating investor uncertainty, not ending it.

The ACT's energy policy was one of the only obstacles to a complete wipe out in large-scale renewable investment during the Abbott government's "ideological" attacks on energy policy and the "national interest".

The idea that the ACT should step back from policy leadership would be shocking to the vast majority of the ACT electorate, and would be a setback for the renewable industry here and around Australia.

Ben Oquist, executive director, The Australia Institute, Manuka

Re: "Efficiency audit finds heaps of non-compliance" (March 26, p8).

It reminded me of a discussion I had with an energy auditor a few years back.

I had inspected a newly constructed residential unit with next to no insulation in the walls and single-glazed aluminium windows.

The owner proudly told me that she'd bought a "six star" energy-rated unit.

I hate to see people being ripped off so I thought I'd give the assessor a call and find out what was going on, and the assessor suggested that it made six stars because the facade was all glass and in the ACT you are entitled to assume that when a new unit is being sold off the plan that the new owner will install pelmets and the thickest layered curtain system available on the market.

"What would be its rating if the person turned around and sold it the next day?" I said.

"I'd have to work that out but I would say one or maybe two stars," was the answer.

It left me with the distinct impression that the local government had no idea what it was doing.

Sounds like nothing's changed.

Mal Wilson, Campbell

At a time when so many top businesses pay no tax at all, if it weren't so serious, it would be the stuff of comedy to have a PM proposing tax cuts for big business, that he claims will flow on to a measly $750 per annum increase in workers' wages.

After all, the Australian people well know that many businesses can't be trusted to act honestly or to pass profits on to their workers.

It has been splashed across the media for all to see the unconscionable cheating of the public by the big banks and financial institutions, as well as businesses' across-the-board deliberate lowering of workers' wages by casualisation of the workforce and the hiring of contractors.

After stumbling from one political crisis to another since the last election, there's every indication that Malcolm is about to enter another policy minefield.

Phyllis Vespucci, Reservoir, Vic

Ross Gittins' column "Sympathy's owing to truly poor – not the self-funded retirees" (March 26, p39) is right to point out the plight of the truly needy.

However, he then launches into a lengthy rant against "Australia's most self-pitying and grasping group, the self-funded retirees".

What he has to say about superannuant retirees is basically true but does not complete the story.

He fails to mention that it is not about self-funded retirees crying poor (although most are by no means rich) but about highlighting the inequity of Mr Shorten's planned confiscation of imputation credits that rightfully belong to shareholders, declarable as income, taxed accordingly and refundable according to taxable income.

M. Flint, Erindale

As an emigre South African who has lived in Australia for 40 years, I find Peter Dutton's utterances about granting white Afrikaner farmers special access to these shores quite perplexing.

These are the very people who for decades supported apartheid and happily benefited from the largesse of entrenched racism.

Patrick Wagner, Queanbeyan, NSW

Instead of making unsolicited offers to South African farmers who may possibly lose their farms at some future time, we should offer asylum to the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees now in Sri Lanka.

Not only have they already lost their homes and lands, but they have suffered violence, rape and massacres.

They cannot return and are living in horrendous circumstances in an extremely poor Third World country which is doing its best but cannot cope.

Pauline Westwood, Dickson

TO THE POINT

FROM THE TOP DOWN

Why the surprise about cheating by Australia's cricket team? The Australian government and the opposition have been cheating on their obligations to refugees for the past 15 years.

Ian White, Cook

DISDAIN MUST BE SHARED

Compare the public response to the Australian cricket team's cheating to the never-ending salary cap cheating by various NRL rugby league clubs. Time we showed equal disdain to the lies proffered by such clubs.

Greg Simmons, Lyons

GOOD ON YOU, MUM

So it's true what my mother taught me – "cheats never prosper".

Mary Robbie, Aranda

CHARMLESS, I'M SURE

The Australian cricket team. A bunch of charmless mercenaries.

Robin Poke, Hughes

ROLE IN POLITICS AWAITS

I am not surprised the captain of the Australian cricket team is considered the second most important job in the country. After all, the current one has shown he has all the ethical standards and political skills of a deputy prime minister.

Peter McDonald, Hughes

CLEAN SWEEP REQUIRED

The only solution is to sack everyone (players, staff, coaches) who had anything to do with their crazy decision and never allow them back. They have not only brought disrepute to the game but shame to all Australians.

John Daly, Lyons

DIFFERENT STROKES?

Ball tampering, sledging. What's the difference?

Mike Dallwitz, Giralang

ON TOP OF THE WORLD?

Politicians cheat on allowances. Big business cheats on tax. Banks cheat customers. Fast-food franchisees cheat employees. It's not just cricket; are Australians cheat champions of the world?

Martin Aubury, Scullin

CORPORATE CODSWALLOP

The "trickle down" effect of massive corporate tax cuts apparently will not flow for several years and seems as credible as the trickle making its way down the Murray-Darling Basin.

Annie Lang, Kambah

IN A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN

Ah, Hugh Watson (Letters, March 23), do what they did more than 100 years ago and change the rules of rugby to make it faster, and thus more entertaining, by turning it into rugby league.

James Mahoney, McKellar

WHO'S GOT THE HIGH GROUND?

Australian politicians criticising the ethics of Australian cricketers? That's got to be a classic case of pots and kettles surely. Tread carefully, Malcolm.

M. Moore, Bonython

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