This decision by the ABC hierarchy is wrong on every conceivable criterion of excellence.

It beggars belief. She is at the peak of her career as a radio journalist, easily the best media talent in Canberra and one of the best in the country.

She is intelligent, historically and culturally literate (very), and empathetic or sympathetic as the occasion demands. She knows this city as well if not better than anyone in the media.

She handles Chief Minister talkback, a tough gig, with aplomb every time.

She is a consummate professional in an era when such talent is lacking, increasingly so in our ABC.

What could ABC boss Michelle Guthrie and local manager Michelle Ainsworth possibly have been thinking? To sack someone aged 50, smart as a whip, female in a male-dominated industry?

According to Ainsworth, as reported, it was "to refresh the program".

She might have said, refresh the brand.

This would be laughable in this dumbed-down emoji world if it wasn't so culturally serious and alarming.

"Refresh the program"? It's refreshing every year Genevieve gets behind the microphone.

Michelle Guthrie: if you are to retain the ABC's credibility in Canberra, you will reverse this decision immediately.

David Headon, Melba

Very concerned about reports of the departure from ABC Canberra of Genevieve Jacobs and the cutting back of the time slots of AM and The World Today.

One of the reasons suggested is that of "appealing to younger generations".

What does this mean?

Is it really the case that "younger generations" are only interested in pop, fluff, gossip and laughs and not interested in what is really going on in the world?

In any event — shouldn't the "younger generation" be at work and would not have the time to listen to a lot of ABC daytime programming?

ABC TV was dumbed down years ago and is almost unwatchable.

Is the dumbing down in part due to the MD, Michelle Guthrie, whose main experience before taking up her present job was corporate and legal matters for News Corp?

Oh, by the way — ABC RN does have the capacity to present three separate religious programs.

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

The ABC's radio and TV continue to lurch from incompetence to ineptitude.

Three cases in point. Tuning into the test cricket for a score check is pointless because instead of giving the score regularly or frequently the commentators consider talking about themselves, least alone the game in progress, has a higher priority.

Turning to television, an example of poor decision-making is the axing of The Doctor Blake Mysteries. It seems that once a program gains a big following it no longer has a role on the ABC.

Finally, the departure of Genevieve Jacobs on 666. How stupid is this decision!? My guess is that Genevieve's professionalism, astuteness and intellect makes her "masters" feel uncomfortable, so what better way for them to ease their discomfort than to show her the door.

Best wishes, Genevieve, for your future endeavours.

Bruce Kennedy, Melba

One hopes that the recent 200 recommendations of the NT youth justice Royal Commission, based on Don Dale detention centre revelations, are carefully studied by all involved in policing, managing and trying to rehabilitate vulnerable indigenous inmates in haste.

But the starting point for current reform should be the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which, between 1987 and 1991, examined the life/death of 99Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who died while in custody while at police, prison and juvenile detention facilities.

How many people with custodial responsibilities have studied these 11 volumes, with more than 5000 pages, produced by six distinguished Commissioners?

No.92 of 339 recommendations calls for imprisonment to be a sanction of last resort.

Public concern over this vexed rights and liberties issue, has been ongoing over decades, across centuries.

I urge people to read the overview and recommendations by Commissioner Elliott Johnston QC, written in 1991, along with other enlightened findings of this earlier Royal Commission which all should have been implemented by now, but shamefully are not.

Keith McEwan, Bonython

Canberra has the most wonderful network of bike and pedestrian paths and as part of a group that regularly cycle on the paths I am constantly impressed.

Mostly there is plenty of room to share and only rarely is there any congestion problem.

In some cases, particularly around central basin, the paths are wide and give plenty of room but even they can become congested.

It only takes a bit of common sense and courtesy to deal with the very rare congestion.

As bikes are quicker, this might mean actually going slowly through or around the group or actually getting off the bike and walking through the congestion — not hard.

Why can't people just enjoy the facility instead of complaining and wanting costly utopian facilities?

Perhaps they should spend time out of Canberra so they can understand just how lucky we are.

Geoff Gillett, Chapman

Senator Lisa Singh said on Q&A on Monday night that she was constantly confronted in New York earlier this year by people wanting to take up the issue of Australia's internment of refugees on Manus Island.

It's a bigger international story than Australia realises.

The International New York Times of Wednesday, November 22, splashed the story across its front page and carried it on to page 6.

Toss Gascoigne, Campbell

Michael Schwager, chief operating officer, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, sought (in his letter of December 7) to clear his department of the accusation of inappropriate recruitment practice levelled in the article, "Hired!: the end of merit?" (Public Sector Informant, December 5, p.4).

Rather than justify recruitment of a panel, a corporate entity, to fill a single position, he disclosed that having twice failed to find a suitable applicant he failed to recognise that the duty statement and selection criteria could not be filled by a single person and to restructure the area accordingly.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

The recently completed second Ashes cricket Test was great to watch, with plenty of tension and suspense, and with England showing good spirit in making Australia work hard for their win.

There were, however, a number of issues arising from the game. Firstly, the decision by the English captain Joe Root, on having won the toss, to invite Australia to bat.

Secondly, the decision by the Australian captain Steve Smith to not enforce the follow on, when Australia led by 200-plus runs was, to me, a little strange.

Australia's run lead constituted a considerable psychological and competitive advantage which would have increased as the game progressed.

Finally, there was the inability of the third umpire to intervene and overturn a particular decision by one of the on-field umpires to give an English batsman "not out" when subsequent video replays indicated conclusively that the player was unmistakably out is simply unacceptable.

The Australian players could only stand and watch because they had used up their quota of (two) appeals (ironically in the space of four balls).

This situation may or may not have affected or influenced the outcome of the game.

However it highlights the need for some form of "safety net" to ensure mistakes of these nature do not occur.

The International Cricket Council should be asked to look at the matter urgently.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

Australian charities, especially those who advocate for the environment and progressive political policies, are under attack by the Turnbull government and the big end of town.

The Minerals Council of Australia, a group that represents the narrow financial interests of companies with substantial foreign ownership, argue that environmental charities receiving donations from overseas be prohibited from spending more than 10 per cent of their budget on lobbying.

It would be the epitome of hypocrisy for the government to consider such legislation without also prohibiting all but 10 per cent of the budgets of the Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Australia, the MCA and any other industry/business advocacy groups who receive donations from companies and corporations with overseas (in full or partial) ownership.

Various religious and sporting advocacy groups that receive funding from overseas should be treated in the same way.

The charitable status of these organisations is immaterial. Foreign donors receive no tax benefit so there is no impost on Australian taxpayers. Furthermore, I'll wager that the membership payments from the likes of our big mining companies that fund the activities of the MCA are fully tax deductible.

From a business donor's perspective, the MCA is presumably no different than a charitable organisation is to an ordinary citizen – contributions are just a deduction from taxable income.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Brad Sherman, Duffy

H. Ronald demands "real-life examples" of women paid less "for the single reason they are female" (Letters, December 6).

Otherwise, Virginia Haussegger and presumably everyone else should "find something more useful to do" than seek to end pay discrimination.

Every year, universities survey starting salaries of graduates. Every year, those salaries are consistently lower for women. In many areas the standard of their degrees is on average higher or no less.

That, like the facts discussed by Virginia Haussegger and reported in the article of which Ronald complained, is a real-life example.

Or is Ronald saying that only a named workplace, with named male and female employees, and an employer admitting to paying women less for being women, constitutes a real-life example?

There are such examples, but not often: discrimination is not often openly acknowledged.

The actual details of individual workers and employers, and the pay differentials workers suffer, are generally confidential.

Work for equal pay. Don't pretend that there's no problem unless individual details of openly acknowledged discrimination are the rule.

Christopher Hood, Queanbeyan

I was completely baffled reading Eryk Bagshaw's article, "Have we stopped asking for a pay rise?" (December 3, p7). Is he really telling us the best way to get a pay rise is to play "the sympathy card", tell our boss we're "sad" and then "plead"? Uh ... no, the solution is organised, savvy collective bargaining. That's what worked for the employees of Streets ice-cream. Join your union.

Holly Godfree, AEUACT member, Kambah

The nations of the world, including Britain, France and Germany, have recoiled in disgust and despair at President Donald Trump's ignorant decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

And while Pope Francis joined the chorus of condemnation of the move, stating that "Jerusalem is a unique city, sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims", the best response Julie Bishop, could muster was a servile whisper that the decision "was a matter for Washington". Just so "adult".

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

Crispin Hull ("Alienated voters of One Nation", Forum, December 2, p2) looks down his nose at the only One Nation contender to get a "guernsey" in the recent Queensland elections as "a feral pest exterminator". I, on the other hand see the value of a man with such skills, and reckon our Prime Minister should immediately second him to the Commonwealth Department of the Environment with the sole task; eradication of white-anting liberal conservatives beginning with Alan Jones' and Ray Hadlee's pet termite, Tony Abbott.

John Galvin, Weston

The Jewel in the Crown isn't what's happening with the irrelevant royals in far-away-England, it's Australia's precious democracy.

The likes of loose-cannon Dastyari, who appears not to understand the concept of loyalty to one's own country; the blase MPs who didn't check whether they were dual citizens and the photo shots of the House of Reps debate on same-sex marriage, with the government's side of the chamber scandalously almost empty, demonstrate that politicians are urgently in need of an in-service on the significance of having a democratic system of government.

Phyllis Vespucci, Reservoir

"Free (to marry) at last, Free (to marry) at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last."

M. Moore, Bonython

KEELER CHAIR IMITATION

The least damaging of the many inaccuracies in the obituary of sexually exploited teenager, Christine Keeler ("End of an affair", December 7, p.10), is that the chair is not a Jacobsen Model 3107, but an imitation purchased from Heals for five shillings.

The Jacobsen original would be less revealing as it lacks the hand-hole.

Robert Burne, Googong, NSW

OPPOSING APPOINTMENTS

Foreign companies employing recently retired politicians is akin to having eyes and ears within the government. It should be stopped.

Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt

UNTIMELY CUTS LOOM

With the UN ranking Australia "39 out of 41 high and middle-income countries in achieving quality education", suggesting deterioration "in basic measures of teaching and learning", now seems an inauspicious time to implement Turnbull's asinine education cuts.

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan, NSW

RECOMMENDED READING

Re West Basin, I invite Ryan Hemsley (Letters, November 27) to read my May2017 submission to the National Capital Authority "Understanding and achieving a better Acton Peninsula Precinct Structure Plan", available from the NCA.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

AMERICA'S START OF THE END

The fall of the Roman Empire began when Caligula appointed his horse to the Senate. The US followed suit when the American people elected Donald Trump.

Jon Jovanovic, Lenah Valley, Tas