Love for all, hatred of none

As for his objection to Section 18c of the Discrimination Act, I suggest he reads a little further and studies the exemptions listed in 18d.

Since he seems afraid of Muslims, he might like to go along to the Canberra Islamic Centre's Open Day on Saturday, October 29, where he could possibly find some answers to his worries.

I understand they'll also give him a free lunch and a nice cup of tea.

Eric Hunter, Cook

Has holy mother church got nothing better to do than to tell us where to stick (or not) our ashes?

Not a word about our mistreatment of refugees. Not a word about our dirty tricks in East Timor.

Not a word about our profligate eagerness to open new coal mines and bugger the environment.

The church has led the way in social improvements in the past but now seems to be lost in ridiculous and irrelevant minutiae.

James Gralton, Garran

As hinted at by Emily Baker ("Mystery of 'hairy man' still unsolved", October 22, p18), the location of the strange animal buried at Braidwood in 1893 has recently been the focus of a series of digs by a team from ANU.

Such enterprise is entirely admirable but there is more to the matter than that.

To start with, the Braidwood incident was only one of many episodes involving such a creature during the 19th and early 20th century.

These have been written about in some detail over the past 20 years, most recently in a book of mine reviewed in this paper last year.

What is more, the "unsolved" status of the Braidwood incident is a reminder that discovery can be a complex and protracted process requiring both a new mental outlook and investigation on several fronts.

Discovering a new animal does not always consist of merely stumbling across it by accident.

In the Braidwood case this was only the beginning. The field work is just one of many steps on the path.

Graham Joyner, Waramanga

Len Bowen (Letters, October 26) does not seem to be aware of any coffee options for the ADF between a $14,000 machine and "a can of international roast, a hot water jug and some three-day-old milk".

Let me assure him that there are many to choose from, as most Australian citizens could testify.

With such inattention to the price tag, it's no wonder we're paying tens of billions of dollars for a fleet of problem-plagued Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.

Sue Wareham, Cook

'Gun runners' rule this town

There's another reason for those arms advertisements at Canberra airport (Letters, October 28): to show travellers how successful the arms industry — "gun-runners" as they are sometimes known — have been in flogging their wares to gullible defence purchasers and ministers.

The advertisements shout: "Canberra, you're our kind of town!"

The losers are us, the potential beneficiaries of the other things that could have been bought with the money.

David Stephens, Bruce

Neil James supposes being opposed to advertisements at the airport for weapons manufacturers makes you an overly sensitive ideologue who wants to be sheltered from "geostrategic reality" (Letters 27 October).

Such tough talk merely obscures the fact that it is James who is the fantasist sheltering from reality.

James imagines the advanced instruments of death are actually operating in our interests. They are not.

Recent evidence from Syria clearly indicates that they are providing battlefield cover for the terrorists who ply their trade there and in the streets of Western capitals.

As a country within the narrowing orbit of those not militarily attacked by the US-NATO war machine, Australia is required to pay a hefty premium.

Protection money is extorted from us in the form of massive contracts for the owners of the world's defence industries dictating US foreign policy.

The advertisements are meant to normalise this shakedown and remind our politicians as they travel through Canberra of exactly who is actually in charge.

Greg Ellis, Murrumbateman

While Sarah Kleven's article included a picture of the European wasp, I wonder how many Canberrans can distinguish between it and the less threatening mud dauber wasps.

My experience with a mud dauber occurred last summer, when one started building a nest on the outside wall of our house.

My wife and I became concerned, especially as some of our grandchildren were due to visit.

I knocked the nest down, but then did some research.

I found mud dauber wasps are generally non-aggressive, unless threatened, and are quite beneficial to our environment by reducing some pest insects and spiders.

I was pleased when she started building another nest on the wall. I watched and photographed the fascinating process as she completed a new cell each day.

When our grandchildren arrived, I explained to them (and their parents) what was happening.

I've never seen them so entranced.

After many days, she finished her beautiful nest.

We have since moved and I carefully removed and transported the nest to our new home.

We are now awaiting the hoped-for emergence of her offspring and the start of another cycle of life.

As people tend to generalise warnings such as in Ms Kleven's article, you might consider clarifying the distinction between the "bad" and "good" wasps and other creatures.

John M. Schmidt, Monash

With regard to the article on European wasps in Canberra ("Watch out for the wasp, says expert" October 26, p3) some corrections and predictions are offered.

Queen wasps begin leaving their hibernation quarters in mid-September, reaching a peak of activity in late October and disappearing from view by mid-December when nests are established and worker wasps, the daughters of the queen, take over foraging duties.

Hibernating queen wasps are not killed by very cold winters, they have evolved to survive harsh winter conditions and have an anti-freeze chemical in their blood (haemolymph).

The biggest threat to queen survival is unseasonal warm weather in late winter which encourages queens to leave the security of their winter quarters and search for food.

Last season was apparently the quietest since 2004 with only 250 nests reported and suggests that after the peak year of 2015 when nearly 1000 nests were found, the European wasp could well be on the decline in Canberra.

Based on the lack of reports of spring queen activity, which is related to numbers of subsequent nests, together with the high rainfall experienced during spring, I predict 2017 will be yet another quiet year for wasps in Canberra.

Dr Philip Spradbery, Yarralumla

I find it disconcerting the story of inappropriate amendments to Wikipedia from computers at the departments of Defence, Health, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Parliamentary Services and Prime Minister and Cabinet broke on the same day I received my annual email requesting financial support from Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder.

I emailed my annual, token, contribution. Oh, and congratulations to Fairfax for pursuing the WikiWatchdog website.

I eagerly await the outcome of Prime Minister and Cabinet's collation of reports from the relevant departments.

Gary J. Wilson, MacGregor

In answer to Dr Whittington's question "why would pregnancy evolve in a male?" I would say it didn't; that's the way God made him in the first place – fully equipped.

Best wishes to the good doctor as she seeks to find "how a mum transports nutrients to a baby during pregnancy" as does the pregnant male seahorse.

I have read that unlike other fish more spry survive protected in the male's pouch.

[CT October 26, p6 "when male pregnancy delivers"]

Evelyn Bean, Ainslie

As a serious ACT ratepayer I have noted numerous letters to the editor from residents saying they have run out of money and cannot keep paying the landlord's rental demands.

Even a serious ratepaying resident like myself has to acknowledge that given the current economic climate, lack of wage growth, full-time jobs moving to poorly paid part-time jobs and the vast majority of governments, including the ACT government, running out of money and "tanking" on debt we're all pretty well stuffed.

In these dour times it is important to look on the "bright side of life".

Options such as residents being reminded they can always move to Queanbeyan and other locations in NSW with much lower rates should be looked on favourably.

The big attraction is Queanbeyan already has its own train which is much faster, bigger, cheaper, and better looking than the one we are planning.

It is already paid for.

Let's move it, or as Sergeant Scultz would say rouse! rouse!

Wayne Gran, Swinger Hill

If it is G.I. Bellamy's view (Letters, October 27) that the giving of legal advice is not one of the ordinary functions of counsel, this is not a view many counsel would share.

It was not a view I took as the (first) head of the Office of General Counsel in the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department.

It was not a view on which the many distinguished solicitors-general with whom I had the privilege of working acted.

It was clearly not the view on which governor-general Quentin Bryce and the then acting solicitor-general acted when, following the election of Mr Rudd as leader of the Labor Party, prime minister Gillard recommended to the governor-general that Mr Rudd be commissioned as prime minister.

The governor-general very properly sought the advice of the acting solicitor-general whether to act on Ms Gillard's recommendation and commission Mr Rudd as prime minister (surely a classic example, if one were needed, of the importance of direct access by the governor-general to the solicitor-general, without the prior consent of the attorney-general.

Ernst Willheim, Forrest

BOWEL GAS

The Urban Dictionary (presumably American) describes a cornflute as the melody emerging from a forcible expulsion of bowel gas from its natural exit. A perfect name for election posters methinks.

Morgan Kernow, Swinger Hill

LADIES ALWAYS TRY

I get it, Rod Frazer (letters 28 Oct). In union, all those ladies, both sides, always try.

Greg Simmons, Lyons

FROM DAY TO SUNSET

It's dawned on Bob Day that his political career is facing a sunset.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield

Apparently Senator Bob the Builder could receive $45,000 by hanging on, which might help his cash flow problems. [Family First senator Bob Day signals he's not going anywhere despite resignation from Senate].

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove

Peter Marshall implies (Letters, 27/10) Senator Bob Day should not vote on ABCC-related legislation as he owns a construction company. Using the same logic, I assume Mr Marshall would exclude Penny Wong (CFMEU) and Gavin Marshall (Electrical Trades Union) from voting on an ABCC bill owing to their union affiliation.

Stephen Jones, Bonython

ABOVE THE LAW

The stoush between George Brandis and Justin Gleeson has raised a question Malcolm Turnbull has to answer. How could his Attorney General take the law into his own hand, even defying his own office? Is his Attorney-General above law?

Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt

CORRECTION: A letter on October 29 incorrectly identified former opposition leader Jeremy Hanson as having written a piece in The Canberra Times about the ACT Muslim community. Mr Hanson did not write such an article. Mr Hanson does not hold the views ascribed to him by the letter writer and supports multiculturalism and the Muslim community.

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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