Let's see public debate
THE TREASURERS response to the figures showing the increasing Australian population projected for the future regrettably omits any recognition that such a future increase is unsustainable (''Booming population to hit 35 million in 40 years'', September 18, p1).
The implications of such future growth go far beyond pressure on the budget and certainly point to the need to undertake a public debate over Australian population policy, particularly the role of overseas migration.
The public needs to be informed of the consequences of unsustainable population growth linked to further depletion of our natural resources and environmental degradation.
Wayne Swan's release of figures in the new intergenerational report provide the opportunity to launch an investigation and public debate on Australia's future population.
David Pfanner, Hughes
Fishing in the dark
AS SOMEONE who teaches vision science to undergraduates, I was most interested in the recent finding that the perception of the red colour in colour blind primates can be restored using gene therapy (''Colour blindness cured'', September 19, p22).
Imagine my disappointment, therefore, when I heard a London professor suggest on the BBC World Service that this finding should be helpful to the military.
By inserting fish genes, which are sensitive to the infrared region of the spectrum, into soldiers photoreceptors one can provide the boys with night vision, and thus dispose of the heavy equipment they have to carry for such purpose.
I should have thought that it would be far less conspicuous, not to mention less of a drain on the resources, if an army of goldfish were trained to locate the Taliban.
Sam Nona, Burradoo NSW
Theatre of the Absurd
RECENTLY there has been a spate of letters and now an article, (''Disorder in the House'', September 18, p27), highlighting the mockery of Question Time in the Federal Parliament.
Might I suggest that this is simply Australia's new-age ''Theatre of the Absurd''.
The original European Theatre of the Absurd was said, because of its content, to be anti-theatre.
The refusal of politicians to answer questions is a festering sore and clearly anti-open government.
We should forgive them and expect no more for they are merely new-age actors upon a stage.
C.J. Johnston, Duffy
Reduce, reuse, recycle
READING about Jack Waterford's book storing tribulations (Times2, September 17, p2) makes me feel less of a nut, while also jealous of the amount of shelf space (occupied or not) he describes.
However, I object to books being ''thrown in the bin''.
Unless a book is espousing revolting inhuman ideas (and who is to judge?), it at least deserves recycling at Lifeline.
M. Pietersen, Kambah
Population growth alarm
YOUR ''Booming population to hit 35 million in 40 years'' (September 18, p1) must set alarm bells ringing when we put this against a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 60 per cent below 2000 levels.
If everything remained constant except population, then emissions would increase by 65 per cent from now until 2050.
Surely if we are really serious, never ending population increase has to be addressed.
Eric Hodge, Pearce
Stars show climate
HOW CLEVER of Cate Blanchett to get out of bed and wear her crocheted bed cover to open the Screen Worlds exhibition in Melbourne (''Cate, the Golden Age: star steal show'', September 18, p3).
I look forward to her doona dress.
In these tough economic times her initiative is to be congratulated.
Alan Fitzgerald, Isaacs
Get tough on juveniles
MIKE Phoenix (Letters, September 18) attacks judicial stupidity in ''welfare first'' sentencing of young criminals.
However, why did the Assembly in July last year unanimously pass the Children and Young People Act 2008 which allows the courts to be so lenient?
Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla
A laugh a day
POPE FOR Pope!
His astute cartoon (September 18, p26) was a real beauty.
B.J. Fisher Cook
Insight into crisis
PAUL Daley's column, ''East Timor: can we be proud?'' (Sunday Canberra Times, September 13, p23) in drawing on interviews from Paul Kelly's new book, The March of the Patriots with former Liberal government foreign minister, Alexander Downer and former prime minister John Howard, helps shed light on how these important political actors responded to the East Timor crisis.
Daley rightly notes that in the lead up to the independence vote in August 1999, Downer was disingenuously putting forward the view, despite all the intelligence and publicly available evidence, that the Indonesian military was behind militia violence.
It is also worth noting that in the days leading up to the independence vote, Downer was asserting that there would be no violence following the plebiscite.
If, as Daley states, Downer was distorting the situation to save face for the Indonesian Government, it was at the very least an inappropriate response given the scale of militia violence in East Timor, both before and after the independence vote.
Kelly's book and Daley's commentary are important exposes of Australian policymaking during the East Timor crisis, not least because they provide an insight into the disingenuous approach taken by the Australian foreign minister at the time and his subsequent distortion of how the crisis was responded to by both the Australian and US Governments.
David Turbayne, Watson
Be responsible with pets
Spot on Julian Taylor (Letters, September 19), this issue needs to be raised.
There are too many dog owners in Canberra whose views on dog ownership appear to consist of, get a dog, throw it in the backyard and leave it there for the term of its natural life.
Allow it to bark, howl and yap day and night and if it gets bored, then get another dog and throw it in the backyard to allow it to contribute to the continual noise.
Never provide exercise for the animals or any form of training.
I do not condone animal cruelty but it takes many forms.
I also understand how people deprived of sleep and relaxation in their own homes, can be driven to take matters into their own hands.
Maybe we need to consider introducing a requirement for dog owners to undergo training in dog care and management before they are permitted to get a dog.
There are many responsible dog owners but, unfortunately also many who are totally irresponsible.
Margaret McKenzie, Wanniassa