The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ruled the culling of kangaroos on Defence Department land in Canberra can resume (''Majura kangaroos back in firing line after tribunal upholds cull'', June 23, p3).
The Tribunal had no other choice than to coincide with the powers that be! That kangaroos cause ''substantial damage to declared ecological communities and threatened species'' is clearly slack and shonky science! Majura is not a nature conservation reserve but an area for Defence training, but this impact was ignored.
However, because eastern grey kangaroos haven't had the common decency to become endangered or vulnerable, they appear to be a threat to civilisation.
The Tribunal does not have the powers to override Defence and the leaders of the ACT, so had to bend according to the status quo. Like the NSW Shooters' Party, who want to be able to shoot native animals and birds in private reserves and national parks, fauna are only considered pawns to make deals with the power-brokers who want to privatise NSW lotteries.
Our native animals may not have a lot of economic value, but like some humans, that does not mean they don't have intrinsic value.
Non-quantitative values are easily discarded in our materialistic societies and in Canberra's cold hearts.
Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights, Vic.
Pay makes no sense
I hope the staffing reforms at the University of Canberra (''Parker declares war on UC staff'' June 19, p1) will extend to a review of the payments made to sessional staff.
There may be individual tenured staff who are rorting the UC system, as Professor Parker says, but the sessional staff arrangements involve systematic exploitation by the university.
In the second semester last year I signed up to give two one-hour tutorials a week in a social policy course at UC.
I was taken on as a sessional (casual, part-time) tutor for a payment of $191.40 tax free $95.70 an hour, not bad. I also attended one 90-minute lecture each week (no pay for this down to $54.69 an hour, still not too shabby).
Then, there was preparation, some background reading and some planning (all unpaid) to give students up to 20 of them at a time the best value possible in the allocated hour.
Say, five hours a week preparation we're down to $22.52 an hour, pretty skinny for a tutor with an MA, a PhD, a graduate diploma, 30 years' experience in the public service and government relations consulting, and a handful of publications in academic journals all of this directly relevant to the course subject matter.
Then, add two more hours a week for marking papers, recording marks, and talking to students face-to-face or over the phone or by email, and we're down to $18.23 an hour.
I didn't do it for the money, however. I did it for interest and in the hope of making a useful contribution to the education of young people.
But I know when I'm being had.
I didn't sign up for tutoring this semester.
I'd rather go fishing.
Professor Parker and other vice chancellors might consider the number of interested, well-qualified, semi-retired, experienced people they are missing out on as sessional staff because of the niggardly pay the universities offer.
David Stephens, Bruce
The call by University of Canberra vice-chancellor Stephen Parker to rid the university of below average academic teacher performance is long overdue (Parker declares war on UC staff'', June 19, p1). Any move to improve teaching performance should be regarded as a step forward. Tying annual staff performance reviews and promotions to student satisfaction surveys is one such indicator, even if it is limited by the narrow perspectives of students, many of whom have not been exposed to comparative teaching standards in other tertiary institutions.
Too many in our universities have below standard qualifications when compared with teachers in European tertiary institutions.
John Bell, Lyneham
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