None of the Australian personnel who served, suffered and died in World War I , and subsequent wars, made their sacrifice for Australia.

It was all for the Mother Country, or to keep sweet with the US.

Everybody remembers Menzies saying: "It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war".

Everybody remembers Holt's "all the way with LBJ".

Everybody remembers Hasluck pressuring the Americans to request an Australian battalion to join US combat troops in South Vietnam.

I except the 624 regular army and Citizen Military Forces members killed on the Kokoda track while defending Australia against the Japanese.

I also except the tens of thousands of unknown partisans who were hunted and shot down defending their homeland in the bitter guerrilla war fought on Australian soil from 1788 to 1928.

The present war glorification park is a joke.

It is a sham hatched by John Howard and Professor Geoffrey Blainey and about to be brought to fruition by Dr Brendan Nelson.

Kenneth Griffiths, O'Connor

Brendan Nelson ("Indigenous gargoyles to stay at Australian War Memorial", canberratimes.com.au, June 4, 2015) said the AWM did not have the resources to deal with the armed conflict between Indigenous and white Australians.

However, $350 million was spent on the Anzac Centenary and $485 million allocated for memorial expansion.

There are still no plans to memorialise the Frontier Wars. The director's argument is surely not sustainable.

The AWM, or the director, have also argued from time to time that war was never declared against Indigenous Australia, nor were the Frontier Wars fought overseas.

Once again these are weak arguments as we never declared war on North Vietnam but we rightly memorialise the conflict.

The AWM seems also to have overlooked that significant armed conflict occurred on Australian soil in Darwin in World War II. This is dealt with appropriately in the galleries.

One can conclude that our past is just too grim and we haven't matured enough to acknowledge these wars.

But we must.

Germany has been able to face its Nazi past and emerged stronger as it faces the future.

We cannot grow as a nation until we have come to grips with the blood that was spilt in the Frontier Wars; wars that may have taken more Australian lives than World Wars I and II combined, and wars that shaped our nation.

Digby Habel, Cook

What a surprise. A group of "prominent" Australians, ("Chorus against AWM expansion", March 23, p1) who are against the expansion of the national war memorial, just happen to be of the left. Who would have guessed?

Owen Reid, Dunlop

Ken Keeling (Letters, March 22) gives his account of two recent Coles Shell 98 fuel purchases — one in regional NSW and one in Canberra — where he paid $1.689 (or $0.16c/litre more) in Canberra.

He makes no secret that his preference of fuel supplier — and four decades of loyalty — is due to his use of a Flybuys card and fuel discount dockets.

Upon reading his letter, I immediately consulted one of the petrol price monitoring websites for Canberra and noted that all of the Shell Coles sites near his suburb were still selling 98 octane fuel at $1.689/litre.

But it was also very clear that the same fuel type is freely available in a number of outlets in surrounding areas for $1.569 and $1.579/litre.

By any measure, that's either blind loyalty or a gross miscalculation of the value of the shopper dockets and Flybuys cards — or both.

Ken is angry at them, and says they are sneaky — and so he tells us that he and his family now buy their fuel elsewhere.

His realisation that the fuel discounts offered by shopper dockets and Flybuys cards are marginal is sound.

Unfortunately it is a few decades late.

Ian Duckworth, Griffith

Who will want to live in Canberra once the light rail and its associated high-density developments have been constructed?

I can tell you: investors. Geocon's hoarding on its Cooyong Street development site says nothing about homes, only "Seven per cent rental guarantee for five years. Create wealth through property."

Others also stand to profit from Northbourne Avenue's projected densification. They include the ACT branches of the Property Council, Master Builders Association, Planning Institute of Australia, Institute of Architects, Institute of Landscape Architects, and the Canberra Business Chamber ("Industry Groups unite to combat 'low-density' plan for Northbourne Avenue", canberratimes.com.au, March25).

To the indignation of these professional bodies, residents of Downer successfully sought revisions to earlier plans for the tram corridor because of concerns about proposed building heights.

They managed to get maximum height limits reduced, to deal with potential problems with the blocking of sunlight to existing properties, increased traffic and an unacceptable change to the character of the suburb.

Is it a surprise that Downer is a suburb where many people have chosen to live because they enjoy its current character?

This is a test for the ACT government. Is it in the pockets of developers, an accusation often made? Or is it prepared to stand by the legitimate concerns of its citizens, those who enjoy their homes in Downer's pleasant, green, medium-density suburb?

Elizabeth Teather, Reid

I have long been an admirer of Jack Waterford's political articles in the Forum section of The Canberra Times, and last weekend's article ("PM's shrinking credibility", March 23) is no exception.

Jack has a deep understanding of human nature and the political system, and he has the knack of crystallising the arguments for governing for all the people, which are often lost in this day and age.

I think a government is elected to balance the requirements of the full spectrum of issues so that society as a whole benefits, and that is the message that Jack consistently puts forward.

All power to his pen.

Neville Exon, Chapman

Over the past 10 days, journalists have compiled many references of past statements and actions of the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his fellow cabinet members such as Peter Dutton and others, which show that 'the real perpetrators of the New Zealand massacre were those politicians and media commentators who load the weapons of hatred and intolerance' (Mark Slater, Letters, March 25).

On Tuesday, Peter Hartcher ("PM pushed for mass detention", March 26, p4) wrote that Morrison, when minister for immigration in 2014, proposed multibillion-dollar in-country detention facilities to hold asylum seekers who are here on bridging visas.

The report states Joe Hockey, the then treasurer, 'hit the roof' on the grounds of the inhumanity of the proposal.

A spokesman for Morrison said he had no recollection of such a proposal.

This is similar to his recent protestations that he he didn't really suggest that antipathy to Muslim people in our community could be harnessed for political advantage.

All of this amounts to one simple proposition: the enemy is within.

It is ensconced in the Federal Parliament, safely surrounded by fences, security scanning systems and guards.

It is from here they foster attitudes and values which nurture the sources of terrorism, such as was in evidence in New Zealand on March 15.

The reason Australian white supremacist terrorism failed to register on Michael Pezzullo's list of seven 'scares' (Phillip Tardiff, Letters, March 23) is because right-wing extremism is within.

It's not a scare because it seems normal to these gatekeepers of safety and national security.

Every time it opens its mouth, our elected government puts our community's safety, the very thing they daily purport to protect, at risk.

Helen Tan, Deakin

As usual, David Pope's cartoon of March 26 sums up the political situation beautifully.

Scott Morrison is carrying the baggage of Liberal Party infighting and the Murray-Darling Basin disaster, along with Barnaby Joyce (a major culprit) and Band-Aid government responses.

Pope also alludes to the arguments in the Coalition over coal and new coal-fired power stations.

Meanwhile, Mr Morrison is shouting his outdated message — whatever that really is — to the rooftops.

As if all that baggage weren't enough, it is now reported that Mr Morrison in early 2014 proposed the building of new mass detention centres for asylum seekers on bridging visas ("PM pushed for mass detention plan", March 26, p4 and p5).

This could have resulted in up to 30,000 desperate people languishing in indefinite incarceration. To their credit, Hockey (then treasurer) strongly opposed Morrison's plan on humane grounds, and Tony Abbott (then PM) later vetoed it.

However, this episode shows clearly how ruthless and inhumane Mr Morrison can be if he sees a political advantage.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Good to see that Tom Switzer has dropped all pretence of being an "independent" commentator. ("A tectonic shift to the left", Forum, March 23, p11).

His horror at the prospect of Australia embracing anything other than the ultra-conservatism of the opportunity-wasting John Howard years that created a meaner, less inclusive country is palpable.

Switzer apparently believes Australia should be a one-party state that permanently eschews any left-of-centre ideas that don't conform to his notion of an IPA-inspired cruel and selfish nation.

Please, do continue to print his one-eyed columns because they expose the narrow-minded, life-denying vision of the conservative forces holding Australia back from any kind of political progress.

Steve Ellis, Hackett

So Tom Switzer is concerned ("A tectonic shift", Forum, March 23, p11) that "we could be in the midst of of a fundamental realignment in the Australian cultural landscape that entrenches progressive shibboleths" (presumably anything he doesn't agree with) "for a generation". Now that is encouraging.

Just to prove the need for cultural change he rages about "victim culture" and how "the reaction to Christchurch has shown the desire for self-flagellatory virtue signalling is rampant", which makes no sense, unless he is talking about the perpetrator or possibly our desperate PM?

Richard Johnston, Kingston

I hope this is the last federal election held under the current undemocratic rules.

Cost is a major hurdle to the election of independents. We are mainly left with candidates from well-funded political parties. Only a small percentage of Australians belong to these.

The majority of us have no say in whom we can choose to be our representatives. The actual candidates are selected by nameless, faceless party members in whose hands our democracy lies.

Is it any wonder the current Parliament has been such a shambles?

Admittedly, we don't seem to be in quite the same mess as the UK, from whom we inherited the present system, but give us time.

Democracy should be about electing smart, intelligent people with the knowledge and expertise to make appropriate decisions on our behalf, and based on our input.

Modern technology should enable this. In contrast, we are given a very limited number of people to choose from whose policies are decided by a small percentage of citizens.

The successful then ignore the majority of their electorate, particularly those outside the party system, whilst they are in office. Few of them fulfil the criteria above.

Until we revise the system our beautiful, well-resourced country will continue to decline and the vast majority of inhabitants can do nothing about it.

We need a modern, well educated, knowledgeable Parliament which listens to its electorate and is chosen by them.

Audrey Guy, Ngunnawal

NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS

It is probably not surprising that the ACT government is ploughing ahead with extension of the Kippax Fair shopping centre over the playing fields at the insistence of its owner ("Turf war", March 25, p1). The fact that the playing fields were located in that area because it is a major drainage line and effectively a flood plain has obviously been dismissed. With increasingly heavy downpours expected in future, this could prove a liability for the community but it will only happen occasionally, so why worry?

Robyn Coghlan, Hawker

SWING LOW, SWEET TARGET

I think that Project Wing is testing its delivery drones in Canberra because of our strict gun laws. It could not do it in the US, as the Americans would just use the irritating flying objects for target practice.

Sandor Siro, Ainslie

JUST NOT THE TICKET

I am 60 years old. For the majority of my working life I caught public transport as I've never had a licence (which is more common than people would realise). I grew up in Melbourne and I like trams as a form of public transport. I thought it would be good to throw my hat into the ring for the ballot for the initial ride on the light rail as I'm part of the cohort who would be regular users. Wrong – according to the terms of the competition I'm not eligible. Genius.

Paul McCulloch, Macgregor

POWER TO PAY CHEQUE

If we want to reduce domestic violence we should raise wages. Low wages, and the consequent need to work long hours, produce stress, and stress is a – perhaps the – major cause of domestic violence.

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

WITH DIGNITY INTACT

Thank you for your editorial comment on euthanasia and the need for a national approach to this issue ("We need a national approach", March 23). What you are proposing makes eminent sense and I am sure that millions of Australians would like to be clear about their options for dying with dignity when they deem the time to be right. Is this something the Council of Australian Governments could consider on referral from the ACT government?

Bob Douglas, Bruce

FEAR FOR THE FUTURE

Great article by Crispin Hull ("Australia's population is on the road to hell", Forum p3, March 23). What if we applied the same projections to the whole world, would the Earth be liveable in 220 years? That worries me even more than our present domestic predicaments.

John Rodriguez, Florey

A TIP OF THE LID

Interesting that Canberra Metro's customer support staff will be wearing Akubra hats, in "a nod to the city's distinction as the bush capital". Wouldn't it be more appropriate for them to wear hats in the shape of a high-rise building?

Rosemary Crossland, Ngunnawal

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