After all, this is Australia, as long revealed in weekly installments on Four Corners. Does anybody seriously have the slightest doubt the same identical conclusion generically applies to every other grossly deregulated, self-regulated and enforcement-exempted ruthless industry in this country? Anybody reading this born yesterday?

Alex Mattea, Kingston

Like many I am grumbling about the upcoming changes to the bus timetable, but hats off to the lost property system at Transport Canberra.

Last week I caught a bus to the city, got off, and then minutes later realised my prize bicycle front wheel was still on the bus. Never fear. A phone call, a lost property form and a return email telling me the wheel had been located. Well done to the lost property system of the former ACTION bus network. I also left a mobile phone on a bus two years ago and it was returned. There is a pattern emerging here...

Clinton Porteous, Hughes

Peter Waterhouse of Craigieburn (Letters, September 28) praises Australian society because we can hold our footy grand finals without worrying about terrorists. But on the same day, Claire Thurstans ("We can't just say 'sport = violence' and be done with it", canberratimes.com.au) details the increase in violence which inevitably accompanies such events. People in the street, and women and children at home, are at increased threat from their own fellow citizens and family members.

I recently heard stats from the UK; when the English soccer team plays, domestic violence increases by about 40 per cent if they lose, and by 25 per cent even if they win. We seem obsessed with stranger danger; rejoicing that we don't get blown up by foreigners once in a blue moon, while ignoring the everyday violence committed by otherwise ordinary Aussies.

SW Davey, Torrens

What Romans did for us The rather dismissive review of Rome: City and Empire by Sasha Grishin, exhibition now at the National Museum, is likely to deter some from bothering to attend. ("The empire stripped back", September 29 Panorama, p9). Grishin appears to think the exhibition second-rate, and doesn't like much that the Romans did.

What did the Romans ever do for us, one might say. Rome did take up a lot of space in the ancient world, and they were a tough lot. But they do not deserve criticism that their long rule was a waste of time. We have the exhibition to give us some idea of what they have left behind in terms of culture, even though only a tiny glimpse. As for Roman harshness, I like what Julian Barnes had to say: "What a curious vanity it is of the present to expect the past to suck up to it."

Roy Darling, Florey

L Bentley may be happy to get his/her Canberra Times sodden (Letters, September 28) but I am not. I want mine clean, dry and not torn. I don't want to have to go down to the local newsagent to get another. This is a very dry year but there are enough wet days to make the plastic packaging well worthwhile. I am sure Bentley and others have heard the saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." That is how it is with plastic. It meets a very real need very well and, until be get a better mousetrap, so to speak, people will need to use plastic. There are no other solutions out there. But if, instead of spending $40 billion getting a man to Mars for the sake of prestige, that money or a part of it were directed to developing a plastic that would disintegrate in a few years, or some other material altogether, we could have a solution, probably soon. And our own government could help; it could reemploy some of the scientists it has sacked from the CSIRO and put them to work on the problem.

Stan Marks, Hawker

I remember the uproar when The Canberra Times first introduced the plastic wrapping for our daily news fix. One chap ended the argument by saying something like "To hell with the environment, I want a dry paper". However, the plastic wrappers you use are not waterproof. Back in the days when it rained in Canberra I often found a bag of paper pulp in my driveway. This was partly because you deliver so early. I've seen my CT in my drive at 2.30am. There is absolutely no excuse for CT to continue using the plastic wrappers, so please get rid of the damn things.

Barbara Fisher, Cook

Juliana Johnston, who works in the tourist industry, laments over the amount of road kill on the Monaro highway and feels "it is impossible to prevent animals being killed on our roads" (Letters, September 28). I suspect she is right, but we could do much more than simply clearing away the dead bodies, so tourists and city folk can have a more enjoyable journey.

It seems odd that sane drivers can see the road kill, know the dangers, but insist oncharging along at 100km/h (or more) between dusk and dawn.

Even if modern cars have excellent brakes and good lighting, no driver has sufficient reaction time to avoid an accident should the unexpected happen at high speeds.

Perhaps it is time for the ACT and NSW governments to get together and initiate an ongoing driver education program to teach defensive driving techniques to reduce the risk of hitting an animal – or anything else for that matter – in high-risk areas.

Maybe there is a case for electronic signage in specific locations, to remind tourists and city folk, racing to the snow or to the coast, that there is a heightened risk; and, as well as floppy fencing in specific areas, how about reducing the speed limit on some of the high risk roads during winter?

We can do so much more to reduce the risk of hitting an kangaroo on the road. And if the authorities will not act, then motorists can reduce the risk by being super vigilant and slowing down.

Philip Machin, Wamboin, NSW

To accuse a local NSW council of "indulgent self-loathing" because of their wish to hold their citizenship ceremony on a day other than Australia Day (Letters, September 27), and to strip them of that right, is a telling and truly disappointing example from our new Prime Minister of the mindless bullying behaviour of our members of parliament, which can, to our shame, be heard on radio by everyone, whenever parliament is sitting.

Joan Milner, Bywong

Long ago I worked at a senior level on government policy for broadcasting and, separately, privatisation.

There is no case for privatising the ABC. Proponents are merely responding to their donors, boosters and narrow, biased, unrepresentative "base".

But there is also no case for the ABC merely to compete for audience with commercial media without considerable public interest value being added.

Attracting superficial numbers through sycophantic pop "culture", by the inversion of the meaning of "reality", promoting "celebrity" and further lowering the common denominator is misguided at best.

It is not the stuff of a national cultural icon. Long-term investment in quality and delivery is needed.

A government that genuinely valued the ABC and its independence would provide secure long-term funding. A legislated rolling multi-year indexed funding floor should replace the stale renewable triennial model that too often hangs as a political damoclean sword over the organisation.

But ABC governance does not only need to defend independence, it needs to insist on programming and reporting of substance that is accurate, uplifting and informative and does not conflate verifiable fact with opinion and staff ego.

Mike Hutchinson, Reid

Our almost brand new prime minister Scott Morrison said about the current ABC board crisis: "I think it is important for the ABC to restore normal transmission as quickly as possible. There are vacancies and appointments to be made, but it is important that the ABC gets back to work."

This is just plain weird. The ABC has not ceased transmission, normal or otherwise, nor has it stopped working.

Yes, it's spent a lot of time reporting on this debacle, but so it should; this is stuff we all need to know.

In all respects it seems to be operating as normal. Maybe he just never watches the ABC, or maybe his two statements are indicative of how he thinks.

His first statement could be code for "The ABC should stop embarrassing me and my government" — but given that the two former board members that are now overboard were both government appointees, the government needs to be embarrassed to motivate it to lift its game in this area.

While the ABC itself is still working, its board of directors is indeed probably paralysed, perhaps in part because its remaining members fear a similar fate to their erstwhile colleagues.

Perhaps Morrison thinks the ABC is just its board of directors, and that all the operational people are secondary. Rather like how so many leaders and governments think they are the nation, and therefore think that what's in their personal or party political interest is actually the same as the national interest. Never mind what the public millions think, want or need.

So, the conclusion of the financial services royal commission's interim report is that that industry pursued profits over honesty. And over legality, to be more specific. Perhaps we can save a lot of money and skip the aged care royal commission, and not even call for the long overdue independent judicial enquiry into property development and construction standards, inspection and certification. After all, this is Australia, as long revealed in weekly instalments on Four Corners. Does anybody seriously have the slightest doubt the same identical conclusion generically applies to every other grossly deregulated, self-regulated and enforcement-exempted ruthless industry in this country? Anybody reading this born yesterday?

Alex Mattea, Kingston

Like many I am grumbling about the upcoming changes to the bus timetable, but hats off to the lost property system at Transport Canberra.

Last week I caught a bus to the city, got off, and then minutes later realised my prize bicycle front wheel was still on the bus. Never fear. A phone call, a lost property form and a return email telling me the wheel had been located. Well done to the lost property system of the former ACTION bus network. I also left a mobile phone on a bus two years ago and it was returned. There is a pattern emerging here...

Clinton Porteous, Hughes

Peter Waterhouse of Craigieburn (Letters, September 28) praises Australian society because we can hold our footy grand finals without worrying about terrorists. But on the same day, Claire Thurstans ("We can't just say 'sport = violence' and be done with it", canberratimes.com.au) details the increase in violence which inevitably accompanies such events. People in the street, and women and children at home, are at increased threat from their own fellow citizens and family members.

I recently heard stats from the UK; when the English soccer team plays, domestic violence increases by about 40 per cent if they lose, and by 25 per cent even if they win. We seem obsessed with stranger danger; rejoicing that we don't get blown up by foreigners once in a blue moon, while ignoring the everyday violence committed by otherwise ordinary Aussies.

SW Davey, Torrens

What Romans did for us The rather dismissive review of Rome: City and Empire by Sasha Grishin, exhibition now at the National Museum, is likely to deter some from bothering to attend. ("The empire stripped back", September 29 Panorama, p9). Grishin appears to think the exhibition second-rate, and doesn't like much that the Romans did.

What did the Romans ever do for us, one might say. Rome did take up a lot of space in the ancient world, and they were a tough lot. But they do not deserve criticism that their long rule was a waste of time. We have the exhibition to give us some idea of what they have left behind in terms of culture, even though only a tiny glimpse. As for Roman harshness, I like what Julian Barnes had to say: "What a curious vanity it is of the present to expect the past to suck up to it."

Roy Darling, Florey

L Bentley may be happy to get his/her Canberra Times sodden (Letters, September 28) but I am not. I want mine clean, dry and not torn. I don't want to have to go down to the local newsagent to get another. This is a very dry year but there are enough wet days to make the plastic packaging well worthwhile. I am sure Bentley and others have heard the saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." That is how it is with plastic. It meets a very real need very well and, until be get a better mousetrap, so to speak, people will need to use plastic. There are no other solutions out there. But if, instead of spending $40 billion getting a man to Mars for the sake of prestige, that money or a part of it were directed to developing a plastic that would disintegrate in a few years, or some other material altogether, we could have a solution, probably soon. And our own government could help; it could reemploy some of the scientists it has sacked from the CSIRO and put them to work on the problem.

Stan Marks, Hawker

I remember the uproar when The Canberra Times first introduced the plastic wrapping for our daily news fix. One chap ended the argument by saying something like "To hell with the environment, I want a dry paper". However, the plastic wrappers you use are not waterproof. Back in the days when it rained in Canberra I often found a bag of paper pulp in my driveway. This was partly because you deliver so early. I've seen my CT in my drive at 2.30am. There is absolutely no excuse for CT to continue using the plastic wrappers, so please get rid of the damn things.

Barbara Fisher, Cook

Juliana Johnston, who works in the tourist industry, laments over the amount of road kill on the Monaro highway and feels "it is impossible to prevent animals being killed on our roads" (Letters, September 28). I suspect she is right, but we could do much more than simply clearing away the dead bodies, so tourists and city folk can have a more enjoyable journey.

It seems odd that sane drivers can see the road kill, know the dangers, but insist oncharging along at 100km/h (or more) between dusk and dawn.

Even if modern cars have excellent brakes and good lighting, no driver has sufficient reaction time to avoid an accident should the unexpected happen at high speeds.

Perhaps it is time for the ACT and NSW governments to get together and initiate an ongoing driver education program to teach defensive driving techniques to reduce the risk of hitting an animal – or anything else for that matter – in high-risk areas.

Maybe there is a case for electronic signage in specific locations, to remind tourists and city folk, racing to the snow or to the coast, that there is a heightened risk; and, as well as floppy fencing in specific areas, how about reducing the speed limit on some of the high risk roads during winter?

We can do so much more to reduce the risk of hitting an kangaroo on the road. And if the authorities will not act, then motorists can reduce the risk by being super vigilant and slowing down.

Philip Machin, Wamboin, NSW

To accuse a local NSW council of "indulgent self-loathing" because of their wish to hold their citizenship ceremony on a day other than Australia Day (Letters, September 27), and to strip them of that right, is a telling and truly disappointing example from our new Prime Minister of the mindless bullying behaviour of our members of parliament, which can, to our shame, be heard on radio by everyone, whenever parliament is sitting.

Joan Milner, Bywong

Long ago I worked at a senior level on government policy for broadcasting and, separately, privatisation.

There is no case for privatising the ABC. Proponents are merely responding to their donors, boosters and narrow, biased, unrepresentative "base".

But there is also no case for the ABC merely to compete for audience with commercial media without considerable public interest value being added.

Attracting superficial numbers through sycophantic pop "culture", by the inversion of the meaning of "reality", promoting "celebrity" and further lowering the common denominator is misguided at best.

It is not the stuff of a national cultural icon. Long-term investment in quality and delivery is needed.

A government that genuinely valued the ABC and its independence would provide secure long-term funding. A legislated rolling multi-year indexed funding floor should replace the stale renewable triennial model that too often hangs as a political damoclean sword over the organisation.

But ABC governance does not only need to defend independence, it needs to insist on programming and reporting of substance that is accurate, uplifting and informative and does not conflate verifiable fact with opinion and staff ego.

Mike Hutchinson, Reid

Our almost brand new prime minister Scott Morrison said about the current ABC board crisis: "I think it is important for the ABC to restore normal transmission as quickly as possible. There are vacancies and appointments to be made, but it is important that the ABC gets back to work."

This is just plain weird. The ABC has not ceased transmission, normal or otherwise, nor has it stopped working.

Yes, it's spent a lot of time reporting on this debacle, but so it should; this is stuff we all need to know.

In all respects it seems to be operating as normal. Maybe he just never watches the ABC, or maybe his two statements are indicative of how he thinks.

His first statement could be code for "The ABC should stop embarrassing me and my government" — but given that the two former board members that are now overboard were both government appointees, the government needs to be embarrassed to motivate it to lift its game in this area.

While the ABC itself is still working, its board of directors is indeed probably paralysed, perhaps in part because its remaining members fear a similar fate to their erstwhile colleagues.

Perhaps Morrison thinks the ABC is just its board of directors, and that all the operational people are secondary. Rather like how so many leaders and governments think they are the nation, and therefore think that what's in their personal or party political interest is actually the same as the national interest. Never mind what the public millions think, want or need.

R. Neville, Fraser

The intense political pressure on the ABC to reflect the present government's wishes, culminating in the dramatic sacking of the ABC managing director on Monday followed by the resignation of its chairman on Thursday, is now plain for all to see.

But the article by Emma Alberici way back in February ("There's no case for a corporate tax cut when one in five companies don't pay it") that so infuriates the government is a fairly tame affair and not all that different to articles published elsewhere (Greg Jericho, Guardian; Peter Martin, Fairfax and even Ian Verrender, ABC). Alberici stuck to a fairly standard neoclassical economics approach to analyse some of the claims for benefits to working people of the government's proposed cut to company income tax. So there was nothing radical about the article and certainly no justification for pulling it down, let alone sacking the author.

This unprecedented level of interference shows that the present government is seeking to increase conformity in the ABC and ensure that if there is to be economic analysis it must be along narrow neoliberal lines and the artificial "balance" of Liberal-Labor orthodoxy.

So, although the ABC is independent of advertisers, it is clearly not independent of the government of the day and certainly not of government more generally. In its news and analysis, the ABC will never, for example, question the US alliance or the "Russia did it" narrative. More than ever we need a strong and independent ABC, but even more we need the alternative media that are independent of both government and capital.

David Bastin, Nicholls

Your economic correspondent's claim that the controversial Alberici report on tax cuts was "riddled with errors" is exaggerated ("Guthrie had to wear two hats at the ABC and neither fitted well", September 27, p4).

It wasn't all that different from analyses by other respected economic writers such as Peter Martin, Greg Jericho and Ian Verrender. It's hardly an error to suggest that company tax cuts might not trickle down, contrary to the government's view.

The governor of the Reserve Bank raised some doubts about whether the cuts would work. There were some errors in her article, but the call for her dismissal was based on disagreement with her opinions and a desire to suppress them.

David Roth, Kambah

It beggars belief that, in this day and age, leaders in any field could think it acceptable to make statements like former ABC chairman Justin Milne that he sometimes called those he liked "chicks" because it "relaxed them" and that "It's colloquial, it's kind of matey" (ABC 7.30, September 27). It certainly is "matey" — of the kind where blokes, often with a glass of beer in hand at the local pub, group together and mockingly demean women.

Blokey attitudes towards women are out of place in any sphere, but especially in positions of leadership, be it the ABC or elsewhere. The hope is that the next leadership team at the ABC has a better understanding of the word "respect".

Phyllis Vespucci, Reservoir, Vic

ISLE TO PINE FOR

Look out, Norfolk ("ACT called on to deliver services to Norfolk Island", September 29, p6). You'll get a tram, high-rise development to rid you of those pesky pine trees and as for health ...

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

TRULY TESTING TIMES

I saw a new tram, oops light rail car, rumble past and each window was emblazoned with "Your light rail is being tested". Given all the roadworks, road closures, diversions, reduced speed limits etc, associated with the project a memo to the Minister for Transport: please add another line after the word tested — "And so are you"!

Kent Brown, Ngunnawal

NAME CALLING

Perhaps the ABC should also change its name to ABT (Australian Broadcasting Turmoil).

John Milne, Chapman

ACRONYMITY

ABC: A bleeping catastrophe? A board cock-up? Alberici best commentator? A basic concern?

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic

POISONED CHALICE

After this week who in their right mind would want to join the board of the ABC, let alone be its managing director?

Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook NSW

FUTURE FUNDING

Why not peg ABC funding to a fair and reasonable share of GDP, in percentage terms, and leave future governments out of funding an independent broadcaster?

Jeff Bradley, Isaacs

FIRST REQUIREMENT

Interviewing a would-be ABC chair, I'd want to know the extent of his or her dedication to journalistic professionalism. Surely that is the sine qua non of the job.

Barrie Smillie, Duffy

FILLING QUOTAS

If the ABC is looking for some silver lining to the past week's political show, its coverage of it must be racking up its quota credit for Australian drama programming.

M. F. Horton, Adelaide, SA

WORD OF MAN

John Popplewell's assertion (Letters, September 28) on the use in the abortion debate of "emotive nonsense such as a woman's right to choose above all other considerations". Well, John, spoken like a man.

Jeff Hart, Kingston

AMEN TO THAT

Hear, hear, amen, amen and amen, John Popplewell.

J. Halgren, Latham

SOME MISTAKE

Ann Derbyshire writes (Letters, September 28) that Tony Abbott is selfless. What, a selfless politician? You had me going there for a minute Ann I thought you were serious.

Tom Lindsay, Monash

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.

Keep your letter to 250 words or less. References to Canberra Times reports should include the date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).