Then Fiona Nash spoke up and all became clear: "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (from Shakespeare's Macbeth).

As the saying goes, "If the hat fits, wear it!"

Ted Tregillgas, Flynn

An interesting comment by Barnaby Joyce when he mentioned in an interview that the meeting between Trump and Turnbull will be different because there is some chemistry when you meet face to face.

That puts to rest using technology like Skype when transferring public servants to the bush. It will be quite a trip for the minister.

Peter Brittliff, Kambah

I expect that if thousands of unwilling Canberrans are forcibly transported to country electorates, Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash and their National Party colleagues will express surprise and hurt when those resentful, bolshie, lefty Canberra folk vote them out of office – probably permanently.

Peter Moran, Watson

I have followed with great interest the varied and sonorous discussions concerning decentralisation of federal government departments out of Canberra.

A far better idea would be to move the Federal Parliament to Ayres Range in central Australia. This would create an amazing construction industry in an area where there is little to no employment, open up central Australia to vast tourism and associated industries and last, but not least, remove the attitude of the rest of Australian people who constantly Canberra bash.

The Australian people who live outside of the ACT vote in a democratic electoral process to determine who represents them in both houses of parliament and then they send them to Canberra where they make all sorts of dim-witted policy decisions that affect them and then they blame Canberra. The reason the federal government was placed in its location was to stop the war of words between the likes of Melbourne and Sydney over where Australia was to have its seat of government. It is still not too late to change that and move the parliament out to central Australia and leave the Australian Public Service, which is mostly in Canberra, to do the work that they are paid to do.

Decentralisation of government departments is an affront to the people who devote their lives to service of the Australian public and their various institutions. The likes of Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash should keep their fanciful ideas to themselves and get a life, the National Party is losing relevance in Australia and they are trying to shore up their own electorates.

Warwick Priestly, Amaroo

It would appear that Andrew Barr's light rail trams are already out of date. A recent visit to the NSW Central Coast revealed that the currently-being-constructed light rail for Newcastle will be the only one in Australia with a wire-free line.

According to The Newcastle Herald (April 18), "Newcastle light rail vehicles will be fitted with on-board energy storage in order to remove the 'spider-web' of overhead wires and preserve the city's heritage". The Newcastle system will use on-board energy t and have charge points at stops.

It also claimed that there were already some 3million kilometres of this system in Europe. According to NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance, implementing world-class light rail technology aligns with the NSW government's plans for Newcastle to become a city known for cutting-edge research and innovation.Is it too much to hope for Andrew Barr to get with modern technology if he is to persist with light rail here?

Murray Upton, Belconnen

Greg Cornwell has left himself wide open again, I see (Canberra Times, Letters, April26).

By inferring that US Vice-President Mike Pence was wise to avoid Canberra and visit only Sydney, Cornwell, who has been out there on the far right since Adam was a boy, invites the obvious question: Why didn't you leave decades ago, Greg?

Robin Poke, Hughes

Pope's cartoons have received due accolades and I have enjoyed many over the years. However, I feel a sense of sadness about the insensitivity of two recent cartoons, which seem to miss the sense of the occasion in favour of political innuendo.

Turning his Easter "crucifixion" cartoon into reviving a racial debate with Adam Goodes on the cross even ran counter to the thoughtful editorial of the day as well as offending a large percentage of readers who believe in the reality of the Easter message, despite the vocal minority who will challenge their faith.

Then to focus on politics and excite racial divide with his Anzac Day cartoon once again calls into question Pope's seeming obsession with constant negativity.

In contrast, stirring presentations like that of army sapper Curtis McGrath (Canberra Times, April 26, p2) are but the tip of the iceberg of the majority of dinky-di Aussies who by personal experience have combined to put heart and soul into forging our nation's values by positive action rather than carping negativity — very often against the odds.

There is an old Basuto proverb: "If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them."

I hear and read those taking the easy way of ideological criticism but rarely do I see any sensible alternatives to cohesive community and national values being offered.

Len Goodman, Belconnen

I have heard it called bullshit, sometimes horseshit, but a cowpat on a cabbage head – that really takes the cake.

Another insight from Pope ("A brush with the truth", April 26, p15)

Warwick Davis, Isaacs

So Peter Dutton wants an apology from the ABC over the reporting of the Manus detention shooting.

The Immigration Minister asserted it's "indisputable" that a five-year-old boy was in danger of being assaulted, as described by unidentified "senior people on the island". Or was the boy 10 years old; and was he begging for and given food, as witnesses and others assert?

The same minister asserted as indisputable that Save the Children coached asylum seekers on Nauru to do self-harm and fabricate stories of abuse in October 2014. Save the Children employees were cleared – indisputably – by two independent reviews.

There are many instances where Immigration's "indisputable" assertions have been demonstrated to be categorically and indisputably false. Such as when Dutton asserted as indisputable that Senator Hanson-Young "doesn't get her facts right."

Hanson-Young reported she was under surveillance when visiting Nauru in 2013. Dutton's indisputable denial was demonstrated as indisputably false by those assigned to spy on her.

The only "apology" needed is from Dutton: to those incarcerated in horrible conditions on Manus Island and Nauru and to the Australian people for using our names to justify the humanitarian crimes performed by the ministry for which he's responsible.

Judy Bamberger, O'Connor

The world is becoming greatly concerned about possible conflicts in the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

If there is a prolonged conflict, global trading could come to a standstill. Australia could take a leading role in discussing this vital point to all countries that have a stake as it has developed a great deal of goodwill in this region.

Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt

What a shame those on the far right refuse to look closely at what they utter before they jump in with guns blazing, accusing those on the "left" of having breached 18C; and that their utterances are even more evil than ISIS.

Those who are once again frothing at their mouth and waving 18C as their holy bible would be well advised to shut their mouths and be thought a fool rather than open it and dispel any doubt.

D.J. Fraser, Currumbin Qld

Duncan Fine wrote, "It's now clear that the whole campaign on the conservative side of Australian media and politics against Section 18C and for absolute freedom of speech has been a sham." (CT, April 26.)

I can't believe that Mr Fine is so appallingly ignorant of the meaning of "freedom of speech" as to truly believe what he wrote, so I can only assume he was trying to make a pathetically childish political point (which he probably thinks is oh-so very clever) by attempting to turn an accusation that conservatives often level against the left back onto them – "they only believe in freedom of speech if you agree with them and their narrow view of the world".

Nobody, except perhaps the most ardent anarcho-libertarian, believes in "absolute freedom of speech"; most conservatives support defamation laws and laws against incitement to violence, for example. However, in the case of Yassmin Abdel-Magied, we are not talking about legal action.

Freedom of speech, even the right to be a bigot, doesn't mean you can't be criticised for making stupid or offensive comments, or even that you can't be fired from your job, especially if you work for a publicly funded broadcaster and you make a comment that is deeply offensive to most Australians.

D. Zivkovic, Aranda

The current furore over Yassmin Abdel-Magied using the words "Less We Forget" in reference to the asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru, as well as the displaced people in Syria and Palestine, has brought out the hatred and bile from not only the extreme right but normally easy-going people.

The general feeling of the critics is: "How dare she, a Muslim woman, use our most sacrosanct words used to remember the Australian men who died in numerous wars we were engaged in."

One of the problems I see it is that these words are not just ours, they are commonly used in other English-speaking countries to commemorate their war dead. These words were first written in 1897 by Rudyard Kipling in a poem, also present in the Bible (Deuteronomy 4:7-9), far predating World War I.

So I ask, is the outrage and hatred because she is a Muslim Australian-Sudanese or if I had said them as an elderly white Australian female would I be subject to the same level of hatred?

I happen to agree with Yassmin that we should not forget the people in Manus, Nauru, Syria and Palestine.

Her problem was she said this on Anzac Day and she is Muslim.

Jan Gulliver, Lyneham

The tsunami of jingoistic haymakers unleashed by Yassmin Abdel-Magied's Anzac tweet masks genuine cause for concern. The ABC should have acted after her "Islam is the most feminist religion" howler. She doubled down on that proposition with a slick video and then sought advice on the subject from Hizb ut-Tahrir. Her spin is unequivocally Islamist.

This new controversy only has legs because of the latter. She is free to express any view; but the public has every right to question her privileged status on our national broadcaster and in DFAT.

Peter Robinson, Ainslie

Decades ago, Gough Whitlam said, "It's time". My friends, it's time again. Time we restored Australia to the principled, decent country we aspire to be. Time to lead, not follow. Time to give, not take. Look into your heart and follow what you find. I can only hope what you see is the same as the vision I see.

Too many people have lost sight of the caring, unselfish culture we could be today.

Mark Hartmann, Hawker

Why might it be a surprise that "201 asset owners were ignoring climate risk", with government politicians actively conniving to promote policies that continue to subsidise fossil fuel industries, and grant them moral authority to pollute ("Savings at risk if funds ignore climate change", BusinessDay, April 26, p20)?

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

SAME-SECT PROSPECT

So Family First is going to join with Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives? Sounds like a same-sect marriage to me.

John Passant, Kambah

WHITE ELEPHANT STOPS

An idea for our tram stops design is to make them in the shape of white elephants. Think of the tourism potential!

("Names of light rail stops revealed", canberratimes.com, April 27).

Maria Greene, Curtin

BRAKES ON COFFEE BREAKS

"Fears for 4500 PS jobs"(CT, April 26, p1): does this mean that there will no longer be queues of public servants clustered around the coffee vendors?

Ed Dobson Hughes

DEPORTATION OR JAIL

Ms Abdel-Magied has dual citizenship. She should be deported back to her country of origin. If this punishment appears too harsh to some, then a three-month stint in jail should be considered.

Mokhles K Sidden, South Strathfield NSW

SYMMETRICAL SUPER

In the interests of symmetry with the new superannuation arrangements, next month's budget should introduce a $1.6million cap on the value of investment houses for which individuals can receive concessional tax treatment.

Hugh Major, Forrest

FAR RIGHT FATHOMED

May I sum up my impression of far-right Australians' response to free speech? "We want the freedom to insult, offend and intimidate others but insist on total censorship of anyone who disagrees withus."

Doug Steley, Heyfield Vic

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