Scotland and Northern Ireland, both represented in the flag, are intent on remaining in the EU and thus will be separate, sovereign nations.

Wales is not represented in the Union Flag because it was an English principality at the time the Union Flag was created.

Naturally, this would also invalidate our Australian national flag, incorporating, as it does, the Union Flag of Great Britain.

Design of a new, truly national and distinctive Australian flag would now become urgent. We already have a flag, the emblematic Aboriginal/Indigenous Flag which is flown and displayed increasingly on many occasions and in many places.

I think we could well consider adopting and embracing this flag as Australia's national flag. Its design is pleasing, dignified and distinctive. It would also be a permanent statement of the fundamental significance and importance of our First Peoples in our nation and in the national psyche.

I respond to your article "The Canberra politician who painted over a prize artwork" (canberratimes.com.au, August 31).

While your reporter reported his interview with me quite accurately I object to the fact that one key point I stated to him was omitted - I.e, in the week before I acted our research could not determine that the offending graffiti item was a so-called "official" piece of work. No matter, because it was judged by myself and many others (including residents) that the offending graffiti work could not have been possibly allowed to sit on a bridge leading into the Woden Cemetery.

It had to go and the Labor government refused to act. Finally, I am disappointed The Canberra Times did not advise me of the Greens MLA comments about me. There was no opportunity for me to rebuff.

That is, the MLA stated that she "likened (my) act to the censorship used by Nazis, etc.."..." (Pratt) has forgotten that totalitarian and fascist regimes similarly claim the right to forcibly remove, etc, etc..."

We former soldiers, including my veteran colleagues, are damn sick and tired of the Greens, GetUp, et al, dog whistling that we are Nazis and war criminals.

I make pivot hinges in my home garage. I'm Australia's last hardware designer/maker. Sometimes folk from the USA need a pivot set. I quote them AUD$20 plus express postage. The pivot sets weigh 70 grams but I'm obliged to use a 500 gram express post satchel at AUD$41.35 for the best price. I email the customer an invoice and never hear from them again. "Why not use ordinary post"? I hear you say. Ordinary post is a different system, the satchel gets to about Hawaii and is then diverted to Mascot never to be seen again.

Grumpy form Kingston is a bit fed up waiting for leaders to lead. I think I'll hang up my dust coat and move to a business model where I'm closer to the customer's wallet, perhaps eyebrow threading.

Doug Hurst's letter ("It's all your fault" (Letters, September 3) is of grave concern in both its scientific and economic ignorance. Despite Minister Littleproud's assertions, building dams does not make it rain. In terms of the economy, the alternate energy industry was leading the stock market last quarter.

The reasons we have no water in our rivers is due in great part to unlawful use of water in the upper areas of our rivers, and the holding of vast quantities in open dams. This result has been facilitated by poor government management and ensuing cover-ups.

Allowing water to be traded among the financial hounds of the share market is akin to marketing the air you breathe.

The fix is to repair the broken water cycle and change farming practices to a "regenerative" holistic model, where we use organic sources of nitrogen rather than those which are chemically based.

Major General Jeffery of Soils for Life has often made the point that increasing soil organic matter would greatly reduce the amount of irrigation required on-farm by increasing water infiltration and holding water in the soil profile.

The simplistic nonsense of building dams as a solution to poor government management, does not stand up to scrutiny.

The environment needs to be an integral part of all of our economic calculations. Without functioning environmental cycles we won't have a human economy.

Wildfires are raging in Siberia, Greenland and Canada. In Alaska this past summer over 600 fires have consumed millions of hectares of forest. Ash and soot are darkening endless miles of pristine tundra, and frozen methane deposits which have lain undisturbed for millions of years are being released.

Fires are tearing through the Amazon, decimating habitats and reducing the planet's ability to sequester carbon. Thousands of years worth of stored carbon is set free each day.

Greenland's ice is melting at an accelerating rate, reaching 239 cubic kilometres per year. An astounding 12.5 billion tons of ice was lost in a single day at the start of August.

These are positive feedback loops. This is what a runaway climate looks like. July was the world's hottest month ever recorded.

And yet Doug Hurst (Letters, September 3) tut-tuts anyone who has ever shown a modicum of concern for the natural environment because he doesn't think humanity has gone far enough. In his mind man stands apart from nature's infinite bounty, and we are duty-bound to harvest every tree, catch every fish, and burn every drop of oil because there will always be more.

If Jenny Stewart's thoughtful article ("Is it time for a population policy?", Public Sector Informant, September 3, p4) reignites a discussion on the formulation of a population policy, then she has done us all a favour.

There needs to be an assessment of many factors such as the water resources and soils, and the imposition on the environment required to support any given Australian population. Indeed, assessments should have been conducted routinely each decade, as we have blundered along without the benefit of any scientific input since the slogan 'Populate or Perish' emerged after the Second World War.

The unstated fear of many Australians is the thought that any inquiry will subsequently curtail population increase. Because they perceive the economy is dependent on an ever increasing number of consumers, they will oppose any restraints imposed on future generations to limit population growth. Do we continue the plunder of the planet whilst we ignore the limits to growth?

Professor Stewart's initiative should be applauded.

I'm not sure whether Roger Dace (Letters, August 2) is being disingenuous or clueless in suggesting that people who don't like Alan Jones should just not listen to him because that's not the point.

Rather, it's the objection to the undue influence this unelected windbag seems to wield over state and federal government politicians, exacerbated by his often nasty hectoring and bullying style based on little more than personal prejudices and a disdain for science and learning.

Dace then went on to trot out the right-winger's clichéd and lazy insult of choice, "virtue signalling", as if wanting to make the world a better place is something to sneer at. Well, what's he done to that end lately?

As an older white male, I suspect his world is just fine as it is and Jones will help keep all the barbarians wanting rights, equality and other such nonsense at bay.

In his book One Blood Canberra theologian and historian the Rev. Dr John Harris describes several instances where Aboriginal people were imprisoned, tortured and even shot just to send a message to other Aboriginal people who might be tempted to retaliate against white settlement. Sadly, many non-indigenous people at the time supported this policy.

Over recent days Scott Morrison has reiterated his policy that innocent asylum seekers must be imprisoned, tortured or deported to countries where they might face persecution or death, not because they have committed any crime but to send a message to others who might be thinking of seeking asylum in Australia. Sadly, many Australian citizens seem to support this policy. Not much has changed over 150 years.

With regard to the Biloela Tamil family, Advance, Australia! Be fair!

Instant gratification of wants is a mechanism essential to the survival of consumerism. By facilitating delivery of wants (clothes, sporting goods and such) Wing abbreviates the time between "want" and acquisition, promoting land-fill ("Drone delivery services expand", August 30, p8).

Roger Dace (Letters, September 2) suggests I not listen to Jones if I don't like him. I don't, except when visiting shops where they subject you to it. What's worst is his climate denial. I am reminded of Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman's call for deniers to be charged with treason against the planet.

Crispin Hull's article "Court out: The trouble with juries" (canberratimes.com.au, August 31) made incisive and logical reading. However I could not escape the image of armchair justice Hull, overturned on appeal, struggling on the floor with the overturned armchair on top of him.

Why are there so very few dingo postcards, toys, sold at souvenir shops, even at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Is it because, as in Western Australia, it has its native classification removed so it can be killed as a wild dog threatening sheep, or is it so wicked it should not be on the same shelf as the cuddly koala? The Dingo Dilemma will be discussed at the next forum of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW.

Professor Jenny Stewart ("Is it time for a population policy?", Public Sector Informant, September 3, p4) correctly says high population interests are constraining our options and helping destroy the environment. She also says congestion busting is a farce. It is time for a population policy that takes account of the environment.

We recently tried to compare the offers from ACT energy providers. It was made difficult by all the different rates, non or off-peak times and so forth. We had the time to do this; others may not. In the end I concluded we couldn't compare "like with like" and stayed with my current provider.

Thanks to Fred Pilcher for raising the misuse of "fulsome" (Letters, August 3 ). Once a misuse is published it soon becomes the new normal. Another example is "regime"; ubiquitous now, but only because we ignore the usually more contextually precise "regimen". The solution? Consult your dictionary (and thesaurus).

M Sidden (Letters, September 3) is taking a gamble betting his house on the chance a man who referred to Australia as "the a***end of the world", and a "banana republic", would return to run the country and work with "an unrepresentative swill". In any event he would have to obtain the blessing of Sussex Street.

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