To improve governance it is desirable that, at least inside the APS, questions be asked regarding the authority that was relied on to pay the grants. My understanding is that only the public service, not a minister or staffer, has the ability to pay grants via Finance's financial system.

The Auditor-General's report deals largely with the decision-making processes regarding what grants would be made, not the process of making the payments.

It found "There is a power of direction available to the minister under the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 but it was not used". My interpretation is that, in the terms of the act, the minister did not approve the payment of any grants.

The report did find the Commission's board (the decision-maker under the act in the absence of a formal direction from the minister) approved some grants paid in the first round. My view is only those grants were duly approved under the act.

As a former public servant I appreciate how much pressure minister's offices can pile onto public servants to bend the rules.

If there is learning for the public service from this saga it should be implemented under the authority of the heads of agencies and the Public Service Commissioner and, ideally, be made public.

How lucky Canberra is to have Georgeina Whelan steering us through this dreadful fire season.

Ms Whelan has been utterly remarkable, always speaking to us with calmness, empathy, authority, knowledge and strength, making hard decisions as to how best to control what is at times, utterly uncontrollable, in charge of a huge operation, and always with the best interests of her firefighters on the ground and in the air in mind.

Her background of service in many areas over many years has served us well and she deserves recognition at the highest level. Ms Whelan has been present, together with Chief Minister Barr, in so many briefings, not holding back on the difficult news, but encouraging and providing support to everybody.

She is without a doubt, the leader we all need. Thank you Commissioner Whelan.

Canberrans are concerned about climate change and have experienced a horrendous summer. We have also seen an increasing uptake in SUV style vehicles. These vehicles are now considered to be contributing to an increase in the road toll and emit much greater levels of pollution.

Given the many thousands of hail damaged vehicles needing replacement I have a suggestion.

The ACT government could introduce a carbon dioxide emission stamp duty on new vehicles. Let's start with $10 for every gram of carbon dioxide emitted average per kilometre. This would result in no extra stamp duty for electric vehicles, about $400 for plug-in hybrids and over $3000 extra for large SUVs.

This will help to introduce a cleaner and safer fleet of vehicles to our roads but not hurt the pockets of the less well off.

I was interested to learn a private club, the Royal Canberra Golf Club, has the same rights to water from Lake Burley Griffin as the public areas of the National Botanic Gardens and National Arboretum.

Surely places for public recreation, education and contemplation should be a higher priority for lake water than a private sporting area.

Surely the NCA can give Canberra's wonderful public arboretum and botanic gardens some form of priority in current and future water allocation.

We are all indebted to Senator Molan. His contribution to the ABC's Q&A on Monday reminds us Coalition governments frequently operate in evidence-free zones.

Who could have guessed? On the eve of the Iraq war Mr Howard ignored the expert opinions from Mearsheimer and Walt published in Foreign Policy (Jan-Feb 2003): "If the United States is, or soon will be, at war with Iraq Americans should understand that a compelling strategic rationale is absent ... if it goes badly - whether in the form of high US casualties, significant civilian deaths, a heightened risk of terrorism, or increased hatred of the US in the Arab and Islamic world - then its architects will have even more to answer for". Well, that went well.

Very similarly recent Coalition governments have ignored climate science evidence. Mr Morrison, and previous Coalition Prime Ministers, have ignored the findings of thousands of the world's climate scientists and turned a deaf ear to their warnings.

On the eve of the current bushfire catastrophe Mr Morrison also dismissed a request from former fire chiefs to discuss what they saw as a looming catastrophic fire season.

What would former fire chiefs know? Only former knowledge, and thus useless. Mr Morrison has demonstrated monumental incapacity. He should go now. The nation needs evidence-based leadership.

In December we knew that Wuhan was the source of a new and deadly virus and that there was a risk that the virus could be transmitted from human to human.

Nevertheless our quarantine service allowed plane-loads of people to arrive from Wuhan and to freely disperse into the Australian community.

Our quarantine minister is at least partly responsible for any deaths that occur due to coronavirus transmission within Australia, and for the costs of managing coronavirus in Australia.

The minister with primary responsibility for quarantine at the time was Senator Bridget McKenzie.

The ideologues on the green left will not listen to reason when they criticise the agreement between the Morrison and Berejiklian governments on increasing supplies of gas in NSW.

The agreement will ensure the availability of gas to power generators needed to "firm" new renewable energy projects, support for which will also be Federally funded under the agreement, which cannot reliably provide power all the time.

This is a necessary element of the transition to renewables as coal fired plants are decommissioned and until we have sufficient pumped hydro installations, or have been able to develop batteries, that can meet heavy power demands for potentially extended periods.

It is completely consistent with steps the Australian Energy Market Operator has said will be necessary in its recent Integrated System Plan. It is to be hoped that similar arrangements will be agreed with the Victorian government.

Shadow Cabinet Secretary Jenny McAllister is right ("Back to school shouldn't be back to debt", Canberra Times, February 4, p27). The start of the school year is financially challenging for many cash-strapped families.

But these families need to be supported rather than disparaged at such a financially sensitive time by miss-the-mark policies that will create further financial exclusion rather than protection for consumers.

Having a go at "nasty pay day lenders" looks good for Labor as a mission statement. But this kind of shadowboxing at scary monsters will only pull the plug on short-term credit for families who need help.

Tightening regulations on an already regulated sector rather than focusing on where the real problems are will only force more regulated lenders to leave the market.

Current laws do nothing to protect consumers against lenders who operate outside the legislation governing payday lenders.

Labor fixed many of the problems in the short-term credit sector in 2009 and then in 2013.

Now they should be targeting the unregulated lenders, credit card providers and buy-now pay-later schemes who will swoop if their proposed changes to the current regulatory environment go through.

Heather Stewart accuses Scott Morrison of "obfuscations, half-truths and outright lies" in his National Press Club address of January 29, 2020 (Letters, February 3).

Will Ms Stewart please quote, from the speech's transcript, two examples each of "obfuscations, half-truths and outright lies" so we can evaluate this accusation?

Isn't it extraordinary Scott Morrison claims he requires special permission to mobilize the ADF to assist Australia in its emergencies when he and his predecessors don't feel they need so much as a parliamentary vote to initiate any typically gratuitous and potentially catastrophic ADF involvement in foreign conflicts and disputes?

There has been discussion since the announcement of Dr James Muecke as Australian of the Year about a tax on sugar. That is unacceptable to the current government. Why not mandate a minimum price for sugar at the farm gate, maybe 10 per cent above the current price. This would reduce demand while farmers would reap the benefit.

A friend told me he did not understand my letter (Letters, February 5) referring to tree removal being a softening up exercise for 5G. This was because the paragraph about street trees degrading 5G's performance had been edited out.

Barnaby Joyce promises "the art form of politics will be the cogent response" of the Coalition at the next election. If what we have witnessed lately is the true "art form of politics" heaven help the Australian people.

We have a vacancy for an honest and capable Federal government. Former and current governments, especially the Morrison government, need not apply.

Why are resources, at least person power and probably water, being wasted cleaning pink fire retardant off the Rond Pond environs? The "pink" will either wear off or wash off when it rains. Why clean it up here but not everywhere?

Was Parliament House on fire? No, it was just wayward retardant. But how I wish parliamentarians were on fire and passionate about issues Australians are concerned about. Stop the scheming, rorting, obfuscation and distortion of facts.

Re Peter Jeffery (Letters January 30). It seems schools in the 1960s made up their own pledges. Mine, Hampstead Primary in South Australia, was: "I am an Australian. I love my country. I salute her flag. I honour her queen. I promise to obey her laws".

A US President who is facing impeachment and an Israeli Prime Minister who has been indicted for corruption have a great peace plan for the Palestinians, who were not allowed to be involved in its development. Wonderful. The more things change...

If only Barnaby Joyce could be convinced to spend more time with his families ("Ordeal by Barnaby Joyce far from over", canberratimes.com.au, February 5).

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