My brother, Peter Harvey, clearly remembers sailing competitively on a Saturday afternoon with the YMCA when the water police, under the leadership of Harry Quartel, cleared west basin of sailors so a sea plane could land.

The purpose of the landing was to transport the Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Commission (as it was then called), Sir William Hudson, from Canberra, where he lived, to Cooma.

I understand that this was subsequently confirmed with a photo and article in The Canberra Times. The date would have been 1966 or possibly 1967 as Sir William retired in 1967. The Water Police Headquarters were opened within this time frame.

Citizens of Canberra and those in government should know that with apparently little consultation and, viewed from outside ANU, little coherent rationale or appreciation of context, the university is pressing ahead in haste with short-sighted budget cuts. At the Research School of Earth Sciences, highly accomplished and internationally important senior scholars have been sacked, and the budget slashed.

This unit and its staff have a stellar international reputation, established over decades, earned by making completely fundamental contributions to how humans understand this planet and their place on it.

Of course the many impacts magnified by the pandemic do require a response, but it is short-sighted to hamstring those centres of excellence that offer the best hope of recovery in the longer run.

The forced termination of RSES and analogous staff in other areas should be reversed until such time as ANU formulates a measured and transparent response through broad consultation within and outside ANU and Australia.

Otherwise, Australians won't know what they've got until it's gone. But ANU's reputation will be gone.

Nicholas Stuart asks "Why did the PM take the bait?" (""Scott Morrison's China response framed with a simple message", December 7, pp16-17), then answers his own question: "It might not be so complex."

The "photoshopped" image of an Australian soldier with a bloodied knife preparing to cut a young Afghan's throat, sent by Chinese agent provocateur Zhao Lijian, was clearly meant to show PM Morrison that China knows all about the alleged war crimes against Afghans by Australian SAS soldiers - in particular the alleged slashing of the throats of two 14-year-old Afghan boys suspected of being "spotters" for the Taliban.

As Mr Stuart notes, Scott Morrison is very keen to divert attention from anything that might reflect badly on his government.

Given that Australia has entered the official bushfire season, perhaps Peter Broelman's editorial cartoon is prophetic.

Mr Morrison could be planning an escape from the political spotlight to Hawaii. After last summer's embarrassment, perhaps he should head for Tahiti, the Bahamas ... or anywhere but home.

The impact of the Chinese wine tariff is overstated by Australian media. While it's undeniable there will be immediate dumping of wine currently packaged, stored and destined for China markets currently sitting in warehouses, the Chinese tariffs only applies to wine in containers of less than two litres.

Bulk containerised wine will continue to be shipped and smart companies will start bottling their wine in China to avoid import duties.

The tariff is just a restructure of the industry. We are likely to see new labels, new partnerships and a blending of Chinese and Australian wine as a result.

Veterinarian Dr Fawcett is right to remind us of the risk that global warming poses to animals ("Sign of the times - how climate change is putting pets at risk", canberratimes, December 5).

It was only in January of this year that Canberra experienced its hottest temperature on record, 43.6 degrees, and this November has just been Australia's hottest ever. At least companion animals can be cooled off, but wild animals are more at risk from the heat-related illness against which Dr Fawcett warns.

Last summer 4500 flying foxes died in one day in Melbourne. Hundreds of thousands of fish died in the Murray-Darling system and nearly three billion animals were killed in the recent bushfires. It's wrong that animals should die because of human-induced climate change.

The Australian government has an opportunity in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow to announce serious emissions reduction policies. For the sake of all life on Earth, it has a moral obligation to do so.

Paul Wayper's (Letters, December 5) attempt to blame the Prime Minister for the Fraser Island bushfire is misplaced. Emergency services and hazard-reduction burns are the responsibility of state and territory governments.

State governments walked away from ensuring that affordable insurance was available when they privatised state government insurance offices decades ago.

It is state governments who need to prepare for bushfire season, especially when it comes to hazard reduction burning. Sadly, the Queensland state Labor government has been found wanting when it comes to ensuring that vegetation in Queensland national parks is properly managed and prepared for fire season.

The continual deflection by state governments of their responsibilities to the federal government only reinforces the belief of many of their constituents that it is time state governments were abolished.

Re: Paul Wayper (Letters, December 4). Bushfire fighting is a state issue. Neither the Prime Minister nor the federal government is the combatting agency to prevent or fight bush fires. This responsibility is that of state governments. Don't politicise bushfires.

Also, water bombers have little to no impact on bushfires; I believe they are a media stunt to make us all feel something is being done by the government to counteract bushfires. Regular hazard reduction burning and back burning are the only effective method to reduce the effects of bushfires.

I recently asked in a letter what on earth were we all going to do for memes in 2021 (following the USA presidential election).

Then, out of left field, came the Chinese diplomatic service. Magnificent. A very distasteful start for sure, but with that caveat a world-class display. I do hope they keep taking themselves seriously. Donald will be surpassed in no time. Thank you.

The sovereign firefighting fleet Minister Littleproud is promising would be easy to establish.

The RAAF has expertise in operating and maintaining aircraft. State firefighting services have experience in using aircraft to dump water on fires.

The best way to provide aircraft for firefighting would be to utilise these two skill sets in conjunction with each other.

Once a fleet of suitable aircraft had been acquired they could be allocated according to need.

It would also be much better to have our air force defending Australians against bushfires than bombing civilian victims of wars we shouldn't be involved in overseas.

In any event, allocating air crew to firefighting would hardly consume the entire air force.

When considering the Prime Minister's "angry" response to China over the Afghanistan tweet, don't forget he is performing for the electorate and one particular radio "shock jock".

A person who was smart enough to get the keys to the Lodge would know senior Chinese officials are not going to offer a grovelling apology. The PM is playing to the crowd. Our sovereign risk is that the PM may forget we need China much more than China needs us.

Posturing at China is like a single herring "shirt-fronting" a humpback whale. The herring is never going to beat the whale. One whale tail flick and the herring is done for.

I am not suggesting submission. We need to let the diplomats to talk for us. That is there job.

We will only survive if it is the diplomats who do the talking, and behind closed doors, not though the media.

Good one Southern Cross Club, builder Dimitri Nikias and architect Marcus Graham on your proposed alternate plans for the Federal Golf Club. Don't forget Federal members, the Southern Cross Club closed one of the best pitch and putt courses in the southern hemisphere and built apartments on the site.

Chinese claims COVID-19 originated in Australian beef are nonsense. I have it on good authority it originated in Antarctic penguins and was taken to China by a wandering albatross bent on revenge for all the brethren it had lost to the hooks of Chinese "long line" fishing boats over the years. Sailors have always known no good would come from killing an albatross.

There is some debate about whether countries calling themselves communist are best described as totalitarian, fascist, or dictatorships. One thing is for sure, you can't tell the pigs from the men.

Mr Morrison does not deserve a speaking spot at the forthcoming London leaders conference on Climate Ambition. He and his Coalition cronies have not done nearly enough to get to zero emissions as soon as possible. Successive Coalition governments have failed us, our children, and grandchildren.

So Matt Canavan, one of great defenders within the federal government of the Australian coal industry, has a brother who owns a couple of coal mines. You would not credit it would you?

Yet more articles screeching about reducing alcohol intake. Journalists are obsessed with the word "booze" - a big turnoff when you are reading the reports. I've heard psychologists recommend reading no more than 10 standard newspaper articles per week in order to reduce the desire to slash one's wrists.

Was there ever any doubt a Coalition government would use the pretext of "extraordinary times" to roll out WorkChoices 2.0?

In the midst of all the bad news one piece of good news is that the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has been banned by the IOC from attending the next scheduled Olympic games. More bans should be imposed on the rogue ruler of Belarus.

I'm wondering how many casual employees are now watching their shifts dry up as a result of major retailers being so much smarter than this federal government?

I'm saddened by G Gillespie's remark (Letters, December 8) that Australians are obsessed with Christmas due to Santa Claus. Have people forgotten you can't have "Christmas" without "Christ"?

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