The March 4 Justice events were peaceful and powerful.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The participants at the one I attended in Canberra included women of all ages, school girls, men and boys.
Rape and sexual harassment are illegal. Our Prime Minister spoke about March 4 Justice in the House of Representatives and said: "This is a vibrant liberal democracy. Not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets - but not here in this country. It is a triumph of democracy when we see these things take place".
Frankly, this is not a reassuring statement. It's sinister.
i.e.: "Aren't you little women lucky no one shot at you for drawing attention to these issues?"
Judy Hutchinson, Hawker
Time to act
Isn't it about time that the federal government stopped commissioning royal commissions and actually started to read the reports and begin putting their recommendations into effect?
The situation of our Aboriginal people, the elderly, and women is a national disgrace.
Parliamentarians across the country should hang their heads in shame.
I exhort all MPs to read these reports, to listen to their constituents, and to do their jobs by representing the people.
Stop ignoring these major issues and act now.
Gay von Ess, Aranda
Dissenting view
I often cringe when I hear Virginia Haussegger talking about downtrodden women and the 50/50 project.
Does she ever complain that women are not well represented in the dangerous or dirty jobs undertaken mostly by men?
Reading her rant ("March 4 Justice taps into the power of recent acts of courage", canberratimes.com.au, March 14) I found her reference to what Jenny [Morrison] might have to say was downright insulting.
Most women are happy making their own decisions in life, often work part time by choice and do not need anyone to tell them what they should think or do.
Most appreciate having an honourable and dependable man as their life partner.
Joan Thompson, Chisholm
Thanks but no thanks
Scott Morrison is a misogynist twit.
The proof: "This is a vibrant liberal democracy, Mr Speaker, not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets, but not here in this country".
Why not just front the rally and explain what you are doing to fix the problem?
As one twitter user said: "We're not grateful you don't shoot us PM. We are beaten, murdered, raped, attacked, silenced, and discriminated against every single bloody day".
It is time to protect Australian women, Scott.
Brien Armstrong, Dunlop
Fair comment
Re Andy Coogan (Letters, March 16).
I don't recall either submitting or reading a letter that uses "the same brush to paint all public housing residents as bad and ungrateful".
Previous letters printed in The Canberra Times clearly stated that where antisocial tenants and unmaintained housing properties reside, Housing ACT has proven either unwilling or utterly incapable of solving these issues for nearby residents.
It is terrific that you take great pride in your home but sadly, this has not been the experience for me or my family living in Belconnen over many years.
We support government housing absolutely, but Housing ACT must properly enforce its regulations under the ACT Residential Tenancies Act 1997.
As part of the ACT government's "salt and pepper" placement policy, neighbours to government housing properties across all of Canberra should be able to live in harmony with housing tenants, not come home to the stress of nearby antisocial behaviour, nor see their own properties devalued due to unmaintained housing properties nearby. This is not happening at the moment.
Alison Chapple, Macquarie
Airport is great
Nick van Weelden ("Airport not perfect", Letters, March 15) takes a very unfair shot at Canberra's outstanding airport.
His complaint arises from having to walk across the tarmac after arriving in a small aircraft, presumably a Dash-8 or similar. What he failed to mention is that since the air bridges do not connect with such smaller aircraft, he would have had a similar walk across the tarmac at the departure airport.
Yes, of course it's a vaguely inconvenient first world problem, but noting the realities of the size of the Dash-8 and the incompatible height of air bridges, such arrangements, involving a short walk across the tarmac (with assistance for those with a disability), are a fact of life at airports around Australia and beyond.
A reasonable person would find little to complain about with our "new" Canberra Airport, especially if they have any memory of what it was like before the current immaculate and comfortable facilities and manicured park-like surroundings came into existence.
Ian Pearson, Barton
Don't stop now
Several countries in Europe have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 because a very small number of those who have received the vaccine have suffered blood clots (probably unrelated).
An estimated 8 million people around the world died last year from the effect of tobacco related diseases. Are these countries going to ban tobacco? The scientific evidence is overwhelming.
Dr Alan Shroot,
President, Canberra ASH, Forrest
A new name
James Mahoney (Letters, March 15), refers to the time when the paths around our lakes were referred to as "bike paths".
In view of the fact that their use is also the preserve of cyclists, why don't we use my all-encompassing invented noun and call them "pedalestrian paths"?
Michael Adler, Gungahlin
Listen up chaps
The federal government, in particular Prime Minister Morrison and Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor, would do their country and themselves a huge favour if they heeded the wise advice of experienced coal industry worker Tony Wolfe ("A way forward for coal communities", March 16, p46).
Mr Wolfe recognises that coal-fired energy is economically unviable, and the transition to solar and wind energy is gathering pace. Coal has had its day in the sun.
PM Morrison and Minister Taylor should also recognise these facts and make a genuine effort to not just keep up, but to lead the race to an emissions-free future - and improve our chances of defeating global heating.
Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
Future imperfect
Marketing is the art of convincing the gullible to purchase something they didn't know they needed and have absolutely no use for.
It sounds like a perfect description of what the Liberals achieved when they sold us Scott Morrison as the PM. Heaven help us all if he is succeeded by Peter Dutton.
J F Bishop, Flynn
Civic isn't it
Re Letters, March 16. The Civic pool site is the least perfect for an indoor stadium. If the need for a new stadium was justified, the civic pool facility would have to be rebuilt and be available to residents and office workers. If the site was used for a stadium it would be empty for five days out of seven and handicapped by a lack of parking. The negative impact would be enormous.
Geoff Davidson, Braddon
Service was poor
Renee Goossens (Letters, March 5) congratulated Australia Post because she received her parcel in a timely manner. I'd say she was very lucky.
The Brumbies told us our membership packs were posted on February 15. Their first game was on February 20. I thought then they were being very optimistic to think Australia Post would be that efficient. We received two of our four packs on March 4, two days before the third game of the season. We received the third pack on March 9 and are still waiting for the fourth pack.
That's not acceptable service. Australia Post will not be getting a "bravo" from me.
Julia Hawketts, Weetangera
Nomination declined
Thank you, Faye Thornhill (Letters, March 11) for nominating me for the lofty role of PM, but I reject the premise of your nomination.
While friends will confirm that I am "full of it", I lack the requisite propensity for self-promotion, manipulation, deflection and parsimony to succeed.
Nonetheless, I wish Nick Swain well with the deputy role, but I observe that he seems to demonstrate a high degree of coherence. That is inconsistent with the current KPIs for that role.
Mark Anderson, Campbell
TO THE POINT
BIG AND SWINGING
Hopefully the cocky and over-excitable coterie of Coalition males who were determined to stymie Julie Bishop's career in 2018 looked out of the windows of Parliament House on Monday and saw a big swinging pendulum coming their way.
Sue Dyer, Downer
A GOOD PHRASE
Among the many clever signs at Monday's March 4 Justice my favourite introduced a new collective noun: "a disappointment of politicians". So true.
Eileen O'Brien, Kambah
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD
Brain, heart, courage. Anyone able to find the wizard for our PM?
Maria Greene, Curtin
SMALL MERCIES
Through your column could I please express our thanks to the Prime Minister for not sending in the troops to shoot us at the Parliament House protest on Monday? His thoughtfulness is much appreciated.
Ed Highley, Kambah
LOST THE PLOT
If ScoMo thinks women protesting against sexual violence should count themselves lucky they're not shot at or "met with bullets" as in some countries, or even just baton charged, he's lost the plot. He's not fit to be PM and should slink off into the sunset now.
Keith Hill, Mirrool, NSW
MISSING IN ACTION
Graeme Rankin is unfair in saying the PM is always dressing up to attend photo ops. After all, he wasn't rigged up in firefighters' gear during the bushfire crisis, nor did he turn up in a skirt to address the women's rally outside Parliament House on Monday.
Barbara Fisher, Cook
NUMBERS MATTER
Prime Minister Morrison and the Minister for Women Marise Payne need to realise women make up more than 50 per cent of the voting population. They also need to realise a large number of these aren't happy with them.
Gail McAlpine, Griffith
THE HOLLOW CROWN
Scott Morrison. Prime Minister? In name only.
Anne Walcott, Mawson
WHAT WAS IT?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was "too busy" to attend the March 4 Justice. Will he share with the Australian people the important matters that prevented him from attending?
Ernst Willheim, Campbell
AND THE QUEEN?
I wonder how the female sovereign to whom Scott Morrison swore allegiance will react when she reads that our nation's rightfully furious women should give thanks they are not "met with bullets"? We are not a war-torn green and yellow banana republic yet. Shame on you.
Ronald Elliott, Sandringham, Victoria
WHAT'S CHANGED?
Ten years ago Tony Abbott was slammed for speaking in front of a sign that read "Ditch the Witch". Have times changed so much, or is it simply bias, that allows a person at the March 4 Justice rally to carry a sign saying "Ditch the D*cks" (my redaction) and attract no comment?
Jevon Kinder, Murrumbateman, NSW
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.
Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to The Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).