My experience has been the opposite. I phoned the surge centre at Garran and was given an appointment a few days later. I was impressed with the efficiency of the process including the initial registration procedure and the post- injection follow-up period.

I would like to express my gratitude to all those involved at the Garran Surge Centre in administering the COVID-19 vaccinations. Thankfully I have had no side effects.

Further to Jack Waterford's article "Morrison's blanket over vaccine delivery" (canberratimes.com.au, April 3) it seems that the government and private sectors are at odds when it comes to the scheduling of second jabs.

I had my first jab of AstraZeneca on March 24 and was told that my second jab would be due 12 weeks later. I happened to be browsing my e-Health record on-line and found an alert which said: "Due: Your second dose of COVID-19 vaccine is due (COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca) 21-Apr-2021".

That would be four weeks after my first jab. I don't know which to believe. I suppose I could phone some government department, which would probably cost me a day hanging on the phone, or I could phone the clinic where I had the first jab, but who would I then believe?

Will somebody please tell me what's going on?

I have just read the opinion piece by Yun Jiang ("Can the west expand its clear eyed thinking?", April 6, p45).

Yun makes some valuable points. An obvious one is that the world has changed and our neighbourhood in particular has seen and will see the continuing dramatic effects of this.

While we may not be immediately comfortable with all of these developments we should reflect on the history that has preceded these changes and the way which we in the west, and the US in particular, have previously carried ourselves. While proclaiming that human rights and a rules based order have been our core principles too often these have been more noticeable in their absence rather than their application both in internal and external affairs.

This does not mean that we should refrain from seeking to do better in future or to call out other countries that we rightly accuse of similar breaches. It does mean that we should do so with a certain amount of self-awareness and an acknowledgement that we do so as past offenders and not as upholders of these values with impeccable records ourselves.

As she also rightly points out, the worst response to any perceived threat would be to start setting up systems in our countries that we rightly criticise as un-democratic and opaque in others.

If a young woman leaves a casual job to escape sexual harassment she does not get sick leave to recover, and remains without income.

When she applies for JobSeeker she must prove the job was unsuitable or that she really needed to leave. If the Centrelink officer chooses not to believe her she may have to wait eight weeks for a payment that will barely cover rent, let alone food, transport, medical bills and utilities, or repay any loans she has used to cover expenses. All through no fault of her own.

A parliamentarian, even if accused of misconduct, on the other hand will apparently retain his or her job, get fully paid sick leave and have counselling, all at our expense.

Is this what our politicians mean by "a fair go?"

In a rare tripartite motion on voluntary euthanasia the ACT Legislative Assembly said, "No Australian citizen should be disadvantaged or discriminated against with respect to their democratic or human rights on the basis of where they live".

This is a proposition it is hard to disagree with. It is a pity that the MLAs so concerned about their own human rights don't apply it to legislation they are responsible for, such as residential property taxes.

In the ACT those living in rental accommodation are subject to the arbitrary discrimination of the land tax. Those living in properties on a unit-title are subject to the arbitrary discrimination of surcharges on rates and the land tax.

In relation to equality before the law the Legislative Assembly should clean-up its own house first.

If The Canberra Times's "experts", including Waterford, Hewson, Price, Grattan, Warden, Stuart and Pope, just to name a few, are right, and the Morrison government is doing such a lousy job, then surely Australians must already be lining up to toss them out.

The criticism of Morrison in particular by these experts, endorsed day after day by writer after writer in these letters pages, seems never ending.

So how is it possible the bookmakers have the LNP at long odds on to retain office at the next election, with Labor at the most generous of odds against? Bookmakers as a rule don't care who wins these things; the only real issue for them is that they don't lose.

Is it possible then that the bookmakers are betting the majority of Australians, not just the "quiet" ones, actually reckon that on the big issues, such as climate change and COVID-19 the Morrison government has the balance just about right and is doing as good a job as is possible? We'll certainly find out soon enough.

In the meantime all those Morrison critics could pit their political judgment against that of the bookmakers.

If the bookmakers do end up being wrong I'll eat a haggis. A man can do no more.

Every couple of months the question of the reinstatement of Steve Smith pops up.

Steve Smith was captain of the men's Australian Cricket Team, not the local pub darts team. This position accorded him status,glamour and responsibilities.

David Warner was vice captain only.

Smith allowed a cheating event to occur by people in a lesser position than himself.

One must ask if he had the qualities to be a captain. If he was to be made captain again it would send a signal to others, and the younger generation in particular, that cheats do prosper.

I refer to Daniel McCulloch's article "Australia launches $1 billion missile plan" (canberratimes.com.au, March 31).

The proposal to rely on the manufacture of guided missiles as a means of fostering Australian economic development is reminiscent of Jonathan Swift's [satirical] "modest proposal" for the alleviation of famine in Ireland by raising children as a food source for the tables of the rich.

The enthusiastic embrace of an economy driven by killing machines is no less reprehensible than one based on child sex tourism.

Scott Morrison is to be congratulated for finally acknowledging there are generational issues where sexism and a "blokey" culture has been entrenched within our political class and Australian society.

Sadly some politicians have seen this behaviour amongst their own conservative fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and so on. Have they called it out at family gatherings and in pubs or other social settings where it's been normalised?

That's the real question that needs to be asked to create a cultural shift with our politicians and their own value systems.

The Immigration Department recently refused a young boy of six with cerebral palsy, who was born in Australia, a permanent visa. It has defined the child's worth in monetary terms as a taxpayer liability without looking at the valuable contribution the family has made to our community over the twelve years it has lived here and the contribution it would continue to make. Our Immigration Department is in danger of breaching international human rights obligations.

Appointing Sophie Mirabella to the Fair Work Commission is like appointing Dracula to run the Blood Bank.

A series of Liberal governments have stacked the Fair Work Commission with their cronies; 83 per cent of the Deputy Presidents of the Fair Work Commission come from employer lobby groups or are former Liberal MPs or their associate entities.

This appointment has to be rescinded.

With 400 properties vacant and 2,783 people on the waiting list ("400 empty public housing properties", April 5, P2) is this the Minister for Homeless and Housing Services, Rebecca Vassarotti's "new normal" for the Green wing of the ACT government?

Like Ray Armstrong (Letters, April 6) I am also not a fan of John Howard. But credit where it's due. He did address an aggressive pro-gun rally. Scott Morrison failed to do the same when thousands of women demonstrated recently at the March4Justice rally. Maybe next time they should wear Paramatta Eels or Cronulla Sharks shirts.

The article "What you might not know about Easter" (canberratimes.com.au, April 2) contains many interesting facts. But it was wrong to say the Saxons inhabited England before the Romans invaded. The inhabitants of pre-Roman England were Celtic-speaking Britons. Incursions by Saxons and other Germanic-speaking groups began towards the end of Roman rule.

Susanne Legena ("We can't afford to lose half of our political talent pool", canberratimes.com.au, April 4) wrote "women are increasingly disinterested in pursuing political careers". If that's what Susanne means, it's bad enough but does she really mean "uninterested"? If, as I suspect, the latter was her intention, then it's a very sad state of affairs indeed.

Hindsight should offer the opportunity for the getting of wisdom, but it is questionable if that indicates understanding in this instance. Creating distance by outsourcing to consultants to create or sell an affectation makes mockery of in-touch political representation (Liberals should've targeted "soft green voters": ACT review, April 3, p4.

John Howard once admitted he remained Liberal leader only at the behest of the party. That being so, would it be reasonable to assume Liberal Party king makers are currently assessing Scott Morrison's performance as PM?

The announcement of the 2021 annual kangaroo cull must be imminent. When articles like "Nation's kangaroo collision hotspots revealed" (canberratimes.com.au, April 2) appear it's only a matter of time. To all animal defenders; rise up and keep fighting this cruel slaughter.

As an 86-year-old scientist I have come across some weird stuff in my time; but among the weirdest is the news there are people in paid employment as "health workers" endangering the health and lives of themselves and the rest of the population by refusing to get vaccinated.

Most concerning about the appalling moral decrepitude of our politicians, is to what extent it reflects the behavioural standards of the population at large. Ourselves.

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