Bev Cains's article on euthanasia ("Territory euthanasia no human right", April 10, p26) is confusing and misleading.
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It is irrelevant whether the ACT is a state or a territory. As a territory, the ACT already "has the power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the territory", with a few exceptions including euthanasia. The real issue is that simply because we live in a territory we should not be denied the right to make laws relating to euthanasia.
My brother recently took advantage of Victoria's voluntary assisted dying scheme when, fully cognisant, he ended his life surrounded by his loving family, including myself.
No amount of end-of-life care could relieve his excruciating pain and loss of mobility. As it was, he chose when and where to die using a self-administered drug taken orally (not by lethal injection).
Euthanasia doesn't mean abandoning people to "assisted dying by a lethal drug". It means providing a choice for people with capacity to make that choice, providing sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people.
My brother's decision to end his life was not taken lightly and was devastating for his family, and not everyone agreed with it, but we respected his right to make that decision.
Pam Jenkins, Griffith
Right to choose
I would like to put the alternative view to Bev Cains's article about euthanasia ("Territory euthanasia no human right", April 10, p26).
While I agree with her explanation of the constitutional aspects, she has no idea of why some people would want to end their lives by lethal injection.
Bev seems to think that people should be kept alive at all costs, regardless of their circumstances, and that end of life care is the answer to all of their problems
Bev needs to realise that there is also something called "quality of life"; someone who has dementia to the point they can't talk, don't recognise their friends or relatives, can't bathe themselves, can't feed themselves, and have little control of their bowel movements, among other things, doesn't have any "quality of life", they are being kept alive only because euthanasia is illegal.
If people in the above situation (and I went through this with my mother so I speak from experience) want to end their lives then they should be able to do so.
I would recommend that everyone has an "end of life plan" as part of their will or power of attorney that outlines their wishes should the situation arise where their "quality of life" deteriorates to the point that they would like to end their life.
The law needs to be changed so that people have choice.
H Zandbergen, Kingston
Double standards
For someone who had no problem being the boss of an organisation which routinely hires casuals on low wages and uses contractors to minimise outgoings Christine Holgate has a lot to say about how employees should be treated.
These practices continue despite extravagant year-on-year price increases; all to impress governments with its bottom line.
It's our very own Amazon.
Alex Mattea, Sydney
Definitely OTT
In the UK there have been more than 100,000 complaints to the BBC for the over-the-top coverage of Prince Philip's death leading to television program changes.
The ABC's coverage has also been overkill.
Philip was a nice guy and a larrikin but in reality all the royal family living the life of luxury in palaces with flunkies and fast cars and so on are simply parasites on their subjects who pay taxes to keep them in such state.
It's time for a revolution!
David Roberts, Belconnen
Keep the lake
Drain Canberra's stagnant lake suggests Wayne Grant (Letters, April 14). I say don't do it. Perhaps it is acquiring a soul.
I do remember Prince Philip, during his 1963 visit, zooming around Canberra in a borrowed sports car, unsuccessfully searching for one. But, a year later Charles Scrivener's 1911 suggestion of a lake came to fruition.
Perhaps that was the soul implant needed for the heart of Canberra?
No such luck: perhaps too often it has had spasms of cleanliness; when little freshwater jellyfish visited, sex-crazed musk ducks flapped the water with intent in between diving for a feed of yabbies.
Prime ministers Fraser, Howard and all, could not commend it: could that have been due to calm pedestrians and picnickers by the lake, and the then proliferation off sail craft, all having insufficient vibes?
The lake apparently needs more; even a coating of algal blue-green isn't enough. Maybe it will become soulfully vibrant when it matches the present flow of 94,000 microplastics per second in his late Highness's Thames.
Never fear. We will get there as Lake Burley accumulates berley and nutrients flushed from Canberra's landscape under pressure initiated by the needs and wants of the ever-increasing population as demanded by politicians and Ponzi-scheme styled economics.
Colin Samundsett, Farrer
Land tax inequity
The ACT's land tax negatively impacts rent levels and investor buying. Land tax discourages rental supply and crunches potential buyers saving for a deposit.
It causes social dislocation and instability, frustration and anxiety resulting in all the usual negative effects on needy families and individuals.
Land tax blocks many Canberrans from any chance of home ownership. I can't believe local affected residents don't rise up against this iniquitous tax. I suspect most don't understand its size or impact.
New Greens Assembly members may have thought electoral success would enable them to pursue their stated dreams to improve housing and reduce rental stress in the ACT.
Ms Vassarotti (Housing and Homelessness Minister) and other new Greens members; prove you want to make a real difference. Stand up to the Barr-Rattenbury cartel and abolish land tax.
Ms Lee and the barely electable ACT Liberals - adopt this electoral golden opportunity which stares you in the face.
John Mungoven, Stirling
There's one China
Re: "West must boycott China's Olympics" (April 10, p25) by Crispin Hull. Hull ended this article by writing "War, which would inevitably turn nuclear, must be out of the question".
He was referring to war between China and the US if China attacks Taiwan. The war would not inevitably turn nuclear, but it might well do so: the US would begin using conventional weapons with which it is many times more capable than China. China might then retaliate with nuclear weapons. What would the US then do?
Taiwan is a province of China. No intelligent person could think otherwise. During the civil war both sides agreed on this point.
However, the US has since irrationally and immorally declared it will wage war against China if China rightly attempts to control Taiwan.
To help avoid nuclear war, Australia should stop being a cowardly US puppet, advise the world that it supports China, and urge all other countries to do likewise.
If the US considers it has an obligation to "protect" Taiwanese, it should allow them to migrate to the US.
Bob Salmond, Melba
Housing crisis
I essentially agree with Eric Pozza ("Canberra's soaring house prices are a blight on our society", Letters, April 10) however I suggest that, in addition to ignorance, the current situation is also caused by a degree of selfishness within the community and lack of leadership and responsibility from governments.
Unaffordability has been caused to some extent by the capital gains tax discount. However it has been an electoral winner for the federal Liberals. But let's not forget ACT Labor's policy of restricting the supply of land and spending the resulting windfall, disproportionately collected from young people, on projects of dubious benefit (such as light rail) to the community.
In addition to unaffordability, recent development generally is too intensive and lacks open space.
For example, in my local area, ACT Labor/Greens governments have approved the sub-division of an ex-"Fluffy" block and the construction of two houses that virtually touch each other and the redevelopment of a former child care centre with a doubling of footprint and height. In both cases re-development and some intensification of land use was warranted, but both went too far and hence the results are not good from a broader perspective.
None of these problems are new or unaired.
So it is, unfortunately, reasonable to assume that most people are, at least, not markedly concerned by them, which is a major challenge for people trying to achieve positive change through our political processes.
Bruce Paine, Red Hill
TO THE POINT
WHATEVER NEXT?
Christopher Pyne's comments on the possibility of a war with China in the next five to 10 years left me shaking my head in despair. The proposal by Marise Payne for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in China significantly affected our trade. I fear what the fallout from Pyne's comments will be. What will the PM and his colleagues do next?
Gay von Ess, Aranda
WRONG APPROACH
In questioning the financial viability of St Bede's Primary School and suggesting closure rather than working with the St Bede's Community to increase enrolments, Catholic Education has prioritised money over community. What would Jesus say?
Melissa Kent, Griffith
POST INTERVENTION
Now the PM has revealed his hitherto secret ambition to manage Australia Post will his recent micro-management of the body become "Holgate-gate"?
A Moore, Melba
LET ME GO
I demand the Prime Minister opens our international borders before April 20. I want to buy a one-way ticket to nowhere at to escape the new series of MasterChef.
Mokhles k Sidden, Strathfield, NSW
CONFUSION REIGNS
October 2021 has been ruled out. November no. December doubtful. January 2022 seems in jeopardy. By February you might feel you've been forgotten. Maybe March 2022. Good luck from here on.
John Sandilands, Garran
A MONOCULTURE?
The Australian government has stopped discussions with Johnson & Johnson as their vaccine is basically the same as others. Does this mean they will only buy one brand of car, plane or even printer paper? There will then be some big winners, and losers. Let's hope we aren't the losers in the vaccine supply chain.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic
NEARER MY GOD...
I don't understand the inherent contradiction from those, mostly devout Christians who object to "voluntary euthanasia" (I stress "voluntary" and all it implies). I was always taught "joining Jesus for all eternity " was the prime object of repenting our sins and gaining redemption.
Eric Hunter, Cook
DEARLY DEPARTED
Vale, in order of eminence: Fred Jones, Tom Raudonikis and the Duke of Edinburgh.
R J Wenholz, Holt
THE REASON WHY
It seems Netanyahu rather than Israel is against any detente and nuclear deal with Iran.
This PM after all is up for corruption charges and has a tenuous hold on power.
True to form he unites Israelis behind him via the common foe methodology, which more often than not spells Iran.
Laurelle Atkinson, St Helens, Tas
NO PLACE FOR GAS
Regrettably, while Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor cling to their gas-fired energy ambitions, reports of the PM "warming" to a net zero carbon target of say by 2050 are just reports.
Expanding use of gas, a "must" according to the PM, and climate credibility and stability are irreconcilably opposed.
Jim Allen, Panorama, SA
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