The events that followed should be noted by voters in both the NT as well as the ACT.

The NT voluntary assisted dying law - sponsored by former Country Liberal Party chief minister Marshall Perron - lasted for just nine months. Only four people were able to use it after it took effect from July 1, 1996.

The NT law was overturned by a private member's bill passed by the federal parliament with support from both sides of politics which still stands today and effectively blocks voluntary assisted dying laws in the NT and ACT.

If our constitution allowed states to be overridden in the same manner as territories, then Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania would not have been able to consider voluntary assisted dying laws let alone pass them.

As pressure builds in NSW for its parliament to also move to implement voluntary assisted dying laws, it should be very clear to whatever party wins the next federal election that the ban on voluntary assisted dying laws imposed on the territories must go.

People in the NT and ACT need to make sure they get that message to every single MP and candidate as the election draws closer.

It is the government's own doing that has led to vaccine apathy. They tried to put a good spin on the early rollout program stuff ups and said to the Australian public that we do not need to rush as we are doing well here.

As usual they did not think ahead. Changing people's perception now has been compounded by other negative messages.

Would it not have been better just to admit they stuffed up and kept a consistent message saying how important it was to get vaccinated as soon as possible?

Margaret Beavis ("Sowing the seeds for war is reckless and depraved domestic politics", May 20, p22) points out clearly the dangers and recklessness of recent comments about conflict with China. The misery and pointlessness of war is unarguable.

One wonders what would have been the outcomes if the US and all the others fighting in Afghanistan had instead put the billions wasted on munitions, planes and so into education, healthcare, infrastructure and development.

I think it would have been hard for the Taliban to resist the benefits for the Afghani people for long.

It's strange how it's always possible for governments to find money for the military, while aid budgets are minimised.

While Bruce Campbell (Letters, May 20) dismisses armed neutrality as a possible defence policy for Australia, we would benefit from exploring that or non-alignment and better relations with our neighbours, particularly Indonesia, also non-aligned.

Our national security is likely to be much greater through directing resources to, and pursuing those avenues, rather than following, or indeed egging the US on, in its disastrous military adventures.

We need to put more effort into stopping domestic violence before it happens rather just spending more and more money on trying to heal shattered lives.

We need research looking at why "nice men" turn bad. What type of impotence and lack of self-esteem develops that turns previously reasonable men into possessive, controlling, violent men, even killers of their own family?

It is an outrage that pregnancy and the birth of a child are some of the most at risk times for many women. Teaching boys not to exhibit "toxic masculinity" is not a likely answer without a clear understanding of the true situation. We don't know enough about the "why" or "how" to help men get insight into their problems.

What is needed is a "Ministry for Men" as opposed to the current Office for Women that sits in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet dishing out money for safe houses, camera surveillance and help lines.

A Ministry for Men would fund targeted research and develop appropriate counselling and support to help stop offenders at the first hint of trouble. To really help women and children we have to help men to tackle these pathetic inadequacies that trigger desperate violent acts.

Apparently taking his list from The Guardian newspaper, ALP spokesman Alex Mattea (Letters, May 21) rails against the appointment of former Coalition politicians to senior government positions.

The reality, which doesn't make it right, is that both sides of politics shamelessly engage in the same practice. The latest grace and favour appointments simply reflect long standing Coalition government incumbency in recent times.

But Labor supporters shouldn't feel too left out: look no further than Kim Beazley's appointment as Ambassador in Washington (albeit also based on clear merit), and now as governor of Western Australia (a state appointment), and Bill Hayden to the highest office in this land, as Governor-General.

As with The Guardian's list, column centimetres could be similarly filled with the names of lesser ALP luminaries similarly appointed. Sadly, I don't expect that practice will change during the term of the current government, and certainly not during the term of any future ALP government.

By the time that happens there will be a backlog of good old true believers looking for a sinecure away from the grind of federal politics.

It's not up to Justice Beech-Jones to tell the Australian community how new legislation should be drafted ("Killer dodges jail despite the ultimate violation", canberratimes.com.au, May 21).

In his judgement Justice Beech-Jones said the case he presided over should not be relied upon by those promoting the establishment of voluntary euthanasia legislation in Australia.

While Justice Beech-Jones undoubtedly holds those views very dearly, I would suggest that all relevant cases and circumstances should be considered very carefully should the day come when such legislation is actually being actively developed.

In the case of Dr White, while she was found to have died "involuntarily" by her daughter's hand, this should not presuppose that legislation could not be drafted that permits people to set out in advance (perhaps at any time) the circumstances or form of life where they would not wish to go on living, regardless of whether they may no longer be able to freely elect a voluntary death at that time.

The case of Barbara Eckersley may be a compelling example of where the absence of such legislation created the circumstance of a daughter being tried for the manslaughter of her mother.

Given the state of the nation, I was moved the other evening to Spotify the jaunty little number The Country's in the Very Best of Hands from the 1959 musical L'il Abner. Here's the second verse:

The treasury says the national debt

Is climbing to the sky

And government expenditures

Have never been so high

It makes a fellow get a

Gleam of pride within his eye,

To see how our economy expands

The country's in the very best of hands.

Sing along.

Bradley Perret makes some good points in his articles about war breaking out over Taiwan. In his second "How war could spill into Australian territory" (canberratimes.com.au, May 24), he states that there would be no need for the Australian Army.

He assumes there would be neither Chinese landings in Australia, nor Australian landings in China (or Taiwan). This is not the full story, however. Irrespective of whether or not there were restrictions on Chinese Australians, terrorism could not be ruled out.

It must be expected that vital assets, which he has identified, need to be protected. Our airports, ports and fuel reserves would be primary targets, along with population centres. The panic caused by the release of a sarin gas canister in a CBD, for example, could cripple our infrastructure. In terms of other units, anti-missile defence systems need to manned and protected. Furthermore, military logistic capability would be stretched to the limit and would undoubtedly have to be augmented.

It is to be expected that current defence contingency plans would specify very specific and important roles for the Army in any such situation.

Re: "Cardinal Pell eyes a Vatican scandal he suspected long ago", (May 24, p14). It seems the affairs of religious organisations run parallel to many multinational corporations.

While Foreign Minister Marise Payne's comments about China's justice system may have some merit, I look forward to her comments about the Collaery/Witness K fiasco after she's had some time to analyse one that's closer to home.

When Marise Payne referred to the trial being a "closed and opaque process" I thought she might be referring to the trial of Bernard Collaery and Witness K. However she was referring to Dr Yang's in China.

So happy to hear the royal family attacking the media again over the treatment they receive. It is so good that they use all the networks to vent their frustrations.

The suggestion that due to the minimum stockholding obligation fuel may increase by up to three cents a litre is, even if true, a very small price to pay for fuel security. We live on an island, are reliant on imported fuel, and are totally vulnerable to supply chain interruptions.

Climate change was already irreversible after the 1950s when much of the planet's coal had already been burnt.

Effort now needs to be directed at not making it worse and adaptation to living underground in large caves.

This could include genetic modification to adapt to low light and to surviving on a diet of fungi.

Why would anyone vote Labor, asks Crispin Hull. Maybe, as William Cobbett once wrote "... however roguish a man may be, he always loves to deal with an honest man".

Thanks Jack Waterford for belling the cat (canberratimes.com.au, May 22).

On Scotty from Marketing: "ever more concerned with film-flam than substance. But it's a marketing myth - promoted by himself - that he was ever much good at it."

Maybe PETA can assist with the mice plague in Lyons. I would be happy for them to collect the mice and rats and relocate them to their residences. Rodent lives saved and problem solved for residents and farmers.

We all know what is going to happen to the mice in NSW, a mass extermination by poison. PETA did not suggest leaving it to nature as suggested by Paul O'Connor (Letters, May 24).

What they did say was "clearly we understand what's going to happen to these mice and what is already happening and what needs to happen to resolve this issue".

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