Unfortunately the article did not mention the most vulnerable group of children; those from birth to school entry, although now these little people are getting sick and they are not even on the horizon for immunisation.

Developmentally, very young children require constant vigilance and almost constant attention, but who can provide it? Most of the traditional family and external care providers are unavailable because of lockdown and the extreme contagiousness of the virus. How can families juggle their care and productive work? They often need to do both.

Babies learn at a greater rate than at any other time in their lives. They learn from us. If we are distracted and emotionally unavailable, they notice far more than we appreciate and it can affect them profoundly. I am distressed now watching small children try to make sense of their radically altered, isolated new world.

An added blow is that early childhood health and support services have been reduced because of the primacy of the pandemic response. Most of what is available is now delivered remotely. This a huge challenge for many families. It could mean concerning problems are overlooked only to cause difficulties later.

Perhaps we can start by pursuing immunisation possibilities, such as ensuring their care away from home is by fully immunised adults? This could help families cope?

There are no easy answers, but young children cannot continue to be overlooked.

Like John Mungoven (Letters, August 30), I have given up listening to what Prime Minister Scott Morrison has to say. Mr Morrison says a lot, but it's mostly meaningless circumlocution, deliberate obfuscation, misinformation, shifting the blame to his ministers or senior public servants, or glib but obvious untruths.

For example, I have read many transcripts of his press briefings, and for paragraph after paragraph they effectively mean nothing.

It's no wonder that the latest Newspoll has the Morrison-led Coalition government trailing Labor by 36 to 40 per cent: John Mungoven and I are far from alone.

As someone who initially thought that Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, Gladys Berejiklian et al were doing a good job in dealing with the pandemic I have been very disappointed in recent months.

They have been far too complacent and, instead of looking to future dangers - such as the Delta strain - were fixated on their past successes.

The failure to recognise, despite the lessons from India and elsewhere, that Delta was a major game-changer has cost Australia very dear.

The same is true of the bungled vaccination program and the failure to build stand-alone quarantine facilities.

Mantras such as "hotel quarantine has been 99.9 per cent successful" and that vaccination "is not a race" will haunt the PM and his team for decades to come.

I strongly support the establishment of an independent inquiry into how this crisis has been handled. It should urgently consider the very bad advice from ATAGI that did so much to compromise the AstraZeneca vaccine in the eyes of millions of Australian.

Surely the people on that body must have realised that past case numbers were irrelevant; that if Delta got loose in the community it would quickly spiral out of control.

According to page 25 of Saturday's The Canberra Times ("Scott Morrison's dilemma: when to call the federal election", August 28, p25) authorities are mishandling lockdowns, etc.

That is not the problem; the problem is COVID-19. A brand new disease, a pandemic killing thousands worldwide, whose like has not been seen for about 100 years. Our government and authorities are desperately trying everything they can think of to minimise the evil that is COVID-19. We are doing well compared to the rest of the world. There is no cure. Fair go.

Bill Blair notes issues associated with "mega-sized" schools, and observes that "whoever" decided on their creation must be ruing that decision (Letters, August 30). Well, Bill, if my memory serves me correctly, Andrew Barr was the education minister at the time.

My abiding memory of that very difficult, emotional and upsetting time was the utter callousness, cold-heartedness and ruthlessness displayed by our current Chief Minister in closing down so many schools that were the heart of their local communities.

I presume the taxpayer covers the costs of running The Lodge (heating, internet, rates, water, staffing and possibly food).

If Josh Frydenberg is shacked up with Scott Morrison at The Lodge, as reported by the media, is he still able to claim a daily allowance for being away from home while he is under lockdown here in Canberra?

If so, how is that different from rorting the taxpayer-funded welfare system?

The gall of people blaming state authorities for the exponential spread of the Delta strain - particularly in NSW - is breathtaking.

The Premiers and health experts continue to warn people daily and plead for all to observe social distancing and stop attending gatherings, both public and private.

They must be sick and tired of repeating virtually the same advice and answering almost identical questions about staying safe.

The anger should be directed at the selfish, egotistical minority who believe their "human and constitutional rights" are being "violated", protesting in hundreds if not thousands, spreading the disease. Did any of these individuals consider why the explosion in positive cases and deaths commenced so soon after the latest protest march?

Apparently individuals who participated in the last Sydney mass protest are now reporting to hospitals infected with COVID-19.

They should be the last to receive medical attention and should have to pay for it. And all the so-called "parents" taking their children to anti-lockdown protest marches should be charged with child abuse and prosecuted.

All that is asked of them is a modicum of self-restraint and concern for other Australians; concern obviously missing in that Sydney individual who - although COVID-19 positive - refused to isolate and was a danger to the community, until the NSW police arrested him.

No wonder many older Australians like me view this current generation as a bunch of spoilt sooks.

Why has so little media attention been paid to the deaths of children in the latest US drone strike in Afghanistan?

Australia cannot wait another seven or eight months to get proper leadership.

The worst government in our history will inflict irreparable long-term damage to our economy and society by then.

Our Trumpian PM will of course hang on till the last, unless there is a circuit-breaker.

Governor-General, your reserve powers are needed now (the incompetence is much much worse than 1975).

Many will have already forgotten Gladys, several weeks ago, saying it was a national emergency. What is it now?

Receiving my second AstraZeneca vaccination just over a week ago was liberating. But it's tempered by the feeling that, with other Canberrans, I am still an unwilling passenger on a train travelling to a destination over which I have no say, thanks to the dilatory attitude some politicians have to lockdowns.

My unease is heightened by the push to open up once the vaccination rate reaches 70 or 80 per cent. I am suspicious about that magic number; 80 per cent of what exactly?

In the ACT we have no choice, and have been sold so many pups from across the border: Ruby Princess, hotel quarantine, ersatz lockdowns, and the most extraordinary, Canberra as a source of infections.

The Taliban have not changed. Within 24 hours of announcing that they were now "caring and sharing" and no action would be taken against those who worked for the previous government, their soldiers opened fire on protesters, killing two and wounding many more. A sign of things to come, methinks.

You must have been watching Fox News, Ken Brazel (Letters, August 27). Apparently the ABC is biased against the Coalition.

Despite a litany of failures, scandals and almost chronic ineptitude, it would seem the Morrison government's response to Covid will be the determining factor in the government's election prospects. Are Australia's voters really that shallow?

I must say that it's jolly good to have ISIS back. Now the Taliban government can join the other good guys at the UN. The word "Taliban" was a funny name anyway.

At the start of the pandemic China built an entire hospital in one month. In 18 months we haven't even built a quarantine facility to bring home our expats. Either our economic and infrastructure policies are flawed, or Australian citizenship is worthless.

We have treated the Afghans and their refugees abominably. I am ashamed to be an Australian.

As someone with a degree in mathematics I have become very confused by the new system of numbers we are using. What exactly is 70-80? It seems to be deliberately imprecise. Can I use it if I am issued a speeding fine in what used to be a 70km/h zone?

As a long-term planner I am pleased to see the free-enterprise LNP government embracing a national plan (to reopen the country). Presumably they'll now also be able to produce a credible national plan for greatly reducing emissions, starting with rapid phasing out of coal and gas while supporting new employment-generating enterprises. Even Barnaby has said: "Where's the plan?"

Had Howard, and subsequent American lackey PMs, exercised Australia's sovereign right not to commit blindly to hegemonic misadventures Morrison would not now be sanctimoniously "mourning" ever more deaths directly attributable to "invasions", by "coalitions of the willing".

So the Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell, flew to Hawaii during the crisis in Kabul. Perhaps the Australian crisis management centre should be relocated to Hawaii?

The Chief Minister rightly praised the efforts of ACT Health staff in clearing the backlog of 19,000 quarantine cases. Can he now advise the number of returned ACT residents from Covid-free areas who returned a positive COVID-19 result?

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