The omens aren't good, especially when you realise the great auk, a flightless bird, became extinct by the mid-19th century. Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison showed an incredibly clunky ineptitude when the Talibans' recapture of Kabul caught them flatfooted. What are we in for now under AUKUS?

At least Joe Biden's reference to Scott Morrison as "that fellow from Down Under" shows ScoMo his real place in the scheme of things.

It is appalling that the Morrison government has apparently taken the decision to obtain nuclear-powered submarines without any discussion in Parliament.

Such a fundamental decision will tie us even more closely with the US military-industrial complex, the most deadly institution acting against peace in the world for over half a century. It won't make us safer, but will encourage a widespread arms race.

It also ties us into the Morrison government's incomprehensible aim (and the US's) to make China the enemy. As Professor Hugh White has said many times, we should not choose between the US and China. We will no doubt see strong retaliation from China which will create more pain for our primary industry and other exporters, and which may well be to America's gain.

Morrison certainly has many reasons to create such a distraction that will last through to the next election. The pandemic management failures, the climate crisis, the corruption in so many portfolios, the LNP misogyny, etc etc, and now Porter's receipt of an apparently large anonymous donation, are just some of the prime reasons.

The old tried and true military fearmongering distraction is just what they are looking for.

The military is a huge greenhouse-gas emitter, which the planet can't afford anymore. Diplomacy, aid to our neighbours in the region, and being non-aligned are the foreign policy foci we should be adopting for the coming decades.

The UK and US have massive stockpiles of spent fissile material from energy generation and military sources looking for secure long term disposal.

I dread the idea of Australia becoming the planet's radioactive waste dump.

That the nuclear power industry could now gain a foothold in a nation blessed with limitless (free and clean) photovoltaic and wind capability with ample space for ocean pumped hydro energy storage is truly scary.

Sometimes nation states take the wrong turn, and doubling down with the USA and the UK to defend and maintain the economic and political status quo and entangle us in the nuclear fuel cycle might just be one of those moments.

The reality that $90 billion worth of submarines are at the core of our doubling down with the sinking great power that is the USA adds irony to this potentially cataclysmic error.

Rather than muscling up to defend and even fight a war for the old world economic and political order, Australia should be working with nations including China, to create a new and better world order. One that is more sustainable, more democratic, more inclusive and more equitable.

With in-principle agreement to the nuclear submarine plan even supported by the Labor Party, and with Environment Minister Sussan Ley approving the Vickery coal mine despite the Federal Court ruling she has an obligation to future generations, those about to turn 18 are left with only one option.

They need a political party of school-leavers which can vote in favour of their future. They would no doubt join with the Greens on many issues but, if I was 18, I would be building on the impetus already gained by Ava Princi and her schoolmates who had the nous to challenge the NSW development in court.

They've shown admirable strategic talent, and perhaps they could even be in power in time to stop the Australian War Memorial from spending a further fortune to house a model of a nuclear-powered submarine!

The submarine decision is both good news and bad news. The good news is that Australia has embraced reality by going nuclear, but the bad news is that the contract will be handled by the notoriously inept Defence Contracting Organisation, which has fouled (a euphemism) every contract it has ever touched.

The Collins subs were one prime example; the current (now abandoned) French contract is another.

I tremble at what the cancellation fees will be whereas the French should be paying us.

They have deliver on their promises.

With humanity struggling in the grip of a global pandemic and facing possible extinction from climate change, the very last thing we need is a nuclear submarine.

Have we already forgotten the Cold War arms race? Repeating the same action in hope of achieving a different result is futile as well as stupid.

Much has been written about how COVID-19 offered us a chance to map a new recovery, built on tolerance, good will and social justice.

A nuclear weapons option is hardly likely to help that happen. In fact, it is a catastrophically banal example of chest-thumping, fundamentalist arrogance by leaders who think such things enhance their political profile.

The sad reality is that it usually does.

The sword of Damocles finally fell and Delta is here in Canberra. Over these past anxious months our family has kept in touch with others around the world.

Singapore, an island state with porous borders, similar to Canberra, has now reached an 81 per cent vaccination rate. The pressure is on for them to open up. For them, like NSW and Victoria, this has not been a great success when they have done so.

The Singapore government, recognising that the Delta virus is extremely infectious even at 81 per cent vaccination, has given each household two boxes of surgical masks, a box of N95 masks, an oximeter, and eight self-testing kits.

Like Singaporeans, we have all worked hard to achieve splendid COVID-19 containment. Could Mr Barr give consideration to following this latest example from Singapore?

We humans are facing the greatest test in our history. The threat of pandemics such as COVID-19 is just one of 10 catastrophic threats to the human future that governments everywhere are choosing either to downplay or ignore.

The recently formed Council for the Human Future (humanfuture.org), under the leadership of Professor John Hewson, seeks to alert humans everywhere to the need for essential change in the way we manage these human-made threats and our relationship with our planetary home.

We are proposing to the ACT government that it should convene a citizens' assembly of 100 representative Canberrans over the age of 16, to spend the best part of three paid weekends examining the evidence for these concerns and deliberating, with the help of experts, on an appropriate path forward for our community.

We think that such a course of action could prove vital in clarifying and beginning to address the survival challenge, which now confronts humans everywhere.

With the end of US military involvement in Afghanistan and the timely reminder of the 9/11 anniversary that terrorism is not dead, I am sure there are already lobbyists in the corridors of the White House with fuzzy pictures of sheds allegedly holding weapons of mass destruction.

Let's face it, our own weapons-storage sheds will be bursting with stock soon, and we need to shift this stuff to keep the armaments companies earnings at current levels.

Oh, for just a little war somewhere (safe for us, of course).

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