The government thought it could do better so then it announced that it would, at some undetermined time in the future, negotiate a possibly even more expensive contract for an undetermined submarine at an undetermined delivery date with a country which has consistently violated the sovereignty of other nations.

Our government government is doing this to help said country contain/confront/deter/constrain (take your pick) your biggest trading partner.

And we'll all live happily ever after? I think not.

Without notification or consultation Morrison and Dutton have committed us to a submarine deal which is even more bizarre than the ridiculous French one.

You can see now why Morrison started lambasting the Chinese last year. He need to pick a fight to justify this absurd deal.

Does anyone in the Department of Defence seriously consider that Australia has any hope of surviving a war with China?

The defence budget has become a dumbed-down, deluded obsession, with the Morrison Government fearmongering for votes. The lobbyists for weapons manufacturers are working overtime.

Like the USA, we will soon have such large employment and manufacturing commitments to the "defence" budget that we will have to start battles to run the economy and justify the expense.

The nuclear submarine deal with the US and UK will commit multiple generations of Australians to a military alliance with no regard for the best national outcome or for regional relationships.

Why not proceed with operational, nuclear powered, French submarines with unique stealth propulsion?

We have just come out of a disastrous 20 year military adventure as lackeys of the US and barely a fortnight later Morrison and Dutton are setting us up for another.

Do we ever learn?

Peter Sherman's comments on the ACT's policy on outdoor exercise (Letters, September 17) which allows golf, tennis and rowing but not one-on-one personal training outdoors are spot on. The policy defies logic.

Additionally, the recent easing of the lockdown in Victoria now allows personal training outdoors but not golf or tennis. I don't think both jurisdictions can be right in their analysis of the relative dangers of virus transmission can they?

Australia latched onto the nuclear subs deal not, primarily, as a gesture against China but because it offered a way out of the increasingly nightmarish French deal. I suspect many on the French side are also heaving a sigh of relief. It remains to be seen whether the Defence hierarchy can work out a viable deal on the nukes. Let's hope. We do need replacements for the Collins.

My son, his partner and our grandson live in Sydney. Prior to COVID-19 we used to travel up for our grandson's birthday and they would come down for Christmas and New Year. We have missed the last two years of getting together. We realise there are many families across Australia who are also in this family-deprived situation due to COVID-19.

The saddest thing is that our grandson, who is nine, said to us the other day that all those who don't want to be tested or vaccinated should be put in the one place so people can start visiting their family and friends again. What a great idea out of one so young.

I note most developed countries which have opened up from lockdown have included building ventilation and filtration as part of their strategies going forward.

I'm unaware if the ACT government has made any public announcements about these complementary COVID-19 management strategies.

Prior to sending children back into often 50-year-old schools it would seem sensible for the ACT government to undertake an audit of school buildings to improve ventilation and filtration to insure children are less vulnerable going forward together with vaccinations.

I agree with Rod Matthews that the demolition of the Malvern (an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne) family home of former prime minister Robert Menzies should not have been allowed (Letters, September 13).

The home of the man who, for 19 tumultuous years, was arguably the most significant prime minister of this country, regardless of ideological and political leanings, is surely worthy of national heritage status.

Daniel Andrews should be ashamed.

There have been several letters about the abrupt cancellation by the AIS of its aqua and gym memberships.

This has has left a significant number of older Canberrans without an appropriate means of meeting their fitness needs.

I am writing as someone who has been attending the aqua aerobics classes five mornings a week whenever possible for more than 10 years following double knee replacement surgery.

I credit these classes with my continued mobility and health. I, and many like me, need these targeted programs to meet the calls from the government to stay healthy and active into our older years to, among other things, stop us from burdening the health system.

Wiping out these amenities so abruptly and without consultation is short sighted and a blow to our efforts to stay healthy and active.

Surprise, surprise, the factional battles in the Labor party at the state and federal level loom large with the all but assured elevation of Kristina Keneally to the House of Representatives for the seat of Fowler and Deborah O'Neill in the Senate.

All at the expense of a worthy, popular and competent local candidate who not only lives in the electorate but who has a strong affinity with the local community.

Unfortunately, both selections will do little to raise the profile of parliament already at the depths of poor behaviour and etiquette.

If their respective performances in parliament are any indication (certainly during question time), then the much needed transformation in the standards in Parliament will never eventuate.

Again ALP preselection processes ignore what the electorate wants and needs, instead its factions choose who are to represent us.

In my electorate a person with a brilliant local track record was not preselected.

Instead the factions within the organisation chose an unknown party hack.

Also Andrew Leigh, who is not a member of any faction, but is a professor of economics, should be leading the ALP economics team. Instead, we have at the top someone who doesn't even have a degree in economics.

What is wrong with selecting the most qualified and respected candidates to stand for election, rather than pushing ALP "worthies" on voters?

The Canberra Times to its credit has recently stirred up a bit of interest in the Australia-China relationship with articles canvassing different aspects of the debate.

Bill Stefaniak (Letters, September 14) wrote in praise of Defence Minister Dutton and Australian belligerence toward China.

Bill is entitled to his view and like me he is likely to be too old to reap any serious adverse consequence of a policy gone bad.

He is probably right to opine that if we adopt this posture we will need to acquire sophisticated missiles and possibly impose military conscription on our young people.

The bit of the story Bill left out is the fiscal impact. The current arbitrary ceiling on government expenditure of 23.9 per cent of GDP will have to go.

As well, the tax cuts scheduled for July 2024, are simply unaffordable.

Before you set Australia on a course of belligerence toward China, you need to spell out the costs.

These costs are real; the benefits, however, are speculative.

What is making Scott Morrison's Father's Day jaunt to Sydney even worse is he doesn't understand why the criticism. With statements such as, "people can go and have household gatherings and birthday parties and sadly there will be funerals, but people will be able to attend them" he may need a new empathy coach.

It is disappointing the French have been left out of the new treaty relating to nuclear submarines. If the French were included in a four-way treaty, not only would it appear that our previous investment wasn't wasted but the AUKUS alliance would be the more appropriately named "AFUKUS alliance".

Since we're going to be acquiring some nuclear submarines from the US for the sole purpose of doing the US's bidding surely they should give them to us free.

In our most important defence announcement in decades common sense has finally prevailed with our submarine purchase and we're swapping the Citroens for Chevrolets; and significantly strengthening our strategic alliance with the USA in the process.

At last. The Royal Australian Navy is about to enter the 20th century. (The first nuclear powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched in 1954).

Is the "forever partnership" Scotty's latest marketing ploy to win the next election? Is this the "forever" his government seems to be condemning us to, or one where global warming is kept to no more than 1.5 C degrees?

After unrewarding flirtations with lightweights, at last common sense has prevailed and we will have a US/UK/Australia nuclear sub pact to replace dastardly deals which would have left Australia as vulnerable as any cheese eating surrender monkey. It should be worth a good 50 years.

Megan Doherty's support for the questioning of the Chief Minister by Sky News reporter Tom Connell ("Don't ask a question that might risk an angry emoji", canberratimes.com.au, September 16). Both reporters missed the same lecture in their training: "on civility".

I'm wondering if Pope or some other clever cartoonist could draw me a picture showing just how, in one move, Australia managed to stab France in the back while simultaneously shooting itself in the foot (according to the Chinese). Is ScoMo ambidextrous?

For the record, I'd like to give our PM a thumbs up with regards to the nuclear submarines. Stuff China, France and new Zealand. But we must be wary of the Americans too in case they back flip on us .

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