NSW opening up to international travel too soon

On Friday (October 15) Premier Dominic Perrottet announced proudly that NSW will be "leading the nation out of this pandemic" by opening its borders to international travellers from November 1.

Let us not forget who lead us into this current outbreak. Many people commented that Sydney didn't lock down early enough or hard enough.

Now NSW wants to be the first to open up to international travellers, providing they have a negative COVID-19 test and proof they have been vaccinated.

NSW couldn't even get it right on several domestic flights in the past couple of months. This led to several regional NSW LGAs going into snap seven-day lockdowns.

Yes, we need to get the economy going again, however at what cost? Once a life is lost, you don't get it back. The economy will be around forever.

I had hoped the report that the Queen was disappointed that some world leaders were not attending the global warming conference in Glasgow would have made it harder for our Prime Minister to attend this useless gabfest in sunny Glasgow (my hometown).

The announcement that he will now be attending makes him look like one of the Queen's wee lapdogs coming to heel.

In answer to Dr Shroot's question (Letters, October 15) smokers do have a worse outcome with COVID-19. Apparently smoking impairs lung immune function and damages upper airways increasing the risk of contracting (and the severity of) infectious respiratory diseases.

We've heard a lot about when cafes, restaurants, gyms, gambling venues and so on will re-open, but what about Canberra's public libraries?

Not a word have I heard or seen about when these important institutions will once again be available to Canberra's readers and to those who need the libraries for access to computers and other resources. Is the government thinking about them at all?

I am wholly and solely responsible for copping a $300 fine for doing 46 km/h on Barry Drive. It's a fair cop, guv.

Nevertheless the dramatic increase in the number of speeders caught, and continuing to be caught, since the new limit was introduced clearly demonstrates that there's a problem.

If people were consistently becoming less law-abiding or less observant, the increase in fines would be consistent across the territory; it's not.

If people were consistently confused or forgetful whenever a speed limit changed, the increase would be consistent with that in Civic whenever a limit changed; while there's probably a small temporary increase at those times, I doubt that it's neither as dramatic or as prolonged.

Clearly there is a problem and we deserve to know what it is and why it has come about.

Scott Morrison and the federal Coalition look like school kids desperately cramming before an exam deadline in their farcically last-minute attempts to appear to have prepared for the Glasgow climate summit.

Not that it really matters, as they well know. The exam can - and will - be sat at home by Master Scott away from spotlights, and it's really just a viva voce test in which the gift of the gab and an ability to spin the issue will once again get you through, albeit with eyerolls from the examiners.

It's amazing what can be cobbled together to dissimulate a pass mark, at the last moment and despite a total lack of commitment.

Having been a proud resident of the ACT (a jurisdiction belonging to the people of Australia) since 1985, I do not at all harbour any feelings that my "rights" have been abused or impinged by the simple fact that I cannot aid and abet someone to take a life; in this case their own.

Said action has been called suicide down the ages.

So I must confess to being somewhat bemused by the article "Feds squash ACT rights reform push" (October 8, p1).

I do not see any need to go and rewrite the rule book to "right some perceived wrong".

Just so the chattering classes don't "miss the memo" before they launch into some level of utter apoplexy I'll simply state up front that I consider life to be a precious gift to be cherished and not to be treated as a commodity just like the petrol we put in our car.

Now if said "chatterers" had been advocating for action on accommodation for those in our community who don't even have a roof over their head they may very well have found me on their team.

The outstanding level of vaccination achieved for the 12-plus cohort in the ACT is a result of a very successful ACT government PR campaign together with the Medical Directorate's remarkable efforts.

The ACT is showing world leadership. However, the vaccine program only covers some 80 per cent of the population. The younger kids now need expedient and specific help.

In the ACT we ought to be showing some initiative for protecting these kids, and with overall community benefits. The vaccine is apparently available with five or six adult doses in a phial. A reduced dose could be easily selected according to age and size.

Could the ACT Chief Medical Officer approach the vaccine advisory committee to formulate a strategy for our younger kids in the ACT?

It is good to see that enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel is finally moving towards practical implementation.

What we need to get on board with now, unlike what happened with natural gas, is for all the citizens of Australia benefit, if they follow the rules, whether working or not, massively from these 'riches'.

While environmental effects are good for all, no more benefiting the few to the abandonment of the majority, most of whom will still need sufficient income to participate in society and grease the wheels of small business.

Even the oil producing Arab countries did this to some extent.

Could the Chief Minister please explain why he has imposed such severe restrictions on Canberrans while those living in NSW and particularly just across the border no longer have to wear masks and the restrictions on gatherings, restaurants etc seem to be nowhere near as draconian as those imposed on we long-suffering Canberrans?

This is of particular concern to those who are fully vaccinated.

Some letters scoff at the French but I for one like most aspects about their history and culture. Especially the 1789 revolution.

The French must laugh at Australia with its foreign head of state, the same foreigner on the coinage and the same foreigner having the power to sack our democratically elected governments.

If La Perouse had claimed this great southern land we would have appreciated Champagne instead of scrumpy and Camembert instead of Coon from the very beginning of European settlement.

Try to imagine what the French would have done with our resources. Our ion ore and coal deposits alone would have meant we could have had a manufacturing industry today which would have made our submarines and jet fighters.

As for the importance of Australia on many of the world arenas, we struggle to just qualify let alone have any high and mighty idea of ever winning a World Cup.

It was inevitable that conservatives - irritated by the way the French refuse take a kick in the groin gladly - would start on the character assassination.

For the record, I opposed the Rainbow Warrior atrocity because it was an atrocity and a crime, not because it was French.

I opposed French nuclear testing because it was nuclear, not because it was French.

I am not for or against the French because they are French.

The PM's supporters seem to think that if the French can't take a friendly head-butt they are not morally fit enough to be friends of ours.