Elsewhere, he has urged that Senator Patrick be referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for saying PM&C staff were politicised in their handling of the national cabinet Freedom of Information case.

It will be recalled that PM&C declared the national cabinet to be a committee of federal Cabinet for the purposes of the FOI Act, thus echoing provisions of the government's recent COAG Legislation Amendment Bill.

In keeping with normal process, this bill is the subject of a digest published by parliament, which includes comments from interested stakeholders. Legal and administrative authorities have taken the opportunity to point out that the National Cabinet is a multi-government forum like its predecessor, the Council of Australian Governments.

The majority of its members are state and territory first ministers accountable to their respective parliaments, not to the federal parliament, and certainly not to the executive arm of the federal government.

Calling the national cabinet a committee of the federal cabinet, for any purposes, beggars belief. It is more than a gross distortion of the way our political system operates; it is just not true.

Do we dare to ask why the frank and non-politicised PMC secretary Gaetjens has endorsed a government position so at odds with reality?

The precipitous decline in Bogong moth numbers is just another warning to Australians.

While, quite rightly, there has been a focus on climate change and COVID-19, the loss of Australia's unique and precious biodiversity should be ringing alarm bells.

Biodiversity is the human species' safety net. For example humanity's disregard for effective biodiversity protection was most probably a causal agent in the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. But a succession of federal LNP Governments has shown little interest in an effective national biodiversity policy.

National conservation funding has shrunk dramatically from the Labor years.

The Morrison government appears intent on weakening The National Environment Act and delegating approval powers, downwards. Of the thousands of listed endangered species only a few 100 have been afforded recovery plans. When will the electorate learn that the LNP Coalition is unfit to govern Australia?

Canberra politician Andrew Leigh has done us all a service with his recently released book What Is the Worst That Can Happen?

Dr Leigh has faced up to a challenge that is being largely ignored by political leaders across the world; that a group of interacting catastrophic threats will lead to early extinction of the human species if they continue without comprehensive action to manage them.

Dr Leigh's book adds political weight to the extensive writings by esteemed Canberra science communicator Julian Cribb, and the extensive outputs from groups focused on catastrophic and existential threats in Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford Universities.

It is to be hoped that Leigh's voice on this matter will be heard in the shadow cabinet and that the analysis he presents in his book will be central to discussions in the forthcoming federal election campaign.

This is an important milestone, and we must not let it pass without national discussion and action.

To some of us it's a time to pause, to reflect, to stand in awe. But to the vast majority it's the silly season: a time of over-eating, drinking, buying, selling, worrying, partying, and pressured family gatherings.

And don't the silly season preachers love it; out of hibernation they come to herald their version of the good news - news that is best delivered away from pulpits and outside of Sundays.

Thus compelled, we walk kilometres, zig-zagging in and out of stores; standing toe-to-toe with fellow shoppers competing for the best deals - and the quickest way out.

O, how this millstone of consumerism weighs us down, leaving us tired, hassled and bereft: presents replacing presence; the secular bullying the sacred.

All the while, that eternal pattern of truth and beauty wrapped in swaddling cloth lies naked and alone, longing to be cuddled and loved and fed. Peace.

"My body, my choice," the anti-vaxxers proclaim.

This would be valid for somebody living hermit-like and never meeting anybody for any reason.

The moment we join society we accept that its benefits come with responsibilities. One of these is ensuring that if the choices we make have societal repercussions those must be acceptable not only to ourselves but, importantly, to others affected by them.

As a benign tide of vaccination is steadily taking most of us into a promised land of safety, we plead with that minority still at sea to objectively review the science, give it a chance and rejoin us on healthier shores.

N Ellis (Letters, December 15) warns us to be wary about the "pessimistic prognostications of experts" with reference to Norman Swan's COVID-19 predictions.

Dr Swan has been very careful to emphasise the uncertainty surrounding all COVID-19 predictions.

Looking at what is happening in Europe at the moment, and the rise in numbers in both NSW and Vic, it seems Dr Swan's prediction of 4000 cases per day in NSW by mid-September may prove to be late in arriving, but a timely warning that this pandemic is far from being behind us.

I am very grateful to Dr Swan and lots of other experts for their attempts to make predictions in such a difficult environment.

Peter Fuller (Letters, December 7) prefers to minimise the use of commas, and says that meanings can be clear without them. The problem is that, without commas or other punctuation, rereading may be necessary.

One of his sentences illustrates this: "In the passage Mike selected the "and" conjunctions ...". Does that mean "In the passage, Mike selected the "and" conjunctions ..." or "In the passage Mike selected, the "and" conjunctions ..."? We don't know until we read further, and then we may have to reassess our original interpretation.

I've read that in ancient times there were scribes who sat in the marketplace. They would take down your dictated letter on paper, and even add a few verbal flourishes of their own where requested. They were paid presumably a going rate by the person who requested the letter. Being a word-loving person myself I've often envied them this friendly and empathic role.

These days we need a modern equivalent: a person sitting outside the local supermarket whom we can pay to help us complete the many little tasks for living which can only be achieved through a wall of computer technology.

Meanwhile, without such computer-scribes, we spend hours mucking up our bookings, appointments, requests for documentation of vaccinations, enquiries about aged care, interactions generally with government departments and payment of quirky invoices.

This kind of anxiety-provoking chaos is bad for the mental health of the community and is an obvious form of discrimination against the aged and even against people with certain types of disability.

I predict it will begin to appear in anti-discrimination litigation quite soon. I also have a vision of a new profession of computer-scribes who become the much-loved mediators of the modern world.

It is high time that Australia also introduces a "proof of age card" prohibiting anyone born after a certain date from purchasing (or consuming) tobacco.

Australia was a world leader in implementing plain packaging and, under Nicola Roxon stood up against pressure from the tobacco industry to back down.

We need to continue to be a world leader in tobacco control and not fall behind. By World No Tobacco Day on May 31, 2022, Australia needs to have followed NZ and introduced a proof of age card for tobacco (and vape products).

G Bray (Letters, December 15) was unable to access a booster easily. On Monday I went just to enquire at our local pharmacy re boosters. I had my shot immediately, no appointment needed and a choice of vaccines.

A correspondent (Letters, December 15) described her difficulty in trying to get a booster shot before Christmas. I recommend the ACT government AIS Arena COVID-19 vaccination clinic. I rang for an appointment on Sunday and two hours later had received my booster shot.

Regarding Dr Norman Swan's over estimation of COVID cases, N Ellis warns us to be wary of pessimistic prognostications by "the experts" (Letters, December 15). I'm surely not alone in wishing there were fewer prognostications by those with no medical expertise whatsoever.

As an Australian citizen I feel ashamed of our government for abandoning one of our citizens in his hour of need. Shame on you Prime Minister if you don't act on behalf of our Julian Assange.

Why is no one condemning workplaces who will not allow staff to take leave to keep their kids home even when they do have to quarantine or are not providing flexibility so they can have minimised exposure? (For example not going to before school care where there are more cases).

By ruling out running in the federal election former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has shown more good sense and perhaps even common decency than PM Scott Morrison who was keen to have her run notwithstanding the investigation into allegations against her had not been concluded.

Given alcohol plays a big part in most people's problems it's harder to understand why our money hungry governments haven't taxed it like they do cigarettes. Is it because of our politicians liking for parties and alcohol?

It looks like Kent St in Deakin is about to get three new sets of traffic lights over a 100 metre stretch of road. I can remember thinking as a kid in New York City in the early 1970s how marvellous it was that they had managed to synchronise their traffic lights.

Some 50 years later I have grave doubts about that being introduced here.

The words "national defence equipment procurement" are code for the Australian military being sold pups.

One week a magnificent Eucumbene trout then, on December 10, a glorious Murray cod. Please tell us Ben Caddaye they were returned to the water.