Assault on Old Parliament House was counterproductive

Parliamentarians won't suddenly take notice of whatever issues these vandals are upset about - except to urge the federal police to arrest them.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart asks Australians - First Nations and all immigrants thereafter - to walk together and understand each other. Vandalism and apparent acts of arson do not invite conversation, only condemnation. Violence does not drive out violence. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.

While we all likely share John Rodriguez's desire for "fewer wars" (Letters, December 30), in suggesting that Australia has "less armies, less weapons" he makes a curious choice by suggesting that we follow the example of Switzerland.

He may not be aware that Switzerland has long mandated national service for males aged 19 to 34, a policy most recently confirmed by a 2013 referendum.

Moreover, he may be horrified to learn that those national servicemen maintain their personal weapons at home. While Switzerland has long pursued a policy of armed neutrality there should be no doubt about its preparedness and willingness to fight for its security, as evidenced during World War II by the numbers of Allied and Axis aircraft shot down when they transgressed the Swiss border.

In short, by using Switzerland as his role model John Rodriguez has supported the case for a strong defence force to maintain our national security.

As history as shown on countless occasions, those who make themselves less able to take on potential adversaries are simply making themselves the target for those who don't share the desire of most for fewer wars.

In 2022 Australia will take two tonnes of nuclear waste from the UK to be disposed of in Australia. This will comprise of four 500 kilogram canisters and will arrive in Sydney to be initially stored at Lucas Heights before a permanent resting place is found, possibly at Port Lincoln or Woomera in South Australia or the Northern Territory.

Our Indigenous community has already suffered enough from the British testing of nuclear bombs at Maralinga when no care or responsibility was shown to those living in the area. Australians have suffered, too. Why is Australia doing this?

My dad was a navigator in the RAAF. Imagine his thoughts when he was ordered in October 1952 to take part in Operation Hurricane in the Monte Bello Island group off Western Australia, a joint operation with the Australian and British governments. The job was to fly through the radioactive cloud created after atomic bombs were detonated to measure radiation levels.

The three blasts were all larger than what had been agreed between the British and Australian governments. The last one was four times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Prime Minister Menzies agreed to assist the British government in its testing but didn't consult his cabinet or check with Australian scientists that adequate safety precautions were in place.

There were no special suits or protection for the air crew, just their normal flying gear. On their return to base they showered and the plane was hosed down with water.

Many air crew suffered from leukaemia and died an early death. My dad died when he was nearly 90 but he was riddled with many nasty cancers. His death certificate says one of the causes of death was "chronic lymphatic leukaemia" - cancer of the blood and bone marrow usually caused by radiation.

Unfortunately, Australians let Bob Menzies' love of all things English cloud the associated safety issues. The UK cannot be trusted. Let it keep its own nuclear waste and not contaminate our land and our people.

In reply to Sue Wareham and John Rodriguez (Letters, December 29) I would note this; freedom is not free. There is a price to be paid, usually by young men and always with blood.

As a sailor in the Falklands war of 1982 I fought so that my countrymen could have their democratic freedoms restored.

To have no military capable of achieving this would mean a tyrannical regime would be imposed on innocent people.

There is a time and place to fight, and a time to write letters to The Canberra Times.

I chose to go to the sound of the guns and serve my country.

Back in the dark ages when Donald Trump was still President of the USA and the coronavirus pandemic was still young Trump whined that the only reason case numbers were so high was that too many people were being tested.

He wanted case numbers down to fit his agenda that the pandemic was not as bad as was being made out. And what do we see now? A concerted push to have fewer tests performed - ostensibly on the grounds that "tourism testing" is overwhelming the system.

Inevitably, though, with fewer tests there'll be fewer positives. Expect then to hear official (political) confirmation that the Omicron variant is not so bad or that thanks to the government's sensible measures they've got the outbreak under control.

Sue Wareham (Letters, December 29) refers to the over-use of plastics.

It is my wife's understanding is that soft plastics, such as the plastic that The Canberra Times is wrapped in, can be recycled. So, every day, I diligently put my The Canberra Times wrapper into our soft plastics collection point.

Then, periodically, my wife diligently takes our accumulated soft plastic to a supermarket's soft plastics collection point, to be forwarded to be recycled.

I don't know how much of it actually gets recycled, and there are resources consumed in the whole process, but I'm assuming it's better than just throwing the plastic wrapper out.

Campbell Macknight is correct to say that "historical issues are judgments of probability" (Letters, 29 December).

His claim, though, that the "odds are on" the 1789 smallpox epidemic in the NSW colony being caused by Makassar fisherman doesn't fit with the available evidence.

May I suggest that Campbell read the National Museum of Australia's explanation that a "variola (smallpox) sample" was brought by the First Fleet's surgeon to help protect children born in the colony. How it spread to the local Aboriginal population is unknown but, unlike the adult colonists, many of whom had built up resistance from childhood infection, the Indigenous population had no such immunity and the result was disastrous.

The NMA report also discounts the Makassar version because of the difficulty of the disease being able to spread along sparsely populated routes between the north and the Sydney colony. There is also no hard evidence to suggest that the smallpox was deliberately released among Aboriginal communities. It is though a story that persists and it is to be hoped that we will eventually find out the truth about this and other matters regarding the treatment of our First Australians.

The CSIRO and the Universities of Sydney and NSW recently estimated the ACT's total carbon footprint in 2018. "Scope 1" emissions, from within the ACT, were two net tonnes per capita. "Scope 2" emissions outside the ACT, from electricity generation, were five tonnes per capita. "Scope 3" emissions outside the ACT, from causes other than electricity generation, were 27 tonnes per capita.

The commissioner for sustainability and the environment, in her recent "Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Emissions" report, said the ACT's 2018 footprint was "34.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per person". Ray Peck (Letters, December 28) disputed that figure. He based his argument on statistics that ignore Scope 3 emissions, and on an unsourced quote allegedly made by the commissioner.

Mr Peck also disputed my claim that "ACT greenhouse gas inventories show that emissions in the ACT were 60 per cent higher in 2020 than they were in 1990".

The ACT greenhouse gas inventory for 1989-90 shows that 1.1 million net tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent were emitted in the ACT. Another 2 million tonnes were emitted, outside the ACT, from electricity generation. The 2019-20 inventory records 1.7 million net tonnes of emissions from within the ACT. That includes sinks from post-bushfire regeneration but not the emissions from the Namadgi bushfire.

When emissions from the Namadgi bushfire are included the increase from 1990 to 2020 will probably exceed 250 per cent.