The use of motor boats on Lake Burley Griffin is prohibited on the grounds of possible pollution, noise and safety.

Why are amphibious planes even being considered? The lake is not a commodity to be auctioned off, it is owned by the community.

That the proposal was assessed by trialling a single engine plane when the plan is to use twin engine planes is disingenuous.

How do we know the planes to be used wont be much noisier? Planes don't have mufflers.

If this proposal succeeds will the operators pay equivalent or greater landing fees than at Canberra Airport? Who will it service apart from the rich and famous who are too lazy to mingle with us riffraff at the airport?

It should be remembered that a previous noisy motorboat race was condemned as disruptive of the peace and not be continued.

Mark Kenny ("Djokovic Federal Court visa mess was unnecessary and avoidable", canberratimes.com.au, January 18) is simply wrong on multiple accounts. His two options are unworkable and suggest a surprising lack of understanding of immigration matters.

In response to his suggestion that Djokovic should never have been given a visa, the department really had no option but to issue a visa, with entry subject to Djokovic arriving with the necessary documentation.

To have declined him a visa back in October on the basis of what he might or might not do in the following three months, when others were receiving theirs, would have been declared discriminatory by every lawyer in the land.

At that point Djokovic was treated the same as any other applicant. Unfortunately, Immigration subsequently made a procedural error (offering him time to consult his lawyers and then withdrawing that offer) which Justice Kelly found unreasonable. Justice Kelly did not find fault with the reasons for cancellation, just the process.

Kenny's second solution is just plan unenforceable. The federal government can only let someone in, or deny entry. The conditions under which Djokovic might have lived and played in Melbourne are subject to state laws (under state health regulations). The Victorian government and Tennis Australia gave him clearance to play, without restrictions.

Mr Kenny suggests this has created a precedent which could see Greta Thunberg banned. He is obviously unaware of David Irving (UK historian banned in the 1990s because of his holocaust views) or Milo Yiannopoulos (US political commentator) or a few US rappers such as Snoop Dogg banned because of their unacceptable lyrics.

No precedent has been set. Ms Thunberg is fully vaccinated, I would doubt very much if she'd be denied entry to Australia.

On Monday, January 17, I received two Christmas cards from the United Kingdom, one posted in Norwich and the other in Nottingham. Both were posted on December 2, 2021, both were addressed correctly and legibly, and both envelopes had a "By Air Mail" sticker and the correct postage stamp.

Despite all this, it has taken more than six weeks to effect delivery. To add insult to injury, the Royal Mail franking machines at both sorting offices have included the message "Shop Early, Send Early this Christmas".

I am happy the Department of Home Affairs is reviewing the visa processes pertaining to people like Novak Djokovic.

As it happened, the optics are not good, for Australians generally but also as to how the world sees us.

The current system is not only confusing for lay people, it is unfair on the individuals concerned.

To use a tennis analogy, they won't know whether they are "in" or "out" for some time.

In 2006 I suffered a stroke which resulted in mild hemianopia, saved by prompt action. My NSW driving licence was automatically suspended pending driver assessment rehabilitation which demonstrated that I was quite capable of safe driving and it was restored without conditions or restriction.

That continued for the many years to the present when the NSW RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) presumptively cancelled the licence using the same medical grounds, proclaiming, with the support of a paid ophthalmologist who did not consult with me, and with no further evidence, that I had suddenly become a danger to shipping so to speak.

Since licence matters are heard in the magistrate's court system I have been denied the possibility of procedural fairness, let alone another driving test to prove my safety on the roads. At no stage have I been consulted by the department or any of its representatives. A number of quality studies have been conducted by optometry specialists which conclusively show that most sufferers of hemianopia are quite capable of safe driving.

These studies are ignored by ophthalmologists and the RMS and do not rate a mention in the manual used by the department to rule on these and other driving matters. There must be hundreds of safe drivers now similarly in limbo.

I am no "anti-vaxxer" but it has not escaped my attention that no amount of riches can win a fair hearing when up against the viciousness of departments like Border Force and the RMS, backed as they are by layers of political protection.

We think that the way to succeed is by alienating people. The Chinese hate us because we said what we think of them. The Serbs hate us because we've thrown out their hero. The Indonesians hate us because an oil well in our territory has ruined the livelihoods of thousands of seaweed farmers, and after a decade they have no compensation.

The French hate us because we lied and cancelled their submarine order. The Pacific Islands hate us because our emissions are drowning their countries. The Afghans and Iraqis hate us because we helped the Americans ruin their lives, and abandoned those who helped us.

Our own expats hate us because for two years we wouldn't let them come home. The Americans don't care because they know we'll do whatever they want. Who's next?

The Morrison government's pandemic performance has been shambolic. It has not listened to advice to maintain restrictions, procure vaccines and RAT kits. The result? The closure of businesses, a contracting economy, empty supermarket shelves, increasing deaths and hospitalisations.

Its performance makes the English cricket team look like the "Invincibles". It has dropped the ball. The main spinner has lost his zing, line and length while the whole team fails to play with a straight bat.

When combined with its ongoing failures to address climate change and growing inequality it is time for the selectors to dismiss the government at the next election.

Canberra's public transport emissions continue to rise. In 2018-19, Canberra's fossil-fuelled buses caused 2.9 per cent of the ACT's transport emissions.

In the first year of light rail operation, public transport emissions increased to about 3.2 per cent of the ACT's transport emissions. COVID travel restrictions caused public transport journeys to fall by two thirds in the June quarter of 2020.

Nevertheless, in 2020-21, public transport caused a record 3.5 per cent of the ACT's transport emissions.

There can be absolutely no doubt, as your editorial rightly intimates ("Was Djokovic a border threat or a health risk?", canberratimes.com.au, January 18) that Prime Minister Scott Morrison seized upon the Novak Djokovic saga to channel his inner John Howard and turn the upcoming federal election into a Tampa election.

Morrison's blatant act of gross hypocrisy points to only one thing: that he knew full well there is no better way to win over the Australian electorate than to appeal to our xenophobia by re-asserting that we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.

Djokovic posed neither a border threat nor a health risk. Nor did the desperate Muslim refugees on the good ship Tampa, who John Howard fraudulently accused of throwing their children overboard.

It's time the Morrison government stopped reaching down into this deep gutter of moral depravity that not only demeans the sacred dignity of all Australians, but all those who innocently seek to come to our shores.

Why does the ACT restrict booster shots to those aged over 18? Vaccine supplies are meant to be plentiful. Many teenagers have already waited three months and they would like to have their booster shots as the new school year begins.

If we have a huge labour shortage and Mr Morrison is hastily incentivising everyone come to Australia why can't we achieve full employment? Zero local unemployment?

While Karen Barlow writes rather eloquently "Why ignoring George (Christensen) is easier said than done" (January 20, p8) she omitted one obvious reason why George is hard to overlook. There is rather a lot of him.

I expect our "forward looking" Prime Minister will call for an advertising campaign to entice foreign backpackers using the catch-phrase "Where the bloody hell are you".

Brian Measday (Letters, January 19) claims that in the upcoming federal election "individual votes could eliminate the cause of climate change and therefore remove the most important problem facing continued life on planet Earth". This grossly overstates how consequential an Australian election could be in a global sense.

I continue to diligently use the Check In CBR app as do the vast majority of people I observe. Now that exposure sites aren't a "thing" anymore can someone please confirm there is a health benefit in us all doing so?

The latest world rankings, just in. Djokovic, Novak: Tennis - number one; responsible COVID behaviour - number 7,872,485,000; accurate completion of immigration forms - number 7,872,485,000.

The saga of Harry and Meghan is the story of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson repeating itself. They have no entitlement to police protection. What have they done for Britain and the Queen? Nothing. They should stay out of the UK like Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson did. Let the Queen, in her declining years, live in peace.

I've finally worked it out. Western Australia is the new Confederacy and McGowan think's he's Jefferson Davis. Does that make Peter Dutton "Stonewall" Jackson? And where is Robert E. Lee?

D Zivkovic (Letters, January 20) suggests that the Djokovic case highlights "the perils of entering Australia perfectly legally". A great many asylum seekers who have had their refugee status assessed and affirmed have already done that. At least Djokovic wasn't locked up for eight years or more and is in no danger on returning to where he came from.

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