No point wasting more money on increasing defence spend

He considers the nuclear-powered subs, due in a couple of decades, as a "big stick" in our defence against China. China is the acknowledged danger, the reason we should spend perhaps double on defence (four per cent of GDP equates to around 13 per cent of our budget, about twice what we spend on education). So, how much of a danger is China?

In reality the great military giant that is China today will not be deterred by our virtual nuclear subs, or even the real thing when they arrive in a couple of decades. When even the US superpower treads gently, it is a delusion to imagine that Australia's army, navy and air force would ever rate more than a passing thought in Beijing.

Second, how much of a real threat to world peace is China? China has come a long way from where it was a century ago; the helpless prey of Europeans and then the Japanese.

China has emerged as a powerful country no longer at risk of invasion, but unlike a great many nations, China has no history of expansion by military conquest.

China will be deterred from invading Taiwan, for several reasons. US president Biden will not commit to involving US troops, though military aid to Taiwan on the Ukraine model will certainly be considered, and not just by the US.

Also, an invasion would be immensely costly for China, and not just in military terms. A pariah status, with a trade embargo, will probably be even more costly.

So let's get real, and let there be no more talk of a vast, and pointless, increase in the defence budget.

To deflect attention away from Coalition, Liberal Party and his own campaign deficiencies, the former PM bitterly has bitterly attacked 'the teal movement' candidates for 'their very vicious and very brutal campaigns' ("'Vicious': Morrison ducks responsibility for election loss", canberratimes.com.au, May 27).

The ACT Liberal Party president now bemoans that "the left" has employed "viciousness" in a decade long campaign to unseat Senator Seselja ("Libs brace for election loss", canberratimes.com.au, May 27).

Conveniently ignoring the facts and blaming others with puffed-up perceptions of monstrousness will soon be eclipsed by Liberal Party ructions as many others face up more honestly to the soul-searching and rebuilding it needs to do.

Hopefully they will drill down into how, during the last parliamentary term and the last throes of the campaign just ended, the former PM and his powerful party henchmen were so able to throw their own moderate colleagues in front of a bulldozer.

Two weeks ago, in an uncharacteristic burst of community mindedness, I used the ACT government's "Fix My Street" feedback system to report an abandoned house, a dumped children's swing and an abandoned car; a week later I reported an overgrown hedge that was shrinking the walking path past a school.

During Thursday morning's walk down to the Narrabundah wetlands, we were delighted to find that three of the four issues had been fixed in the last two days; the fourth, fixing up safety issues in the garden of an abandoned house, may understandably take a little longer.

My warm congratulations to the "Fix My Street" team and their enthusiastic contractors, whom we met this morning next to the school. It seems it is a rare pleasure to be able to congratulate our local government, but this excellent response deserves full recognition.

Thank you.

It was wonderful to see the new PM committing to the Uluru Statement in full in his speech on Saturday night. But what about stronger than promised action on climate change? Since Saturday, various ALP members have reiterated that they are immovable on the policies they took to the election.

In doing so they are failing to acknowledge that they were not voted into government with a landslide, and as such have no mandate and indeed no moral obligation to stay with their campaign positions. There is plenty of room for more ambitious action in lowering our emissions, given the number of non-ALP candidates who were elected with that platform. Please ALP, do not disappoint.

Well said Doug Hurst ("Teals conned voters", Letters May 24).

Not once during the election period did I read a teal telling electors that Labor would form an absolute majority, and that their role would be reduced to that of an intelligent, caring representative of her people, committed to her community, the parliament and the country. And who would want one of those?

Especially when we can otherwise elect a representative whose every vote is directed by a bureaucrat from the party fund-raising department. It is truly disgraceful we were not informed.

By the way Doug, I didn't see a letter from you in the last few weeks, predicting this election outcome and steering the rest of us on a more constructive path.

There are various definitions of insanity but one that is particularly apposite right now is: "Trying to please those who didn't vote for you, never have voted for you, and never will vote for you, while alienating those who did". Credit for this definition must go to Scott Morrison, who through his exceptional lack of leadership secured the election of the unelectable and ensured the irrelevance of his party to the future of this country.

There has been a lot of commentary about how it is that the teals took out a bunch of moderate liberals rather than the right, or centre right but it's hardly a mystery. If you voted for a right or centre-right candidate last time around, you are essentially confirming that you don't give a "tinker's cuss" about climate change, social justice, or government accountability.

So, it's all happy days for those punters as we plummet toward a corrupt, inequitable, free-market oblivion.

If, however you voted in a moderate liberal, you expected them to be, well, moderate and they instead voted with Barnaby to keep the Coalition afloat, their positions safe, and their fossil-fuel donors smiling. When politicians with diametrically opposed views climb into bed together for the sake of power, they make compromises. However, when you compromise the welfare of the planet to keep your snouts in the trough and the electorate punches you in square the nose, that's how democracy works.

Opening his election campaign on July 11, 1987, Bob Hawke made an inspirational commitment: the ALP's "first goal" was that "[by] 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty". In 2020, an Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) study found that three million Australians were living in poverty, including 730,000 children.

Now, 35 years after Hawke, Prime Minister Albanese, the housing commission boy whose mother held it together on a disability pension, has made a more modest commitment: "I hope there are families in public housing watching this ... I want every parent to be able to tell their child no matter where you live or where you come from, in Australia, the doors of opportunity are open to us all. And like every other Labor government, we'll just widen that door a bit more".

In Canberra, the city with the highest average per capita annual income in the southern hemisphere, 38,000 people live in poverty, 9,000 of them children (More Canberrans under poverty line, May 7, p8). Can we hope that the "bit more" will be more than a dollar an hour on the minimum wage? How I long to hear him say, "Absolutely!"

Is it just me but have others felt relief since last Saturday's election result. There's a sense of renewed optimism when I talk to people and a skip in their step as they pass me by. The fog of fear and lies has lifted over the Australian political landscape and even the cool Canberra mornings seem warmer as I venture out on my daily walk.

The new Parliament has the challenge of repairing the widespread damage caused by the Coalition. Once that has been achieved, Prime Minister Albanese, with the support of his team and the cross bench, can lead Australia to an exciting future filled with opportunities for all our communities.

Yes, Tony Falla (Letters, May 25), the ACT government's de facto let-it-rip approach to COVID management is killing Canberrans and slowly crippling our hospital system.

The taxpayer-funded ABC has wonderful programs for children and the rural community. However one wonders what their left-leaning news and current affairs programs will have to report on now that the Liberal government has been voted out.

Americans talk about "the right to bear arms". Perhaps they should take into account what arms were like in 1787.

Now the Australian War Memorial has been destroyed will the name to be changed to the Australian War Museum?

Now we have a new PM and Labor government will David Pope continue to make belittling cartoons about them as he did with the previous PM and government? I won't be holding my breath.

Contrary to Marguerite Castello's opinion regarding Broelman's Monday cartoon, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure she would have enjoyed any of his cartoons at the expense of Scomo. You'd better get used to it Marguerite. I've no doubt Broelman and Pope will have ample material for their cartoons during Albo's "leadership" of Labor.

When pointing the finger at Putin, Xi and so on it is more effective to say "we're not like them" rather than "we're not nearly as bad as them". I hope the new federal government will drop the charges against Bernard Collaery and treat Julian Assange as if being an Australian citizen actually meant something.

I fully support the recent letters calling for the end of the prosecution of Bernard Collaery. And while we are at it: send a big apology to East Timor.

Ian Morison (Letters, May 25) believes Labor won as a result of unions, government media departments, and the ABC. That came as surprise to me. How does he feel about Murdoch's "gang of five" and their contribution to Australian democracy.

The public housing tenants facing forced relocation remind me of the Mr Fluffy homeowners. They also have no chance of winning their case. I feel for them very much.

An ABC TV breakfast show on Thursday morning was glorifying the "iconic" figures of Darth Vader and Maverick in Top Gun after earlier bemoaning the Texas shooting and American culture. Americans have clearly killed irony.