Pedestrians, cyclists have a role to play on safety

Singling out the motorist is too simplistic. What about what I term "road user pests"? None of them are motorists. Few of them ever have had "their collar felt" by the long arm of the law.

Here's three examples. First, there is the pedestrian jabbering on his smart phone as he steps off the kerb without a care in the world. That is until some unfortunate motorist cleans him up. Secondly, there's the bike rider who dodges red lights by mounting the kerb and riding on the pedestrian cross walk. Thirdly, there's the e-scooter rider who zig-zags through the traffic and rides up on the sidewalk to get through. They are often helmetless and may even have a pillion passenger.

All of them flout the law with disdain. Do our road safety bureaucrats have any notion of the social costs they impose? What about "jay-walking" regulations to curb (pun intended) meandering pedestrians? What about a crackdown on those e-scooter and bike riding "pests"?

It is mentally lazy to "bash" the motorist whenever a road safety issue arises. Although it may be politically attractive in some quarters, most people would take road safety proposals much more seriously if government adopted a more even-handed approach.

One notes the consistent lobbying to include the story of the original Indigenous tribes of Australia in the re-modelled Australian War Memorial. The latest urgings come from Stephen Bargwanna ("AWM needs to recognise Frontier Wars", July 29, p38) who urges the AWM to "find a place" to tell the stories of local resistance.

There is a reference to "learning together their (Indigenous) place names, mythology, customs, astrology, botany, pharmacy and so on".

Some might suggest the best place for promoting these topics is the National Museum, along with a record of the border resistance.

It is interesting, but not unexpected, that comments about Labor's domestic violence legislation refer almost exclusively to women victims.

We know from ABS figures that between 22 and 36 per cent of those who seek help as a result of partner to partner violence are male.

That study was the basis of 1986 Office of the Status of Women campaign claiming a third of women had experience of domestic violence, conveniently omitting that much of this was as perpetrators.

These figures predate the inclusion of "coercive control" as domestic violence. Coercive control can be practiced by either gender.

It will be interesting to see how the figures for domestic violence leave develop.

In 1982, Bob Hawke became Prime Minister, and the drought broke.

The IPCC says that there were 60 million tonnes of global greenhouse emissions in 2019.

In 2022, Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister, and the Conservation Council reports that global emissions have fallen to 10 billion tonnes each year.

Let's hope the example of Vietnam deters China from an invasion of Taiwan. The lesson of the 30-year war in Vietnam, which resulted in the eviction of the former colonial power France, and then ended in the ejection of the US superpower, demonstrated the irresistible power of a nation determined on independence.

Vietnam did not become any kind of domino; the premise of US intervention was shown to be a terrible mistake.

China has a choice: a military adventure which is certain to be costly beyond calculation, with a doubtful end result, or the renunciation of its claim to the island, and a return to its formerly flourishing trade and peaceful co-existence.

That is of great benefit to the world at large and also to China.

The mistakes of the past are being repeated.

It is as if humanity is being driven to conflicts without end by a destructive compulsion beyond our control.

Let us hope that this time it will be different.

Things could be much worse.

It is hard to imagine shadow treasurer Angus Taylor navigating us through the rough economic seas ahead, let alone ever admitting that key senior members of the previous government were deliberately blind to the merits of worthwhile regional infrastructure projects.

The latest authoritative exposé of public funds being rorted for Coalition electoral purposes would no doubt have been bolstered by secretive party deal making that was aided and abetted by the previous Treasurer and Prime Minister.

No wonder voters' digestive systems are still recovering from being force-fed porkies and pork barrelling over too many years .

My wife had a fall in Gungahlin. She split her knee and was bleeding.

A fireman came to her rescue.

He went back to his vehicle to retrieve a large first aid kit and then bound up the knee.

She was then transported to Calvary and on to Woden for surgery.

Where is a policeman when you need one?

My wife got a fireman instead with his first aid kit.

We would like to thank that fireman.

The jerseys worn by an NRL team has "Sportsbet" writ large, very large.

The aim is to promote gambling.

At first, when hearing of a controversy about the jerseys, one might have thought that some players refused to wear the jersey in protest against this attempt to seduce the young.

Not so. Those players are not troubled by this public indecency. On the other hand, they do seem to get very exercised about what consenting adults do in private.

Whoever chose the title for John Howard's newly published book A sense of balance must have a fine sense of satire as well.

I'm reminded of Menzies' similar post-political reflections, Afternoon light and the British reviewer who wrote, "If this is afternoon light, God help us when darkness falls".

But, being in Canberra while Menzies was PM, and having some dealings with him as I did later, albeit very socially, with Howard, it is Menzies who, for me, was the standout leader.

Richard Webb (Letters, July 27) is concerned that the high price of electric vehicles could disadvantage people on lower incomes.

In 2035, it is likely that people on lower incomes will - as now - mostly buy used cars.

With price parity expected in the 2020s and many manufacturers phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030, many of the used cars in 2035 will be electric.

I could be selling my electric car which, by then, would be 16 years old. There could also be a glut of used ICE vehicles. People on very low incomes could benefit from the availability of cheaper but better ICE vehicles than they could usually afford.

Eric Hunter asks if God is indifferent to Satan's evil deeds. The Greek philosopher Epicurus tackled this question in the 3rd century BC and he said: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

The Commonwealth Games are on in England. Of the over 20 Games held since the 1930s, only three have taken place in countries outside the "Anglosphere"; Jamaica, India, and Malaysia.

The Commonwealth has 56 member states. Fewer than 10 have an Anglo or predominantly European identity.

The stated aim of the Commonwealth is to "promote relations between Commonwealth countries and celebrate shared sporting and cultural heritage". If the "developed" countries are unable or unwilling to share the hosting of the games is it time to abandon them in favour of cultural celebrations hosted in turn by each nation or group of nations within the Commonwealth.

Come on Albo; with what we are witnessing around the world, wouldn't now be a good time to cancel the ridiculous tax cuts for the rich and buy enough fire-fighting helicopters to assist in stopping Australia from burning this summer?

How often do we read that "light rail is comfortable and reliable" (Letters, July 22). So are Rolls-Royces. Why don't we all drive them?

Present and prospective calamities suggest the time is ripe for consideration of our status as an endangered species.

If the Greens are carried away and do not support Labor's climate bill, we will become a laughing stock to the rest of the world. I hope Greens will show pragmatism.

The anti-gay Manly footballers had every right to choose not to wear their company's uniform. If they do not agree with the moral code of their employer that's fine, they have every option to leave the company stating that they disagree with the company on moral or religious grounds.

The UN forces in eastern Congo should be able to protect the public from marauding armed groups.

The Opposition Leader started his first Question Time by trying to link the Prime Minister and the Labor Party to the allegedly criminal practices of the CFMEU. Surely they can do better than this.

Beyond stupidity there is gross stupidity. Beyond that comes Labor's decision to allow grog back into Indigenous communities and to scrap the cashless welfare card.

If someone doesn't do something soon about the taste of Canberra's tap water I'm going to have to stop making jokes about Adelaide's tap water.

It's about time someone took a stand against these divisive welcome to country ceremonies. We are one nation and one people. The last place we should be dividing people is in our national Parliament. Well done Pauline Hanson.

The annual kangaroo massacre is over for yet another year. The contract killers can now move onto their next mercenary job after taking 1645 sentient lives. Stoic animal defenders will continue to advocate stopping this senseless slaughter.

Am I the only one who missed the former PM during this week's Parliamentary festivities?