Where was Humphries' satire during our great struggles?

I recall Humphries first coming to attention as an undergraduate in the 1950s when he entered a pair of boots filled with custard into an art competition, titled Pus in Boots. This appealed to our undergraduate sense of humour but I found his subsequent works mocking the simple folk of Moonee Ponds not so attractive. He came from a quite privileged background (people forget how much it was a privilege in the 1950s to go to university), but I, having grown up with the sorts of people he satirised, found he only ever derided their pretensions, never applauding their basic good-heartedness and decency.

I can't recall when his satire ever held the powerful to account, nor when he used it to further any progressive movement or idea. Miriam Margolyes asserts he was a "social commentator" but in my recollection he was absent from the great struggles of his times - the Vietnam War, the protection of workers' rights, the liberation of minorities, the fight against racism. His greatest success was in feeding the Poms' view that Australians were a bunch of yokels beyond their class system and their comprehension.

We may never see his like again - and that won't be all bad either.

In the humourless world of woke fundamentalism, there is no room for the free expression of creative comic genius. It was hardy surprising therefore that the passing of Barry Humphries presented an opportunity for what Manning Clark described as the "frowners and straighteners" to pile on with their sanctimonious condemnation of his crimes against political correctness.

Humphries was one of only two Australian comedians who truly excelled in creating clever and creative comedy. The other was Chris Lilley, whose brilliant career was cruelly cut short after he too was cancelled by the Comedy Taliban. That is the main reason why comedy in Australia today is so pathetically bland, timid and unfunny.

With the constant conversation, pollywaffle, news articles and the to and fro arguments of the proposed Referendum on the Voice to Parliament, it would seem to me to be more logical to include a constitutional referendum change question to ask the Australian people to extend the now Northern Territory into a full state status of North Australia.

This will not only enfranchise all the people of the NT into the Australian constitution and referendum process but also as an honoured partner with unique powers like all other recognised Australian state members. It would also give them a full 12 senators (equal with all the six existing states) and they could be more aligned with the needs of Indigenous communities with significant powers within the Federal Parliament upper house and a much stronger Voice within the Parliament than any well-meaning unelected Voice group outside Parliament will ever have.

It is C Lendon who misses the point about Senator Price and her opposition to the Voice (Letters, April 23). Articulate the new senator might be, but, as others are increasingly discovering, she is putting forward no specific ideas, other than those based on her long-held political views which, in turn, are grounded in the right-wing small-government and smaller public service prejudices espoused constantly by the Institute of Public Affairs.

C Lendon also is under a misapprehension about the structure of the Voice. It is planned to be representative of Indigenous Australians across the country.

It is the opposite of "a new political creation" here in the "comfortable capital", unlike most decisions made about our First Australians in the past.

I see Jack Waterford is at again. Last Saturday he laid the boot into Jacinta Price, but I was told he was going to call out the current government for any of their failings. Mustn't have any then, only broken promises about energy prices and superannuation, improving aged care, calling out certain politicians for bad behaviour, to name but a few.

Waterford basically calls Senator Price a right-wing puppet for Peter Dutton. If, like fellow columnist; Mark Kenny, he had bothered to read Senator Price's maiden speech into federal politics he would have noticed that she talked about being Australian, not First Nation, doing what is best for all Australians. She grew up in the Northern Territory, not some inner-city echo chamber like many of her critics and has experienced firsthand some of the real troubles facing Aboriginal people.

Senator Price is very much her own person and, like I said, if the above two journalists had followed her a bit closer since her inception to federal politics, they might realise that what she says is what she believes in. Waterford's and Kenny's cherrypicking of Senator Price is childish and unprofessional, will they do the same for someone like Linda Burney?

In his Monday 7.30 interview on the strategic review, Defence Minister Richard Marles referred to upholding the global rules-based order.

This is a United States concept indicating that the US does not accept that China should challenge US economic, political and military dominance and glossing over the US's willingness to go outside the global order when it suits. The Iraq invasion is a prime example.

Australian apologists for this global order have to scratch around for evidence of Chinese military aggression in our region. Closer to the Asian mainland, Taiwan has been accepted internationally as part of China for over 40 years, including by the US and Australia. It is time the US showed some maturity in its foreign relations stance and accepted that China has a legitimate role to play in an evolving world power balance.

I love public transport and I love trains but I hate the diesel variety. That recent train trip I took to Sydney was a real health hazard with terrible diesel fumes wafting about the carriage and it's not the first time I've jeopardised my lungs this way.

What about the train staff having to regularly inhale that toxic gas, talk about an occupational health hazard.

And to make matters worse the trip took a whole hour longer than advertised due to track work they said, that's five hours of suffering in a stinking environment. What century are we living in?

As I looked into the eyes of the bereaved mother in the red hat on your front page (April 25) and read of her soldier son's dying message of love, I mused about what he would have wanted for Australians today. After all, it would surely be his right to have some say, were he able to do so.

Firstly, I thought, he might have wanted very careful consideration before this country launched into war after his own suffering in a military battalion: he might have wanted the decision to go to war to be taken from the PM and his chosen defence committee and placed firmly into the hands of our elected Parliament, to ensure it was an entirely necessary decision.

He might also say, with his big perspective looking back on his mum and his life, that he wanted us to recognise the very special gift of peace. He was far away in Somalia in a peacekeeping battalion when he died.

Peace requires opportunities for people to listen to each other and, especially for those who have been disregarded in our history, to have a Voice. I might not have guessed correctly but these are my thoughts as I remember him, this Anzac Day.

What is happening to our Canberra Times? Why is it giving extra space to Bradley Perrett ("What about the air force? Review doesn't go far enough", April 25).

Doesn't he have enough with his Saturday column? We don't need more missiles and fighter jets. We need peace and disarmament.

Discussing this Voice issue over coffee with friends last week and I was heard to comment that if the Voice was as important (apparently) to the nation as the tram was (apparently) to Canberra, I would have by now wilted under the weight of "glossy brochures" - in some circles poorly titled as "business cases". Still upright!

I have never before disagreed with another correspondent by name in these pages. I make an exception for Bill Deane, Chapman ('Devine Inter-vote-tion', April 26). Sir, it is outrageous, offensive and dishonest for you to assume you know which way Jesus would vote in the forthcoming referendum and then to use that as an authority to vote "no". Nonetheless I defend your right to free speech.

As double demerit points are designed to clamp down forcibly on dangerous driving, why are they only introduced on long weekends and holiday periods? Why not introduce them permanently? We need every measure available to reduce the horrific road toll.

In the age of cyber keyboard generals, Defence Strategic Review's missiles focus, i.e. hot war, seems misplaced considering China's dependence on Australia's resources, land and property investments, junkets and unhindered money laundering ("The climate change of defence", April 25).

Can Albanese wake up and smell the roses? The Labor party used to have Socialist leanings. Now we see 10 per cent of the population become rich at the expense of the other 90 per cent. Submarines don't float the First Nations peoples' boat!

Amid "Zits" and the many Barry Humphries anecdotes currently, Senator Lidia Thorpe a national treasure? (Letters, April 25)

Ridiculous and offensive. The correspondent should leave the humour to the comedians.

The rudeness of the Opposition frontbench is becoming overwhelming. The latest is immigration spokesperson Tehan querying the housing supply to accommodate Kiwis who become Australians. Aside from the stupidity of his assertion (they're already here) what purpose does it serve being so unpleasant to a group who deserve citizenship and our respect? Be nicer. It's not hard.

On April 22, more than 1 billion people from 192 countries participated in Earth Day activities. They share the same dream I do - that humanity can prioritise conservation over destruction, regeneration over extraction, and clean living over pollution. A world with abundant wildlife, clean air, water, food, and shelter for all is possible.

With regard to the correspondence about public hospitals being run by religious organisations, may I remind everyone that government funding of religion is unconstitutional.

If the Voice to Parliament gets passed, what will there be left for Lidia Thorpe to whine about? I'm reminded of the 1970s song by the Bay City Rollers, "Bye bye baby, baby goodbye".