Your reporter ("If culling is the solution, should brumbies be shot and left to rot where they fall?", October 10) asks whether culled feral horses in Kosciuszko should be left to rot.
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The cost of helicopter removal - the only feasible method in most cases - is prohibitive.
Many ecologists argue that nutrients consumed in an area should remain in that area when an animal dies.
People drive past animal carcasses beside the Monaro Highway with barely a nose-wrinkle.
Carcass sightings are something we just have to live with to protect Kosciuszko from feral horse damage.
Linda Groom, Deakin
Zed's election miracle
Brian Wenn (Letters, October 7) asks have the Liberals forgotten Zed Seselja managed the impossible in the last federal election by finishing third in a two-horse race?
That question is not yet answerable and hopefully in due course will be answered in the negative. What seems to have happened though, is that Zed himself has forgotten.
Zed clearly still sees himself as relevant and important.
That he hasn't since the election in May last year secured himself a position with a significant consultancy strongly suggests otherwise.
Don Sephton, Greenway
What a beat-up
So Donald Trump is alleged to have revealed "secret" submarine information to Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt.
Was the information that the Ohio class SSBN carries up to 20 ICBMs (missiles), each capable of carrying eight MIRVs (warheads)?
To boast about the superiority of the US boats, he probably also pointed out that the Russian equivalent (Borei Class) only carries 16 ICBMs with six MIRVs. He may have even mentioned that that information is available on Wikipedia so there was no problem with Mr Pratt repeating it to anyone else.
It's a pity that US and some Australian media didn't check that this is all freely available public information before making a another Trump story of it.
Kym MacMillan, O'Malley
Explanation required
The CPSU in its wisdom recently announced that it would knock back a service-wide pay increase of 11.2 per cent over three years despite a poll among members supporting the pay package offer [51.9 per cent support] ("CPSU moves to extend strikes over pay", October 3).
National secretary Melissa Donnelly has some explaining to do to all those members who voted for the package, as she is effectively saying that their votes don't matter.
Ms Donnelly's excuse for her decision was that polling did not show a "clear support" even though it was 3.8 per cent over the naysayers' vote.
Would she have adopted the same reasoning if the vote had gone the other way, or is it just a matter of CPSU power play?
Since when did a "clear support" come into play and a simple majority become obsolete?
Mario Stivala, Belconnen
Blessings are spiritual
Your editorial "American politics just got even weirder" (October 6) asserted that "the peacemakers, despite scriptural assertions to the contrary, are seldom blessed".
It is highly unusual to read a claim that Jesus was mistaken. So it's only fair to point out that the blessings Jesus referred to are not of this world (power, wealth, and prestige). Rather, they are spiritual kind - a deep sense of inner peace, contentment, fulfilment and a greater sense of purpose.
In this realm the peacemakers are always blessed, here and now. Indeed, there is no greater blessing, for both giver and recipient, than to genuinely wish another peace.
Mal Gibson, Flynn
Dangerous times
The reports on pages 4, 5, 12 and 13 (The Canberra Times, October 9) are alarming. Yet another war in a world beset with trouble.
As if global heating and catastrophic weather events such as extreme rainfall, floods and enormous forest fires weren't enough, there is a surge in armed fighting. Apart from Ukraine, the "tribes" of Libya, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, and several other African countries are fighting each other.
Now that Israel has declared war on the forces of the would-be state of Palestine, it is to be hoped that Israel does not overreact to the provocation by Hamas. The possible consequences are frightening.
Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
The shingles jab
The government has announced millions of Australians are to get free shingles jabs.
Not all over-65s are included. People over 80 are not eligible and those wishing to be immunised must pay for two doses of the vaccine administered some months apart.
My first vaccine cost $300 as will a second around three months later.
Is this perhaps a cost-cutting enterprise of the government at the expense and wellbeing of thousands?
Mary Samara-Wickrama, Weston
Shingles contradiction
The federal government's Australian Immunisation Handbook recommends that adults aged 60 years and over have a shingles vaccination. My wife and I have a number of friends in this age category that have contracted this terrible virus.
As an investment in our wellbeing, we decided to get the two doses of Shingrix, at a cost of $1200.
It was of great interest to hear the federal government are now going to provide this vaccination, free of charge, to those over 65 and First Nations people over 50.
It seems totally contradictory to recommend all people over 60 have these injections but only to cover the cost of this for some people.
Stephen Barnett, O'Connor
Special schools needed
My nephew in Wales has an eight-year-old, physically well-developed, non-verbal son with autism.
He attends a very well-regarded special school and is making some, if limited, progress and can now indicate when he needs the toilet.
To suggest that he would be better prepared in a mainstream school is to my mind ludicrous and unkind to all concerned.
Having spent my working life in secondary schools I cannot see how anyone could expect that teacher training or organisational reform could offer the special programs and close supervision required for such a child.
Disability is a wide concept. Young people with mobility, vision or deafness issues can be catered for in mainstream schools, although most buildings are not always suitable.
It leaves me cold to think that students such as my nephew's son would be expected to attend the local school.
Steve Thomas, Yarralumla
What obligation?
I note that Crispin Hull in his justifiable criticism of corporations, ("Big corporations are behaving badly and it's time to stop the rot", October 10) repeats the claim that there is an obligation for business enterprises to "maximise shareholder value".
He goes on to explain that businesses are bound by their articles of association. No doubt they are, but what is the legal basis that compels the maximising of "shareholder value"?
Am I correct in asserting that the proponents of the Chicago school of economic theory, that "maximising shareholder value" was an argument seized upon by the interests of capital, to bend the system to suit themselves?
Does it have its basis in law, and if so was it a law that predates the pronouncements by the Chicago school?
I await the advice from the economists and lawyers with interest.
Bill Thompson, Scullin
One award for all
I've been considering our civil awards system. Isn't it time we scrapped it? The various levels reek of elitism.
The French have a better idea with their legion d'honneur. Egalitarian. Less confusing. One award for everyone deserving.
How can you award a self-serving overpaid sports star higher than someone who spends many unpaid hours serving the local community?
Ian Jannaway, Monash
Where are the kangaroos?
I live in one of the suburbs at the base of Red Hill and I have walked this hill for years. One of my favourite things was seeing the little mobs of roos. I got to know them.
The ACT government slaughtered the Red Hill roos in 2022 for the first time ever.
They returned this year to shoot more adults (male and female and dependent joeys) and bash pouch joeys to death with mallets.
A recent grid count by Save Canberra's Kangaroos found 299. Prior to the two years of killing, the ACT government claimed there were over 1800.
They have brutally eliminated an astonishing number of these natives. Many people are asking where their roos are.
Gwenda Griffiths, Hughes
To the point
WHAT'S GOING ON?
Julian Assange discloses facts we need to know and now faces decades of persecution and imprisonment. Anthony Pratt may have passed on secrets he wasn't supposed to know and gets nothing; no censure, no sanction. When will the Australian government stop kow-towing to the United States?
Peter Stanley, Dickson
WORK FOR PEACE
We are still having armed conflicts right around the world causing human suffering. We also have people starving to death. The only war should be the war against poverty.
Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt
A BIG ASK
Restoring the Cameron Offices to magnificence? ("Heritage offices to become church", October 7). That's a task beyond even divine intervention.
Stephen Jones, Bonython
Z AND J SHOW
Zdenko Seselja calling himself "Zed" is a bit like me calling myself "Jay".
John Milne, Chapman
NETANYAHU IS CRIMINAL
Netanyahu should be condemned by world leaders for his criminal activities in Palestine. He breaks UN resolutions with impunity. Until he is removed there will never be peace in the region.
G Gillespie, Scullin
HEED THE WARNING
While realising historically there's been right and wrong on all sides of ongoing Middle Eastern troubles, Hamas's surprise attack of such heinous, barbarity against Western and democratic Israel is a warning to the entire Western world.
Howard Hutchins, Chirnside Park, Vic
GREENS AND ISRAEL
Greens Leader Adam Bandt saying the occupation of Palestine is the cause of the horrific Hamas slaughter of hundreds of civilians is deplorable. Hamas considers the whole of Israel "occupied". Are the Greens advocating for the destruction of the State of Israel?
Alan Shroot, Forrest
WHO IS LYING?
I received a flyer from Jeremy Hanson opining our rates shouldn't be spent on pushing the "yes" campaign. I contacted his office 10 days ago to get the details but haven't heard back. When I rang the Treasurer's office I was told no ACT funds had been spent to push either side. Just more lies from the deceitful Liberals, then?
S W Davey, Torrens
LOCAL TALENT IGNORED
Are the Raiders NRLW selectors so focused on all the players abandoning rugby union that they are not seeing a local female league talent (Katrina Fanning Shield) that is even breaking some of the local men's records?
James Phillips, Kaleen
WARS OF RELIGION
Why are the worst atrocities committed in the name of God? It has been ever thus. Could God be the devil?
M Moore, Bonython
TRY 'PEACE'
Could the NSW government please have the word "Peace" projected onto the Opera House to stop potentially dangerous protests? Is there any chance Palestinians could a new country, perhaps Iran? It's not a good idea to try and exist next to Israel.
Penelope Upward, O'Connor
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