Canberra's support for Voice something ACT can be proud of

I am proud to be part of a community that resisted the clearly political agenda that used every tactic available to cloud and confuse a very simple proposal.

Acknowledging our First Nations and securing for them a Voice in the constitution was the first step towards reconciliation as proposed in the Uluru statement.

Can we expect the Coalition and the vocal leaders of the "no" campaign to present a detailed proposal to progress reconciliation in this session of Parliament?

If they don't already have one I think they will lose any credibility they might have built up during this campaign.

In the wake (sic) of the referendum, politicians are falling over themselves to proclaim "the Australian public always gets it right". Really?

For those who swallow this rather glib line, the corollary is that the ACT's support for the Voice just illustrates the "Canberra bubble" getting it wrong, again.

Analysts attribute the ACT's "yes" result to our relative youth and better education; characteristics that militate towards better and braver decisions essential to the survival of our ailing society and planet.

Could it be that in a political climate characterised by distrust of governments, rife self-interest and unfettered lying in political campaigning, sadly, we were the only jurisdiction to get it right?

While leading the "no" campaign senators Price and Liddle and Warren Mundine did more to advance Aboriginal affairs than all the activists in history.

All three showed decency, endless common sense, deep knowledge based on personal experience, political savvy, and not just competence, but an enviable ability to excel in the toughest of arenas.

They proved to all, especially young Aboriginal people, that Aboriginal people can mix it with the best and win by the strength of their character and the power of their arguments. I salute all three. You are the future.

May I respectfully remind the United States, Israel and Australia, and those entities that have not signed the Geneva Convention, that there are official accepted international rules for warfare.

Article 33 forbids collective penalties and reprisals.

"No protected person [i.e. non-=combatant civilians, children, women particularly if pregnant, the sick or injured and the elderly, etc] may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

"Pillage is prohibited.

"Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited."

[Article 34 prohibits taking hostages].

All involved in wars are expected to adhere to the "rules of war" as spelt out in the Geneva Convention.

Andrew Barr and his government have announced an upgrade to the Canberra Theatre saying this will bring more visitors to our city.

I am expecting to host a large group of visitors to Canberra next month and am feeling some embarrassment at the thought.

I am proud to show the outstanding facilities our city has to offer but the current state of the nation's capital, particularly to a visitor's eye, is shameful.

The Barr government is wilfully neglecting its council responsibilities, weeds and grasses are growing tall, litter and rubbish are ugly and abundant on every major arterial road which is invariably pot holed with crumbling edges.

Signage is shameful with letters peeling off and untidy.

The Nation's Capital is currently showcasing a carelessly negligent government under Andrew Barr. I doubt a theatre upgrade will address these visible signs of negligence.

Is federal Labor sneakily looking for a big bag of lollies to throw at an increasingly beleaguered Queensland Premier given that that state also faces an election in October 2024?

No doubt the federal Minister for Sport would love to uproot and deliver something bigger than a pesticides authority to her home state.

But voters here would not be fooled by any behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing aimed at muzzling the ACT Labor/Greens government instead, with promises of some much-needed income-producing residential land, another slab of funding for questionably valued light rail development and for the well-overdue renewal of run-down capital city infrastructure sites.

After all, when thanking Canberrans for their powerful vote and efforts in the weekend's referendum, the chief minister acknowledged voters' pride and engagement in community matters and willingness to find out what needs to be known and understood.

The same applies to any disguised pork-barrelling shenanigans the federal Labor government may be tempted to wade into between now, the Queensland election and the next federal election.

In Australia all rural residents have a life expectancy five years shorter than their urban counterparts regardless of race. Children by year 10 are expected to be two years behind their city counterparts in education.

Personally, with a small brain tumour my wait time to see a doctor to get painkillers is six weeks. (So I need to know I will be sick six weeks in advance).

Nowhere in the debate over the "Voice" did Labor discuss the entrenched disadvantage all rural and remote residents face.

That's because as rural areas predominantly vote LNP, Labor has systematically punished them for decades.

When in power they cut spending, centralise services, and widen the gap in education and health between city and country.

The Voice failed in the regions because most rural people knew Labor would never deliver for country people, Indigenous or not, regardless of what a Voice might recommend.

Looking after country people is not part of Labor's DNA.

Jeff Hart says there should be a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. He's right, but he should consider why it hasn't happened.

Israel has made many attempts to achieve this result, including three times making offers of a state that met international expectations, and withdrawing completely from Gaza.

The problem is that the Palestinian Authority refused all offers point blank and rebuffed all other initiatives too.

And Hamas simply won't accept Israel's right to exist in any form.

It is entirely possible to both support Israel's right to exist (and admire the achievements of the Jewish state) while at the same time supporting the rights of Palestinians to a homeland and a just settlement of their legitimate concerns.

At dreadful times like these, with Hamas butchering innocent people and Israel reacting accordingly, it is essential that we continue to work towards reaching a fair and reasonable settlement of the issues which Hamas exploits for its own ghastly purposes.

Banning peaceful demonstrations which seek to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinian people is not the answer.

Australia is a democracy.

We all have the right to our opinions, even if they are not shared by the political and media elites which hold such disproportionate sway over our mass communication channels.

Peaceful demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people are a basic right and should not be suppressed. Let everyone have their say peacefully and calmly.

Will the billion-dollar budget for light rail stage 2 cover the cost of providing timetables, and providing real-time information on tram departures?

Measurements of 30 tram departures on a recent Tuesday showed that none departed ahead of schedule, and 90 departed within two minutes of the scheduled time.

The displays on Canberra Metro's tram stops purport to tell you when the next tram will depart.

What they actually tell you is when the next tram is supposed to depart. Actual departure times are up to three minutes later than scheduled departure times.

Sometimes, when the following tram is due to depart in seven minutes, the display says that it will not depart for twelve minutes.

During my time in the military we had a soldier who found it impossible to march in step with the rest of the regiment. He reckoned he was the only one in step and everyone else was out of step. Kind of like Canberra voters.

Is this a record? Less than 48 hours after the referendum, Dr "no" reneges on his promise to hold another referendum.

Peter Dutton has backflipped on his promise to have a second referendum. Hands up anyone who is surprised. Anyone?

If nothing else Dutton is consistent as a bully-boy, picking on the hapless and defenceless from the coward's castle of political power to degrade, demean, defame with total immunity from recourse ("Dutton's call on refugees criticised as divisive", October 14).

In Deuteronomy 32, God says "Vengeance is mine: I will repay". Naqam (vengeance) is not about personal satisfaction but divine justice being carried out. If we apply "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" the whole world will be blind, toothless and desolate.

In addition to entering a period of mourning over Australia's tragic refusal to accept the peaceful hand of its First Nations for the foreseeable future I will not stand anytime for the playing of the national anthem. We are neither able to advance Australia or make it fair.

Albo worked on the basis Australians, heavily in favour of recognising Indigenous people in the constitution, would let him get the Voice in as well. It brings back memories of the 1980s referendum on a four-year term for Federal Parliament, a popular idea. Hawke insisted his own pet ideas were also included; take it or leave it. It also failed.

It will not have escaped the attention of many that the newly elected PM of New Zealand, prior to political life, led Air New Zealand to top of the world league where it remains to this day. Makes you think, eh?

At one time there was a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Bob Menzies which said "Here's to Bob Menzies who promised us nothing and made sure we got it". My fellow Australians have now made that same promise to our Indigenous community. I am so sad.

Those who whined that they didn't like being made to feel guilty over the Voice and our colonial past can now rest easy. With this result, they are now directly and immediately implicated in the long attempt at dispossession and erasure of our First Nations people.