Disabled subjected to 'humiliating' airport security screening

On two recent trips, one to Cairns and one to Melbourne, the screening was humiliating and over the top.

I always declare prosthetic joints (I have three) together with the titanium in my head. Which always leads to a thorough pat down. In this instance I also declared I'd had some recent surgery and asked the screening person to be careful of the wound area.

That request was met with a whack with the "wand" over the wound. It hurt. When I complained I was met with a roll of the eyes and a denial. I must've imagined it.

On the return journey I again declared everything. Not only was this screening humiliating, it was patronising. I was spoken to very loudly, as if my disabilities meant I'm deaf. I was also told I wasn't going anywhere until it was done to the satisfaction of the screener.

I was told to lift my legs so she could inspect my bare feet. "Why?" I asked because when you have joint problems putting your legs out requires some effort.

I said I wouldn't and I was assured I would be denied entry to catch my flight. By this stage I was in tears.

We need to do better for people who have done nothing wrong but had joint replacements. They are not criminals and should not be treated as such.

This is going too far. Where will it stop?

Many Canberrans and Eden-Monaro residents have contributed to the decision NSW government's sensible decision to allow aerial shooting of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park.

Over the last five years, they have signed petitions, written letters and submissions, handed out leaflets at polling booths, and baked muesli slices to be consumed by politicians on field trips. Well done all.

Thanks to Peter Stanley (Letters, October 27) for sharing his pilgrimage to Walter Burley Griffin's grave in Lucknow, India. Whilst Walter's presence and influence in Canberra are undoubted, we have yet to build a memorial to the architects of the national capital, Walter and Marion.

Over 20 substantial proposals, including two official design competitions, have been made since 1937 for a permanent memorial, but only the Marion Mahony Griffin View signage on top of Mt Ainslie does them justice.

The name of Lake Burley Griffin is hardly an adequate memorial to Walter.

The origins of the National Capital Plan provide inspiration about the idea and ideals of Canberra, warranting a Griffins' memorial. The National Capital Authority should place it firmly on its agenda.

The report from an ABC journalist that Hamas had constructed an operations centre under the basement of al-Shifa Hospital led to the further comment that should the IDF bomb this facility, it'd be a terrible war crime.

Why didn't ABC mention that Hamas had committed a war crime by doing this? Why no mention of the war crime of indiscriminate daily rocket fire into urban/civilian areas for the past many years?

ABC bias is clear. All pretence of neutrality has gone. Shame, ABC. Shame.

It is time that the world, through the UN, attempted to solve the Israel/Palestinian governing problem as we cannot allow it to continue with potential expansion and international implications.

Support for a Jewish state seemed a suitable response to the Nazi Holocaust. However it does not justify Israeli expansion into the West Bank or the killing and inhumane treatment of Palestinians.

Israel has proved to be a bad coloniser and has never established friendly relations with the Palestinians. It destroys infrastructure in Gaza that has been provided by a generous world to improve Palestinian living standards. It has never offered compensation for this destruction.

Israel has a UN approved boundary and this needs to be adhered to. The US has failed to solve the problem and seems to have a pro-Israeli bias. The UN needs to action a UN Trusteeship for a two or three state solution to achieve independent government, development and a peaceful outcome.

The conflict is at an unacceptable stage and warrants an imposed international solution.

Tom Molomby (Letters, October 30) cautions against majority verdicts on the basis of a case in England where Andrew Malkinson had been wrongly convicted of rape by a "majority" jury verdict.

Unanimous jury verdicts can be wrong too.

In 1982 Lindy Chamberlain said a dingo had taken her baby. A 12-person jury found unanimously that "beyond reasonable doubt" she had killed baby Azaria.

Lindy was sentenced to life imprisonment.

But the jury was wrong. A dingo did take her baby and she was later freed and pardoned.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated this war will be long and difficult. He is of course referring to Israel's objective of eradicating Hamas.

That Hamas is a political body as well as a military/terrorist organisation renders Israel's objective as militarily impossible.

It would take Hamas's international sponsors to unequivocally cut Hamas loose to achieve this. Iran and Syria, not to mention states that do not sponsor Hamas but have diplomatic affiliations with them such as Qatar and other Middle Eastern states, aren't going to do this.

America, the UK, Canada, France, Australia, the EU and others supporting Prime Minister Netanyahu in his war against Hamas need to consider their position carefully.

I recently watched images of a Labor Prime Minister and the US President toasting each other at a glittering dinner juxtaposed with pictures of skinny, dirt encrusted children being dragged from bombed Gaza apartment blocks.

In the context of the ongoing Middle East slaughter, there is nothing to celebrate. With a death toll of 1400 Israelis and 7000 Palestinians (including 3000 children) we should all be in mourning.

Israel has every right to seek the eradication of Hamas, but no-one has the right to inflict atrocities on civilians. The attacks were not perpetrated by women and children.

Stop the carpet bombing. Release the hostages.

Geoff Davidson (Letters, October 27) proposes to cancel Snowy 2.0.

If every time a project hit problems it was cancelled little would be done. By any measure Snowy 2.0 is very cost effective compared to any other energy storage project proposed for Australia. The ABC has misrepresented the project in suggesting this isn't the case

Snowy 2.0 will provide 2.2 gigawatts of dispatchable capacity with approximately 350 gigawatt hours of storage (enough for 160 hours). It will cost $12 billion and have an operating life of at least 50 years.

By comparison, the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, the biggest battery in the southern hemisphere, will have 1.2 gigawatts of dispatchable capacity and 2.4 gigawatt hours of storage (enough for two hours). It will cost $1.9 billion and have a life of about 15 years.

In terms of storage capacity Snowy 2.0 will be over 50 times more cost effective than big batteries such as MREH.

For Australia to enjoy a prosperous renewable energy future it needs between six and 10 projects on the scale of Snowy 2.0. The engineers need to just get on with building Snowy 2.0 and, when that is done, get on quickly building Snowy 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0.

One hundred or so big batteries would also help.

And so it was Halloween and all over Australia children dressed up in scary costumes to pad their safe neighbourhood streets to knock on doors and receive their sweets and treats and go home to sleep in their beds.

More than 14,000 kilometres away in Gaza the toll continues to grow with more than 3000 children dead.

They have been killed in their homes, their neighbourhoods, playgrounds, school buildings and even hospitals.

Your editorial on VAD legislation ("VAD bill leads Australia", November 2) challenged me to rethink my views. You wisely stress that it is impossible for a medical practitioner to state how long a terminally ill patient has to live. Those opposed to VAD are under no obligation to use it, but the option should be available.