Mr Rattenbury tries to rationalise his support by referring to such things as meeting air emission standards and the limits on the number of hours of burnouts. He artfully dodges any mention of fuel economy and noise pollution and calls for more EVs.

As someone who lives adjacent to Northbourne Avenue I have to endure vehicles burning off from the lights at the corner of Northbourne and Mouat Street at all hours of the day and night, without any apparent enforcement of noise standards.

It is very clear the mob who come to Canberra for this event could not give a toss about the adverse impact they have on local residents. It is clear that Mr Rattenbury does not give a toss either.

For all of the supposed economic benefits there is a need to also weigh-up the considerable negatives of this event: illegal and anti-social behaviour, noise pollution, and significant resident dissatisfaction.

Instead of supporting Summernats Mr Rattenbury should be honouring his supposed green credentials and demanding the ACT government cease its support for this event.

The comments by acting Inspector Mark Richardson regarding Summernats were refreshingly honest words. We do not get that type of honesty from governments and the corporate world these days.

All we get, apart from maybe Jacquie Lambi, are carefully constructed words from press secretaries and media advisers.

It would be nice if politicians answered questions put to them the first time, instead of going into weasel words.

In your editorial "Climate change brings weather events" (January 11) you discuss the occurrence of heavy rain and flooding during an El Nino event.

A major reason for the torrential rain and flooding in far-north Queensland, south-east Queensland, parts of coastal NSW, and eastern Victoria is high to heat-wave surface temperatures in the western Coral Sea, Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea.

Along with high atmospheric temperatures and increased turbulence, this combination results in storms and downbursts of very heavy rain.

Such torrents have recently been experienced in Canberra.

Yet another warning to expedite action on emissions reduction and consequent global heating.

I'm not a fan of the current Australian flag, but to see the flag shoved in rubbish and thrown about as litter by yobbo bogan morons who scream so loudly about respecting the flag and being proud of Australia disgusts me.

The official way to dispose of an Australian flag is to burn it. When I was in the Australian military I burned a few flags in our incinerator, it was the official protocol.

Many letter writers assert the indigenous rights of either the Arabs or Jewish people over the Palestinian and Israeli lands. Many of these arguments refer to events that occurred in biblical times.

I can't help but wonder how many of these people, and those sharing their views voted "no" to recognising Australia's Indigenous people in our constitution, many choosing to do so on the basis of us all having equal ties to the country following "settlement" a couple of hundred years ago.

Roderick Holesgrove (Letters, January 11) claims Jews "colonised" Palestine on the basis they had a kingdom there thousands of years ago. You can't colonise your own land. Jews are indigenous to Israel, and have lived there for thousands of years.