It's time to put the big Australia delusion to bed once and for all

Sure, let us slice and dice Home Affairs, good plan. But the Immigration Department and minister would still enforce massive migration.

In "earlier times", so Grattan asserts, immigration was seen as an "economic department ... to promote nation building".

That's precisely the problem. We already number 27 million. Albanese and Chalmers are about five times too reliant on immigration. Their economic policy is indeed a throwback to the Calwell era. Not what 21st century voters want.

From her elite perspective of Australia as a world champ multicultural society, Grattan attempts to link immigration "frictions" to the Gaza conflict.

Down in the motley suburbs, it is much more likely that ordinary punters are reacting to the sheer immigration deluge. Like, they can't afford to rent or buy anymore. Who would have thought.

If insiders haven't noticed, Treasurer's net-migration target for 2022-24 is an eye-watering 885,000. Topping Rudd's "Big Australia" record by 60 per cent.

Finally, Grattan mourns the delay in "processing" permanent citizenships. Hello, what about the astonishing numbers of "temporary" visas (especially "students") that Immigration has to process?

Those Beagle Bay interlopers got bad advice. They should have tried by air. Didn't they notice we're a soft touch? Labor has advertised it all over the world.

The article "From construction to the care sector, it still pays to be male" (February 27) seems to presume the gender pay gay is entirely due to bias in favour of men.

Is it possible that at least part of the gap is because men, on average, have unique talents for specific roles?

For example more men tend to be psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists.

This would make them more suitable for highly paid managerial roles and careers in politics.

Philip Constable's valid concerns about tree safety in Canberra (Letters, February 24) are not a surprise to me. The tree protection legislation gives hardly any weight to safety and is not preventively oriented. A tree would have to be almost ready to fall to have it removed on the basis of the safety criterion. Likewise, the inconvenient location criterion is also hard to meet as a basis for removal.

With strong storms (with terms such as supercell and tornado frequent) now commonly bringing down a large number of trees (the Gold Coast in Queensland and Victoria are recent examples), the tree protection legislation needs overhauling to bring it up to date. The Work Health and Safety Act provides a model for addressing prevention properly.

There is no doubt that we need vegetation to assist with the urban heat island effect. But it has to be the right kind in the right places. Tall trees close to housing is asking for trouble.

The article "ACT falling short in replacing bush capital's aging trees" (February 24) reports that in 2022-2023 the ACT government planted 12,650 trees, well short of the 18,000 target. The Barr government has also reduced future targets by as much as half, the opposite of what is obviously needed as global warming proceeds unabated.

I have joined the growing number of voters who appear to have concluded "it's time" to rid ourselves of this troublesome government.

Regardless of whether one supported his prime ministership or not, Scott Morrison's parliamentary valedictory sentiments are true: Australia has been largely successful in measure, due to its Judeo-Christian underpinning.

Historically, our belief in our nation's constitutional preamble that we would be "humbly relying on the blessing of almighty God" and our adherence to the Christian worldview provided citizens with an ultimate bedrock of purpose and proposition.

The bible is at the heart of Western civilisation. It inculcates the dignity of the individual, the practice of both justice and mercy, the furthering of human creativity through technology, a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, and the intentional betterment of society's standards.

Yet the recent scourge of identity politics across our various institutions and places of learning has sapped any sense of responsibility to the other and instead elevated the idol of self-worship. We no longer love our neighbour, we see each other as competitors.

As we approach Easter we need a fresh reminder of Christ's affirmation that: "I have come to give life; life to the full."

It is sad that the ANU School of Music is getting rid of two of its long-serving, highly esteemed musicians and teachers, to make way for "a new generation of talented musicians and academics".

Fortunately, this line of thinking is not current in other (more civilised) parts of the world.

Otherwise we could expect to hear no more about the likes of Daniel Barenboim (81), Martha Argerich (82) and Mitsuko Uchido (75) - to name just a few great musicians who are still performing, mentoring and supporting young musicians.

The administrators at the ANU can google the names if they are unfamiliar with them.

The Queensland Channel Country has some of the last free-flowing desert rivers left on Earth.

The artesian springs contain endemic wildlife not found anywhere else in the world that have evolved to fill a niche. Some organisms are only found in a single spring complex.

These pockets of rare biodiversity are extremely vulnerable because they are entirely dependent on permanent groundwater supplies from the Great Artesian Basin aquifers.

According to Queensland's former chief scientist Hugh Possingham drilling in such environments involves serious risk and can lead to irreversible damage.

So it's not surprising that AgForce should place a whole page advertisement in The Canberra Times (February 22) calling on the federal government to block Glencore's proposal to store liquified carbon dioxide in basin sandstone.

It is totally unacceptable that such risky and environmentally questionable projects should even be considered in this unique free flowing system.

It's time to stop the plundering and spoiling of our pristine and iconic natural heritage once and for all.

It's hard not to conclude our top spook's recent comments about a former politician turned rat outside the ranks is part of a much bigger game.

Sir John Harington nailed it more than 400 years ago when he wrote: "Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

Food for thought, surely.

If Andrew Forrest wasn't so rich and influential he would be ignored, just like he ignores the move to nuclear in Canada, the UK, Denmark and other countries who realise you can't power a country with just wind and solar.

Nuclear is a much better option for low emissions baseload power.

The climate change, renewables faction is behaving more like a cult every day.

Non-cult members are getting a bit sick of having their intelligence insulted.

The simple arguments advanced by David Roth and Paul Pentony (Letters, February 22) against nuclear power are unconvincing.

The jury is still out of the non-nuclear plan developed by the Australian Energy Market Operator. Highly distributed systems bring with them high maintenance costs. It is clear from the blackouts experienced in Victoria on February 13, the more extensive the transmission grid the more vulnerable supply is to wild weather events.

Rather than exclude the option of nuclear power I would take note of what the Chinese plan to do according to a Reuters report "China expects to OK 6-8 nuclear power units per year in green energy drive" September 23, 2023. Nuclear is expected to contribute about 10 percent of power generation in the country by 2035 and 18 percent by 2060.

China is free of influence from extremist environmental groups and is developing clean energy at a pace that suits its economy.

The Sydney Mardi Gras organisers are making a mistake banning the police contingent. Marching does not signal support for criminal conduct but support for the values of the NSW Police Force and the identification of the marchers with the LGBTQ community.

Scott Morrison has finally gone, but his poisonous legacy, the dangerous AUKUS deal, remains, imperilling Australia's security for decades. Anthony Albanese seems oblivious to the costs of a plan he didn't even open to the national debate required. Put in a prayer for us, Scotty. We'll need it.

The Australasian Railway Association ("Light rail's benefit extends beyond better transport", February 26) raises the importance of broader economic benefits. The ACT government expects light rail stage two to cost $1.744 million, for total benefits (including wider economic benefits) of only $1.217 million.

A Moscow court has sentenced human rights activist Oleg Orlov to two-and-a-half years in prison. In Putin's Russia human rights activists are thrown in jail while corrupt oligarchs enjoy freedom and political patronage. Will Orlov be transferred to the notorious prison to die after taking a walk like Navalny?

At the same time as Queensland's Labor Premier Steven Miles is telling anyone interested that Canberra is "an awful place" you've got Labor's Andrew Barr junketing overseas promoting Canberra as a prime tourist destination. Who to believe? One of them has to be wrong. But then again, with Albanese in charge, it's hard to tell. This may be Labor at its very best

Ian Jannaway claims "Israel is waging a genocidal war against Palestinians". Well, not quite, Ian. Israel isn't the one with a manifesto boasting they will wipe their enemies off the face of the planet.

Mr Albanese could either break his promise about the stage three tax cuts or his promise to govern responsibly. The tax cuts had become incompatible with responsible government. To keep one promise he had to break another. Being PM requires hard decisions. He made the right call.

Chris Mobbs had the great idea of sending a hospital ship to anchor off Gaza (Letters, February 28). Why don't we do that? Surely the navy has a ship that can be fitted out as a hospital ship? (An LHD?) Send it over. It won't have to be the greatest hospital the world has ever seen, just able to do the job. If we lead, other nations will follow.

For once I agree with Joe Hockey. The traitor politician should be named and shamed. Or is this just going to be another case of the establishment looking after one of its own?