Is holding a gas-fuelled 'balloon spectacular' an indulgence?

What about the long-term planetary weather?

With climate change wrecking havoc with the weather we are often warned to limit burning fossil fuels for only essential purposes.

Sorry to be a balloon popper but, isn't having fun while burning gas for hot air balloons like playing the fiddle while Rome burns?

With reference to Helen Goddard's letter (Letters, March 6) I also recently had a "Monty Python" experience when dealing with our ACT government.

I had been advised by Access Canberra that it is necessary to purchase a new number plate for a bike rack if that rack is attached to a different vehicle.

Then I enquired whether it would be necessary for a friend to buy a new number plate if I loaned my bike rack to him. Without a blink of an eye I was advised by the government official that, yes, it would be necessary for my friend to buy another number plate as that is what the law stipulates.

When I queried this requirement with Minister Steel I was advised by him that it is necessary that a bike rack attached to a vehicle has the same number plate as the vehicle to which it is attached. This is to facilitate the identification of the driver for infringement purposes.

I have sent another email to Minister Steel asking that, if it is necessary for a bike rack to have the same number plate as the vehicle to which it is attached, why is it not necessary for caravans and trailers to have the same number plate as the vehicle to which they are attached. I am still awaiting a response.

I went to the Access Canberra shopfront in Tuggeranong to purchase a new number plate for my bike rack. I asked when it would be available. The answer? Six weeks.

I suppose that if it is going to take anything up to 10 years to complete the tram to Woden six weeks for a number plate is not out of the ordinary.

The report "How your news could soon disappear" (March 7) is an alarming exposé of the self-centred lust for profit and power by Mark Zuckerberg and his "cookie monster" creation, Meta.

Such is the power and reach of the "monster" that the Australian government will have to seek the cooperation of as many of the nations caught in the Zuckerberg-Meta web as possible, to devise a strategy to bring this monster to heel and to ensure it serves its customers instead of only itself.

Surely as most Australians are reeling to pay mortgages and life essentials, let alone those that can't afford to put a roof over their head, it is little comfort about the latest GDP figures. When will the Labor government deliver on something tangible on this cost of living crisis? And don't think Dutton or his deputy have any economic credibility either.

There are many hard policy decisions that should be confronted head on. They include taxation, health, climate, housing, and so on.

But these decisions need to be made without a view to votes at the next election. But that's politics I guess. I've seen this happen again and again for decades and nothing has changed. I fear for my children and many grandchildren.

When deputy Liberal leader Sussan Lee bayed to Labor "we are coming after you" on the night of the Dunkley byelection she presaged the start of another round of unconstructive and ugly Opposition campaigning.

Urged on by Advance and their delivery of expensive parallel election scaremongering in Dunkley, Senator Jane Hume, with her smug, smiley spin, and Ley, with her reliance on too-frequent snapping claims laced with liberal amounts of brazen inaccuracies and misrepresentations, showed they can well complement colleague Senator Michaelia Cash's raucous and policy-free public grandstanding.

These Liberal front-bench, senior women seem happy to be sucked into Peter Dutton's vortex of carping, obfuscation, denial and negativity.

This trio clearly has the capacity to further entrench the Liberals' well-recognised "women problem" in electorates held by authentic, progressive and hardworking teals and independents.

They would hardly qualify as appropriate support campaigners for Elizabeth Lee later this year.

The Liberals' public optimism over the result of the Dunkley byelection is not only premature but - at this point in time - misplaced.

Yes, the Liberals had a positive swing of approximately 6.5 percent on first-preference votes but it was entirely at the expense of minor parties and the Greens.

Labor also increased its first-preference vote, albeit by only about 1 percent, but clearly not losing anything to the Liberals.

I can confirm for Helen Goddard (Letters, March 7) that Monty Python is indeed at work in the ACT government.

Some weeks ago I sold a vehicle to a person in NSW and sent in the appropriate transfer documentation. The purchaser registered the vehicle in that state, returned the registration plates and sought a refund of the balance of the ACT registration fees.

I was recently advised that the refund has been received so expected that would be the end of the matter.

Imagine my surprise to receive advice that "it's time to renew your vehicle registration" on this same vehicle.

Noel Whittaker ("We need to take a long term view of negative gearing", March 4) only uses the example of "mum and dad" investors in defence of negative gearing.

However, almost half of our politicians have an investment property, and some have numerous properties, compared to 10 per cent of the general population.

Therefore I don't see this as a valid defence of the strategy. Negative gearing should be abolished as it is far too generous. It also makes home ownership harder for young people as houses and units are investments not homes.

It seems to me that Brock Bryce (Letters, March 6) is paying the "lazy tax".

I urge him to look around for alternative, cheaper services from providers other than Telstra.

For example, it's not necessary to pay more than $10 per month for mobile phone services with unlimited calls and some data.

My wife and I find that to be quite sufficient. If you get your Internet service from Telstra, have a look at alternatives provided by other suppliers.

Your house might have access to the VDSL2 service formerly provided by TransACT.

Plans on this service are cheaper and better than those provided by NBN as resold by Telstra. For example, we get 117Mb/sec download speed for $79.99 per month.

If you have Foxtel, you can do better and cheaper for equivalent services from suppliers like Fetch TV.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that that the American states cannot disqualify Trump from running for President and Trump is now ahead of Biden in the polls.

There is every chance he will win the next presidential election. The stricken Palestinians are already on the ropes against Israeli bombing and occupation.

With a Trump presidency there will be no further constraint on Netanyahu's stated opposition to a two-state solution. The land of Palestine will be lost to its people.

Studies show our little ones are hearing and speaking fewer words than past generations. Every day. We may blame the pressure on mothers to return to work and the pervasiveness of the screens, but let's make a difference to vocabularies and literacy.

Let's sing more songs with our children - in the kitchen, in the car, hanging out the washing, and tucked into bed before going to sleep.

A lad I know squirmed as I began his bedtime with The Seekers' Morning Town Ride; then relaxed and slept. Maybe add some story CDs as they grow older. That lad grew up to make music with his flute, and read. And he reads and sings with his own child.

Australia is in a technical recession and the all ordinaries just topped 8000 points - a record. What is going on?

Sussan Ley's strident denial of the obvious after the Dunkley byelection was more graciously expressed by Billy Snedden who, after losing closely to Whitlam in 1974, said: "We were not defeated. We did not win enough seats to form a government".

Along with more colourful idioms for hopelessness the Liberals have added one more: "Couldn't win a swing-seat byelection in a cost-of-living crisis".

Gil May (Letters, March 7) laments that Australian Labor governments have given minimal recognition to King Charlie's coronation. Surely the fact that we have a foreigner as our head of state and the US dominates our economy and diplomatic, intelligence and defence activities should satisfy the most ardent sufferers of the Australian inferiority complex?

I have read several articles scorning nuclear power. But I can't get out of my mind a picture of two blokes walking along the North Carolina sand hills in 1903 and one saying to the other: "There are two crazy Ohio brothers who reckon they can make that pile of junk fly".

Is there any truth to the rumour that, in order to accelerate the expansion of its surface fleet, the Navy is about to commandeer the Manly Ferry service?

Martin Klavins claims Israel regards killing Hamas and Gazans as the same (Letters, March 6). That isn't so. Israel targets combatants and tries to get civilians to evacuate. Hamas is only too happy to get its civilians killed, using them as human shields.

I am writing to congratulate America on its creative and highly amusing use of generative AI to suggest Donald Trump is on his way back to becoming president. Brilliant humour. It is a joke, right?

Members of the NRL's Las Vegas expedition have returned with dollar signs blazing from their eyes and big plans for their futures on the global gambling gravy train. Let them build their own stadia. If they are such a social boon they'll be able to generate income and stay off the public teat.

Don't criticise Peter Dutton for promoting nuclear power. We should be moving as fast as we can to adopt it. Oh yes, I'm talking about the most gigantic thermonuclear reactor we can tap into - it's called the sun. And we're the sunniest place on earth.

In his zeal to destroy Gaza, does Netanyahu appreciate that when disease breaks out due to famine and insanitary conditions it will likely go through the entire population [of Israel] regardless of political or religious belief?