What happens to the birds will happen to us

Canberra's backyards have always harboured plenty of birds. This has long been recognised by Canberra's enthusiastic community of birdwatchers and ornithologists. Thanks to these knowledgeable locals and other organisations, such as Birds Australia, we have a wealth of publicly available backyard bird survey data spanning over 50 years. What this data shows us is how much our own backyard has changed in the last few decades.

To illustrate this point, we can compare observations taken from backyard bird surveys over the past five years (2015 - 2020) with backyard surveys taken 30 years ago (1985 - 1990). Some birds of course are relatively unaffected by the winds of change: magpies, galahs and wattlebirds, for example, remain roughly as abundant today as they did 30 years ago. But this is only a superficial view of our local avifauna. While the currawong has and still is one of the most abundant species, its annual migration to the mountains around Canberra is a memory.

In the 1980's, the two most common birds in our backyards were introduced species (the common starling and the house sparrow). These species are far less common nowadays, and are not even among the 10 most common species seen in our backyards. The cause, or causes, of this decline in introduced species can be debated, but is a positive outcome for our native species.

Other species have colonised Canberra from the arid west, capitalising on a drying landscape. The crested pigeon, the superb parrot and both little and long billed corellas were once so rare in the ACT that the Canberra Ornithologists Group asked people to report any sighting. Now, we see these birds in our neighbourhoods on a daily basis. It is no coincidence that all three of these species are arid country specialists.

Other species are colonising Canberra from coastal regions. This includes a stark increase in the abundance of the common koel, now often heard during summer. Whether the recent visits by rainbow lorikeets will follow a similar path remains to be seen.

Other species are in decline, like many species of honeyeater, which were once common in backyards, and are now confined to the Murrumbidgee river corridor.

Canberra's title as the bush capital has adorned the city with abundant bird life, something which we should see as a privilege as it enriches our daily lives. But with a changing climate and five million hectares of burnt country, Canberra's birds are showing us in no uncertain terms the ongoing changes to our environment.

They rely on our backyards amongst an uncertain future.

Over the last few weeks Canberrans will have received a letter from ACTEWAgl trumpeting a small decrease in the cost of electricity.

When they read the fine print though they will have found, if like me they have solar panels, that their feed-in rate has gone down by 30 per cent.

Now electricity suppliers are maneuvering to up the charge for solar owners for the grid.

Shane Rattenbury where does this all fit into the "encourage renewables" plan?

Thursday, July 9, is the 120th anniversary of Royal Assent to The Commonwealth of Australia Act. Neither plebiscites among enfranchised Australians nor motions in the colonial parliaments could bring about Federation.

That required an Act of the British Parliament.

British capitalists and their political agents were determined to maintain appeals to Privy Council to protect investments. The Colonial Office worried that loans may not be secure if suits for their recovery could be finalised in the High Court of Australia.

In the lead-up to the 1897 Adelaide Constitutional Convention the British colonial secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, conspired with the premier of New South Wales, George Reid, to amend the draft constitution to protect British investors by allowing unfettered appeals to the Privy Council on non-constitutional questions.

While the three Australian delegates were in London in the summer of 1900, the movement towards Federation almost stalled on the question of appeals.

In the end, the three Australians compromised by agreeing to the High Court's having the power to allow appeals on constitutional issues.

Appeals to the Privy Council continued into the mid-1980s but were no longer relevant to how financiers take care of the interests of capital. On July 25, 1985, Salomon Brothers told Treasury of the difficulties that the bank faced in supporting Australian-dollar assets. Foreign holders had been annoyed by a July 1 decision to impose a 15 per cent tax on their interest and dividends payments before remittance. Canberra quickly abandoned the withholding tax and relaxed a rule confining foreign investors to a maximum half-share in real-estate developments.

Citizens were told Australian governments: "will continue to take strong actions to deter acts of foreign interference ... and uphold our laws".

I have a recurring dream that the Australian government will discover compassion for refugees, stop fighting other people's wars, double its overseas aid amount, listen to the people of the Pacific, find a strong commitment to a climate policy, and give priority to diplomatic initiatives over military spending.

Then I wake to hear the latest aggressive language of our defence and foreign policies, and wonder what positive benefits can come from stoking the fires of fear and tension in our region.

Instead of dealing with the most pressing danger to humanity, global warming, the Coalition will instead follow their pattern of spending on militaristic sabre rattling and posturing.

This includes $500 million to the AWM, and billions to be spent on missiles and other weapons as part of a campaign of mass distraction.

Then they will claim there is no money left to save us from the coming tragedy of climate change.

I wonder which country will supply us with these weapons at enormous cost. It's probably the same one that is still to provide us with working examples of the jets we have already paid for.

By the way, what has happened to the submarines we were supposed to be building here but now seem to be purchasing?

After 503 days spent considering the development application to replace the Pavilion Hotel with 394 units, on May 9 the ACT Planning and Land Authority decided "the application satisfactorily meets the requirements for approval".

This happened despite City Renewal, Transport Canberra, Environment Protection and Icon Water all stating they did not support the proposal, and the National Capital Authority requiring major changes.

Amongst the extensive problems identified by agency and public submissions were non-compliance with building height, boundary setback, building separation, solar access, facades, storm-water, landscaping and traffic impact. Conditions associated with the approval variously rendered the original proposal unrecognisable or ignored or watered-down clear regulations or, in the case of the untenable traffic impact on the road network, did nothing.

Geoff Davidson on behalf of the North Canberra Community Council risked their time and money to appeal the decision.

After the ACAT direction hearing, and two days before the mediation session, ACT Planning folded, "setting aside" their 503 days of effort, to restart the assessment.

What is going on inside ACT Planning: do they lack the capability to understand and apply their own assessment procedures, or have they been "captured" by the interests they are meant to be regulating?

Are they disinterested in the generational consequences of their actions in approving projects that don't meet their basic criteria of community acceptability?

The lesson to be taken from this is don't be deterred from appealing a decision, as more likely than not, you'll call ACT Planning's bluff.

A sincere note of thanks to the medical and nursing teams of Ward 6A of Canberra Hospital whose care and professional treatment of me over the past two weeks should not go unnoticed.

Starting as I did in a critical condition, to walk out of the ward after 14 days was simply a medical miracle and I owe it all to them.

If my experience is an indication of the hospital's standards, we are a very lucky community indeed.

Whilst it may be that Labor will win Eden-Monaro with a swing against them, it would not be prudent for the Libs to concede until all votes are counted. Mind games .

Given the poor condition of so many suburban footpaths, I can't see E-scooters being the success the ACT government hopes.

I once wrote to The Canberra Times saying how pleasing it was to see the Australian War Memorial's heritage facade unadorned by exhibition advertising banners. How naive that was. Looking now at images of the colossal development the AWM has planned, I am appalled at the lack of sensitivity to the memorial and that iconic vista. What is under way is modern vandalism.

It's time to stop the hypocritical "no one likes shooting kangaroos" rhetoric ("Kangaroo culling quietly under way", canberratimes.com.au, July 5). It's patently untrue. Every year since 2008 this annual killing program has been undertaken instead of adopting non lethal alternatives such as contraception, strategic fencing in reserves or relocation.

Our governments could make a meaningful response to the cry that "Black Lives Matter". This would be by establishing a Frontiers War Museum at Reconciliation Place and stopping the extension of the Australian War Memorial.

Perhaps the best thing we can say about Kanye West's bid for the US presidency is that he wouldn't be any worse than Trump; perhaps even better.

Robin Turnbull (Letters, July 6) needs a new dictionary. The Macmillan defines "policing" as a noun, the control of an area or a problem by police. The same principle applies to "no running in the corridor", "install new heating or air-conditioning" and "poor quality housing". All of these -ing words are nouns, and all can also be used in different sentences as verbs - tough policing (noun) vs. policing the law (verb).

There is much truth in the aphorism that "every time history repeats itself the price goes up". It certainly applies to last summer's bushfires which took lives and property on a massive scale and laid waste millions of hectares, annihilating an unknown number of native animals and highlighting the cost of doing nothing on climate change. ("Interstate crews came to fires with faulty trucks", July 4, p6).

In the aftermath of President Trump's latest public event at Mount Rushmore, some have wondered how he has not caught coronavirus. The answer is very simple. No self-respecting coronavirus would be seen dead associating with Trump. Even coronavirus has its own standards. What does that say about those who fawn on him?