Berejiklian has a hide to blame Canberra for NSW lockdown

We have nine cases, eight of them genomically linked to Sydney. I completely agree with Andrew Barr, if she had done her job seven weeks ago and had a proper lockdown we wouldn't be in this position.

Ms Berejiklian has tried to prove for months that you can have your cake and eat it too by keeping businesses open during lockdown.

This has been a miserable, disastrous failure but it's not her fault, it's apparently the fault of the people of the ACT. She and Morrison have the same problem, they never accept responsibility. Blaming the ACT will probably go down well in NSW and she knows she'll get away with it. It's a pity it's complete nonsense.

I'd like to draw attention to the dangerous situation for Afghan refugees currently in Australia on Temporary Protection Visas and those in the immigration detention system.

As foreign forces are withdrawn and the Taliban engages in a rapid and violent takeover of Afghanistan, we hear reports of attacks on civilians, the execution of government soldiers and women being forced into marriage.

Afghans in Australia on Temporary Protection Visas and those in detention are in constant fear of being deported and forced to return to Afghanistan. They helplessly watch their loved ones in Afghanistan being slaughtered by the Taliban.

It will never be safe for Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan. They need permanent protection. Were it not for Australia's toxic politics surrounding refugee policy, they would have been granted permanent protection visas years ago.

It is time for the government to grant permanent protection to Afghan nationals in Australia who are on temporary protection visas or in Australia's immigration detention system, and to restore their rights to apply for family reunion visas.

I heard on the early-morning radio news on Monday that the Taliban had seized control of the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, and the president had fled the country: the Taliban had won.

There is a question that must be asked: who, apart from the Taliban, benefitted from all the lives lost and money spent by the US and its allies, including Australia, on a venture that history showed they could never win.

The answer is, of course, the arms industry, which will now be lobbying the US and allied governments to find or provoke another major conflict. Yemen looks promising.

Australians need to realise that Afghanistan is a victim of the Islamic world's ongoing civil war between those who embrace the modern world, and fundamentalists who draw inspiration from ancient culture, superstitions and imaginings to justify their harsh authoritarian ways; especially with women and girls, and hatred of modernity.

But, opposition to Islamic terrorism aside, this is not our fight. We can't fix the Islamic world's problems, they must do so themselves.

In Afghanistan the only foreign Islamic support was for the Taliban. Moderate Islam was nowhere to be seen; happy to have infidels like us fight their battles for them.

More fool us. It's time we told the moderate Islamic world that we will no longer help those who don't help themselves and if they don't want a Taliban-like takeover they have to prevent it because we can't and won't.

Kabul international airport should not have been named after former president, Hamid Karzai. Ashraf Ghani, the the Afghan fly-by-night head of state who has jetted off for safe pastures in the nick of time, would have been a better choice.

He left without so much as a word to his people. This marks the extent of his authority and legitimacy once American support was withdrawn.

This is reminiscent of US puppet administrations stretching back to central America in the 1800s.

The most famous was the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in Vietnam.

American foreign policy is an eternal cycle of Saigons and 1975. It defiles us when we support it in turn.

The current situation where, since last Thursday, ACT residents are required to quarantine for 14 days, as distinct from just being in lockdown like all other ACT residents, after returning from COVID-19-free areas such as Eurobodalla is rationally indefensible.

To my knowledge Eurobodalla has no active Covid cases and there have been no sewerage detections. Why then should returning residents be subject to more stringent requirements than ACT residents currently in the ACT, where there are active Covid cases, given they can provide reasonable proof of their movements and health status?

There appears no reason why they should not be subject to the same lockdown restrictions applying to all ACT residents. The current 14-day quarantine restriction is open to being interpreted as either vindictive or politically motivated.

COVID-19 will be with us for a long time, and adherence by the general public to rational and proportional requirements will be a cornerstone of keeping Australians safe.

The current policy, as with any bad law, risks undermining future compliance and is in no one's interest.

As a resident of Canberra I realise the need for the current lockdown. My concern relates to those people in our community who are unable to lockdown; our homeless.

They do not have any fixed abode where they can be locked down. Our leaders need to immediately put in place residential arrangements to ensure that they are safe from harm and their basic needs can be met.

Homeless people are valuable members of our community. If our leaders are serious about the lockdown they will do something for them, because, who knows, by the fickle finger of fate, any of us could join this group at any time.

Why all the concern about climate change? We should be a lot more concerned about COVID-19. If "normal" was pre-coronavirus then we are years away from returning to that if the current situation continues or gets worse. We are way more at risk from COVID-19 than climate change.

What will happen if the next mutation of the Delta strain is even more deadly? What will happen if we can't find a new vaccine quickly enough?

There won't be enough people left alive on the planet to cause any climate changing pollution. Is this nature's way of controlling climate change?

Andrew McConville in his article "The energy industry can be part of the solution" (August 16, p22) has some excellent ideas for how we as individuals can reduce our carbon emissions.

"Give up your Hilux, stop international travel, change the way you work, the way you cook and heat your home," he says.

Many households are adopting at least some of these measures; switching to electric cars and from gas to electric for heating, cooling and cooking.

According to a report by the Australian Department of the Environment and Energy website the average household generates over seven tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Every little bit counts.

I am in full agreement with your "Our right to decide" campaign, not just for the ACT to be able to legislate for voluntary assisted dying without the threat of federal government veto but to legislate on any issue regardless of the ideological or political views of some on Capital Hill.

The ACT Government should be accountable and answerable to ACT voters for its policies, not to the federal government. But while we're at it, could we also look at our representation in the Senate. How is it that Tasmania, with a December 2020 population of 541,000 can be represented by 12 Senators when the ACT, with 431,000, only gets two Senators, including, unfortunately, Senator Seselja?

I keep hearing that the allies have been "blindsided" by the Taliban advance. What has military intelligence been up to? Looks like a big fail.

It is wrong to say the Taliban have "taken" Kabul. The truth is that it was handed to them on a plate.

The COVID-19 and Afghanistan debacles have rudely revealed Scott Morrison to be the true Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, what Australia needs now is not smoke and mirrors but a real leader who has courage, brains and a heart.

We can be proud of all the Western troops who served in Afghanistan, giving it a chance at democracy but never intending to stay permanently (unlike previous invaders). The Americans should have gone after the funders of the Taliban.

I see that some 600 British troops are being sent to Afghanistan tasked with rescuing about 5000 embassy and aid workers, contractors, and Afghans who worked as interpreters for British forces, along with their families. I trust we plan to do something similar.

An article in The Sunday Times stated "Pfizer is available for pregnant people". When I did biology at school the only "people" who could get pregnant were women. Are we so politically correct now we can't say women?

I agree in principle with Edwina Barton's (Letters, August 3) wish to see her fellow Baby Boomers fully vaccinated. But her sanctimonious tone is hardly designed to promote vaccination. It could cause the unvaccinated to dig their heels in even further. Gentle persuasion works better than the lash.

Gladys, seriously? The ACT has nine cases of COVID-19 no doubt sourced from the Sydney outbreak and suddenly you lockdown NSW and attribute your decision to our (minuscule) outbreak. Who do you think is fooled by this hypocrisy?

Most trams worldwide, including in Melbourne, travel at up to 70 km/h on the flat and 50 km/h or more up steep hills. Instead of raising roads perhaps the ACT government should consider buying better performing trams.

Scott Morrison should "tame" his smirk and seek "grace".

I see that George Christensen keeps on threatening to cross the floor over a government policy he apparently doesn't like. Maybe one day he will actually do it instead of just talking about it.

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