Only Parliament should be able to take Australia to war

We are slow learners, even despite Vietnam and pulling out from our first deployment in Afghanistan.

We went back only to make an even more vainglorious panic exit, troops, embassy, the lot; well except for most of our forlorn local employees and supporters.

We must give Parliament authority over hostile deployments. We must review and ease out of our United States alliance.

We must develop sovereign defence capacity and stand on our own feet. We are big enough and old enough. We can do it.

When will we learn to stop following or joining the US in its unconscionable wars? Did we learn nothing from Vietnam? Following the US into Afghanistan in 2001 and into Iraq in 2003 was incredibly destructive for the people and peace in those countries and globally.

War is a failure of politics. It can't be the answer anymore. It hasn't been for a long time.

Australia's role in the Afghanistan tragedy is one which makes me feel so ashamed to be Australian, especially with the alleged war crimes there.

Former military lawyer David McBride is still suffering prosecution for making them public. That is outrageous. So many of the people there who directly assisted us were let down by the government failing to act in time to bring them here. This situation was foreseen. This is criminal. The situation in particular for women and girls is a nightmare.

Just think if we had given those countries aid at just half of the more than $4 trillion spent on those two wars. I think the situation now would be very different.

Now the US and our government is looking for a new enemy. China is easy to portray as this enemy. The arms manufacturers and oil companies must be rubbing their hands in glee.

People and the planet can't afford war any more. Let's be radical and try diplomacy. What a shame our government has, instead, made big cuts to our diplomatic capabilities.

I wonder how low some politicians will go to score a political point?

Matt Canavan asked if the Taliban will commit to zero emissions by 2050. In 2019, Australians emitted 16 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person. Afghans emitted 0.28 tons per person.

Since 1750, Australia has emitted 18.181 billion tonnes, and Afghanistan has emitted 181 million tons.

It is highly unlikely that Australia will get down to the Afghanistan level by 2050.

Here's a simple way to fix the climate crisis: electrify everything.

It has been calculated that in order to decarbonise our economy we must replace approximately 1 billion fossil-fuel-burning machines with electric machines backed by renewables.

The good news is the more things we electrify, the easier it is to electrify everything.

For the past several weeks selfish, ignorant residents of Sydney have journeyed throughout the regions taking the virus with them.

Could the Berejiklian government respond vigorously with lockdowns to protect its citizens? No, there were no politically acceptable bad guys.

Then, last week, selfish, ignorant residents of Canberra (which at that time had five active cases), travelled to their holiday homes on the South Coast.

The Premier and deputy premier finally had someone "other" to declare as salient factors in the decision to impose a state-wide lock down. Few of those white, middle-class escapees from Canberra would enjoy suddenly being "other" but if that branding gave politicians acceptable cover for the action they had to take to keep their state safe perhaps it's a case of silver linings.

Several letters on Tuesday (Letters, August 17) complained that the NSW government referred to the Canberra COVID-19 outbreak as one of the reasons for imposing a statewide lockdown.

Canberra's contribution to the decision was not the small numbers of cases but that significant numbers of you who fled the ACT when your own lockdown was announced and went into areas of NSW, such as the South Coast, which were COVID-19 free.

One of the essential means of controlling the spread of the coronavirus is minimising movement and interaction. Your compatriots ignored this principle.

John Landos (Letters, August 17) said it all. We have just spent four days in the Cowra and Hilltops area which, like Eurobodalla, has no COVID-19 cases.

I write this sitting in a coronavirus testing queue diverting scarce testing resources which could be better used by others.

I am a strong supporter of vaccination and all appropriate government measures, but not the mindless quarantining of people who have come from COVID-19 free areas, which just happen to be in NSW

Christine Levers (Letters, August 16) take a deep breath before judging others for not wearing a mask while exercising outdoors, and count your blessings that you don't suffer from asthma, panic attacks or other reasons that some of us find mask-wearing difficult or impossible.

As we choked on smoke only a year-and-a-half ago we all vowed never to take fresh air for granted; now that fresh air is being taken from us again in another way.

I'm as afraid of being suffocated by COVID-19 as the next person but the virus does not spread in wide open fresh air.

I was surprised, given Canberrans are on the whole very compliant, how many people I have seen out walking during the past few days without masks.

I am not talking about the people who put them on when approaching other people but the ones who don't even carry one.

Does this show that they don't care about others? It appears to me to be the case.

Christine Levers (Letters, August 16) is disappointed to see people walking in the bush without wearing masks.

Unless she is a doctor or exercise physiologist and knows their heart rate and other factors then she is not qualified to assess what is vigorous exercise versus a gentle walk.

At my age, especially when walking up a hill, all exercise is vigorous.

Most people I pass while walking in the bush carry masks and put them on as they approach, or they give me a wide berth.

The ones who don't are usually runners who feel they are exempt from both wearing masks and social distancing.

Has there ever been a documented outdoor COVID-19 transmission?

It seems this is so rare as to be statistically insignificant. Certainly protest rallies have not been the "super spreader" events many feared.

The health guidelines need to be based on science so as to discourage scepticism and paranoia, and encourage acceptance and voluntary compliance.

For years prior to COVID-19 many people in the current 60-plus age group travelled overseas in full knowledge of the risk they might develop deep vein thrombosis (blood clotting) during the flight.

There existed supportive advice in relation to exercise, drinking plenty of fluids, the availability of anti-coagulant medication, and trained medical staff in various countries.

Against this background I just don't get why any people 60 years or older are now hesitant about promptly getting the AstraZeneca jabs (perhaps in conjunction with advice from their local GP).

Judy Aulich (Letters, August 16) tells us Zed Seselja's views on euthanasia and same-sex marriage are not held by most of his constituency and he should let the rest of us exercise our consciences.

Well Judy, I'm sure that's just what he's doing. He's one of those rare politicians who is being honest with people by telling them exactly what he thinks and how he is going to vote.

He feels he will "betray your trust" if he acts otherwise. In other words, exercise your conscience as he will exercise his - and be thankful you can both do so.

The images of Afghans trying to get onto departing planes, some clinging to the landing gear, show how desperate people are for a life of freedom from brutal repressive rule in their home country. The scenes are heartbreaking.

Apparently there is nobody holding the hose on this one either. It is always too little, too late. Is there anything the Morrison government can get right?

When will the USA (and their lapdogs) learn to stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs using military force? It's time they stopped seeing the world as a playground for cowboys and Indians.

Morrison's rhetoric is changing. He is now talking about a "plan of hope" and "doses of hope". Hope is the last resort of those without a plan.

How dare Berejiklian, Hazzard and Barilaro blame us Canberrans for their incompetence over the past seven weeks. They also gave the country the effects of the Ruby Princess last year.

The saying goes that disasters (such as COVID-19) bring out the best and worst in people.

Can I ask everyone to decide right now which you want to be. It's one or the other, there is no in between.

Canavan is not the most useful tool in the Coalition toolbox, but it sure has lot of tools.

Alan Joyce is seeking to fly his airline by the hip pocket of the government's pants.

If it does not pose a health threat could those being interviewed on television lower their masks? For some of us it is difficult to understand or even hear on occasions.

The people of Afghanistan are suffering because the US is now more worried about China than the Taliban.

Maybe the lockdown will encourage the hundreds of former ACT residents living in Queanbeyan to change their cars to NSW registration. It's not hard. Or do they want special treatment?

Why are speed vans an essential service?

If the rule about filling in your census form before census night had existed 2000 years ago Joseph and Mary could have stayed at home instead of trekking to Bethlehem.

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to The Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).