A national emergency demands strong national leadership

Not taking a strong national leadership and co-ordinating authority position over the states, and instead trying to use existing management structures in the face of a national crisis, undermines the very existence of the Commonwealth.

A national threat demands a national response. Premiers and chief ministers have stepped up into this power vacuum to push their parochial interests. Even they, however, hide behind the fiction that the lockdowns are solely a health decision. They are a political decision which has had devastating effect on the Australian people and the economy.

We cannot even agree on a common lexicon, with the NSW government admitting that the definition of an essential worker was beyond them. A co-ordinating body at the senior government level could help ameliorate fluctuations when the majority of Australians are locked down because of the actions of a few who are, statistically speaking, a numerical irrelevancy.

We must learn to live with COVID-19 and its various strains. We need to be committed to a universal vaccination program and we must develop a risk-management strategy to enable us to transition to normality and safety.

It will take more than a four-point plan. Is this the best that we can do? Surely we are better than this?

Tuesday's editorial ("PM's rush to open up early could be deadly", canberratimes.com.au, August 24) asserted that the federal government's plan to live with COVID-19 "verges on being a reckless gamble with people's lives".

How so? Clearly, the government is right when it says we must learn to live with COVID-19. So how can it be so reckless?

It is also true that vaccinating the population against COVID-19 is the best means of returning to a pre-pandemic world. So why reckless?

One "why" is that when judged by the government's January 2021 vaccination strategy our vaccination implementation program is a failure. We are now playing catch up and keeping up with who is the latest priority group is head spinning.

When you know your vaccination program is running behind schedule and failing to deliver to priority groups the only fall back is to ensure that the virus does not enter the country or spread once seeded. Sadly the Commonwealth's greatest failure is with quarantine and its ongoing insistence that hotel quarantine arrangements are adequate. In short it is reckless.

The final sentence of the editorial was perfect for the situation we find ourselves in: "When the circumstances change, the response might need to change as well."

My sincere hope is that, before states and territories move from a zero-Covid setting, more guidance is given on how the virus will be suppressed and vulnerable groups protected. To that end, I hope our governments come up with something better than the now-forgotten "Three stage plan to relaxing social distancing" of May 8, 2020.

When is Scott Morrison going to release the report into who knew what and when about the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins? The media published the story on February 12.

Morrison responded by telling us it was the first he and his staff had heard of the incident. When this was disputed because at least three of his senior staff knew of the alleged rape before the media, Morrison instructed the head of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaejtens, to interview his staff and report his findings.

Six months down the track, we are none the wiser and the whole charade smells of a cover-up. Many political commentators are of the opinion Morrison and/or his office knew of the alleged rape of Ms Higgins leading up to the 2019 federal election.

One possible scenario is that Morrison was made aware of the incident and, not wanting a distraction from his campaign, issued instructions to hose the situation down.

This would have involved putting the frighteners on Ms Higgins who was then banished to Western Australia out of harm's way for the duration of the campaign. Job done.

The only way such speculation can be dispelled is for the Prime Minister to make the report public.

Your recent editorial "It would be foolish to trust the Taliban" (canberratimes, August 19) asks if the 20-year war in Afghanistan was worth it. Surely a rhetorical question, as you outline the huge costs in human, political, and financial terms.

We were in London when President Bush declared war on Afghanistan, a nation that was part of the "axis of evil" that encouraged and harboured terrorists.

Before that we had gone to stand in a long line outside the US embassy in order to sign the book of condolence. After the terrorist attacks there was such an outpouring of sympathy for the United States worldwide.

Even the ruling Taliban seemed remorseful and offered to give up the al-Qaeda terrorists. They insisted they would not be handed over directly to the US authorities, but were to stand trial in a neutral country.

If George W. Bush had agreed to that, justice would have been seen to be done; there would have been no invasion, and the US would have preserved its reputation, its soldiers and its purse.

On July 26 this year, The Canberra Times published a story under the heading "Labour hire firms receiving equivalent to 20 per cent of APS wages spend while avoiding tax: advocates" (canberratimes.com.au, July 26)."

The story included quotes from what the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability senior researcher Clare Parfitt said at a public hearing of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee for its inquiry into the current capability of the Australian Public Service.

As a result of what Claire Parfitt said at the inquiry, and what The Canberra Times has published, one is left with much doubt as to whether or not the company is paying tax.

Any suggestion Outsourcing pays no tax is incorrect. In calendar 2020 (Outsourcing reports to a December year end), total assessed Australian taxes for all local entities (Outsourcing and subsidiaries) was $7.1 million (on $18.3 million accounting profit).

The reason for the lack of clarity here requires an understanding of our strategy and structure. Tax is paid and ASIC lodgements are made by the individual companies in Australia, not by Outsourcing Inc.

In 2020, Outsourcing Inc transferred the ownership of all its Australian (and NZ) subsidiaries to a local holding company called Outsourcing Oceania Holdings Pty Ltd (OOHPL).

From 2021, it is OSI's intent to prepare and lodge consolidated financial statements for all Australian entities under OOHPL.

It was a pity that the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research had not contacted us before making that statement in the Inquiry.

It was good to see our Ken Behrens so active in Tuesday's The Canberra Times, even making it to the food and wine section.

Have others, I ask, considered Ken as a parliamentary candidate together with Kim for Canberra?

Electing Kim Rubenstein will be a great advance on the present Coalition members giving us a government of fossilised fools, with the Labor opposition too frequently supporting the same fossil fools.

The IPCC report is the starkest warning yet. Indeed terrifying. Come on Ken Behrens and thank you Kim Rubenstein for Canberra for the chance to change things.

Each day The Canberra Times publishes figures on the percentage of people in each state and territory who have received either one or two jabs. The table also features the targets of 70 per cent and 80 per cent set by governments for beginning to relax lockdown rules.

Missing, however, is the crucial fact that all of these figures are percentages of the number of people eligible for the vaccine; essentially those over 16 years of age, not of the total population of Australia.

Since it is increasingly evident that children under 16 - about 20 per cent of the population - can catch and transmit COVID-19, the targets represent 56 per cent and 64 per cent of the total population respectively. Are these levels sufficient to begin easing lockdown?

If the government decides to extend vaccine eligibility to the whole population but to retain targets of 70 per cent and 80 per cent of eligible people, we are much further away from those targets than we appear to be now.

At the very least, The Canberra Times should make clear what the percentages in its table actually represent.

Vaccination rates are being glowingly and enthusiastically reported. The percentages reached should have been achieved many months ago. Slow and late best describe the real results.

Do we have a Governor-General at the moment?

Maybe we do have to learn to live with COVID-19. But I'm certain Scomo and Gladys are the very last two people I want to teach me how to do so.

I am sorry to have to contradict Ruth Palavestra (Letters, August 24) but the Barr government will never be short of revenue. A few more reductions in speed limits to nonsensical and impractical levels will quickly fill up their coffers.

Given the Prime Minister's outrage at the graffiti at a Parliament House protest, one would have expected him to go ballistic about nine police being injured at a protest in Melbourne. Did I miss it?

It's really quite simple. If the federal government (aka Scott Morrison) hadn't screwed up the ordering of vaccines, we would now be right. Instead we are inexorably sliding into closure, while most developed countries are emerging.

The ACT government's update to the list of ACT exposure sites on August 23 listed the Reject Shop at Westfield Belconnen on August 17. Since when has the Reject Shop been an "essential service" during a lockdown?

To say Canberra residents can now register for a COVID-19 vaccine is misleading. Just try it. When I attempted to make appointments for my two daughters I ended up on hold for eight and a half hours, frequently taking two hours to advance one notch in the queue only to speak with no one.

It is unlikely all the Americans will get out of Afghanistan safely before the end of August. President Biden should ask the Taliban for a time extension. I call on Ms Pelosi to start procedures to impeach Mr Biden on the basis of "extreme stupidity".

Sometimes one has to make a business call. On Monday I called the Commonwealth Bank and was warned in a recorded message there could be a wait of one hour because of "the high number of calls". Surely a wealthy bank could find enough staff for customer service on a phone?

The National Capital Authority says it might consider not approving the Australian War Memorial main works packages. Right after oysters conquer Mount Everest.

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