Rate notice sticker shock an unbearable impost on retirees

In my opinion this is ridiculous. A while ago I remember the Chief Minister saying the "heavy lifting" was over. Of course, this was before the last ACT election.

I note that in regional areas surrounding the ACT, the latest rate increases have been in the order of 2.5 per cent, a figure more in tune with CPI increases.

To put it into perspective, in Sydney's harbourside suburb of Darling Point, which has the highest average taxable income and some of the highest land values, the rates are $6.60 a square metre. That compares to $8.42 a square metre here. This highlights the unaffordability.

Putting aside the increase year-on-year of our rates, being a long-term resident of more than 20 years, the gross amount has become a crushing load to bear.

That is especially the case for people moving into the retirement phase of life. How can the Chief Minister think that the "heavy lifting" is not ongoing each year?

When will the people of Canberra realise this government is ripping everyone off for rates?

Under the heading of "Tell the truth" Mike Seah (Letters, August 25) quotes from the Doherty report, showing high hospitalisation and death rates, including 86 children under 16. Very scary indeed, but perhaps Mr Seah's interpretation of what is truth needs to be questioned.

As was clearly stated in the report, the numbers quoted by Mr Seah relate just to a comparison of different vaccination strategies in isolation, without any other modifying inputs. They are not "real world" projections.

Later tables in the report (ie, table 4.2 on page 11 of the addendum, dated August 10) show that under the proposed staged approach, with the corresponding test, trace, isolate and quarantine (TTIQ) responses, those deaths are estimated to be 13 (not 2710 as quoted by Mr Seah) and not a single death of a child.

Selective quoting of figures like this, or for a sudden uncontrolled, restriction-free opening (as Fred Pilcher did in his letter of the same day) is irresponsible and dishonest. No one, not the PM nor the NSW Premier, has ever suggested this.

The Doherty report has proposed a staged and gradual relaxation, with the option of targeted restrictions in response to local outbreaks, and this is the approach which should be adopted by all our leaders.

Accurate reporting of data and correctly quoting politicians would be a good way to start "telling the truth".

Mike Seah spells out the Doherty Institute's sobering predictions (Letters, August 25).

Moreover, dire realities in NSW show Doherty's baseline assumptions are overly optimistic with regard to initial case numbers, public compliance, tracing efficacy and health sector capacity.

Doherty's most glaring simplification is to assume that hospital and ICU resources are equally accessible to every Australian.

Scotty is marketing a falsehood.

I applaud the courage of our defence personnel in assisting with the evacuation of Australian citizens, residents and friends from Kabul.

As Mr Morrison has changed his mind and now accepts it is necessary to take risks in order to save lives, does this mean we are likely to see an evacuation of Australian children from Syria?

The recognition of greater diversity in our Parliament with statues of Dorothy Tangney, Enid Lyons and Neville Bonner is as welcome as it is overdue. Our migrant communities, now known as culturally and linguistically diverse (or CALD) groups, also need to be recognised.

The legal status of Australian nationality or Australian citizenship was created by the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948, which came into force on 26 January 1949.

The timing of the 1948 act coincided with the Immigration Act 1948, which opened the way for large-scale immigration by removing restrictions in previous acts and ushered in waves of early post-war migrants - and continuing waves ever since. Together, the two acts saw large numbers of migrants become naturalised Australians, with the same rights and obligations as Australian born citizens.

To represent all those who have migrated to Australia, become citizens and exercised their right to vote, or to stand for election, the first naturalised Australians to become members of the House of Representatives and the Senate after 1948 deserve a place in the Parliamentary Triangle.

The statues could be placed on either side of the Museum of Australian Democracy in Old Parliament House and the two sides of Parliament Square renamed accordingly.

But who were they?

In the letters pages on August 26, a couple of correspondents referred to negative experiences in call queues.

The most bizarre and exasperating experience I have had in relatively recent times was when I rang a large Canberra pathology business about 15 minutes after their stated opening time.

I was given the (now, almost inevitable) automated spiel about them being subject to a high level of calls and was told I had been placed in a queue. My number in the queue was (wait for it...) number two.

So, in this case, two callers apparently represent a high level of demand. What absolute nonsense, and what absolute contempt for customers to describe demand in such terms. After 23 minutes I had progressed to number one in the queue, and two minutes later I was connected to a human being.

Further to your excellent editorial "Let's vaccinate and isolate for freedom" (canberratimes.com.au, August 26), it is important to bear in mind that a fully vaccinated person can still be a carrier of the coronavirus.

This clearly implies that those of us who are fortunate enough to be fully vaccinated must continue to take the precautions of wearing a mask except when at home, physical distancing when people other than your family are nearby, and diligent hand hygiene.

Given that totally eliminating the virus is very unlikely, these precautions could continue for some time. We will just have to get used to observing them.

The story on John Howard's comment "I have absolutely no regrets': Howard on Afghanistan war", (August 17, p13) goes into what can only be regarded as an intentional misinterpretation of who did what to the World Trade Centre.

Even after all these years, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are intentionally confused with and incorrectly associated with Osama bin Laden, so as to justify the invasion of Afghanistan.

This is despite the fact there was never any proof that Osama bin Laden was in the country. Newly minted US Secretary of State Andrew Blinken seems to be singing from Howard's song sheet as well.

We are fools if we believe anything other than that the hatred generated against us in the Middle East and Afghanistan was built brick by brick by John Howard's misguided participation in Afghanistan in 2001 and the subsequent slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people in Iraq in 2003 in the "weapons of mass destruction" farce.

When the killings by the Taliban begin in Afghanistan, we should rightly place the blame at the feet of Howard. The current LNP government in Australia is simply endorsing the misinformation.

Jane Malcolm (Letters, August 20) is correct on the "many reasons" for calling policemen cops.

Some 80 years ago, my uncle, a policeman, explained to me that when Sir Robert Peel (the younger, 1788-1850) founded the Metropolitan Police Force in London's Scotland Yard in 1829, he wanted them to be noticed by lawbreakers and mobs. Hence, uniforms, a cap, and later the well-known helmet all contributed to visibility.

According to Uncle Jim, the uniform boasted copper buttons, another pathway to "coppers and cops". A rather more academic reason is cited by The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, which suggests cop is derived from the Latin "capere" - to take, seize or capture. Whatever happened to rozzers? The Oxford English Dictionary lists it as slang for policeman, but confesses "origin unknown".

Today I am more grateful than usual to The Canberra Times and the letters to the editor column. The lockdown restrictions keep me inside where, like everyone else, I can't swap greetings with people I might pass on the foot path, nor observe a change in the weather when the cappuccino arrives.

If you believe all of their public relations claims, the Taliban must be the most evil people since al-Qaeda, ISIL, ISIS, Daesh, the Vietcong, the Germans, the Japanese, the Huns, the Boers, Genghis Kahn and God.

John Howard believes the allies' exit from Afghanistan was too swift. So too, John, was your ill-considered entry to that poor country.

So, if COVID-19 cases drop in NSW, and Australia generally, restrictions can be relaxed. If they increase, and certainly if they increase a lot, lockdowns are pointless and can be done away with. Compelling logic based on making the outcome that one desires the guiding principle.

Like many Canberra Times letter writers, I fear an explosion in COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths when Australia starts to open up once the 70 per cent and 80 per cent targets are reached.

But, on the other hand, the virus is clearly out of control in NSW and heading that way in Victoria. I'm glad it is not my decision to have to make.

I have just watched the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister interviewed on the ABC. I thought I was watching Fox News.

No, Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, (Letters, August 26) you would not be far from the truth if you said the arms manufacturers had won the war in Afghanistan. In fact, you'd be so close to the truth as to be stating a truism.

I appeal to sculptors to create a collection of full-size comic characters representing known climate change deniers, and to place their exhibits along the foreshores of Lake Burley Griffin to name and shame for all to see.

Will the unvaccinated also be required to wear a symbol on their clothing to be easily identified, or would this just appear like history repeating itself?

ACT Health instructs residents in quarantine to have a COVID-19 test between day 12 and day 13. I was not aware that there was a space between those two days. This could be a job for Ken Behrens.

Well done Andrew Barr for calling out "Pork" Barilaro's Canberra "poo-gate".

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