Pathetic tokenism insufficient to save iconic koalas

Three states unleashed open warfare on koalas. At (former) Deputy Premier John Barilaro's insistence the Forestry Corporation was given the go-ahead to log Lower Bucca, disregarding destruction of koala habitat and koalas.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley gave her blessing to Port Stephens Brandy Hill mine extension, which includes 52 hectares of important koala habitat! At Victoria's Cape Bridgewater koalas were openly slaughtered when 140 acres were bulldozed.

Queensland's Cabbage Tree Wildlife corridor was to be cleared for townhouses, fast food outlets and a childcare centre with koalas left to their own devices. WWF-Australia estimates there were 61,353 koalas among the 3 billion animals affected by the 2019-2020 bushfires, when their habitats were irrevocably destroyed.

Against this background $50 million is a pathetic response to open slaughter of our emblematic marsupial, and even more disgusting because it is doled out over years, scattered among so many "services" as to make it meaningless (Govt vows to allocate $50m to help boost koalas, Sunday CT, 30 January, p.3).

If this paltry, desperate, green-washing, politically motivated marketing strategy, akin to his cynical joke of $1 billion over nine years to breathe life back into the cadaver of the Great Barrier Reef, was meant to win hearts and minds, it will instead draw further attention to Morrison's ineptitude and repeated inability to "get it"!

Cyclists and motorists alike will be perplexed by what is happening on the Kuringa Drive cycle path. Sensible cycling facilities along the stretch of that road between Spence and the Barton Highway were decades overdue when announced by the ACT government for completion in advance of the 2020 election.

Eventually work was completed in September 2021. Since then, the government has been erecting increasingly robust fences that attempt to block cyclists from using the path.

Is it just possible that this project has been moved from the 2020 'Ribbon cutting for re-election' works program to the 2024 version of the same program.

If so, how long before we see razor wire and armed guards.

Tom Ballard and others who boycotted the Sydney Festival because of the sponsorship it received from Israel are no doubt proud of their "moral" stance ("Festival acts boycott over Israel funding" January 31).

For the last few years, the Sydney Festival has had, as a sponsor, a Chinese airline, owned by the Chinese that, among other things is committing genocide against the Uighurs, has crushed democracy in Hong Kong, and continues a brutal, unprovoked occupation of Tibet.

Was there any talk of a boycott then, or are the boycotters only concerned about the sole Jewish state, whose supposed war crimes are actually self-defence against Palestinian terrorism, as seen in Gaza, and whose occupation would have been long over if the Palestinians were prepared to negotiate a two-state peace?

It is entirely legitimate to impugn the actions and motivation of a country or leader, as Coke Tomyn does of Russia and Putin in relation to Ukraine (Letters, January 30).

What is not acceptable as a rhetorical device, and is disappointing to see in print, is the implication that Europe is "civilised" and that Russia is not.

This is the sort of thinking that was used in the past to justify the conquest by Europeans of most of the world, including Australia, inhabited by non-whites.

Indeed, it was used in propaganda against each other within Europe to inflame hatred in the series of devastating fratricidal wars and millions of deaths.

In such times of dangerous tension, care needs to be taken to ensure that words are not weaponised to mislead and feed hostilities.

Ashleigh Barty, a true champion.

To come back from a five sets to one deficit in the second set of the singles final, and then win the set to win the game, was a truly herculean effort from her.

Her calm demeanour, both on and off the courts, is something that all sportspersons around the world would do well to emulate.

Well done Ash.

There were three tennis champions at the 2022 Australian Open recently.

One showed grace, composure and good manners - Ash Barty. The other two were men with no grace, no manners and no maturity.

Medveded, who had no shirt on and was seriously arguing with the referee, and Kyrgios who crudely squirted a water bottle between a male official's legs.

I have been put off a game I have played and enjoyed all of my life.

If anyone is sceptical that the pandemic has proven a great long-term pretext for cost-cutting, for many funds-starved cultural institutions, they only have to look at the NLA. Before the last nine years of federal Coalition government, this major historical research facilitator was open 9am to 9pm.

This gradually became 10am to 8pm, with additional cancellations of reader services on weekends, accompanying draconian staff cuts. After actually maintaining those hours when possible in 2020, since the last ACT lockdown it has steadfastly adhered to the former strictly Christmas and New Year-only weekday hours of 10am-5pm, which continue now indefinitely in 2022.

It will be interesting to see whether a future non-Coalition government will make good on lip service and address the merciless funding cuts to cultural institutions - among other more high-profile-scandalous ones - of the last decade.

Judging by the recent Newspoll, it looks like Anthony Albanese will be our next PM. But we should ask on what basis will Labor be elected? We are yet to hear of a single positive policy that they propose, to make Australia a better and fairer country. As a reversal of Bill Shorten's disastrous attempt to win in 2019, Labor is simply messaging voters 'Things are not good here, so Vote 1 Labor' and 'Trust Labor and all will be well'. Their campaign is not based on a contest of ideas, but rather building a culture of complaint.

Just over a year ago, we saw the Democrats win in the USA on a similar basis. Biden made himself a small target but messaged that America would be saved by removing Trump. He was helped of course by Trump's foot-shooting oratory on many fronts. But now President Biden is in power, spectacularly failing to deliver. The pre-election messaging has amounted to nothing. Voters are upset, and the country is more divided than ever. The mantra of complaint, delivered through constant and often shallow messaging, should not be for us. We need a positive campaign for the common good.

Any time Liberal National Party ministers suggest Anthony Albanese or shadow ministers from the Labor party "can't or won't say" where the money (for their policies) is coming from, their response really should be quite simple.

"We'll get it from the $16 billion dollar piggy bank of unannounced policies flagged by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg".

David Brudenall's response (Letters, January 30) to my defence of January 26 as Australia Day is totally illogical.

David acknowledges there is a debate over the merits of the date, but he then declares the only way to resolve this is for the majority - for indeed, every survey ever taken on the subject has shown the majority to be in favour of retaining January 26 - to accede to the demands of the minority and accept another date.

How about the other option - the minority instead accepts both the historical reality of the day and the wishes of the majority, and let us go on to celebrate Australia Day in peace.

Those who choose not to are perfectly welcome to stay away.

I think that's called democracy!

What the hell is the Omicron variant up to?

B1 and B2?

It seem to have morphed into a Bananas in Pyjamas episode.

I, like Rob Ey (Letters, Jan 31), find our non-representative Senator Zed Seselja's conflicting views on Voluntary Assisted Dying and the "let it rip" approach to COVID somewhat curious. I can only assume that Seselja believes that he and the Federal government will decide who will die in this country and the circumstances in which they will die.

The shameful booing and sledging at last week's tennis illustrates the critical difference between being good at sport and being a good sport. And it highlights an ugly streak of oi-oi-oiness emergent in Australian national character. A new type of tennis and a new breed of tennis fan? That's up to Tennis Australia.

My thanks to Ian Warden ('Ennuipocalypse' tries to capture the disconnected despair of climate change and a lasting pandemic, January 31) for introducing us to the splendid new words 'ennuipocalypse' and 'apocodesiccation'. So apt.

If Morrison loses the next election, like the mainstream media is saying (although they did say that last election too) what will writers Crispin Hull, Jack Waterford and Jenna Price have to write about? All they do is criticise anything the Morrison government does.

P R Temple (Letters, Jan 29), believes that there are tennis etiquette rules for all players except Australians. He may very well be correct ,its commonly referred to as a "home advantage".

So Dr Hellyer has testified that "We shouldn't be buying bad capabilities just because they are made in Australia". Excellent policy, when is it going to be implemented? Not the new submarines certainly. Incidentally directing Defence work to non-internationally competitive industry neither creates capability nor employment as it moves assets from areas which are internationally competitive.

The Treasurer has declared that he can't keep writing the cheques. Hooray! This means an end to his government's subsidising the fossil fuel industry and other big business interests. Maybe now there'll be money for affordable housing and adequate recompense for healthcare workers, as a matter of priority.

Marion Sawer suggests a couple of alternative Australia Day dates to our clearly inappropriate January 26 ("Don't let Australia Day debate fade away", Opinion, p.17, January 31). My own suggestion is March 3. On that date in 1986 the Australia Acts of the Commonwealth of Australia and the United Kingdom came into force. Those Acts formally severed all legal ties between us and the mother country (except our risible retention of a British monarch as our head of state). What better date to celebrate our status as a sovereign independent nation?