The Attorney-General needs to end the Collaery trial now

One matter requiring most urgent attention, after dropping all charges against Mr Collaery, is the restoration of his reputation and professional career. While financial compensation for this disgraceful political farce is warranted, a far more judicious compensation would be a demonstration of faith in his legal abilities among the judiciary, on behalf of the Australian public.

A former ACT attorney-general, with a reputation for social justice and moral values, Mr Collaery is highly respected among his Australian and international colleagues as a legal mind of unique ability.

Australia will soon be assembling the entourage to advise a new federal ICAC, and we would be hard put to find a more suitable adviser or committee member than Mr Collaery.

Bradley Perrett ("We can't be China's punching bag", canberratimes.com.au, June 11) is upset that a Chinese J-16 fighter harassed an RAAF P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea by releasing aluminium strips used to confuse radars.

Why was this RAAF aircraft flying so close to China, many thousands of kilometres from Australia?

Bradley calls this incident "armed force", wants Australia to organise our "friends" to impose trade sanctions against employment-sensitive Chinese industries, and says there's no need to fear reprisals by China.

He also advocates diplomatic campaigns against alleged Chinese oppression in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, together with clever anti-CCP information campaigns aimed at Chinese people.

That could be seen as inciting Australian interference in China's internal affairs. Australians wouldn't like to see China reciprocating by inciting opposition to Australia's abuse of our original inhabitants.

China's policies in the South China Sea and in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are legitimate and reasonable.

Bradley concludes that we should help Taiwan's military forces and encourage the US and Europeans to "pitch in".

The Canberra Times article doesn't question the wisdom of the Australian military flying near the Chinese coast, yet the paper prints articles expressing outrage at Chinese ships traversing international waters near Western Australia, as well as China's offering trade agreements to Solomon Islanders and other nations thousands of kilometres from Australia.

Such double standards would be laughable if they weren't so irrational, stupid and dangerous to Australian and Chinese security and welfare.

Is Bradley Perrett the nom de plume of an over-belligerent schoolchild? Much of the government action he proposes in his latest China article ("We can't be China's punching bag", canberratimes.com.au, June 11) reads like the script of a playground argument over whose dad is bigger.

China is an ever-growing world power and is behaving like other, historically similar, powers (although it hasn't started as many wars as others have).

Dealing with China requires a great deal more sophistication than is proposed in Mr Perrett's latest philippic.

I am really pleased to see The Canberra Times now taking up some of the issues surrounding the disastrous macropod cull in the ACT ("Roo defenders say count is wrong", canberratimes.com.au, June 11).

Driving from Goulburn to Canberra on a regular basis for the past 30 years, I used to see groups of kangaroos and wallaroos on the approaches to the ACT and along Majura Drive.

In the past year I have seen one lone joey left of what were quite obvious many family groups of macropods. I used to think how good it was for tourists to see Australian fauna as they approached our city. Not any more; they are all gone, and I mean all.

I scan the paddocks in vain for a single animal other than cows and sheep.

Despite all the letters to the minister, not once has she explained how the cull on Farrer Ridge in 2021 went so wrong, with almost the entire population of kangaroos wiped out. It was claimed that over 100 were left on the reserve, but extensive counts can only locate 32.

Where are the other 70 or so, minister? I suggest they were all shot. So much for the one kangaroo per hectare recommended in the kangaroo management plan as a desired conservation outcome.

Why was it necessary to almost exterminate the ridge population, to leave the reserve a weed bed and a future serious fire hazard? The whole cull program is seriously flawed.

Remarks by the ACT's conservator of flora and fauna, Ian Walker, regarding the government's kangaroo-killing policy ("Roo defenders say count is wrong", canberratimes.com.au, June 11) would be hilarious if they were not so tragic.

Kangaroos damage the ecosystem because they eat grass? Spare us. The government doesn't need any notion of how many kangaroos are left in the ACT before deciding to kill 1650 more of them. Notably, 1650 is a whopping 40 per cent of all the kangaroos that are left in the reserves, according to the only independent direct count that has ever been conducted in the ACT.

Last week, after the first three weeks' of shooting on Red Hill Nature Reserve, the government sent in cleaners to wash away the blood trails of kangaroos wounded but not killed.

This scale of wounding was entirely predictable. In the Red Hill Reserve the dense tree cover, along with the high winds of the past three weeks, guaranteed a horrifically high wounding rate. The code of practice says the shooters must not shoot in adverse environmental conditions, but this has never stopped them yet.

Similarly, the code requires that joeys be killed instantly by a sharp blow to the head. Tell that to the poor young kangaroo found in a government burial pit in 2012. The autopsy report showed it had been shot, bludgeoned and stabbed before dying of either suffocation or blood loss.

The ACT government's slaughter is senseless and obscene. It has to stop.

Re: "Roo defenders say count is wrong", canberratimes.com.au, June 11.

A cull took place on Farrer Ridge in 2021. The aim of the directorate was to leave 101 kangaroos in a space of 202 hectares (0.5 kangaroos per hectares). Since the cull, there are only 30 kangaroos left on Farrer Ridge. The swamp wallaby has not been seen since the cull. Something went seriously wrong.

The directorate has not provided an explanation as to what happened. The vegetation has become excessive and will become a fire hazard come summer.

The appointment of Dr Brendan Murphy to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the highest rank, is thoroughly deserved.

Dr Murphy, then chief medical officer to the Morrison government, calmly explained to the nation what was being done to combat the coronavirus pandemic and why. He was almost single-handedly responsible for averting widespread confusion, fear, and panic.

I was so impressed that I nominated Dr Murphy for 2020 Australian of the Year.

Why are we beset by a government with a penchant for considering developments in ill-conceived locations? The latest example is a commercial development application (Development Application 202138789), by InvoCare, to construct a cemetery and crematorium complex adjacent to the Callum Brae Nature Reserve on the corner of Mugga Lane and Narrabundah Lane, citing overloading of the current crematorium complex in north Canberra as the reason for the application.

A recent survey by the Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association stated the ACT is using only 18 per cent of its current crematorium capacity.

This commercial, inappropriately sited, and unnecessary proposal has the potential to damage endangered flora and fauna, with the loss of mature native trees such as the critically endangered yellow box and blakely red gum, grassy woodland, and nesting hollows used by up to 168 avian species. These include the gang-gang cockatoo and swift parrot, both of which were sighted in this area up to June 2022 by accredited observers.

If you care about these lovely birds and the woodland, make your objection known by casting your vote prior to the closing date of July 1, 2022, on the e-petition posted by the office of MLA Jo Clay.

I really wish Labor would stop blaming the previous Liberal government for all the problems on Earth. The Australian people have already recognised this and voted them out. Period.

Leslie Barnard (Letters, May 31) implied that Australia doesn't need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, because our emissions are small compared with those of countries such as the USA. Using that logic, as each state of the USA produces only a small amount of emissions, presumably none of them need to reduce emissions either.

I appreciate being addressed as an adult by our new federal ministers, who are, in the main, pleasant, reasonable and articulate.

Peter Dutton's claims as to his persona suggest a situation akin to Wagner's music being said to be better than it sounds.

I cannot help R. A. Goss with a warm holiday (Letters, June 8) but I would like to suggest Mabo Day, June 3, as an appropriate day to replace the Queen's Birthday holiday. That day has much more meaning for Australia.

The Queen's platinum jubilee was appropriate. Platinum is malleable, ductile, and resistant to corrosion.

As a new federal corruption investigation body draws closer, some individuals must be nervous. No wonder it is called "I cac".

Labor's work at the moment is shovelling out the muck left behind by the previous mob. Talk about a poisoned chalice. Just as well ScoMo is not around. We all know he doesn't hold a hose ... or a shovel.

I agree with Mark Kenny's article on the damage done by boxing. ("Sporting world is punch-drunk on violent spectacle", canberratimes.com.au, June 10). It is insane that a "sport" whose objective is to knock an opponent unconscious can continue, years after the scientific evidence is in about the damage it does.

The PM says the $3.4 billion spent on the cancelled French diesel submarine contract "represents an extraordinary waste" by the previous government. How so? Did Labor ever say we should complete the contract, eschewing the unexpected opportunity to acquire nuclear powered subs?

It appears to be just as much the policy of this government as Morrison's to inflict suffering on fellow humans for crass political motives (Government stays silent on reports of second boat arrival, canberratimes.com.au, June 11).