When will Qantas pay back some of the billions taxpayers gave it?

Being the spirit of Australia and the wonderful corporate citizen that they are I'm confident Qantas will pay back the more than $2 billion gifted to them by the Morrison government courtesy of the Australian tax payer during COVID-19.

Qantas appears to be a protected species with numerous governments appearing to be terrified of competition. Qatar Airways attempted to increase flights to Australia last week but was knocked back.

Canberra seems to be treated very shabbily by Qantas as the Canberra to Sydney route has the most cancelled flights of all. Airfares have virtually doubled since COVID-19 as a number of airlines have chosen not to return.

We're told that we must protect Qantas to preserve well paid Australian jobs. That is complete codswallop as Qantas recruits a large percentage of their staff overseas on lower pay rates and worse conditions.

The only thing Qantas appears to care about is making a profit. They're not the airline they used to be. Having flown Qantas to Singapore at Christmas I wouldn't use them again. Our auxiliary power unit died, some of the entertainment systems didn't work and the service was basic.

Qantas - "the spirit of the ASX".

The Conservation Council ACT Region welcomes the ACT Government's recent commitment to phase out wood heaters, in line with the phase out of fossil gas.

Wood heaters have no place in Canberra's all-electric, 100 per cent renewable energy future.

There is a strong connection between regional native forest logging in NSW and firewood purchases in ACT.

The use of woodfire heaters entrench native forest logging and are an additional hurdle in the race against the biodiversity crisis.

The forests of the NSW South Coast that are destroyed to support Canberra's wood burning habits are home to endangered animals and plants such as the greater glider, spotted quoll, swift parrot, and gang-gang cockatoo.

The use of wood heaters contributes to biodiversity loss.

The government has shown leadership but must bring forward the target date. The council encourages an equitable and swifter phase out.

To ensure swift action there must be a ban on all new wood heaters from November 2023, inline with the ban on new fossil gas connections.

Canberrans regularly visit the South Coast, considering it part of our backyard and may be surprised that the beautiful spotted gum forests are logged for firewood for our city.

Alex Mattea (Letters, August 22) writes "the Greens rent freeze idea is great". I've been there and I can tell you it doesn't work.

I was happily renting a house in Garran problems until a rental boom sent rents skyrocketing. I thought I was okay; my rent was fixed for 12 months.

But come not between a greedy property manager and a dollar. I duly received a letter terminating my lease. When I challenged the property manager I was told the owner needed the property for a member of the family, legitimate grounds for terminating the lease.

I was powerless, and packed my bags.

I monitored the To Let ads for several weeks, and suddenly my previous house was advertised at a considerable increase in rent. The agency, which previously had no properties available at all, suddenly had 10 properties to let.

I lodged a complaint with the ACT consumer affairs agency. Hearing nothing, I followed up at regular intervals; my complaint had been received but the agency was very busy at the time and would be in touch.

When they finally did get in touch it was to tell me that the time to act had expired and there was nothing that could be done.

Rent freezes don't work especially when they're not enforced.

Maree Meredith ("Win or lose, things will change", August 23) must be dreaming. If "no" wins change will be much harder.

While Professor Meredith may be right that there is a majority broadly in favour of the basic principle of addressing indigenous disadvantage, that was also the case with the failed republic referendum.

A strong "no" vote shows a lack of consensus around the details, whether the issue be constitutional recognition of first peoples or an elected head of state.

If "no" wins majority support for addressing Indigenous disadvantage will be overwhelmed by the odium of revisiting such a contentious issue.

The most basic principle - listening to the indigenous people (who developed the Uluru Statement from the Heart containing the Voice proposal) - will have been found not to have majority support.

As a long time member and supporter of the National Parks Association (ACT), I was horrified to read the letter (August 21) from the NPA president, Rosemary Hollow, stating the NSW government should strike "a balance between native and introduced animals" in Kosciuszko National Park.

The NPA ACT website explicitly states that "feral plants and animals should be eradicated from national parks and conservation reserves".

This does not imply a "balance" allowing feral horses to survive in one of the world's notable national parks.

Over the last several years the NPA has worked long and hard to fight the bizarre argument that feral horses belong in a national park, the purpose of which is the conservation of native biodiversity.

So Penny Wong denies we are in any kind of Pacific arms race with the expanding Chinese military, despite evidence to the contrary ("Another billion dollar plus increase announced in defence spending", August 21).

The UK has just announced a huge increase in defence spending, ostensibly to replace all the arms given to Ukraine.

It really does seem that if you want peace prepare for war. What would be interesting if Australia, instead of projecting a very limited military power, declared itself neutral, and cut all external military ties.

That would surely be more beneficial. But oh no, all the arms dealers and their investors would cry foul.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles we need nuclear submarines to advance the cause of peace.

This apparently contradictory position can be better understood by reference to 1984 - the book, not the date.

In Orwell's novel his main character works for the Ministry of Truth. His daily task is to turn inconvenient truths into lies acceptable to the Party.

The Party's three main slogans are "War is Peace", "Freedom is Slavery", and "Ignorance is Strength".

Richard Marles's comment can be more easily understood in the context of such Newspeak.

I am concerned the referendum on the Voice might not succeed. This would be a national and international shame.

Given there is so much misinformation about the Voice I wonder if the referendum question should be split in two.

For example:

Should First Nations Australians be included in the Australian Constitution in recognition of them being the first inhabitants of Australia.

And then:

Should First Nations People have a Voice to Parliament and executive government on matters that directly affect them.

If we did this the first question should succeed even if people are confused about the second question.

Your article "Lucy Tweed's making vegetables sexy again" (August 23) claims Ms Tweed, while not vegetarian, nevertheless "loves vegetables".

Critical Vegetable Theory (CVT) teaches us that a carnivorous Euro-centric person with a womb (CEPW) is virtue signalling when they claim to be an ally of vegetables and is only trying to make themselves feel better for the bloodbath perpetrated by them against the non-human persons with or without wombs not excluding fish and shellfish (NHPWWWNEFS) community.

This is to say nothing of the epistemological harm wrought by asserting vegetables can only have their sexuality enhanced through the efforts of a CEPW.

The very title of the book - Every Night Of The Week Veg - is threatening. Lucy Tweed "has a plan" to cement the oppression of food crops by sexualising them.

I think the maddest thing happening on the planet right now Rod Matthews (Letters, August 21) is that we are still burning fossil fuels when the earth is lurching from one climate induced catastrophe to another (Greece, Canada, Hawaii etc) and threatening our very existence.

RA Goss (Letters, August 23) says like old dudes think like the stuff they learned at school was like better. Sorta like "English is a living language" and that like. An bro' like you know that Stanley guy right now sorta doubles down and whoa yeah like he says "Standards are declining" like yeah right. Prove it, eh. Norman Shakespeare? Was he on Survivor or was it like The Bachelor?

Islam sets clear boundaries between men and women for a good reason. If we had clear boundaries in society incidents such as Luis Rubiales kissing Jenni Hormoso would have never happened. The boundary between what is appropriate between friends, colleagues or partners has become so thin in Western society and culture no one can truly be blamed for slipping up or going too far.

We are going in circles on the murders of women by partners or ex-partners. Such deaths appear to be increasing despite our best efforts. Is this instinctive behaviour based on a desire by males to possess and control females?

The author of Bhutan to Blacktown, Om Dhungel, spoke at The Canberra Writers Festival on Sunday. He said some refugees in his community fearing if the "yes" campaign succeeds they will be sent back to their countries. What other outrageous untruths are being spread in the lead up to the Voice referendum?

The last hurdle saw England falter,

a score she'd be desperate to alter,

her revenge will bring pain,

there's no way now Spain

will ever be given Gibraltar

The Invasive Species Council is also calling for a commitment to aerial gunships for brumbies. What an unsurprising development. I wonder if they were swayed by the report to the Reclaim Kosciusko group undertaken by Don Fletcher himself. I look forward to reading both sides' submissions to the NSW government.

Get a grip. It's Albo's job to travel. Does The Canberra Times think he should pay for these official trips himself? Enough of these annual beat ups.

With 20/20 hindsight and total interoperability with disastrous US misadventures, and a commitment to rush headlong into yet another unwarranted war, making a life-saving "humanitarian gesture" to Vietnam's bloody quagmire is reflective of burning the village in order to save it.