ACT government needs to extend scope of proposed VAD laws

So why doesn't the government give the ACT a more humane voluntary assisted dying law? There are many people who will experience intolerable suffering for years, sometimes decades, before the proposed bill would give them access to VAD. They are people with neurodegenerative conditions, untreatable chronic pain or psychiatric conditions.

The bill provides no way for a person to access VAD if they suffer total loss of mental capacity due to dementia. I have a brother in care with dementia. He still has some residual mental capacity, but his condition will worsen. He will lose the ability to recognise loved ones and will have no quality of life at all.

When he was capable why couldn't he have signed an advance care directive or similar that would enable him to access VAD when he has no quality of life left? Obviously, safeguards are essential, but safeguards are a feature of all VAD legislation.

There has to be a path that does not force people to live when life is really not worth living. I hope Andrew Barr and Tara Cheyne will show us they deserve to be called social leaders by giving us more humane VAD laws.

I am writing in response to Peter Toscan's article "missing pelicans". Sadly two now are missing. I walk the pond twice weekly and have missed these true-to-life birds, as have all regular walkers.

Hopefully Peter's letter will help find Neil Dickinson's fabulous stolen artistry.

If so, regular walkers will enjoy seeing them perched alongside their lonely mate again.

Noel Whittaker (Business, February 19) wrote that he was shocked that people were still using cheques.

While most of us do not use them, there is a portion of the population who do, and have done so their whole lives.

These people often are elderly, live rurally, don't have easy access to a post office or bank and don't use computers.

One such person is my father, recently turned 100, living independently with his 97-year-old wife on his property some 100 kilometres from Canberra. Although he pays most bills over the phone, the cheque book has always worked best for him.

He has been through unnecessary upset in dealing with his local bank and has actually changed to another bank who will issue him with cheque books.

It will be a cruel move by banks to remove cheque books from these people who rely on them. If dad gives me a cheque I simply deposit it at my local post office. Hardly an arduous task.

Premier Steven Miles of course you love Brisbane and a visit to Canberra is not like living here.

I hope that one day you visit and experience a moment when "the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze" and remember the stamina of the man from Snowy River.

Even in summer the air is different here as my Sydney brother marvelled on his Christmas visit.

Our precious sports people will be continue to be just fine in Canberra.

It was depressing to hear Clare O'Neil, Labor Minister for Home Affairs, defending the unlawful imprisonment of asylum seekers on Nauru with the disgraceful and discredited LNP line of "saving people from drowning".

Indefinite detention is a breach of basic human rights, international law and the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Vacuous statements on theoretical saved drownings from politicians of all stripes in regard to this evil policy and the support it receives in the digital media demonstrates a sorrowful lack of compassion in the Australian community.

If a renowned British broadcaster and biologist had made a similar discovery to mine in Canberra's south recently I'm sure it would've been along the lines of: "And here we have the rarest of species, only to emerge once every three to four years, the mechanically steered 'roadus sweeperus', cowering on verges of roadways briefly before retreating into hibernation".

It must be an ACT election year.

As Mark Kenny said ("The West's flimsy values showing", February 18) "It [the US] has failed to make Tel Aviv pay any price for the ongoing oppression of displaced Palestinians, and for the iterative vandalism of any future Palestinian state".

I hope Jane Parnwell (Letters, February 17) read this article.

Has Jane Parnwell read the International Court of Justice ruling in the case of South Africa against Israel? In effect, the ICJ calls for a ceasefire, and Israel has ignored that ruling.

The ICJ has not yet made a final ruling on genocide in that case, but it made a clear ruling (15 to two) in relation to Palestinians, that Israel must stop "(a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group... The court further considers that Israel must ensure with immediate effect that its military forces do not commit any of the above-described acts".

Israel is required to report to the ICJ on February 26 on the measures it has taken to comply with the ruling. This includes providing humanitarian aid - food, water, aid, shelter - to avoid bringing about the "physical destruction in whole or in part" of the Palestinians.

The aid agency, UNRWA, must be allowed to do its job.

Keith Hill (Letters, February 22) is defending the Albanese government's reneging on the promise to retain the stage three tax cuts in their entirety on the basis that "circumstances change".

It must have been a veritable tsunami of a change as a week prior to the changes being announced the PM was still saying the government was standing fast and there would be no changes.

A promise is a promise.

If somebody lies they are a liar.

When George Orwell wrote 1984 he foresaw the world breaking into three geopolitical regions, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia.

There was perpetual war between two regions, allied against the third.

From time to time the alliances would change, but the war would continue.

Orwell's prescience is reflected in the divisions in our world today.

We have the free West, which lavishes itself with excessive luxury and occupies much of its time with trivia, such as neutral pronouns, and obsession with celebrities and wealth.

It leaves itself exposed as it has become indulgent and complacent.

We have the poorer nations, some 100 of them, without basic human necessities such as health and education, and lacking governance structures and economies to give their people a chance to rise up.

Lastly, we have the totalitarian regimes, some run by despots who crush opposition by subversive methods such as false trials, physical abuse and murder.

Some are theocracies that eschew tolerance and demand strict obedience. Their people know they can exist provided they do as they are told, turn a blind eye to corruption, and never challenge their rulers.

As the free West we have a duty to see the world can be better; democratic, more equal, less polluting, and at peace.

I fear we are failing.

Marea Fatseas (Letters, February 21) may be interested to know that it is not only Deakin and Yarralumla that are poorly served by two-hourly ACTION bus services on Saturday afternoons.

This seems to be the norm for many suburban services.

My visit to the Multicultural Festival had to be arranged around the two-hourly timetable for buses between Civic and Weetangera.

Even travelling via a rapid route between Civic and the Belconnen interchange had to take into account the two-hourly schedule of connecting suburban services.

It goes without saying that this is definitely not anything remotely resembling a serious approach to public transport.

We now have drone aircraft for our RAAF and drone ships coming for our navy. When will the Albanese government announce it is going to buy robots for our army?

It looks like Woolworths' Brad Banducci used the self-checkout aisle.

While Brad Banducci has copped all the flak for his lack-lustre Four Corners interview the performance of his Coles counterpart, Leah Weckert, on the same program was hardly inspiring. What was certainly clear from both interviews is that media training is a necessary prerequisite for high-powered CEOs.

Pollies of all stripes get cheers across the nation when they bash Canberra; it's a gift that keeps giving. One upside of Canberra is that the climate is only getting better. If we could have this summer every year I'd be happy. Queensland looks set for a future of waterlogged one day, mouldy the next.

Not sure what to make of the hoo-haa over the possible location of the AIS. While not a big story I note Miles says Queensland has better weather for athletes. With rapid global heating that won't be for long. But there's nothing for Canberrans to get into a tizzy over despite Steve Evan's breathless reporting.

On the ABC news, in reference to Julian Assange, Richard Marles said that "Julian has been in detention a long time and you can't keep people in detention indefinitely" - that is unless you come to Australia on a boat.

Mario Stivala's (Letters, February 20) cynicism about Albo and Jodie's engagement is predictable. Plus, he should know that we haven't had separate half-Senate and House elections for yonks. The basis of his premise is shot.

Barnaby's on the wagon for 40 days (I presume that include nights), and while I'm sure he's not pulling the wool over our eyes what's his position after sober deliberation on testing pollies for booze in Parliament (and indeed cocaine?) And what about a swear jar in the bar?

If Opposition Leader Dutton talks down Australia's maritime border controls as "weakened by Labor's election" isn't he sending a clear message to people-smugglers that it's open slather now to launch leaky boats into Australia's waters. Even if they don't believe him they will surely pass that message on to potential customers.

If the Australian government ran healthcare the way it has been running defence there would be carts in the streets with the drivers yelling "bring out your dead". It's ridiculous. Something has too change - and very quickly.