How much is the strategic defence plan really going to cost?

To express costs as a percentage of GDP is misleading.

One would think "we can surely afford 2 per cent, it is only a small fraction of 100 per cent.

But the GDP figure bears no relation to what we can afford.

To understand that we need to know what is actually being spent; ie how much of the budget is being allocated to defence spending.

In the budget for 2023 defence took 6.3 per cent of the total expenditure.

The proposed increase of 0.4 per cent of GDP translates as an extra 1.5 per cent of the current budget.

That would take defence spending to 7.8 per cent, overtaking education (7.1 per cent) for the first time in peacetime I believe.

This shift in priorities should shock those who think that spending billions of dollars to underwrite adversarial military blocs and alliances is not the best response to an imagined threat from China.

The Australian government has offered permanent residence to French "bollard man" Damien Guerot, who confronted a knife-wielding killer. Permanent residency is a contract between a government and a resident. When it comes to honouring contracts with the French, the Australian government has a dubious record.

The dismissive attitude shown by former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce about the role and use of a business case and its associated processes for a $550 million project at the Australian War Memorial shows how little has changed in LNP circles as far as transparency, probity and public accountability are concerned ("Urgent meeting sought over AWM work", April 13).

Perhaps required scrutiny of a business case never kept Barnaby from a bucket of money under any funding program run by the Coalition government.

This could help explain why he can't reassure the broader electorate that he knows why the AWM and relevant ministers must be accountable and that the memorial can and should be audited like any other Commonwealth entity that manages a large publicly funded program or a new area of significant financial responsibility, such as a major 10-year redevelopment project.

No other equally important and culturally valued national institution has been swaddled in politically selective "hands off" cotton wool.

Clive Williams describes Benjamin Netanyahu as a "loose cannon with his own agenda" ("Netanyahu, a loose cannon, has world on tenterhooks" April 18).

I would describe the Israeli Prime Minister as a despot.

He is so desperate to avoid the grasp of Israel's law and penal system that he allies himself with the nation's most radical Zionists and hard-right politicians.

He also continues to wage war against Palestinians with no end in sight.

It is not surprising Australia is facing near-record low fertility rates given the way young people are treated.

Many have acquired a substantial HECS debt.

Buying a home is unaffordable without the help of the "bank of mum and dad" and rents are exorbitant.

The tax system is weighted against them by high taxing of earned income while the wealthy have deductions like negative gearing, franking credits, and capital gains tax concessions.

Childcare costs are amongst the highest in the world.

Finally, they know that governments aren't doing enough to address the climate crisis.

Unless these issues are addressed the future must seem bleak to many and the cost of children too high.

Governments and some in the media are running interference for the knife lobby and knife fetishists who love their assault knives more than they love women and children.

Thus there is no push for an assault knife ban, knife registration scheme, knife licensing, safe knife storage laws and knife prohibition orders.

Misogynist politicians and media apparatchiks also support laws that make it illegal for ordinary women to carry a non-lethal defensive tool like pepper spray, much less a pistol like those used by the security guards who protect these elites who work in high security parliaments and corporate offices.

Having spent millions on seven failed feasibility studies as to where or if a new sports stadium was to be built in Canberra, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has the gall to expect the federal government to kick in half the cost of the project when agreement is finally reached.

Self-government was thrust upon us despite ACT residents (ratepayers), twice voting against it in referendums. The ACT's finances are in an appalling mess thanks to irresponsible decisions on how the ratepayers money is spent.

The tram is just one example.

Surely self-government means self-sufficiency.

The article "Barr wants stadium cash'" (April 15) says a new stadium would cost at least $500 million.

While it is possible that Andrew Barr's 15 years of begging the Commonwealth will finally bear fruit, more realistically more of the same approach seems doomed for failure.

What Barr hasn't tried to do is attract private sector investment in a new stadium.

Of course, just like was done to enable private sector investment in a new Canberra airport, an investable proposal for a new stadium involving associated real estate needs to be developed.

So, Iran has launched an aerial attack on Israel, reportedly using several hundred armed drones and other missiles.

Unsurprisingly, Israel's Iron Dome and Arrow 3 defence systems were engaged and defeated this assault.

These Israeli missile defence systems are long-standing and well-understood. So, we can only speculate as to Iran's real motives in doing this.

What we do know is that this assault has given Israel carte blanche with regard to its response. And, as we have seen in Gaza, we know just how restrained and measured the IDF are in responding to hostile acts.

I just wanted to mention a memorial statue we found in a waterfront park in Fremantle.

It was erected to commemorate a massacre of Indigenous people by colonial settlers.

On one side is a plaque installed in recent times explaining the situation which led up to the incident, and thus giving the full picture.

It does not condone, and nothing has been torn down. I found it very refreshing to be given the chance to reflect on history as it was and is.

Let's talk about "duty of care"; it's such an old fashioned phrase.

But despite that the reality is that we really must be sure to look after ourselves and others.

Of course we love to go out and enjoy the company of friends.

But when we do let's learn the names of choices of non-alcoholic drinks to include in an evening of enjoyment.

Let's be watchful for friends who might need help to get home safely.

And let's be sure we can drive safely and call a cab if we are unsure.

And let's never, never abandon a companion only part of the way home. And let's teach our teenagers well.

If The Canberra Times is going to publish quotes from the findings of Justice Michael Lee in relation to the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case please do it correctly. The front page on April 16 published, in large font: "Having escaped the lion's den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat".

Justice Lee actually said "...Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat".

"Coming back" (as in coming back to court) has a stronger and more powerful meaning than "going back" and I believe that would be the reason Justice Lee said it that way.

Justice Lee chose his words carefully in his judgement. I ask that you quote his words correctly.

Apparently the adjustment for HECS may be as high as 4.8 per cent. That is quite amazing since the government adjusted the age pension last month by less than 2 per cent. Recipients are increasingly worse off as inflation is well above that. Didn't the Prime Minister promise that no one should be worse off under his government?

Converting electric vehicles to sound like ICE ones for safety reasons (Letters , April 17), would be akin to re-enacting the 1865 UK requiring self-propelled vehicles to be led by a pedestrian waving a red flag or carrying a lantern to warn road users of the vehicle's approach.

Herman van den Berg (Letters, April 17) displays the same ignorance of the Middle East that Penny Wong's "15 minutes of fame" speech did in Canberra last week. The Jews and Arabs have been arguing over the joint for about 3500 years. Solving it will take more than a UN resolution.

Stormy Daniels, the woman Trump says he never had sex with, has said she can provide an exact description of Trump's intimate anatomy. Let's hope the poor jurors do not have to see a photo of this evidence as Exhibit A.

Have any of those clutching their copy of For the term of his natural life and furiously gnashing their teeth about the renaming of the fairly new Sirius building stopped to consider the building is an APS workplace, not a national monument?

You cannot be Sirius. Perhaps we can change the name to the McEnroe building.

In the face of harsh criticism of Peter Dutton on his insensitive comparison of the Port Arthur massacre with the Opera House pro-Palestinian protests he is hypocritical by accusing the PM of lack of leadership. When will Dutton admit he's wrong? Maybe when he shows some leadership.

The continued blocking of aid deliveries into Gaza is part of the ongoing tragedy for the people there. Spare a thought for the "Freedom Flotilla" that is preparing to deliver aid by sea directly to the needy. There are some Australians involved, and they deserve support when official channels are inadequate.

Your editorial of April 16, "Are there any lessons from the Lehrmann verdict?" ends as it might have begun: "If the original allegation of rape had been reported to the police in 2019 justice would have been much better served".

Will Labor double the number of Medicare-funded mental health consultations as was the case during COVID under the LNP?