Pro-Palestinian university protesters should not be removed

I am a proud graduate of the ANU, and a mother and grandmother of students. The lawn where the encampment is located was one of the places where I gained my social conscience from debates, teach-ins, my studies and my lecturers in political science and what was then "Oriental Studies".

I also took action in the streets when we stood together to protest Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war. Although at first a small minority, our numbers grew and we eventually (albeit belatedly) gained the support of most Australians, including the government of the day.

What is happening today around the world on the issue of support for Palestine is moving at lightning speed compared to the 1960s. I have absolutely no hesitation in predicting that this view will prevail. The only question is when? But how many Palestinians will be left alive to see that day?

My thanks to Colin Dedman (Letters, May 28) for pointing out the relative sizes of US-made and smaller Japanese "utes". I'll be thinking of him next time I try to find parking space between one of these monsters regardless of their origin. I'll also continue to be pleased that our Korean hatchback (our sole vehicle) uses less fuel and emits fewer pollutants than any of the grunt machines (utes, pick-ups or SUVs - whatever you choose to call them).

I have been watching the coverage of the protest camp at the ANU.

I'm not interested in the politics of Israel vs Gaza battle. I am however deeply interested in Australia remaining a peaceful multicultural country.

I'm of the view any action against the encampment, particularly the politicisation that ANU is engaged in, is clearly favouring the right wing of Australian politics.

ANU appears engaged in an immature application of governance strategies with the claim students have obstructed a fire exit.

I would strongly suggest ANU allows open discussion about both sides of the Gaza-Israel conflict to take place.

I would welcome student debates facilitated by the institution.

I am disappointed with the way Genevieve Bell, the vice chancellor, has handled the encampment at ANU. I don't believe her actions represent Australian values. We are a country of open debate.

I know nothing about the organisation Australian Home Heating which has been urging Canberrans (through ads in The Canberra Times) to sign a petition supporting home wood heaters. While I did once have such a heater I fail to see merit in the obvious commercial campaign. I find it hard to believe that wood heating is equivalent to electrical heating from renewables in terms of carbon emissions.

Then there are particulates, health issues, loss of native forest habitat, greater risk of house fires and just the sheer convenience and more efficient heat flow of electrical heating.

People have been linking the Home Affairs' motto of a few years ago - "People are our business" - with new arrivals in Australia.

The suggestion is Australia sees them as a commodity. But the phrase was developed with the very clients of Home Affairs in mind.

It was intended to encourage staff to treat them better after two damning external reviews.

Part of the problem was its outdated record-keeping systems. A better culture, procedures and computer systems followed.

Migrants are integral to Australian society and have greatly enriched Australian society and cuisine. Without migrants Australia's economy would stagnate and our population would start to shrink.

Due to current employment, housing and associated infrastructure issues the government had lowered the intake even before Peter Dutton started advocating for that.

On past trends, migrant and refugee intakes will increase again when conditions allow.

The Jewish Council of Australia, whom David Purnell cites to support his criticism of Israel, (letters, May 27) is, despite its misleading name, a left-leaning organisation that does not represent the majority of the Jewish community.

The trouble with his call for a political solution is that Hamas is determined to use violence to prevent one from ever being achieved.

Hamas will need to be comprehensively defeated before there can ever be a political solution.

The ABC's Laura Tingle has come under fire for comments she made at a Sydney Writers' Festival event at which she reportedly criticised Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and declared Australia a "racist country".

She may have come to the conclusion that Australia is a racist country based on the rhetoric surrounding the Voice Referendum where sections of the media were printing articles suggesting that we would be paying rent to Indigenous Australians if the referendum passed.

It's possible that it dawned on her that we might be viewed as a racist country when certain political parties blame immigration for everything wrong with our society.

It has been calculated that the mooted cuts in immigration would cost the economy $34 billion.

There has been a large increase in the number of British doctors emigrating to Australia, some filling a desperate shortage in country areas.

Should we prevent them from coming to Australia?

Or maybe it's our offshore detention regime?

Even John Howard initially criticised Pauline Hanson's anti-immigration stance which now seems to have been adopted by the LNP.

Every country is faced with accusations of racism. Many would argue that Brexit was an anti-immigration vote, not an anti European Union one.

Laura Tingle is a brilliant journalist who spoke the truth.

She's entitled to express her viewpoint.

The national broadcaster is like a car in need of a wheel alignment. It will always drift to the left.

Too many of its journalists live and work in the inner suburbs.

Their worldview is shaped by the woke whines of the largely virtue-signalling well-off, who can afford to keep the concerns of middle Australia at arms length and engage in refined identity politics regarding issues of race, gender, the environment and global affairs.

This has led to a city-centric approach to its presentation of news and civil matters. This fosters tribalism rather than strengthening the sinews of social cohesion.

I recall a very pertinent quote made by News Corp journalist David Penberthy in 2019. He said: "I have long had a theory that the best way to work out what Australia thinks is to watch an episode of Q&A. When the audience is cheering and hollering in mad approval at a point one of the panellists has just made, you can rest assured that the opposite sentiment is the one held most widely and strongly in Australia".

The ABC's regional stations do a very commendable job of addressing the concerns of rural and regional residents. Its city-based reporters should follow suit by rejecting groupthink and confirmation bias and actually engage in critical thinking.

They could also at least try to give the impression of nuanced impartiality when reporting on issues that are often far from being black and white.

I notice that a footpath on Parkinson Street, Weston, has been marked with white spray paint as if to indicate repairs are imminent.

I'm sure the regular path users would appreciate the repairs.

However, good luck with that. An adjacent path, on the northern side of the creek, has been reported via Fix My Street at least twice over recent years, and been marked up with white paint twice also.

But no repairs have been carried out. I had cause to report it again this week, with the added comment that due to the increasingly broken surface of the path, an octogenarian lady will now have her arm in a cast for two to three months.

As an aside, during last year very effective lighting was installed along the path. One can't help but muse facetiously that the lights were installed so the trip hazards can be seen at night.

I was going to reply to N Ellis (Letters, May 28). But Crispin Hull ("Idiocy at the core of nuclear pitch") more than did so in the same edition just two pages later. As Hull reminds us, while renewables are intermittent they can readily and effectively be backed up with storage and enhanced transmission to achieve complete reliability.

The unexamined privilege of a person with two cars advising others on how to select their vehicles is a worrying sign of the times (Letters, May 28). I use public transport and a bike, get a lift and even walk. May I humbly suggest many of the people I see driving on clogged roads with zero passengers consider these alternatives.

I wonder when Reconciliation Day and Reconciliation Week will finally be done with? Reconciliation is supposed to be two parties becoming friendly after a disagreement and building a new relationship together. The government has spent billions of dollars on Indigenous issues. There's a lot of reconciliation going in one direction only.

Dozens were killed in an Israeli strike on the tent city for displaced people in Rafah two days after the ICJ ordered Israel to scale back its military offensive. Does that sound like the Israeli state is only engaged in self-defence?

Ian Jannaway (Letters, May 28) doesn't understand what it is to be woke. He links woke with self-entitlement and wanting to have one's "needs met free from consequences".

Then he says "there is no respect for others". If he understood woke he would know that these ideas are directly contradictory to what it is to be woke.

I urge the federal government to accede to the Ukraine's request for a shipment of coal to get them through their harsh winter. I am a strong supporter of decarbonising our economy and the adoption of renewable energy resources but not at the cost of Ukrainian women, children and men freezing to death for want of coal.

I think the new Aussie dream will be how to get out of this "arse end of the world" (as ex-PM Paul Keating once described it).

A few days ago I received from an ACT Government agency an email message headed "Eastern Grey Kangaroo conservation cull". I thought, sorry furry friends, it must be for your benefit that we're shooting you.

I have received by Facebook a message from Andrew Barr that his government will employ 800 more health care workers. It seems to me that there has been serious neglect if the health care workforce has been allowed to decline to this extent. What has his government been up to all this time?