The Snowy Mountains are the canary in the climate coal mine

Our children and grandchildren may not be so lucky ("Ski season could be halved by 2050, climate report finds", June 5). Unfortunately, the snowline is now receding and with it the opportunity to enjoy our winter playground.

Some ski resorts may even be forced to close down in future. The uniquely beautiful natural environment has also been impacted, with our formerly resilient snow-gums being decimated by dieback related to warming temperatures.

The Snowy Mountains are the aptly named "canary in the coal-mine" of climate change, as regards alpine tourism. We owe it to future generations, to do all we can to lessen the effects of global warming.

The government seems to have totally bungled the announcement of a decision to allow foreign nationals to join the ADF.

The Veterans Affairs Minister announced on Tuesday that New Zealanders would be able to join the ADF from July 1 and citizens from "all other countries" would be eligible from January 1, 2025.

Within hours, Defence Minister (Marles) had to correct that and say it was initially limited to just the five-eyes community (US, UK and Canada in addition to NZ) and "possibly" Pacific nations in the future. The two couldn't even agree on the basics of the announcement.

But Marles also announced that one of the criteria was that applicants could not have served with their national Defence Forces in the previous two years. This is ridiculous in the extreme.

Surely a veteran from our closest allies should be welcomed, bringing expertise and skills directly relevant to service in the ADF. Perhaps the government doesn't know that we have been welcoming serving members of the five eyes nations into our ranks for many years (as a lateral transfer often at rank), so this announcement does, in that regard at least, actually reduce the opportunities for external recruitment.

The government has managed to screw up what should have been a very simple policy announcement.

Do we really need a King's Birthday holiday? Couldn't we have a long weekend that commemorates something Australian; maybe even in springtime in early September or early November?

The UK, by the way, won't have a holiday next week. Are we really more keen on celebrating the King's fictional birthday than the Brits?

If what is going on in the woke councils in England and Scotland is any indication we are in for a bleak dismal future with net zero.

Councils are already banning ads for cruises, airlines, airports, cars other than EVs. So it looks like a net zero future will mean no more cruises, no more flying (unless you are billionaire with a private plane) and no more caravan grey nomad trips (EV won't tow your caravan with not enough charging stations).

And bush bashers off the east coast main road system won't get anywhere unless they take a large solar panel. All for what? To cut our minute contribution to global warming when India and China are going in the other direction and building coal fired power stations.

The fact that 39 per cent of Canberrans are intending to give their first preference vote to Independents at the ACT Election ('Insider Readers Panel', June 1, p47) is good news for all of us tired of ACT Labor/Green and Liberal Party politicians.

However, who Canberrans give their second and further preference to will determine if even a single Independent is elected.

At the last ACT election only one candidate was elected on their first preference vote. All other candidates were only successful after receiving preferences from unsuccessful candidates.

At October's election you will be asked to number candidates in the order of your choice.

Numbering all sensible independents (ie 1,2,3 etc) before any candidate from a major party is critical to ensuring that even a single Independent is elected.

It is likely that Canberrans' first preference vote will be split between different independents. If Canberrans do not consecutively number other sensible independents, it is almost certain that not even one independent will be elected in October.

We would then get more of the same, rather than proper consultation, transparency and accountability.

Electing sensible independents will provide voices in the Legislative Assembly that are not tied to party politics and hold the government to account.

If you want to show which major party you prefer, or dislike least, only number them after numbering all sensible independents. If no independent is elected, your preference will fully count for that major party.

Better government for the ACT is in our hands.

With the improvements in AI there is a fear of deep fakes of politicians being used to interfere with elections. Politicians could be "copied" and then fake messages used to create mischief. But wait, isn't that already happening? We have fake messages, actually just lies, being spread by many candidates before elections and then forgotten after the elections. Already each team accuses the other teams of lying and cheating and they have for hundreds of years.

To discount the worry about deep fake images we can just assume all politicians are lying and we will be right far more often than wrong.

Dr Zylstra (Letters, May 31) conveyed a confusing and misleading message about the role of prescribed burning in forest fire management. He claims to have discredited old theories - but does not say which ones and what evidence he used.

Zylstra makes a bold statement that fuel weight is not important for fire behaviour and makes a meaningless analogy with a phone book. A very substantial body of research shows that greater mass of fine fuels (litter, elevated fuels such as shrubs and grasses, and dead bark on tree trunks) increases fire intensity, rate of fire spread and potential to produce spot fires well in advance of the fire front - all posing greater difficulty for fire suppression and greater risks to firefighters.

Zylstra claims that exceptionally long (50-100 years?) unburnt forests pose lower fire risk - but there is clear evidence that these forests also burn intensely under extreme fire weather.

Zylstra does not recognise that fuel reduction burning at a particular location is not intended to be a one-off activity but is applied rotationally creating a mosaic of fuel ages (and lower fuel mass) across the landscape. In the sub-alpine forests in the ACT, burning on a rotation of about 10-12 years provides useful reduction in fuels and fire risk without damaging forest ecology.

Removal of prescribed burning from the science-based options available to forest fire managers on the basis of speculative theory and impractical alternatives would be highly irresponsible.

The problem with creating a state of Palestine is that it would be in two pieces - Gaza and the West Bank.

When India and Pakistan became separate countries in 1947, there was a mass migration of Muslims from India to Pakistan, and of Hindus from Pakistan to India.

Why can't the Palestinian State be concentrated in the West Bank, with the Gazans moving there, and the Israelis in the West Bank moving to Gaza, which would then become part of Israel?

This would also reduce or eliminate the influence of Hamas. Anything is better than the present situation.

Of course Australia is not a racist country. Australians weren't responsible for the terra nullius doctrine, massacres from coast to coast, the stolen generation, and ongoing unacceptably high incarceration and death in custody rates of Indigenous Australians.

There is no anti-Semitism or Islamophobia here, no one is discriminated against on the grounds of country of birth, skin colour, accent, gender, age or anything else, and there's no bullying in our schools, or workplaces.

Gallipoli was a glorious victory, Phar Lap, Russell Crowe and the pavlova were born here, and we're the absolute best in sport and never cheat or sledge.

And of course we're humble and mature enough to be self-reflective without howling down anyone who dares to speak up on uncomfortable home truths.

How is Australia not a racist country when Ukrainian refugees are far more welcome in this country than refugees from Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the Middle East?

Gosh, until Wednesday I wasn't aware there was such a dramatic shortage of yoga teachers. And where are all the Bowen therapists and Reiki practitioners? I'm getting weak at the knees just thinking about it.

Ernst Wilhelm quoted me (Letters, June 5) saying that I had written a letter on 1 June mentioning masks and pro-Gaza protesters. I did not have a letter published on 1 June. The letter referred to was a very good letter written by a Jewish writer.

Luckily Australia is on the list of countries that refuse convicted felons entry so we will never have put put up with Trump here. He is also barred from visiting China but he can still pay a visit to Russia and his pal Putin.

The use of the "golden point" in rugby league weekly matches is disappointing. Surely even die hard supporters would cope with a draw which reflects the efforts of the players during an agreed period of play. Other rules like 'extra time' and 'golden point' should be confined to finals where needed.

I always thought Bill Shorten was a good leader and had very high regard for him. But no more.

The trouble with calling groups of people "subspecies" is that it seems to excuse rude treatment of these people, even brutality, denial of human rights and derogation. We are all human and must strive to keep civility even in the face of negative behaviour.

The report "Just in time, big chill brings snow to the resorts" (June 4, p11) mentioned the present cold snap in south-eastern Australia, and another forecast to arrive "late this week". I wait with bated breath for the usual suspects to ask "what happened to global warming?"

I was surprised and dismayed in equal measure to learn that Bill Shorten needed a speechwriter. Do other leading politicians employ speechwriters? If so, some of the speechwriters should be sacked.

Can the government explain why a department is paying $620,000 for a speechwriter for Minister Shorten. Officials regularly draft speeches for ministers. Unless there has been a change to financial policy, a department's administrative funds cannot be used for the ministers' staff. Is this a breach of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act?