Two years of separation for foreign ADF recruits is absurd

I left the RAF on January 31, 1977 and was immediately accepted into the RAAF on arrival in Australia. My family and I landed in Sydney on Saturday, March 18, 1977 and was inducted into the RAAF that morning at the then George Street recruiting office.

On the Monday morning I was the senior stores officer at RAAF Base Laverton.

My arrival interview with my new OC, Group Captain (later Air Vice Marshal) Russ Law, was conducted while wearing my RAF blazer. I had not yet been fitted for and issued with an RAAF uniform. I retained my RAF Flight Lieutenant rank, but with zero RAAF seniority; only reasonable under the circumstances.

To require potential five eyes recruits for the Australian Defence Force to have two years of separation from their previous military service with another friendly nation is indeed "ridiculous in the extreme", particularly for the more technically oriented trades and branches. It would likely render much of a transferee's previous experience and expertise "old hat".

Regardless of who is correct in the ongoing discussion between Messrs Zylstra and Cooper with regard to the value of burn-offs, I have had a gutful of being smothered, year after year, in unnecessary smoke at what would otherwise be the most spectacular time of the year here in the Canberra autumn.

Whilst it was terribly sad that four lives were lost in the 2003 bushfires, these ongoing burn-offs are slowly killing us all. I, for one, will take my chances with another bushfire while Mr Cooper can keep his matches in his pocket.

The article "Pokies battle crosses into NSW" (June 9) concerned the Vikings Club's frustration with the difficulties in acquiring sufficient poker machines in the ACT to make their proposed new club viable.

The Vikings club already has four club facilities, why do they need to keep expanding?

Are they meeting a demand or trying to create one? If there is a demand for another such facility, let it pay its own way by providing healthy facilities that the public wants, at a price they are willing to pay.

If they can't, they should forget it. Don't add to the misery of the addicted minority and especially their families, by providing more opportunities to squander family income and cause families complete misery and breakup.

I can only imagine the trauma caused to a family when an unfortunate addict bankrupts a family leading to breakups and sometimes suicides.

I thank Dave Roberts (Letters, June 7) for alerting me to how Edinburgh city council is banning cruise ship and airline advertisements in recognition that these activities are major contributors to carbon dioxide emissions.

A round-trip flight to Europe from Australia adds about five tonnes of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere per economy passenger (similar to the amount added by a 10-day cruise).

When added together, the yearly worldwide emissions from aeroplanes and cruise ships from millions of passenger journeys present significant damage to our atmosphere. Unfortunately, if our society is really serious about mitigating climate change, we will have to think about how we take our holidays.

Ericka Louvain is absolutely right in her letter about the child sex abuse memorial (June 4). It couldn't be better put.

For the NCA to think of placing it in a location for "quiet contemplation" is only reinforcing the key factor in abuse: that it takes place in quiet locations away from everything, and that the victim is left silenced by the horror and shame of the abuse.

Victims have been struggling to emerge from being muted for so long.

At last their voices are beginning to be heard. The memorial must, just must, acknowledge and strengthen these voices loud and clear. The memorial must be in a location which enables the general public to face the truth. The memorial must enable the victims and their supporters to reshape their lives.

I hope many people will speak out and the NCA will change the location.

Over the past months, we have been subjected to the unedifying sparring between the government and opposition over immigration policy, specifically the application of Directive 99 to non-citizens.

It reminds me of 1960s secret agent comedy series Get Smart, featuring the hapless Maxwell Smart, the Chief and Agent 99. You can see where I am heading.

Minister Giles as the bumbling Maxwell Smart in his "cone of silence", the patient boss Albanese, as the "Chief" and what was touted to be the "great thinking (Directive), Agent 99".

Directive 99 was everything but. And we all know what the consequences of its implementation have been.

We have a medical/pharma industry that bends over backwards to prolong and protect life whatever the cost, from premature infants to octogenarians.

We have a society desperately trying to address and curtail the devastation of suicide.

We have a society desperately trying to address the millstone of drug addiction.

We have a government that allows for premature termination (aka abortion), assisted suicide (aka euthanasia), and the decriminalisation of drugs.

Is the government, albeit inadvertently, promoting a culture of death in a society that appears to be longing for the death of God?

The beauty of truth and sacrifice for the sake of others has been replaced by demands for rights for the sake of "me".

Indeed, as G K Chesterton famously observed in his Heretics: "Take away the supernatural and what remains is the unnatural" and "the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried" and, finally, "Abolish God, and the government becomes the God".

That is a "god" I refuse to worship.

Your editorial "Our political discourse is under threat" (June 6) rightly draws attention to the importance of democratic processes. However to focus on the actions of pro-Palestinian protestors, which should be dealt with according to the law, is to overlook the fact that on many issues, including Australia's stance on the war between Israel and Palestine, there is no political discourse.

Within days of Hamas's horrific and illegal attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7, Parliament House was lit up with the colours of the Israeli flag. It was grossly inappropriate for a place of diverse views across multiple ethnic backgrounds.

After such a display, how could Australia object to anything that Israel chose to do, which from the long history of warfare between Israel and Palestine we knew would involve horrific, illegal and disproportionate actions?

The Israel-Palestine war is not meaningfully discussed in parliament, and neither are Australia's military exports. If there were transparency about the latter the government could have spared itself the misunderstanding it now claims on the matter of weapons to Israel.

Protestors and their slogans are no doubt an invaluable distraction for our political leaders as they refuse to discuss the real problem, which is Australia's political and military ties with a nation that has been accused of genocide.

Wow. Peter Costello turned out to be a push over. Who would ever have thought?

The report that CSIRO management plans to cut hundreds of jobs ("CSIO job cuts questioned during estimates", June 7) is bad news. To reduce the number of staff working in fields such as health, agriculture, and food while the climate is warming, and extreme weather events such as scorching temperatures, drought, and catastrophic floods are becoming more severe, is courting disaster.

If the federal government is serious about caring for Australians, it will boost, rather than reduce, funding for our leading and most effective scientific research organisation.

There is nothing "proactive" or revelatory in stating that unabated affluenza-driven, consumption-induced global warming requires relocating homes from flood plains and the rapid introduction of renewables. Fossil fuel corporations making huge profits should foot the bill.

I cannot wait to drive to Canberra to see Lindy Lee's Ouroboros. I have been following the design and construction on social media. It looks amazing. Well done to everyone involved.

It was with some amusement that I read in The Canberra Times that the government is "investing $30 million" to cut transport firms' air pollution. Where exactly did the government get this $30 million?

I agree with Keith Pantlin (Letters, October 10) that interoperability of EV charger payments would be helpful. That said you don't need a different RFID card for each charging company. You can have one card and enter its number into all the apps that use RFID cards. A "Know your EV" course is run every eight weeks by the ACT branch of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.

Great letter from Keith Pantlin (Letters, June 10) re EV charging and the interoperability of payment systems between the different companies. I suggest he gets a Tesla. Their reliable Superchargers are everywhere with no separate card needed. Just plug in, have a coffee and go.

The slaughter of innocents continues with no outright call for action from Australia. With more than 210 Palestinians killed and 400-plus injured during a hostage rescue by Israel the absence of justice and accountability is shameful. All lives matter. We must continue to call for peace.

While the loss of life during the hostage rescue is tragic the blame lies with Hamas who chose to surround their captives with civilians, some of whom may well have known the hostages were there. Is anybody seriously suggesting the Israelis should not have gone in to get their people back?

In his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fall or Succeed Jarad Diamond identifies climate change, hostile neighbours, collapse of essential trading partners, environmental problems and society's response as dangers. We are well on the way with the first four. Given the calibre of politicians here and overseas it's hard to be hopeful about the fifth.

I am still unconvinced by the video footage we've seen as to whether or not Peter Costello physically shoved the journalist, causing him to fall. But what does seem clear is that Costello didn't even ask if the fallen man was alright before turning away. How many of us every-day non-notables would have been so uncaring?