What next for Julian Assange? The answer is easy as ABC

And what to do with Julian now that he is back in Australia? How is he to support his family? The answer is as easy as ABC.

Use his journalistic skills and contacts by putting him to work. The ABC has vacancies for a Media Watch TV presenter, and Phillip Adams' Late Night Live microphone is about to grow cold.

As a precedent, I hope that Julian's transportation does not mean that future UK governments will start sending us their other political embarrassments, like Nigel Farage, Boris Johnston or Rishi Sunak, but I fear we have already set a precedent by our having sent them Tony Abbott.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" said Lord Acton. No large human group is exempt from this, one current example being the USA. Australia, a US-friendly nation, is not asked but told to comply with US international interests. Re world events, in particular Julian Assange, "truth" is what the US says it is, not what is seen and heard. For the immensely powerful US military, "security" as defined by them is dominant, facts subservient.

Assange's pending release does not remove the threat to media people reporting on US actions.

Alas, will Australia never see another PM like Gough Whitlam who saw us as independent, not subservient?

I find the media's current orgasmic frenzy over Julian Assange somewhat hypocritical. This is a person who voluntarily incarcerated himself in a foreign embassy when accused of not one but two counts of rape and did not leave until those cases could no longer be prosecuted.

For a person who is being lauded for "speaking to power" he seemed to lack the intestinal fortitude to face his accusers in court and prove his innocence.

Given the current issues with domestic and sexual violence I would have thought that the coverage of his case would have been somewhat more circumspect.

I was confused to be reading your correspondent Kate Cox ("Our vision for the future of news", June 25) in a printed newspaper. Is her pitch for the value of video aimed at making readers drop their newspapers and take up their phones for a bit more screen time?

Does she imagine that people who choose text-based physical newspapers are just ignorant of the value video provides? Having seen video on a variety of news sites including some published by ACM am not convinced that the "narratives that resonate" that Kate writes about are very numerous on those sites.

Well, I did see the David Speers interview of opposition MP Ted O'Brien that outraged Tom Collins (Letters, June 25). Mr Speers very rudely tried to talk over the top of the interviewee for the duration of the interview to tediously labour his point and deny O'Brien a fair chance to make an alternative one - from what I could glean, it seemed to be that there was more to power cost than wholesale cost ex-power station; transmission costs also pay a role.

Given that the stated motivation for the nuclear option is to avoid building myriad new transmission lines, this is a significant point. However, the CSIRO GenCost report seems to include the need for new transmission lines in the integration costs of new renewables sites.

I honestly do not know how Crispin Hull gets a guernsey in The Canberra Times with his frequent, puerile rants against the Coalition, like that in June 25's edition calling for an election now to head off Mr Dutton's nuclear policy.

Hull's language reveals a sheer panic mode in referring to "Dutton's nuclear fantasy, illusory tripe, duping of voters and economic responsibility." Hull even accuses Dutton of being a Marxist - pot calling the kettle black?

He then talks about the "sovereign risk" to investment in renewables, which is pure BS. Under Labor, investors in renewables have guaranteed returns and thus no risk and this will always be the case (under either government) as long as renewables are around even if progressively replaced by nuclear power.

I trust the media will stop blindly following the opposition's misleading practices by referring to Dr Ziggy Switkowski as a "nuclear physicist". He has been many things - a corporate director, and government agency and academic administrator in which he has earned deserved reputations.

But, apart from his student days, has rarely, if ever, been involved directly as a practicing nuclear physicist.

The late Sir Mark Oliphant was an Australian "nuclear physicist", first and foremost, for virtually all his career, and internationally noted for it. Dr Switkowski, for all his talents, is nowhere near comparable in that regard and I'm sure he would be the first to admit it.

I was surprised to see the ad on page 11 (June 25) showing a photo of the late prime minister Bob Hawke and a quote he made back 2016 at the Woodford Folk festival supporting nuclear power. In small print the ad states the name of the businessman who paid for it on behalf of Nuclear for Australia. In smaller print, which one needed a magnifying glass to read, states the image was courtesy of the National Archives of Australia.

Regardless of what one thinks about nuclear power I felt that this ad was somewhat misleading in the fact that Mr Hawke's statement was made back in 2016 and therefore he may well have changed his mind since then if he was still with us.

Also, I thought it was strange that the Archives would allow archival material to be used in this way.

Fred Pilcher (Letters, June 25) opines the Dick Smith pro-nuclear ads may influence some of Labor's true believers to change their thinking on nuclear power usage in Australia. Don't imagine many Labor voters would put great store by Bob's embrace of nuclear whilst in his dotage.

Had he espoused it when PM, nuclear might have been a feasible option for this country. That is no longer the case. The current divisive opposition furphy could endanger essential investment in our country. The strong Independents in our current Parliament need to back Labor in calling it out. State governments need to take stronger action to override objections to the roll out of wind and solar ... 2030 looms large.

Your editorial ("Future-proofing a city aquatic centre requires clever thinking", June 23) endorses the demolition of Civic Pool. The grandiose promise of "future-proofing" is a cynical look-over-there ploy catering to the wrecking ball/rebuild lobby. The Barr government wants the Civic Pool site for a convention and entertainment centre. They ignore a better, vacant site (previously a car park) on London Circuit, between Constitution Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue. This site is adjacent to a light rail stop, excavation room for underground parking (without the ground water issues of the Civic Pool site), views over Parkes Way, Lake Burley Griffin and the Brindabellas beyond.

Seventy years of memories are held in our shared community album of Civic Pool. It's continuous use as a public swimming facility is testament to its viability.

The unique diving tower, mid-century modern design and mature garden setting is valued by new and old users alike. This quintessentially Canberran place should be retained and refurbished for the joy of future generations. I challenge The Canberra Times to publish evidence for its assertion that the "current pool has to go".

ANU has now decided that it will take the most efficient course of action and invite the current childcare providers to submit proposals for continuing services in the yet-to-be constructed buildings. It is too late to avoid the human angst in a vital industry supporting ANU?

It seems that ANU took initial action on the "Vinnies model". Crash clumsily into a well working service, cause emotional mayhem, and hope and pretend that, all along, everything was going to be fine.

Is ANU ignorant of the realities of building, where long delays are the norm? A shortage of tradies being one of the reasons.

Watch this space for the long delay in new buildings. Who will fill the space? Existing providers.

Ah, Julian Assange, freed from a British prison to face the music, under a deal in Saipan. But what happened to the claim he was so sick he was dying? He looked pretty sprite climbing those aircraft stairs.

Mistress Chivas hath it wrong (Letters, June 25). I'm not Shakespeare and we're not American. "Gotten" (and many other creeping Americanisms) should not be used in Australian English.

Can Mr Dutton's and Mr Littleproud's proposed nuclear facilities be used to create weapons-grade material and if so have either of them sought the view of any of our south-east Asian neighbours? I do recall that many years ago when this same nonsense was being talked about in Australia, Indonesia threatened that were we to go ahead it would also - but on a much larger scale than Australia

It seems Australia and the world is losing interest in the slaughter in Gaza. But according to recent figures from Save the Children, up to 21,000 children are missing in that small area of land. Also the latest casualty figures are that 37,598 people have been killed and 86 have been wounded. It astounds me that the ongoing Israeli Defence Force slaughter in Gaza is not front page news every day!

Three-eyed fish memes aside, as the former police constable is either unwilling or unable to cost his nuclear energy proposal means that he is unfit to hold the position of a leader of the opposition. He should surrender his role and his seat and leave Parliament.

Please, please Mr Bowen, it's nuclear, not nucular. It was bad enough when George Dubya Bush pronounced it that way.

While Dave Roberts (Letters, June 18) was correct in saying the Ginninderra lakeshore path was used by hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists. What he did not say, however, was that the Birrigai Café at Kangara Waters was dependent on these pedestrians and cyclists, and the government action has now seriously affected their livelihood. Andrew Barr needs to have a quick think about how to resolve this problem.

Good to see that Assange will finally get his freedom. But what does it say of US justice and the lack of independence in US courts when the US government can determine the court's findings and the sentence before his trial?

As I read it, the last budget forecast a deficit (loss) of $443 million for the ACT. This current budget now forecasts a deficit of $831 million. That's about 100 per cent worsening of the territory's financial situation. When will this it end? Eventually bills have to be paid, accounts settled. I think ratepayers have been duped again, big time.