Award to Ben Roberts-Smith shows why we need a republic

For shame Mr Dawson. Well may we say God save the King, because nothing will save Mr Dawson (and the monarchy) from the scorn of every decent, fair-minded Australian.

In a Republic of Australia no such problems would arise.

Roll on an Aussie Republic. (Apologies to the late, great Gough Whitlam).

The awarding of the Coronation Medal by King Charles to Ben Roberts-Smith, a war criminal, without the approval of the Australian government is the latest example of why Australia should severe all ties with the British Monarchy.

We shouldn't have foreign people or governments interfering in our affairs.

Labor Party leaders demonstrated cowardliness vs courage by barring Senator Payman from the Labor Caucus.

Payman demonstrated courage, conviction, and conscience by crossing the floor, voting for "the need for the Senate to recognise the state of Palestine".

The current (2023) Labor Party Platform "supports the recognition and right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states within secure and recognised borders; Calls on the Australian Government to recognise Palestine as a state; and expects that this issue will be an important priority for the Australian Government".

The original commitment was made in 2018.

We're still waiting.

Senators Wong and Pratt aren't heroes for voting against "queer marriage" because the then-Caucus didn't support it. Labor isn't to be commended for prohibiting members from voting against Caucus positions.

I'm appalled at Prime Minister Albanese's reprimand. I'm disgusted by MP Marles' belittling Payman's ability to be a senator. I'm ashamed of Labor's response, both individuals and as a party.

By understanding Payman's life story, one understands why she chose to cross the floor. I support Senator Payman for her courage throughout her entire life.

Memo to Senator Payman: You are elected by Western Australians to represent them alone. You do not represent Palestinians or any other foreigners. You do not even represent Australians from another state.

Furthermore, the Australian Parliament and the Australian government exist in the interest of Australia alone. They are not to be held hostage to further the interests of any foreigners of any type.

What a weak, disappointing and dangerous group the Labor Party has become. Firstly, they have strengthened the US control over our independence thorough allowing the expansion of the Pine Gap spy station, at the same time approving the use of B-52 nuclear-armed bombers to use our top end facilities and are engaged in the supply of materials for the weaponry of the USA and Israel.

If that is not enough, they have signed away the financial stability and the standard of living for Australian's future generations with the commitment to the ridiculous AUKUS program, now being seen by most Australians as the final step in their plan to allow our country to become yet another US puppet.

The Prime Minster removes a decent, respected senator from the caucus for having an opinion outside of the demands of the big three, Albanese, Wong and Marles, the same three who pay no heed to the overall desire of the Australian people to remove from this "executive" group the exclusive ability to commit Australia to yet another war, which, based on the military ambitions of the US, could be just around the corner.

The future of Australia is now determined by a small Labor group, totally disregarding and overriding the individual opinions of all the democratically elected parliamentary members with policies that are so far removed from the needs of this country.

I congratulate Fatima Payman for her stand. I may not necessarily agree with her but I applaud her courage to defy the party machine and vote on what she thinks is correct.

If more elected members voted on what they thought was correct, it would be a great advancement for our democracy.

Too often the party machine decrees outcomes based on political advantage. There is no consideration of what is best for the country, much less for the voter.

I look forward, optimistically, to when we have no political parties and people are elected on their merits. They will no doubt form allegiances, much like what happens now, but we will at least be free from the tribal dictates and silly games played by unelected, non-representative faction and party members.

My father Bertram, a resident of Canberra for over 50 years and a centenarian, recently fell ill with COVID and spent four days in Canberra Hospital, dying on the fourth day.

From the paramedics who swiftly arrived to his home, and each hospital ward to which he was subsequently admitted as the critical nature of his illness became apparent, the staff were professional, caring and attentive.

Thank you to everybody who cared for him in his last days; you have my enduring gratitude and respect.

Senator Fatima Payman has been severely rebuked for crossing the floor to vote for a Greens motion about recognition of a Palestine state. Anthony Albanese emphasised that caucus solidarity is "very important", Senator Wong "understood the anger from colleagues" that it was important to "toe the party line".

But the senator had no choice. If she were to live with herself she had to cross the floor.

This raises the question: in a democracy, how much freedom does a politician have? Amongst other reasons, he or she is there because of a conviction concerning how society should best be governed.

It is most likely that Senator Payman has strong Labor values which qualified her to seek office. But how necessary is it always to toe the rigid party line? To have opinions dictated to you from the leadership seems undemocratic, even antidemocratic.

A conscience vote surely ought to be allowed sometimes. There is no notice above the entrance door of Parliament that reads: "Leave your conscience at the door".

Some people become more conservative with age and experience. The former head of ASIO, DFAT and ambassador to USA, Dennis Richardson, is perhaps an example: a product of high diplomacy and strict security can't be expected to be cavalier of great power relationships. Others of us find his censuring of the high-level official and political welcome home to Julian Assange to be jarring; rather, we are delighted that at last Julian's spiteful exile and persecution has been closed off.

While the government has been quick to milk credit, it is pertinent to note that a principal supporter of Assange, Ms Robertson, made a point of saying on the ABC's 7.30 program that the government was not involved in the crucial negotiations with the US Justice Department.

As we cheer the Matilda's on to Paris and take pride in the fact that seven current Matildas have played for our Canberra United team at some point, we are sadly farewelling some key United players and a coach.

The whole country has praised the "Matilda's effect" on girls in sport but our own football administrators and local government do not seem to care or understand the importance of having a women's A-league team here bringing top level games to our city.

Colin Dedman's letter on the merits or otherwise of gas and electric heating (June 29) continues Canberrans' focus on how to heat a house rather than how to stop it cooling.

The WHO's guidelines recommend a minimum temperature of 18 degrees. This is around five degrees higher than many Canberrans experience over winter.

Better insulation, with a second layer in the roof space, fibreglass batts under accessible floors, rockwool sprayed into wall spaces, secondary glazing of large windows, and draft exclusion will result in a comfortable house with significantly reduced heating and cooling costs.

My solution to the devastation caused by poker machine losses? The government takes over all the gaming machines. All revenues after business costs are deducted go into a fund to repair the damage to the social fabric. Simples.

Australia, by virtue of its island continent status has been gifted the world's greatest flora and fauna diversity. But greed has robbed us of this inheritance by making it unique for unrelenting species extinction ("Loggers more active in side koala park than out, conservation groups claim", June 29).

What a stupid political move of Peter Dutton to describe Canberra as "boring", further stating that "boringness" is the reason behind illicit substances being decriminalised. Dutton is an absolute "numptie", but a lot of us already knew that.

Nuclear? Don't know, vote no.

I recently received an email from ActewAGL about changes to the solar feed-in rate. The subject line of the email read "We're increasing your solar feed-in rate". Great news I thought. But the accompanying letter advised "for now, feed-in tariffs are going down". My feed-in tariff will actually fall - not increase - from 10 cents per kWh to 8 cents per kWh from July 1.

I am so sick of Peter Dutton's emissions. He really does need to clean up his act.

So all these poor chooks have to be "euthanised" do they? Surely the more apt term is "slaughtered", or even just "killed". I guess that language is just a bit too strong for us nowadays. When I go, euthanised or otherwise, let it be known that I'll be, like that well-known parrot, dead and not "passed".

Two current mispronunciations are driving me crazy. Firstly, to Chris Bowen, the word nuclear only has one letter U, and therefore is not pronounced "nucular". Secondly, to Albo, the word important has no letter D and therefore is not pronounced "impordant".

The ACT government's policy of only releasing 10 per cent of land for detached homes is irresponsible. Families know they have more chance of being healthy (both children and adults) when they have back yards to play in. Many families are now forced to travel in and out of the ACT each day from Yass, Gunning or Bungendore. Didn't Covid teach the ACT Government anything?

Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury are right to criticise Dutton's threadbare nuclear policy. Yet their own transport and planning policies are just as flimsy, half-baked and evidence-free.