Govt should hold pomp and circumstance for royal visit

While a referendum on the future of the monarchy has, sensibly, been deferred in the wake of reprehensible divisive conduct in the Voice campaign, this visit cannot be allowed to merely reflect "the palace's" preference for it to bolster support for the monarchy and to please forelock-tugging, pearl-clutching social climbers.

The government must manage the visit in such a way as to start to modernise the relationship between the supposedly slimmed down modern monarchy, and the independent modern Australia.

It must be a civilian visit. No uniforms, medals, or gun salutes. The King and his family should be "encouraged" to surrender their titular ranks in Australian military entities, lest they confuse some military minds about their ultimate national allegiance.

The King must face a serious, unscripted, media interview, addressing, among other things, the heritage of colonial dispossession, Indigenous oppression and racism.

Some outdated and offensive Constitutional provisions, such as the king's power to disallow Australian legislation and the s25 provision enabling state-mandated racial discrimination in voting rights, should be mooted. The Crown's role in the 1975 dismissal might well rate a mention.

And excessive expressions of rank, social superiority and deference - beyond the basic courtesies of an egalitarian society - must be discouraged. No bows. No curtseys.

That might be a start.

The reason I stopped going to Brumbies home games has nothing to do with being exposed to the weather at the "out-dated" Bruce Stadium, or the expensive food and beverages, or not being able to walk to a restaurant after the game.

Rather it is the number of multi-phase plays in which the ball does not get past the halfback, push-over tries, frequent long stoppages in play and incomprehensible, often match-deciding, three-point penalty goals.

Everyone would agree that Lake Burley Griffin is a special place and that its special qualities should be safeguarded.

John Leech makes some interesting points in his letter (Letters, July 16).

However, it is hard to take his comments seriously when they are examined in a more dispassionate manner.

Is he really suggesting that there should be no development whatsoever on the lake shores?

If so, then we should go back to the 1960s. The lake is a man-made structure and did not exist before then.

If these vistas from Weston Park are indeed so precious and under threat, then where was he when the ACT government moved its slipway from Kingston foreshore to Black Mountain Peninsula?

Deafening silence was all that I remember coming from the Yarralumla side.

Or perhaps there might have been a collective sigh of relief that this industrial facility wasn't going to be established in Weston Park after all?

By all means, Mr Leech, campaign for the western end of the lake to be included in the Canberra Nature Park, but you do your cause a disservice when you pick and choose the projects that you object to.

It appears there are some shortcomings with the security clearance process.

Maybe the name "Igor" doesn't always suggest a Russian connection but has anyone checked for any couples named "Boris" and "Natasha"?

Perhaps an "I am a spy" tick box on the application form would prevent this happening again.

Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin has always been a venue for sporting and recreational enjoyment including in the original Burley Griffin plan. Hence we have Regatta Point and the Boathouse restaurant (a converted rowing boathouse).

Encouraging Canberrans to row or sail or kayak has always required infrastructure and the National Capital Development Commission set aside sites for rowing boat houses on Black Mountain Peninsula in October 1969, on a former rubbish tip.

John Leech (Letters, July 16) ignores this process to impose his attitude about Weston Park and apply it to all of Lake Burley Griffin.

This is NIMBYism that has leap frogged the lake, to invade an area designated for this particular sport for most of the life of the lake.

This attitude is antithetical to good planning.

The former cinema complex site in Manuka continues to stand ugly, empty, unlit and dangerous.

The land should be taken back by the government, and turned into a dazzling day-night landscaped park, with formal references to the nearby architecturally superb cathedral.

The section of Furneaux Street in between should made a landscaped, traffic-calmed, pedestrian-car shared zone, to link the cathedral forecourt to the new park.

Bidenitis: An affliction candidates suffer, usually strenuously denied, whereby swags of potential votes are lost by merely opening one's mouth. Symptoms include a self-flattering recollection of achievements and an inability to avoid falsehoods.

I refer to the excellent article by Elizabeth Tydd, the Australian Freedom of Information Commissioner (July 8).

She references the fundamental values of the Parliament of Australia, which are derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Australia has no federal human rights act, unlike UK, US, NZ, Canada and the European Union.

Strong recommendation from very reputable and respected bodies support the introduction of a federal Human Rights Act (the parliamentary joint committee on human rights and the Australian Human Rights Commission in it's report Free+Equal.

A federal Human Rights Act would form part of the ethical infrastructure, which, acting with FOI and National Anti-Corruption Commission, would make governments more accountable to citizens and provide redress for infringements of rights.

This would increase trust in governments which is currently at a historical low and which is vital to a properly functioning democracy.

Well done to Prime Anthony Minister Albanese for standing up and taking action against the despicable and un-Australian scourge of anti-Semitism by appointing a special envoy to assist combat this hate. Thank you to all parliamentarians who supported this initiative and shame on those who did not.

It was disappointing to see the Australian Defence Force waste substantial taxpayer funds by conducting a flyover of four F35 aircraft to mark the Chief of Defence Force changeover on July 10.

These F35s each cost around $44,000 an hour to operate, and to see four of them used for this purpose at a time when many Australians are struggling to pay mortgages or put food on the table, shows just how out of touch with reality these self-indulgent senior Defence people really are.

Mark Sproat (Letters, July 9) is saying that as Senator Fatima Payman chose to vote according to her conscience by crossing the floor "she had no business being a member of the Labor Party in the first place".

Does that mean that to become an ALP member you cannot have a conscience and act in a principled manner?

Its time for Labor to catch up with the the 21^st century and modify the archaic solidarity rule to allow members to act according to their conscience. They should cross the floor without being penalised.

Other parties do this. Labor should do the same.

Senator Payman doesn't seem to realise that if you start a fight and get beaten up, it's your fault.

A recent BBC item on Gaza reported 70 per cent of Gazans are equally ignorant, supporting Hamas and the October 7 invasion of Israel and then blaming Israel for the suffering that support has brought upon them.

Such irrational thinking has led to Fatima Payman, with her support for Palestine, indirectly supporting Hamas, who are even worse than the Taliban her family fled Afghanistan to avoid.

Oh, dear, here we go again using "beltway" to describe whatever space it is that federal politicians, public servants, and journalists occupy in Canberra (Letters, July 12). We don't have a beltway, just a couple of ring roads around Parliament House. Canberra isn't Washington. The advance of American English in Australia again.

With reference to the Prime Minister, Kerry Foster (Letters, July 12) claims Israel is a state based on faith. Given Israel's existence goes back to the book of Genesis, and that Jerusalem is a holy city to three religions, I contend faith is based on Israel.

It is cynical of Albanese to "blast" Russia and demand it "stop the illegal war" and further say it "has no respect for international law, and should be regarded with contempt", while disregarding Israel's unrelenting slaughter.

The headline: "Brittany Higgins announces she is pregnant with first child". So what? She is becoming a celebrity. Soon she'll be on Dancing With The Stars or I'm a celebrity, get me out of here.

The Canberra Times should really not have put the McCaffrey family on the front page on Friday, July 12, as examples of how "filthy ... everyone" in the community of Wallaroo is about a solar farm in their area. It just exposes them to ridicule.

Let's find reassurance in the prospect that military "security" will doubtless improve when we start allowing foreigners - as mercenaries, no matter the spin - to be recruited into the Australian "Defence" Force, as per recent new federal policy.

The POTUS parrot? "No no, he's not dead, he's, he's restin! Remarkable bird the Norwegian Blue isn't it, ay? Beautiful plumage." (With apologies to Monty Python).

As I was sitting in my "Think Garden" the other day it occurred to me that the correct grammar was "Thought Garden". The bull dust detectors at CIT were obviously switched off.

Rolf Harris and Paul Gauguin were both paedophiles. Harris's paintings have plummeted in value and were removed from exhibition by the National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery of Australia is presenting a major exhibition of Gauguin's work. Could the NGA explain why the two artists are treated so differently?

I don't understand why Don Owers (Letters, July 13) objects to high speed rail at a cost of $17 to $43 million dollars per kilometre. Compared with our stage 2A tram it seems a bargain. Perhaps if we can finally end the careers of Mssrs Barr and Rattenbury, they could run a VFT authority?