The Canberra Hospital parking shortage must be addressed

Anyone who has tried to bring a child to the emergency department, especially late at night and if they are on their own, would be well aware of the challenges.

TCH services the entire south-east region of NSW as well as the ACT so there is need for greatly expanded parking provision and better access from the parking to the hospital and the national capital hospital.

It's a shame that our city planners didn't make provision for the future expansion of the hospital instead of allowing a housing development on the other side of Yamba Drive.

A solution to the parking debacle needs to be found now.

In relation to the war in Gaza, John Dobinson (Letters, July 26) says there is no justification for military attacks on civilians.

He is absolutely right.

That's exactly what Hamas not only did on October 7, but promises to keep doing "again and again".

That's why Israel needs to destroy its military capacity.

Israel doesn't deliberately target civilians.

It tries to evacuate them before attacking the terrorists who hide among them.

There is also no justification for using civilians as human shields.

What does Kamala Harris have to do to beat Trump?

Just demonstrate she is ethical, of high intellect, has good judgment, believes sincerely in democracy and cares more about her country than herself. In short, show that she is everything that Trump is not - the anti-Trump.

The great mystery of American politics is the evangelical Christian vote. Many of these people believe the Bible is a literal truth, that the Earth is only about 6000 years old and that Noah really did save a pair of every animal on Earth.

These people believe in adherence to the 10 commandments. Yet they are strong supporters of Trump.

How is that logically possible when Trump has almost single-handedly broken nearly all of the commandments?

How does this make any sense?

I note reports that ACT Policing is lauding its success in reducing anti-social behaviour in the CBD.

"25 arrests in police crackdown on city centre louts" blared a headline on July 25.

Yet, as I cross Garema Place, I still see multiple instances of public drinking, hear yelled obscenities at all and sundry and observe a general sense of grubbiness.

And I have yet to see this unhappy scene populated by any police officers; on foot or in vehicles.

I do not doubt these arrests happened, but if this is a crackdown we are in a pickle.

Not only does Civic need better and consistent policing, but those currently displaying anti-social behaviour need a much better safety net.

Slogans and media conferences only get you so far.

Michelle Grattan (Opinion, July 27) suggests that the government's real fears are about the next (June quarter) inflation number.

In my view their real fear should be about the following (September quarter) inflation number.

A whole raft of price increases took effect from July 1. They include rates, water charges, electricity charges, gas charges, transport fees and so on.

These will be reflected in the September quarter inflation number, not the June quarter one. A potential adverse impact on interest rates looms large. Be afraid, very afraid.

Isn't the other story around the former CIT chief executive Leanne Cover, the length of time that it took to undertake the investigation to find that she had engaged in serious corrupt conduct?

It took two whole years to return that finding.

Meanwhile Ms Cover was receiving her salary while temporarily stood down, and she resigned before the final report was handed to government.

Who is going to be held accountable for the waste of taxpayers' money? And, as corrupt conduct has been found to have taken place, what are the ramifications for Leanne Cover?

Jenna Price rightly makes the connection between a falling birth rate and the cost of housing ("Oh baby, do we have a problem", July 26).

We all have anecdotal evidence of young couples delaying or even abandoning the idea of parenthood because they are paying mind-bogglingly expensive rents and they can only stay afloat if both of them work. Bring the cost of housing down and, believe me, the birth rate will go up.

Price's solution of bringing the cost of housing down - reform the capital gains discount and negative gearing - is commendable but does not go far enough. You have to reduce demand and that means reducing population growth, at least to a level where new dwellings match growth in the number of people.

There are 2.5 people per household on average, and Australia produces 170,000 new dwellings a year. It would be nice to think we could house the homeless first so that takes us down to 120,000 dwellings available for new residents, be they migrant or born here.

Multiply 120,000 by 2.5 and it means you can then have 300,000 extra people a year, purely on the basis of housing. Take away the 100,000 or so natural increase and it means net overseas migration (NOM) should be capped at 200,000. (Far fewer if you want to preserve natural habitat).

In post-COVID years, however, NOM has been well over half a million. No wonder there's a shortage of housing.

This is not to blame migrants in any way - government policy is to blame.

The Hezbollah rocket attack on a soccer pitch which killed 12 Israeli children and teens and injured numerous others makes one wonder just how devoid of humanity modern warfare has become.

In the war in Gaza that has been going on now for 297 days the attacks on non-combatant civilians, including women and children, shows a war without any moral compass.

It's all about killing and harming and winning regardless of the human cost. This Hezbollah attack will perpetuate the vicious cycle of violence and human slaughter.

What a crying shame that this is what the human race has become.

I have noticed two currawongs in my garden recently with a thick wax like growth on their legs, one on both and one with a single leg effected. I rang Access Canberra to report this only to be told to contact RSPCA.

I was asked if I could catch the birds but with a disability that possibility was unlikely. They are wild birds after all. I thought it was a government responsibility to ensure our wild birds are healthy. I worry that the infection will spread to other birds who frequent my garden including satin bower birds.

Ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a supporter of indicted war criminal Putin, has been sabotaging Ukraine's attempts to get support to defend itself against Russian slow burn destruction.

Ukraine has retaliated by cutting off Russian oil going through Ukraine. Hungarians can now thank Orban, and they can now drink cheap Russian vodka and use it to fuel their economy. A sort of "let them eat cake" response by Ukraine.

The Canberra Times top-notch religion correspondent, Ian Warden, asks the right questions such as why the creator decided on such a roundabout way to "save" Trump.

It would have been just as easy for God to have put the idea out of the shooter's mind in the first place. Of course, that raises an even more puzzling question. That is, why did our all-powerful and all-knowing God put the idea there in the first place?

When God holds his first ever live media conference (after the God-anointed Trump and Vance team romp home would seem an appropriate occasion), The Canberra Times must ensure Ian Warden has a front row seat (or would that be seen as the work of Satan)?

God certainly moves in mysterious ways. But then, so too does the devil.

We are in the USA watching NBC's Paris Olympic coverage of the swimming. We are surprised and honoured by their coverage and portrayal of the Australian swimming team as their biggest rival, together with the shared respect between our nations.

Mr Netanyahu, look at what your military have done and are doing in Gaza. Is that what you call "civilisation"? To quote Tacitus, "they make a desolation and they call it peace". ("ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant". It's barbaric.

At 11:55am on Friday (July 26) what I believe was the first magpie strike of the season occurred. It was on the north western edge of Latham and Charnwood. A bit bloomin' early I think.

I admire Prince Harry for refusing to put up with rubbish from the Murdoch gutter press, even if to do so he has to soften the traditional royal stiff upper lip.

That Benjamin Netanyahu should forcefully bring up the very matter of barbarism versus civilisation in his Washington speech makes him the shameless incarnation of the principle that (doubling down on) attack may be the best - or only - form of defence. When dealing with the indefensible, anyway.

Rather than taking a bullet for democracy Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to democracy given his failure to accept the result of the 2020 election and his role in January 6 insurrection.

When will Mr Barr realise that constantly shifting Canberra's urban planning strategy from developer-built highrise, to secondary dwellings on outer suburban RZ1 blocks, to government-built infill around shops, and then back again won't magically achieve his long overdue housing targets? It's akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Perhaps the 2024 Paris Olympics will be remembered for the appalling opening ceremony that mocked the faith foundational to French culture and Western civilisation. The 1924 Paris Olympiad saw Christian preacher Eric Liddell, whose conscience would not allow him to compete his preferred 100 metre sprint on a Sunday, unexpectedly triumph in the 400 metres.

I see that the Assistant Minister for Manufacturing has been rebadged the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia. George Orwell eat your heart out.

Does the Member for New England only open his mouth to change feet? Good on you "bullets for ballots Barnaby". That would be a no-no at any time, let alone after the assassination attempt.