IN reply to Dian, of Kambah (Grumpy column, CN, April 14) re littering and lack of weeding around Canberra, we need to decide where the best value for dollars allocated to cleaning and maintenance lies.

I would rather see neatly mown grass and cleared drains than some of the questionable so-called public artworks that are on display.

But on the matter of littering I cannot agree with her as to whom we apportion blame and responsibility.

The general thoughtlessness of people who drop litter in the first place is the main cause. Don’t complain about the lack of action on the part of the ACT government.

It is a never-ending job tidying up after people who think it is their right to discard unwanted articles on the assumption that “someone else will pick it up”.

Many school children have that attitude and happily litter their schoolyard because “it is the janitor’s job to pick it up”. Presumably, they become the adults who toss garbage out of their cars and leave litter at picnic areas and sports grounds.

My husband and I walk every morning in Fisher and other Weston Creek suburbs and carry a bag into which we put bottles, cans, takeaway wrappings, cigarette packets etcetera. It is not our job, but we like to have a clean suburb to walk in.

Every year there is great fanfare about Clean Up Australia Day where participants can register to pick up garbage in a designated area. I wish that a little more publicity was directed at changing the behaviour of the lazy minority who feel that it is their right to discard rubbish in public places. Then we could “Keep Australia Clean Everyday”! Do they do the same thing in their own homes?

Christine Homann, Fisher ACT

When differences can’t be overcome

I TRUST readers won’t consign these comments to the politically incorrect basket. They seek answers, not to be anti-religious.

Why is it that up to several million of the Muslim faith are pouring into Christian countries? The two faiths have been at loggerheads for at least 1400 years. This makes it very hard to understand why, when near to Manus, countries that are not third world, but have more than 300 million Muslims, have apparently made no settlement offers to the 850 on that island.

Recently, a Muslim Foundation spokesperson sought to explain that Muslim youth were coming to the notice of police and security forces because they were caught between two cultures.

Being assessed at face-to-face interviews as suitable for settlement in Australia, up to two million people from Europe and Asia, (of 50+ different religions and cultures) came here from 1945 on, with nearly 100 per cent settling without incident. Being assessed as unsuitable to live in Australia for any sound reason carried no negative personal implications.

All had to be assessed as able to and willing to integrate into Australian society.

In this context I conducted 18,000 interviews including in the Middle East where I experienced cultural differences first-hand.

Consequently, I developed a sensitivity to potentially grave problems facing anyone seeking settlement in Australia and can understand, with empathy, why the Australian culture is a huge stumbling block for too many Muslims.

But being found unsuitable for residence here will mean in all probability a happier lifetime immersed elsewhere in an acceptable culture. Before pushing ahead regardless, the impasse must be resolved to the benefit of Muslims wanting (but perhaps not needing) to settle here.

Colliss Parrett, Barton