Letter writer RAY ZAK, of Macgregor, is concerned about a world full of single-use plastic.

I HAVE been contemplating the ACT government’s rush to replace single-use plastic items with wood or bamboo and, in some cases, metal. 

Now consider that Australia is importing 172 million single-use rapid antigen test (RAT) units (the US is importing around a billion), which includes 122 million units for Victoria. I’m not sure how many the other states are getting. 

And then there are the plastic face shields, needle holders, plastic bottles of hand sanitiser and other plastic PPE, but where is the method to dispose of all of this mostly single-use plastic? Where are the environmental Greens and their concerns for all of this plastic flooding the world? 

I can guarantee much of it will end up in landfill. 

Ray Zak, Macgregor

How’s the dope law been working?

ON January 31, 2020, progressive members in our Legislative Assembly introduced new rules around personal use of cannabis in the ACT to help people get support and stay out of the justice system, and to calm the whinging minorities who saw incarceration a plot against them and a festering sore. 

Key rule changes were: if you’re aged 18 and over in the ACT, you can possess up to 50 grams of dried cannabis or up to 150 grams of fresh cannabis, presumably not getting busted, and grow up to two cannabis plants per person, with a maximum of four plants per household, also presumably without getting busted.

My question is: “How’s it been working after this length of time” and considering the current Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amendment Bill, will you now please introduce a new set of ACT vehicle number plates with modern wording “Canberra the ‘dope’ Capital of Australia”?

John Lawrence via email

Locals are the losers 

WITH so many anti-vaccination mandate, non-mask-wearing and non-socially distancing visitors bedding down and roaming around Canberra in early February, it is worrying that some retail and hospitality businesses might find that locals hunker down even more (“Police warn of more protests”, citynews.com.au, February 3). 

Has Senator Seselja stood up to his Trump-like Coalition colleagues about the ways in which they continue to inflame these anti-vax rallies and the many misguided beliefs and behaviours that underpin them? 

Sue Dyer, Downer

Things we know we know

THERE’S no point in Greg Cornwell’s lament that the song is ended (“The carnival is over, we may never meet again”, CN January 22) unless he analyses the cultural changes that have occurred in his lifetime.

The standout is so significant that it has been termed a revolution. Beginning with the contraceptive pill, the sexual revolution has accomplished abortion rights, no-fault divorce, manipulation of human life (IVF), same-sex marriage and transgenderism. 

Only Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Jews and Evangelical Protestants oppose it because our civilisation had to become the first in history whose mind-moulders deny the natural moral law. Or, as Solzhenitsyn explained so simply in his 1983 Templeton Prize address, that “we have forgotten God”. 

Moral relativism has led us to the point where freedom is a matter of personal autonomy often governed by feelings, whereas previously it was about responsibility to the moral law, albeit accomplished in greater or lesser degrees.

The inevitable casualty of the revolution has been the type of family that all the longest-lasting cultures in history (Jewish, Confucian and Islamic) have held in high regard. Our birth rate is 1.5 births per woman, somewhat inflated by a much higher birth rate amongst migrant women, but well below the 2.1 replacement rate. Therefore, we are highly dependent on migration for our skilled workforce (just look at our health institutions) and yet we have voices calling for a halt.

Lately, the ideology of diversity, inclusion and equity (wokeness) has arisen, and it is demolishing education and business. It is not compassionate to tell the poor a lie by ignoring reality; that is an insult. If we had stopped to ask Putin and Xi Jinping they could have told us that Communism tried that and it doesn’t work!

No matter how frequently our unofficial mind-moulders (media) tell us differently, there are some things we know we know.

John L Smith, Farrer 

Time to move with times

TIME to move with the times Greg Cornwell (“The carnival is over, we may never meet again”, CN January 27). You sound like a grumpy, old man… “total confusion about global warming”. What? 

No more pining for the Ardath days, and have faith in the young – I’m sure The Seekers do. 

Jack Kershaw, born 26/11/42, Kambah

Failing housing minister

ANYONE who has lived near public housing knows this story only too well (“Tenants live in fear of trashed unit”, CN January 27). 

Anyone growing up in Canberra when I did will remember what public housing was and should be: a home for low-income people, employed or otherwise. 

Instead, it’s become just another adjunct to our ever-burgeoning welfare system, with all the dysfunction that goes with that. Here in Canberra, this problem is exacerbated by a housing minister who shows no consistency, all too often fails to enforce even minimal standards and, frankly, appears not to know what she is doing. 

She hides all these failings behind the convenient cover of privacy legislation. This means that, all over this city, you will find ghettos calling themselves public housing – you know the scenario: poorly maintained, often trashed and all too often tenanted by some of the most obnoxious people you could come across and, worst of all, with little to no accountability to us, the tax and ratepayers who pay for all this. 

As a result of this poor management, perfectly respectable public-housing tenants end up being unfairly maligned. 

Sure, the management of public housing is more complex these days than it used to be. But does this really excuse trashing perfectly good dwellings, including the one in question that was only built in recent years, and turning respectable suburban areas into slum areas.

Michael O’Loughlin, via citynews.com.au

Cheery emails keep coming

FOR the last few months I have been receiving “newsletter” emails from Senator Andrew Bragg [a senator for NSW]. 

Having no idea how I got on to his mailing list, I was intrigued to be addressed as “Dear Chia-Hui”. When the second of these emails arrived I replied to the sending address – which is also the contact address provided on the senator’s web page – pointing out the error, which strongly suggests that a mail merge program has been misconfigured. 

I received no response, and am still receiving cheery emails touting Senator Bragg’s supposed achievements. 

While I am well aware that many politicians would struggle to differentiate a computer from a transistor radio, some basic quality control regarding the activities of their staff is not too much to expect, particularly since said staff are almost certainly paid for by the long-suffering taxpayer. 

I would contend that any politician incapable of something as simple as correctly addressing emails to constituents should not be entrusted with anything more complex than the flight plans for a paper aeroplane.

Melodie Neal, via email

Climate’s road to nowhere

IN Letters (CN January 20), Dr Douglas MacKenzie’s scientific explanation on global heating, while correct, does not really provide a solution to climatic change. 

The problem is complicated by a network of circumstances. For example, it is quite obvious that human population growth has made a massive impact on global warming, and as such is inextricably linked to climatic change. 

However, reducing or reversing the growth of population is difficult to achieve given that while per-capita greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced, the population’s demands for oil, gas, coal and other fuels mined or drilled from below the earth’s surface, which when burned, will discharge carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, have not reduced. 

While talks are underway regarding the climatic change, unsustainable human population and its build up of generated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will continue to contribute to a dangerous increase in greenhouse gases, resulting in environmental damage. 

It does not seem possible to redress these issues. If anything, it leads one to get bogged down further in a road that ends without leading to much room for improvement.

Myriam Amar, Phillip

Respect freedom of choice

COLUMNIST Paul Costigan criticised a property sold in Ainslie (CN Jan 6), which had the garden cleared out shortly afterwards, with “this sort of event should not be allowed”. 

If you purchase a property then you have the right to do what you want (so long as it’s legal), as this is the core concept of ownership! 

If I don’t want a garden to maintain, a lawn to mow, a fishpond to clean, trees to prune and leaves to gather up, then I don’t have to. 

I for one don’t want more dictatorship in Canberra about how my property should be due to a handful of individuals kicking up a fuss as it’s not fitting in with their utopian world.

Having a garden though is my choice, but I also need paved/concrete areas for practical reasons that include prevention of erosion, parking the car/trailer, drainage routes in heavy rain, a barbecue/entertaining area, footpaths and stairs, as I’m on a hill.

Individual circumstances, location, affordability, practicality and most importantly a respect for freedom of choice is what I see as lacking in the Democratic People’s Republic of Canberra as opposed to more regulation.

Bjorn Moore, Gowrie

Fit for what, Albo?

IN my view Anthony Albanese MP should think deeply about his bodily fitness undertaking in preparation for the next election, and possibly the prime ministership. 

Of course, trying to improve one’s health is commendable, especially given the workload at national level. But one should never forget that arguably the greatest leader during World War II, Winston Churchill, gave the very frequent example to the world that he survived on a daily “diet” of virtually no exercise, the inhaling of Cuban cigars, a half or more bottle of scotch, the very rare gifts of persuasion and courage, and a form of English known as Churchillian. I believe it was the Hercule Poirot character who wisely said along the lines of: “It’s the little grey cells that determine…”

Colliss Parrett, Barton