“Is it any wonder that our emergency departments in Canberra are overrun when even relatively minor cases cannot be attended to at the Walk In Centres because there is no doctor on duty?” Reader ALEX COURAGE, of Yarralumla, shares a terrible story of when his wife took a tumble.

During a Saturday afternoon walk around the block, my wife tripped on a nature strip and cut her chin on the gutter.

Thanks to good Samaritans, who were driving by, some first aid assistance was rendered and they also took me home to get our car and stayed with my wife until I returned to get her to medical assistance. 

We immediately thought of the Walk In Centre at Weston Creek. Although very helpful they said they were not allowed to administer the three stitches required and referred us to the Emergency Department at Canberra Hospital while also advising it would be at least a four to five-hour wait depending on whether more urgent cases moved ahead of us. 

My wife’s injury was not one that required the expert services of an emergency department. Happy to pay for the urgent attention, we rang around all the usual medical centres, but all were either booked out or just about to close. 

Luckily, one recommended the Queanbeyan Medicare Urgent Care Centre, which has a doctor on duty at all times, unlike the Canberra Walk In Centres. 

Within two hours my wife’s cut had been stitched and followed by a tetanus shot, she was on the mend. To our surprise it was also bulk billed.

Is it any wonder that our emergency departments in Canberra are overrun when even relatively minor cases cannot be attended to at the Walk In Centres because there is no doctor on duty? 

ACT government Walk In Centres cannot even prescribe mild pain killers, they can only suggest Disprin or Panadol. They also cannot prescribe any antibiotic treatments that may be necessary for infected wounds etcetera. What a waste of trained staff and facilities. 

The NSW Government has managed to provide these Medicare Urgent Care Centres to relieve their stretched EDs so why on earth can’t we?

All that would be required is a doctor on duty at each of the five ACT Walk In Centres. 

Canberra has a tired, dysfunctional, underfunded health system and its time for a change of government.

Alex Courage, Yarralumla

Time to get rid of the Assembly’s low-hanging fruit

With the upcoming ACT election, things seem to be heating up in the kitchen, as the sitting members try and retain their seats, or the new kids on the block, seek a look in attempt to secure a position in the Assembly; perhaps even some independents!

I, for one, believe we need some fresh blood in the Assembly to tackle several long-standing issues with the ACT community.

Some of these issues stand out more than others; however, how about we start with some fundamental needs and improvements our community needs and deserves?

These include, but are not limited to, affordable housing, improved physical and mental health services, decent alcohol and drug services, improved homelessness services, human rights for marginalised groups of people, improvements within ACT policing, the criminal justice system (both youth and adult), the coronial system, our city’s infrastructure, toxic workplace cultures, environmental sustainability; the list goes on.

Further, I strongly believe that transparency and honesty are key words we should be acknowledging and practising.

As a horticulturist in a previous life, I suggest we start with getting rid of the low-hanging fruit, followed by a harsh pruning to get rid of the deadwood, so to speak. 

If you are a gardener, you will know that a decent prune will generally leave a plant to flourish with new buds and healthy and vigorous growth.

If we are going to maintain Canberra’s city as being restorative and progressive in nature, we need to get pruning!

I have my secateurs and pruning saw at the ready; come join me.

Janine Haskins, Cook

Government fails to evaluate bus rapid transport 

I am struck by the similarities in the arguments used by the proponents of light rail and nuclear power.

Nuclear power advocates point to its use in a number of countries overseas, ignoring such decisions were made decades ago when the choice of low cost, reliable solar and wind power was not available; that many of the countries do not possess our solar and wind resources and that nuclear power in Australia has been assessed as the more expensive option.

Light rail advocates point to the use of light rail in a large number of cities. Most decisions to adopt light rail were made before improvements in electric bus technology (including the trackless tram) and the increase in working from home, both of which increase the competitiveness of buses.

The ACT government has failed to evaluate bus rapid transport despite its potential to be a more cost effective option for Canberra. The extension of light rail could well be at the expense of improvements in social housing, to the bus network and health, aged and disability services.

The government has failed to justify its expenditure priorities. For its credibility and accountability it should do so before the October election

Mike Quirk, Garran

Don’t put a flea in Barr’s ear

Re Richard Johnston’s letter (CN August 1) about building on hilltops: Please don’t put a flea in Barr’s ears. 

They’ve ruined what is meant to be a bush capital already with all the infill and high-rise units all over the place, at least save the hills around us from the concrete jungle that Canberra is becoming.

Monica Beran, Farrer

As a Christian, I took great umbrage

Robert Macklin’s The Gadfly column (CN July 25) reeks of anti-religion bigotry. I am surprised that such a biassed article appeared in your usually fine publication. 

To compare the average person with religious beliefs to supposed Christian sects, and to ridicule other people’s creeds is the religious equivalent of racism. 

As a practising Christian – who goes about his religion quietly and privately, as do 99 per cent of all such peoples of belief, whatever religion – I took great umbrage to this article. I wonder how many other of your readers are of the same view.

Dave Jeffrey, Farrer

There certainly was an invasion

I was staggered by the denialist letter from Vi Evans (“Invasion? What Invasion of Australia? CN August 18) claiming that there was no invasion.

According to Oxford Languages the simple definition of “invasion” is:

noun

1. an instance of invading a country or region with an armed force.
2. an incursion by many people or things into a place or sphere of activity.
3. an unwelcome intrusion into another’s domain.

The uninvited arrival of about 1400 people aboard 11 ships, many of those ships and people armed, to a land mass occupied by other people with no knowledge of who those arriving were, can certainly be considered an invasion. 

That is especially so as those arriving hoisted their flag and claimed that land mass as their own, with no consultation of the existing inhabitants. Over the next 200 years, similar people continued to arrive on that land mass, constantly driving those original inhabitants from their traditional lands.

Many Japanese today have no knowledge of what happened in the Pacific during World War II. Not because it didn’t happen, but because the books they read in schools contain no references to those horrors. Perhaps Vi Evans should read different books.

Henry Moulds, via email

This is why this nation needs ‘truth telling’

Vi Evans is right. None of the Australian history books she has read “contain claims about violent invasion” (Letters, CN August 8). That’s the problem. That’s why this nation needs “truth telling”. 

Australian school textbooks in the 1900s expunged the truth. All we got was explorer stories.

Vi would be wary of alternative views. Maybe John Connor’s, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838, published by the University of NSW Press would be acceptable. Brad Manera, a historian at the Australian War Memorial, favourably reviewed it and concluded: “John Connor’s work is a significant contribution to the historiography of colonial Australia.” 

Val may find the map of massacres from 1788 to 1930 at tinyurl.com/MassacresMap too confronting. It is interactive and by clicking on each site, a pop-up window gives the brief story. There is also an interactive variable timeline. Every Australian should view it.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

Letters such as Vi’s spread ‘misinformation’

Letter writer Vi Evans (CN August 8) claims there was no invasion of Australia by British colonialists. This is remarkable given a definition of invasion is “the act of entering a place in an attempt to take control of it”. 

Likewise, Vi claims there was no violent occupation. This evidence comes from all of the history books that Vi has read about the early settlement of Australia. 

Vi clearly read the same text book that I received on entering first form in 1970 – that which depicts Australia’s history starting in 1770. 

The remainder of Vi’s correspondence displays similar ignorance of ecology. But my gripe is not with Vi but with CityNews. Letters such as Vi’s simply spread misinformation. None of us have the right to express an opinion unless we have expertise in a subject. We earn this right through considerable scholarship.

Ian Wallis, Division of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics Research School of Biology, ANU

Why are kangaroos killed for land development?

Every year, for the last 16 years, the ACT Labor/Greens government has slaughtered kangaroos claiming they were pests and needed to be slaughtered because they are suddenly destroying their environment and causing the extinction of grasses and small lizards.

For the last three of these years an enormous number of roos have been killed on Red Hill and then, strangely, a vast development of housing is being built where they once peacefully lived. 

The ACT government will shortly be building a new suburb called Kenny and, surprise, this year 271 adults were shot and 111 joeys clubbed to death on Goorooyarroo, the adjacent reserve.

Why won’t this government tell the truth about why it slaughters so many of our iconic native wildlife each year? 

The truth being they are being killed for land development and not that the kangaroo, which has shaped this continent for millions of years and lived in harmony with other native wildlife, has suddenly started to destroy its own environment.

Jo Kirwan, via email

A severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome

Declan McGrath (Letter, CN August 8) must be suffering a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome if he thinks the Republicans have encouraged violence without mentioning the Democrats did nothing to denounce the violence that resulted in at least 20 innocent deaths and many more injuries and the destruction of hundreds of innocent businesses by Black Lives Matter supporters who are typically Democrat voters. 

In fact, the left-wing US media, who are big supporters of the Democrats, were seen reporting live in front of burning buildings claiming the BLM were peaceful protests. 

Whereas, there was no rioting from the “violent” Republican supporters after Trump got shot recently due to the unprofessional and lax Secret Service. 

Ian Pilsner, Weston

Offended by depiction of Kamala Harris

I was offended by the racist “blackface” depiction of Kamala Harris in a cartoon by Paul Dorin (CN August 8). 

While Ms Harris had parents of African and Indian heritage, she clearly does not have a dark complexion as depicted by Paul Dorin, where he seems to be deliberately emphasising her African heritage. 

It reminds me of the minstrel shows of the past in America where white actors and cartoon characters were depicted wearing “blackface” for the purpose of comically portraying racial stereotypes of African Americans.

CityNews needs to apologise for allowing the publication of that cartoon. 

Tony Falla, Ngunnawal

Wishing for the resources government enjoys

Re Michelle Grattan’s column about the Albanese government’s immediate challenges (“So much housework, so little time”, citynews.com.au August 9): many living beyond Capital Hill would be wishing they had access to an army of skilled and already well-paid professionals who could just get stuck into jobs piling up on “to-do” lists. 

Sue Dyer, Downer