“I would like to appeal to people to please slow down on the roads, look out for wildlife and to check animals that have been hit. It’s possible for animals such as kangaroos, possums and wombats (and their babies) to survive a car strike,” says letter writer REBECCA MARKS.

One of my most dreaded scenarios in life happened when driving from Canberra to Mount Fairy, NSW, to visit family. I found a badly injured, young male kangaroo on the side of the road. 

It had been hit and left to die in agony. When I reached it, it was calling out for its mother. 

As I was in NSW, I was able to call Wildcare for help. This was a huge comfort to me at the time. If I had been in the ACT, the only option available would be to call Access Canberra so that a ranger could be sent to put the animal down. 

Due to its extensive injuries, the young kangaroo died before volunteers from Wildcare were able to reach it. 

I would like to appeal to people to please slow down on the roads, look out for wildlife and to check animals that have been hit. It is possible for animals such as kangaroos, possums and wombats (and their babies) to survive a car strike. 

In what scenario would we as a society think it is acceptable for someone to hit a dog or a cat and just leave them to suffer? Our wildlife is precious and it deserves better treatment than this. 

Rebecca Marks, via email

Minority Labor government prodded to reform

All political parties break promises. Some promises weren’t (think Tony Abbott saying there would be no cuts to education, health, the ABC or SBS) while others could not be implemented due to changed circumstances (think Albanese’s promise that power prices would be $275 lower, undermined by the war in Ukraine).

Too often superficial messages are prepared masquerading as policy to create a perception the party can effectively address issues, aware few electors have sufficient knowledge of policy to evaluate the claims. It’s about establishing a “vibe”.

For the upcoming election the Coalition is excelling by extolling often deliberately deceptive policies (more accurately thought-bubbles) on housing, cost of living, energy, climate change, immigration and the public service.

Hopefully, its electability will be hindered by the lead in its saddlebags from robodebt, its past dilettantism in relation to housing and climate change and a concern it is serving the fossil fuel industry rather than the wider community.

Labor is cautious, adopting a ”don’t scare the horses” approach. While this may assist it to remain in government and deliver some marginal improvements, it will not effectively address the environmental, economic and social challenges facing Australia.

It is becoming increasingly clear a minority Labor government prodded to reform by the Greens and independents, will provide the best hope of achieving meaningful change.

Mike Quirk, Garran

Birds from dirt, not birds from dinosaurs

While Whimsy columnist Clive Williams (CN February 27) seems adamant that birds evolved from therapod dinosaurs, the bird origin account in The Bible’s Genesis Chapter 1 has God speaking birds into existence (or alternatively, creating every winged bird according to its kind).

He did it on the “fifth day”, which from a plain reading of the text would be a normal-length day with an evening and a morning. 

Genesis 2:19 includes some more detail in noting that God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. 

So, it seems it was effectively birds from dirt not birds from dinosaurs. Also, Mr Williams seems way, way off in terms of his time scale, by around a convenient 25,000 multiple of the Bible’s timescale of around 6000 years ago for the initial creation of birds.

The creation week and other major historical events impacting the birds of today are things that a number of people under the sway of molecules-to-mankind evolution ideas seem to want to wish, assume, presume, interpret and/or theorise away.

Scott Crawford, Kaleen

Failing health system is more Barr’s fault

Michael Moore rightly asks why Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith hasn’t been sacked (“Why won’t Barr remove failing health minister?”, CN March 20). 

May I suggest that its because Chief Minister Andrew Barr knows it’s more his fault than hers. His woke agenda has cost Canberrans a decent health system.

Bob Howden, via email

Patriotic billionaires didn’t come to the rescue

Australia is slowly emerging from a cost-of-living crisis. For a time, food banks simply could not feed everyone who needed assistance. Our patriotic billionaires opted not to come to the rescue.

Now with the election campaign underway, we find that there is endless money to trumpet political advertisements.

Do these billionaires really have the interests of homeless and hungry Australians at heart or are they seeking Elon Musk-type influence in an incoming Dutton government?

Noel Baxendell, Holt 

Thumbs up for seeds in party bags

Seeds in party bags at the end of a celebration – what a fabulous idea! Thanks so much to streaming columnist Nick Overall (“Meghan’s sweet souffle of self-indulgence”, CN March 20) for highlighting this advice from the Duchess of Sussex. 

Especially for little kids (which is what Meghan has), planting and watching seeds grow offers extended fun and interest. Not to mention how good it is for them to spend time in and with the natural environment, and to potentially grow some fruit or vegetables that they can then consume.

So much better than a bag full of sugary, highly processed foods! I can’t wait to take up this suggestion. 

Elizabeth Gould, via email

Time to step back into the real world

No wonder there is an epidemic of loneliness in Australia today when so many people are glued to their mobile devices instead of engaging with those or the environment around them. 

It is time we all disconnected and stepped back into the real world.

Darryl Johnston, Tuggeranong

Irony in Canberra Times dancing promotion

I find considerable irony in the fact that, having completely disowned and discarded the arts in any editorial with the exception of films, that The Canberra Times has turned to ballet dancers to advertise itself on buses and trams in Canberra.

The Canberra Times had a considerable reputation amongst artists and arts organisations for decades, for respecting and promoting the arts – in all its forms – in Canberra, until critics, reviewers and other arts writers were given the news they would no longer be published.

This was such a blow to the many readers who often waited until an exhibition or performance had been reviewed before deciding whether or not to go. And let’s not forget the writers who wrote and reviewed regularly.

Meredith Hinchliffe, via email

Editor’s note: Many of the fine reviewers displaced from The Canberra Times now write for CityNews.com.au, now the proud leader in performance and art reviewing. 

Manipulated scarcity of new suburban land

Outrageous current prices, like $700,000 (verifiable) for a new, tiny, narrow, single-dwelling block of land, and the developer-manipulated scarcity of new suburban land, are the main underlying causes of our appalling housing affordability and quality crises.

There is no free market there, only heartless profiteering, and cartel-like behaviour. 

Getting developers to put up more flats, with loosened development conditions, will not solve the problem – they won’t forego profits to any significant extent. Nor will all sorts of government grants, subsidies, etcetera help much – developers and landlords will simply exploit them. 

It’s time for governments to take back new suburban and satellite-town land development; to do it more responsibly, price-wise, socially and environmentally; to make single-dwelling blocks more family friendly (say, a minimum 600 square metres – definitely achievable without increasing estate footprints); to always maintain supply, especially directly to bona-fide owner-occupiers; and to make the blocks available for say, the publicly ascertainable cost to produce plus a small reasonable margin reflecting the block’s location and characteristics. With all necessary associated infrastructure, services, and connectivity, that could bring them down to around $200,000 each on average.

All that will have improved affordability, and quality flow-on effects across all other housing typologies. The federal government and the banks would need to jointly manage any genuinely debilitating market-correction impacts (using say, existing subsidy funds, bank super profits, etcetera). 

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Climate realists, and not ‘catastrophists’

I am dismayed by Anthony Hordern’s referring to “climate catastrophists” (letters, CN March 27). 

With experience as a professional surveyor and consulting engineer, Mr Hordern should be able to understand that there are those who recognise the dangers of climate change, which is now affecting millions of people around the world. 

Those who have witnessed the recent extreme weather events and flooding in eastern Australia are realists, and certainly not “catastrophists”.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

The ever-expanding legal black hole

The Higgins/Lehmann/Drumgold/Sofronoff/Reynolds/Wright/Sharaz morass is largely a political stoush, with a rape accusation at its centre, being played out in courtrooms.

How can justice be served when politics is the master? 

The mud slung at Sofronoff with a corruption charge may stick but, like so much else in this jaundiced affair, judicial sloppiness will trigger further litigation. The ever-expanding legal black hole sucks a grotesque quantum of money and energy.

Peter Robinson, Ainslie