“Dingoes are not wild dogs. Using this vague term risks the needless killing of a native apex predator essential to healthy ecosystems,” says letter writer WHITNEY ANDERS RICHARDSON.

It is sad to hear that the ACT government’s Thermal Assisted Aerial Control (TAAC) program (until May 30) includes dingoes, mistakenly labelled as “wild dogs”. 

While I support efforts to manage genuine invasive species like feral pigs and deer, the government needs to ensure dingoes are formally excluded from this operation.

Dingoes are not wild dogs. Research, including a major study from UNSW, shows most animals labelled as “wild dogs” are actually pure dingoes or dingo-dominant. Using this vague term risks the needless killing of a native apex predator essential to healthy ecosystems.

Namadgi National Park is home to one of the last genetically pure dingo populations in southeast Australia. 

A 2024 study confirmed this. These animals help control invasive species and are deeply significant to First Nations communities. What a shame to kill them instead of letting them thrive and support the ecosystems they have evolved in over thousands of years.

Whitney Anders Richardson, via email

Intrusion opens new unknown to energy supply

Engineers have said that the shutdown of the power grid across Spain, Portugal and parts of France on April 28-29 was caused either by a huge instability attributed to a lack of inertia in the system or by a lack of control over excess solar power in the system.

Whatever the investigations reveal, it will demonstrate how successful our governments, investors, climate catastrophists and media have been in creating the belief in the community that a renewable energy network is well understood and just needs time to be developed.

We only fully understand traditional high-voltage power grids in which synchronous high inertia supply follows demand. 

Systems in which electricity is generated by millions of low-voltage renewable modules and distributed bidirectionally pose many unresolved problems.

These systems have unprecedented quality problems to do with voltage and frequency caused by unreliability of supply as well as the unpredictability of both supply and demand.

While photovoltaics, wind turbines, batteries and inverters are everyday technology items, there is now the largely undeveloped requirement for real time informatics and control of the highly distributed renewable system. 

This is not discussed in the media and the community is not aware of the technology issues that may not be resolvable without some synchronous high-inertia generators in the system. This is where the case for nuclear power ultimately lies.

Furthermore, the intrusion of information, communications and control technologies into the energy system at every level will lead to new vulnerabilities.

Our most critical national infrastructure will be subject to cyber-attack, irrespective of almost every system component being designed and manufactured in China.

John L Smith, Farrer

Can we have a week off from politics?

Could we please have a week of no letters about politics from the perennial contributors? I am concerned that they rarely inspire constructive dialogue and I, for one, would appreciate a break after the comprehensive coverage/commentary leading up to the federal election.

Barry Peffer, Nicholls

Are we a nation of masochists?

After three years of this Albanese government, the MYEFO is predicting a $1 trillion national debt in 2025/2026 with no ideas about how to rein it in.

Many people are finding it hard to make ends meet with a very high cost of living, housing and renting, yet the government has been decisively returned for a second term, which begs the question: have we become a nation of masochists? Go figure .

Mario Stivala, Belconnen

The overwhelming number of votes do count

By now the parties and wakes will be over but while voting is still fresh in memory just to correct a couple of misapprehensions about voting mentioned in Letters (CN May 1).

John Godwin deplores preference deals and implies that somehow voters lose control of their preferences. This is not so. While parties/candidates may indicate how they suggest a voter allocates preferences on their how-to-vote cards, it is entirely up to each voter how they actually allocate their preferences. Voters don’t have to follow the suggestions.

John Murray’s suggestion that not voting counts more (than voting) is only partially correct in the Australian system. The US and UK have non-compulsory voting and first-past-the-post electoral systems. Australia, on the other hand, has compulsory voting (or at least attendance at a polling place) and preferential voting. 

Both ensure that an Australian’s vote counts for much more than in the US and UK.

Voter turnout in Australia is high, usually more than 90 per cent. Fewer than 5 per cent of votes cast in Australian elections cannot be counted. Only half of these are blank or despoiled ballots. This is only likely to make a difference to election outcomes in a very few, very marginal seats. So in Australia the overwhelming number of votes count.

Peter Tait, convenor, Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy

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