Bill’s anti-Labor column off the mark

I thought to be kind in giving Bill Stefaniak some kudos for writing about the plastics proliferation threatening our planet (CW, 18 April). However, his ideological bent over other events clearly proved too much for some to ignore, and Bill’s most recent anti-Labor column was a step too far for me as well. Taking us in one giant leap from the Bondi stabbings, to John Howard’s “guts” in introducing stricter gun laws, and then to the Israeli drone strike and Bill’s allegations of “gutless” Labor leaders hardly encourages a calm and reasoned analysis of anything. Others have provided ample critical comment on these issues, including on Peter Dutton’s brain snap in linking Port Arthur with a protest gathering at the Opera House. And Bill too would do better to avoid exaggeration and misinterpretation. For instance, he claimed senior Labor “luminaries” were “silent (sic) after Hamas terrorists deliberately murdered Galit Carbone an Australian citizen” in their 7 October murderous attack on Israeli civilians. Online access reveals that the PM and ministers Penny Wong and Claire O’Neill quickly responded appropriately to the awful news, as did Australian media, like the ABC and Guardian Australia. There may be other examples as well, because I needed only a cursory search to demonstrate Bill’s misdirection. Bill may seek to make political gain with similarly tenuous comparisons between the Carbone murder and the death by drone attack of aid worker Zomi Frankcom. I won’t, because the avoidable killing of any person is inexcusable, and these two particular deaths, along with the thousands since, regardless of their nationality, all reflect extremely badly on those who were responsible, however much they may seek to justify themselves.

• Eric Hunter, Cook

City stadium not a great idea

I have checked on all the major cities in Australia, none have a stadium in the heart of the city. The closest would be Canberra at 550 metres (Canberra pool), Adelaide is 1.3km, all the rest are anything up to 17km away. To have the stadium in the city (Olympic Pool site) is a ridiculous idea on many levels. It has been suggested that people can get public transport to and from the stadium. Given the only transport is the buses, or if people get the tram and walk, other than this, how are they meant to get there if there is no parking? The parking for a stadium would have to be quite large for 30,000 people, which apparently is not the plan in the City. Then there is the idea of having buses. Has anyone considered how many buses would be needed to fill a 30,000-seat stadium? It would cause complete gridlock and traffic chaos. If buses are an acceptable option, why not have the stadium where the current arena is? And has anyone asked Action if they would or could provide enough buses? Has anyone really thought this through? Then there is the noise, there are homes and hotels near the pool. If it is the intention to have music concerts there as well as football, it will be very noisy for the locals, or do the Libs, Senator Pocock, the Business Chamber and the National Rugby League not give a damn? Or do they intend to do a compulsory purchase of them and knock them down? This is something Labor would do, but I am surprised at the Libs. Senator Pocock states the Bruce stadium is not what the majority of stakeholders want. What about everyone else?

• Vi Evans, MacGregor

Not Credi-Bill

Methinks it’s time to call out Bill (CW, 18 April) for what he is. A hack, albeit it seems unrequited, for the Liberal Party. His primary skill, if one can call it that, is to extol a Liberal Party virtue, in this case, the national gun ban, and then contrast it however tangentially, to a perceived Labor Party failing, in this case, the Government expressing its concern over the killing of an Australian aid worker by the IDF. If Bill brought any intellectual rigour to his weekly missives, he might show some balance. Does he really see Israel’s response to October as in any way proportional? Does he even care? Jews are not the only game in town, Bill. We now see reports of Israelis taking the opportunity to expand further onto Palestinian land and the prospect of Iran joining the ‘party’. How does he see that any of this can be readily forgotten when it stops? If it ever stops. Does he see peace flowering amongst the rubble that is now Gaza? That will take decades to rebuild. The only (re)building is likely to be that by the Israelis into Palestine. He seems to think that, like those gun owners, everyone will just “get over it”. How’s that working out for you, Bill? “Cheap electoral advantage”, thy name is Bill.

• A. Quick, Garran

City growth vs kangaroos

I have lived in Canberra since 1970, and have watched it expand at an amazing rate. It is truly a bush capital, and I love it. However, I cannot help but wonder how those opposed to culling kangaroos would cope with those times past when you woke up to find a mob eating their way through your front yard and careening down your suburban street. When driving out to the new southern suburbs was a nightmare as 15 to 20 kangaroos circled every roundabout on Drakeford Drive, crossing whether you were in the way or not. When you had to chase the kangaroos off the playing fields before games could start. When your children were bailed up walking to school across an oval. Tidbinbilla provides all the nature viewing you can want; if you are lucky, a mob of kangaroos will jump from a hill right over your car to get to the other side of the road, as happened to us. Canberra is either a 21st century city or a nature park, it can’t be both. And don’t get me started on massive gum trees next to housing.

• Evelyn Kearns, Stirling

In response to Bill

Bill’s opinions on Gaza continue to blow my mind (CW, 18 April). He starts by condemning Labor politicians for “bashing Israel” for the World Central Kitchen attack which killed an Australian aid worker, and concludes this was done “accidentally”. Which strike, I wonder, was accidental? The first, second or third, which hit three separate vehicles 1.6 km apart as the aid workers desperately fled from one to the next to get to safety. The WCK workers join a list of over 200 humanitarian workers, more than 400 healthcare workers, and 103 journalists killed by Israeli attacks in six months. 24 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza have been attacked, and mass graves are now being uncovered in hospital compounds after Israeli troops have withdrawn. Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant told us last October that there would be no food for the “human animals” in Gaza. While kilometers of food trucks line up on the borders unable to enter, Oxfam America reports that “the catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation in Gaza are the highest ever recorded”. All the while, attacks on Palestinians from illegal settlers and the IDF in the West Bank go on unabated. I agree with Bill when he says we have some gutless displays from our politicians. The vast majority refuse to hold Israel accountable for the deaths of over 14,000 children (as per UNICEF) for their policy of using starvation as a weapon of war (Human Rights Watch, 9 April) and for what the ICJ has found to be a plausible genocide. Those politicians who do oppose this inhumanity are sadly labelled as antisemitic.

• Paul Flynn, Belconnen

Lest we Forget

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Two veterans have taken their own lives every week since last ANZAC Day. Many more attempt suicide. Family breakups, violence, drugs, alcohol, gambling and despair are commonplace. Those who are the paid professionals, those employed to protect those who have protected them, are not doing their jobs. If you meet a politician on ANZAC Day, please remind them that they have failed in their duty, they have failed the men and women who gave so much. Lest they keep forgetting.

• Doug Steley

Kangaroos an invasive species? Ridiculous

Kangaroos? As on the Australian Coat-of-Arms? An invasive species? Like, say, fire ants? And just when I had concluded that Andrew Barr, his officialdom, and their cronies from the Phony Greens had got as brainless as they could possibly get. Now this! Where will it all end?

• Ian MacDougall, Farrer

Native Animals

Rebecca Marks (CW, 18 April) flags that Environment ACT classifies the Eastern Grey Kangaroo an invasive species. Hello, the Grey’s natural habitat is the entire East Coast and hinterland, which includes the ACT, and they were there many millennia before 1788. How can they be invasive in their homeland? Unless they are at fault for getting in the way of drivers? (So too do wombats and koalas.) Or by eating grass that sheep and golfers are entitled to? (A similar argument was used to clear First People off land the squatters wanted.) Kangaroos don’t get in the roof and keep you awake at night and befoul your ceilings and walls. Possums do, and they also pillage your home garden that you set up to fight the cost of living. But possums aren’t “invasive”, oh no, they’re a protected species and god help anyone who takes action, except to remove them no more than 50m – but they can run back faster than you can! Environment ACT, lay off the roos and make sensible rules for the nasty possums.

• Tady Carroll, Dickson 

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