Denial of opportunity has not been the real problem; feminists have been duped by technology, says letter writer JOHN L SMITH, of Farrer.

Having read the article “Feminist warrior Virginia’s unfinished revolution” (CN, October 23) I wondered whether today’s ageing feminist generation isn’t angry (“rage and anger poured out of me”) for the wrong reason.

Denial of opportunity has not been the real problem; they have been duped by technology.

It is not just that most women couldn’t drive a truck or heavy vehicle until the drive train had been automated and the steering powered. Participation in the economy, government and the whole financial industry has been made possible by the computer.

The underlying models, data analysis and the corresponding synthetic controls, replacing the old structures in which men were in leadership roles, have seen women move in large numbers into the top positions in these sectors.

But it is technology in the form of the contraceptive pill (post 1960s) and medical abortion and vacuum aspiration (post 1970s) that underlies the change in the primary role of modern women away from motherhood.

As a result, the fertility rate has dropped from a modern peak of 2.02 in 2008 to 1.48 in 2024.

Can a “Feminist Fightback” react to the absence of family and the unstoppable march of demography?

John L Smith, Farrer

Cease Roberts-Smith trial by media

May I remind readers that Ben Roberts-Smith, VC, MG he has neither been found guilty nor convicted of the alleged war crimes supposedly that this highly decorated soldier may have committed during his six deployments with the Special Air Service Regiment in Australia’s involvement in the Afghanistan War 2001-2021.

I refer to readers and some detractors to July 26 1920 as directed by King George V to his private secretary Lord Stamfordham: “No matter the crime committed by anyone on whom the Victoria Cross has been conferred, the decoration should not be forfeited. Even where a VC is sentenced to be hanged for murder he should be allowed to wear his VC on the scaffold.”

I reiterate, Ben Roberts-Smith, VC, MG has neither been found guilty nor convicted of the alleged war crimes. Therefore, trial by the media and his detractors’ comments should cease forthwith!

Ross E Smith, OAM, JP, via email

Busy enjoying the fruits of colonialism

Robert Macklin’s column “Three rousing cheers for the iconic ABC” (CN October 30) needs some correction.

“The truth is that we are all migrants in Australia” must also apply to indigenous Australians too, whose ancestors migrated from Africa around 70,000 years ago.

Mr Macklin claims the “No” result in The Voice referendum was partially the result of “voter ignorance of the Aboriginal story”. Apart from presenting no evidence to support his theory, it’s absurd to believe the “Aboriginal story” isn’t being told. Watch ABCTV for one hour and I guarantee you’ll see multiple Aboriginal stories broadcast and repeated every day.

“There’s no point acknowledging those 65,000 years if nothing happened during that time” he laments. What exactly DID happen, compared to the last 250 years of the Industrial Revolution, technology, art, medicine and literature thanks to the contributions of our colonial ancestors?

His stark and obvious distaste for “some Yorkshire sea captain” (James Cook) smacks of the current anti-colonial sentiments smothering us all.

If Mr Macklin feels so strongly about the past transgressions of the British invaders, why doesn’t he give up his home and land to a needy indigenous family and return to the land of his ancestors?

We’re guessing he will do neither. Why? He’s too busy enjoying the fruits of colonialism!

F and M Norton, Kambah

Native birds lost to mynah ‘plague’

Swooping magpies is a common topic at the moment. We seem to have a plague of mynah birds in Canberra and they are equally as aggressive. Just step outside and you get dive bombed. A beak snap near your ear, they attack from behind.

They also have a very annoying habit of tweeting non stop for hours. 

I thought the local government was supposed to be doing something about these non-native birds. 

Many of the native birds in my area have disappeared thanks to these awful invaders.

Melanie Glover, Duffy

Why we need a national gambling strategy

Yes, Michael Moore, there needs to be serious action to phase out gambling advertising (“Parties make all the right noises, but no action”, CN October 23), and for the same reasons that action was taken to phase out tobacco advertising: it is reprehensible to promote a product that is designed to be addictive and which causes harm to users.

While Australia has the dubious honour of being the world’s biggest losers when it comes to gambling losses – and the total of $25 billion or more a year in gambling losses is staggering – that is not the whole story.

About half of these losses are from poker machines and, according to recent studies, more than 80 per cent of poker machine losses come from at-risk gamblers. 

Studies have found that at least one in six people who play the pokies regularly has a serious addiction.

This should come as no surprise – we know that poker machines are addictive by design. They are deliberately and scientifically designed to manipulate the brain in ways that will keep people gambling for the longest possible time. These machines are incredibly accessible in the ACT, with 42 gaming venues spread throughout our suburbs, close to homes, workplaces and shops.

Ending advertising and promotion should be only the start of a multi-faceted strategy that takes a cultural and a regulatory approach to the most harmful forms of gambling.

Just as the National Tobacco Strategy aims to reduce tobacco use and its associated health, social, environmental and economic impacts, we need a comprehensive National Gambling Strategy that addresses gambling harm reduction and the sizeable detrimental impacts of gambling in Australia.

Karina Morris, Weetangera

Head of state question raises more

Richard Johnston’s question: should we have a head of state? (letters, CN October 23) is a good one. Apart from a few ceremonial duties there is not much of a role.

More interestingly, how could we have a head of government that steps away from our inherited Westminster arrangements? 

This and other matters Johnston raises such as multi-member electorates, particularly if MPs were chosen using a proportional preferential system like in the Senate, and some issues he didn’t such as how to select a head of government and how taxpayers might allocate their tax dollars were canvassed at a Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy session, available to see at https://youtu.be/lv3GuUXRx3I.

Peter Tait, convener, 

Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy

Subsidies should go to the passengers!

The latest Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) annual report reveals that public transport boardings fell from 19.9 million in 2024 to 13.2 million in 2025, and that in 2025 TCCS caused 35,224 tonnes CO2e emissions from transport fuels.

At 1.4 boardings for the average 12-kilometre passenger trip, that is about 300 grams per person per kilometre. That, in turn, is about 50 per cent more than emissions from car travel.

This year’s ACT budget included almost $65 million for healthy walking and cycling, and a whopping 14 times that much for polluting public transport.

It can cost us more than $5000 a year to subsidise public transport for one student.

That $5000 could pay for a lot of walking and cycling, with plenty left over to pay for study materials.

At the instigation of The Greens, the government has decided to increase public transport subsidies by providing free public transport for students, seniors and concession card holders.

Students, seniors and concession card holders (and the environment) would be better off if the government paid transport subsidies direct to them, rather than to TCCS.

Leon Arundell, Downer

Brave enough to swap wind for hydro?

Free hydro electricity is readily available from all the water falling along the east coast of the nation and in Tasmania – ready to be directed into smaller and smaller pipes, then turning generators to provide ready and distributed sources of electric power.

I’m inspired by having watched a TV program – Amanda Owen’s Farming Lives – that showed how this system in North Wales ran the farm and power was sold back to the grid.

My question is: are we brave enough to swap huge wind generators for local, efficient, inexpensive systems that will help local communities? 

Peter Gately, Flynn

Joyce driven by his own personal beliefs 

Sue Dyer hit the fence post square on top when she speculated about Barnaby Joyce’s future (“Tempted by a six-year senate term?”, letters, CN, October 30).

For more than a decade, Joyce has taken an anti-science stance on climate change, second only to Tony Abbott in blocking Australia’s decarbonisation. He opposes clean, renewable energy while championing dirty fossil fuels and expensive, risky nuclear power. Although a member of the National Party, which claims to represent farmers and regional communities, Joyce has failed to support those whose water is threatened by coal and gas projects. He even opposed the Carbon Farming Initiative Bill.

Joyce is driven by his own personal beliefs such as, “The very idea that we can stop climate change is barking mad. Climate change is inevitable, as geology has always shown.” 

He is blind to the rapid changes we are experiencing. As Dyer concludes, we can be “eternally grateful” that, while Joyce may one day lead One Nation, his chances of holding a key leadership role in government again are negligible.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

‘Invasion’ definition is a nonsensical view!

Ian Pilsner’s views on whether or not Australia was “invaded” in 1788 are less than reliable, given that he appears to believe that the Japanese invaded Australia in World War II.

A few ships sunk and some air raids do not add up to “invasion” of any kind. Not a single Japanese soldier set foot on Australian soil except as a prisoner. 

Australia needed to help to defeat Japan in World War II, but not because it had invaded Australia. On Pilsner’s definition of invasion, Germany “invaded” Britain because it too sank ships off the coast and attacked Britain from the air. What a nonsensical view!

If he wants an authoritative explanation of the so-called Battle for Australia, see my 2008 book, Invading Australia.

And whether Britain “invaded” Australia or not in 1788, surely no one can deny that British settlement was disastrous for the original inhabitants.

Prof Peter Stanley, Dickson