ABC's budget problems a direct result of Liberal policy

The ABC has run out of money to operate ("Minister pushes ABC to sell city offices", March 3). Presumably they have an annual budget, so why have they overspent? Was there an unforeseen budget item; fires perhaps? ABC coverage of fire-ravaged regional communities was part of our excellent emergency services, part of keeping us safe. Why is their budget deficit not covered by the generous government handouts to those literally in the line of fire? Glenda Gartrell, Artarmon

I wonder if Federal Communication Minister Paul Fletcher's office has a colour-coded plan showing the electorates to which the ABC offices should move. Norm Neill, Darlinghurst

Nobody should be surprised by a Liberal minister strongly encouraging the ABC to flog off its prime capital city offices. After all his was the party that voted in favour of selling the entire ABC to private buyers. I note that unnamed sources said the Ultimo office was "under utilised". Hardly surprising given the ABC has been forced to sack thousands of employees in the past 10 years, with hundreds more to come in the latest round of cuts. Ably assisted by Murdoch media's never-ending sniping and regular anti-ABC spruiking by the IPA, it seems the Liberal Party won't be satisfied until there's nothing left to sell, and everyone's switched over to the delights of Sky after dark. Nick Franklin, Katoomba

Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has outdone himself with his “implementation of agile work practices in purpose-built facilities to boost the productivity of the modern workforce”. How about “desk-sharing to save money”? This practice has been losing favour, by the way, due to the adverse productivity effects caused by the inherent depersonalisation of the office. Looks like the Minister is “behind the curve” and needs to start thinking “outside the box”. Alan Carruthers, Artarmon

Dear Minister, the ABC offices in Sydney’s Ultimo are already ''purpose-built facilities''. As someone who was at the ABC before the current accommodation, I can tell you planning around the move took years and was costly - a repetition of the process would hardly constitute a budget saving measure. This is a cynical suggestion by the government. Aviva Lowy, Castlecrag

The ABC needs increased, no-strings-attached funding, not less, to ensure Australians receive unbiased reporting.

Perhaps, rather than sending the ABC to Coventry, or vote-catching areas, more money could be saved if the government's city offices and properties were sold to the highest bidder and more affordable locations found, perhaps in outback areas needing an upgrade after recent destructive events. This could make voters happy as well as the developers, create jobs for country areas and politicians may become more visible even without the aid of photographers. Joy Cooksey, Harrington

So the Communications Minister has "strongly encouraged" the ABC to sell its capital city offices and move elsewhere. Coming on top of a funding freeze that will prune up to $84 million off the ABC's budget also makes it deeply worrying. Perhaps the minister's aims to make the ABC less visible by relegating its capital city offices to obscure parts of suburbia in the hope that "Auntie" will fade from public consciousness. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin, ACT

Nothing more important than our common humanity

The coronavirus highlights how our interdependence as a species cannot simply be reduced to global economic indicators, but that whatever impacts our survival as a species must take the greatest precedence (“Australia may be beginning to learn to love the virus”, March 3). Ultimately, this most valuable lesson must be learnt if we are to eliminate all these present dangers to our very existence. Vincent Zankin, Rivett ACT

The cost to health services, and the economy more widely, is clearly less with limited travel bans and sensible controls on contact, compared with the disruption if we just carried on as normal.

But how would the cost compare if we just shut everything down for two weeks (or as much as practical) so that the virus couldn’t spread? No travel, no school, take leave or work from home. It might seem drastic, but maybe some short-term pain is better than sustained misery? David Rush, Lawson

I'm amazed by your correspondent's letter (Letters, March 3). He appears to give credence to The Simpsons cartoon in believing a person in a foreign factory coughing into a packing box can infect us with the coronavirus weeks later. Hartcher warned us that "more virulent than the coronavirus is the fear virus". I never realised a cartoon series could be so influential. Kim Woo, Mascot

A quick shopping trip on Tuesday morning revealed no signs whatsoever of panic shopping (''Sydney doctor now ill as virus spreads'', March 3). Shelves were stocked as normal, shoppers behaving as normal; although I didn’t see much kissing or handshaking. Trevor Wilson, Chifley, ACT

Yesterday, I went shopping. The stores were empty of stock including of toilet paper. In desperation I visited several stores. The last store I visited was also devoid of toilet paper, until an equally eagle-eyed woman and I spied some at the bottom of a very full store trolley cage. With a furtive glance over our shoulders, we worked quickly as a team to open the trolley door, lift boxes and packages out of the way, tear through outer plastic packaging and each triumphantly claim two packets of 20 rolls of toilet paper. Success! With brief congratulatory exchange we discussed how crazy all this panic buying is ... oh hang on ... Jenny Harris, Gordon

The NSW Health Minister is urging us to have our flu vaccinations. This sense of urgency has not been communicated to the vaccine’s providers; the 2020 vaccine is not yet available and supplies are expected to arrive sometime in April, as usual. Merona Martin, Meroo Meadow

Minister's views on school funds are a little bit rich

How good is the private school system? The Prime Minister gave them their own slush fund to play with ("Blank cheque for private schools to use", March 3). Did he throw in a pack of coloured pencils? Geoffrey Dyer, Bundanoon

It's hypocritical of the federal Minister for Education to make an extra "discretionary" gift of nearly $5 billion to the Catholic education system, with nebulous accountability attached, while at the same time repeating the mantra that extra funding does little to improve student results. Such side deals are a scourge for all those students, teachers and parents crying out for equitable resourcing of their schools, particularly in disadvantaged and remote areas. Vanessa Tennent, Oatley

In need of someone to lead

I would caution Tanya Plibersek not to consider any political leadership aspirations ("Plibersek's popular front digs in for the long haul", March 3). Going on previous Australian experience, and noting the current American desire to put up ageing, white men, selectors seem to think a woman's place is as education minister. Mark Paskal, Clovelly

An offer you can't refuse

I, too, am an obsessive recycler ("Care for our environment blowing in the wind", March 3). Our daily Herald wraps messy non-recyclables secured with a little masking tape; soft plastics are washed, dried and delivered to our supermarkets bin; veggie waste into the compost; leaves and twigs to the green bin. But it's the sheer, utter volume of wrappings and containers that overwhelm.

Please, let's return to glass bottles and containers that can be washed and re-used. It would create a whole new "washing-up" industry, and deter gutter-chucking from the suited man. Sue Young, Bensville

The problem with the "fancy-suit fellow" and his theory that "the council will sweep it up", is that, more often than not, local councils can't keep up with clearing the amount of rubbish being dropped in the streets.

Instead, much of the rubbish goes into the gutter, travels into the stormwater drains, and ends up in the harbour and the sea. Ask anyone who has just worked on Clean Up Australia Day in a foreshore area. It's impossible to count the number of cigarette butts and straws found along the foreshore, and that's only one aspect of the floating rubbish problem. Kate Foot, Concord

Fairness a foreign concept

While I am hopeful, but not confident, that Julian Assange would receive a fair hearing in the UK courts: surely the Australia Government should be stridently lobbying to have both Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Assange freed from foreign jails on an equal basis ("Imprisoned academic deserves more sympathy than Assange, Sharma says", March 3). They are both Australians and have committed no crimes under Australian law. John Watkins, Collins Creek

While I agree it is imperative to acknowledge the case of Moore-Gilbert, currently trapped in an Iranian prison, and call for her release, I found Liberal MPs Dave Sharma's comments that "she is more deserving of our sympathy than Julian Assange" unhelpful. Being imprisoned by any regime for whatever reason without access to proper consulate support should never be addressed in terms of one person needing sympathy over another, but I take particular issue with the comment that Assange is receiving a fair and open trial.

All persons detained unlawfully by foreign regimes need our unrelenting assistance, but the Assange case is a landmark case and highly unusual therefore it requires an unusual response. Certainly the difference between it and Moore Gilbert's case in Iran is that it is being tried in a democratic nation closely linked with our own, yet if you read the defence's clear summation from the end of the preliminary hearing it is clearly cruel and unusual.

Rather than espouse who deserves more help than another person in desperate need of support perhaps our MPs could formulate plans and responses that provide citizens with appropriate consular assistance. Sonia Henry, Sydney

Conflict of interest

There can be no "peace with honour" for the Americans and their allies as they withdraw from Afghanistan, abandoning the nation to the Taliban. Despite Trump's huff and puff about the American forces returning if the Taliban doesn't play nice: once they leave, the Americans won't be back ("Trump's deal with Taliban is step in right direction", March 3).

Afghanistan is a Vietnam re-run. It is ironic that the Taliban, created by the Americans in the 1980s to oust the Russians from Afghanistan, will soon oust the Americans themselves. Geoff Black, Caves Beach

The Trump Peace Plan: surely a contender for oxymoron of the decade? Maggy Todd, Hardys Bay

Time to help victims

What a tragic situation lies behind the pair of contributions to the Herald letters, made worse by the fact that both correspondents need to remain anonymous (Letters, March 3).

Surely 50 years after putting people on the moon, the technology which delivers a vast array of apps could be used to stop the bashing, brutalisation and terrorising of women and their children by men.

It is now possible to wear a tiny device which, on the press of a button, reaches a 24/7 contact centre, connects to a real person, records and amplifies the call and surrounding sounds and via GPS, the location of the caller. But it's costs around $1000 a year, probably well beyond the means of many victims of DV.

By all means let's embark on the long-term processes of cultural change, but surely we could act now to equip any woman who needs one with new technology which might prevent an attack. And bring the perpetrators of these cowardly crimes out from the protection that the victim's anonymity provides them. Peter Skinner, Beecroft

Railroading commuters

Forcing commuters onto light rail will enable the NSW government to crow about record passenger loads and growing public transport use, as has occurred in the ACT following the introduction of a "new improved" bus/rail network last year ("Leaked plan to cut buses 'politics over planning' ", March 2).

Abandoning direct and efficient bus services to the Canberra CBD from a large number of northern suburbs has caused many commuters to endure broken and more time-consuming journeys in sardine tin-like rail vehicles over large parts of the day, as well as face wasteful rail/bus connection wait periods on return trips, given that many connecting bus services run far less frequently than the light rail. Sue Dyer, Downer (ACT)

Enough said

So, that's the Loong and Shoort of it, eh (Letters, March 3)? Lorna Denham, Cardiff Heights

Brevity has its place in letter-writing, but you watch, it'll be short-lived. Rosemary O'Brien, Ashfield

I don’t know if keeping letters short is a sure way of getting them published in the Herald, but from my observations over the past six months, if you are anti-Morrison, anti-Trump and anti-coal, you’re in with a big chance. Jim Hawkins, Goonellabah

It is beyond time short letters about short letters that take up precious space better used for more substantial letters were given short shrift. Ron Sinclair, Bathurst

Holey moley

Pastafarians (Letters, March 3)! What could be both more holey and more practical than their Sacred Colander. However, beware of emerging factions which likely would cause indigestion among followers. Peter Cox, Sydney

How can we even comment on religious freedom in this country while Pastafarianism isn't even legally recognised. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster strike you all down and send you to rot in a spiceless bolognese. Leslie Miller, Burwood Heights

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