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Warwick Williams (Letters, August 22 ) is correct that Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and other Indigenous leaders should be supported in their efforts to obtain solutions to the problems facing Indigenous communities.

There are some 200 Indigenous groups across Australia with differing issues, histories and cultures. The issues and solutions for, say, rural Victoria, the Torres Strait Islands and inner Sydney may be very different.

Indigenous people generally have already decided they want a national mechanism for voicing their concerns directly to government and for developing appropriate solutions. Some 250 representatives from across the country went to the convention that produced the Uluru Statement. Representative groups have been formed to negotiate treaties at state level. This is no different in principle to farmers wanting to be represented by the National Farmers Federation, or crane drivers by the CFMEU.

The Morrison government commissioned two eminent Indigenous leaders, Professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, to design a model of the Voice addressing the Coalition's concerns of who would sit on the body and how it would work. Their comprehensive report, compiled after wide consultation, contains much detail that clearly can't be canvassed in a referendum.

The first practical step then is to decide if there should be a Voice, or not. The second step, if there is to be a Voice, is to negotiate the details.

The Aboriginal culture is a "listen" culture. Teaching in high Indigenous population schools in Western NSW, and being from an Anglo Saxon heritage, I was privileged and honoured to be allowed to listen and learn about Aboriginal beliefs, spiritual stories and how the community embraced Dreamtime. These were stories which were illegally passed down through the generations during the early 1900s.

But I am concerned. As I watch Canberra embrace Aboriginal heritage within the mainstream, I feel a significant opportunity.

I would strongly encourage those interested in Aboriginal culture to spend time to hear about tribal spirituality and how it dictated culture and traditions.

From what I have been told, the Dreamtime was much more than stories. Traditional practices like scarring during initiation allow youth to learn how enter and visit the Dreamtime. Some Aboriginal people entered the Dreaming to sense spirits and projection.

The Aboriginal culture is truly an ancient and unique culture. But to understand it, you need to look well past the artefacts and land management practices. You need to consider the Dreaming and spirituality to truly appreciate the culture in its entirety. Yet I rarely hear any discussion on Aboriginal spirituality in mainstream media.

ACT public servants' remuneration would increase by over 30 per cent if the ACT government abides by ACT Labor's call for them receive "pay increases of at least 5.5 per cent a year over the next five years and increasing the superannuation contribution rate to 15.4 per cent" ("ACT Labor conference backs PS pay rises above inflation", canberratimes.com.au, August 21).

While the conference's decision is not legally binding on Labor's MLAs, it would be a brave Labor MLA to thumb their nose at key unions. The Green's MLAs don't have a track record of standing up for restrained spending.

The ACT government should provide appropriate justification particularly if it decides to increase public servants' pay at anything like 5.5 per cent a year given the government's very close relationship with some unions, the fact ABS data shows the ACT government already spends more per capita than any of the states, and the continued large increases in ACT rates.

A reasonable spot to start would be for the ACT government to regularly and transparently compare the number of ACT public servants per capita, their average remuneration, and other spending per capita with the situation in each state.

The Planning Minister's decision to refuse the McKellar shops redevelopment highlights the potential for a planning led revival of local shopping centres with higher density apartments allowed over a prescribed area of commercial/retail.

Even thriving centres like Lyneham could be redeveloped to include apartments above.

There would also be potential for basement parking to be developed below.

An initiative such as this could be used to target the need for affordable housing.

A welcome spin-off effect would be to reduce vandalism which is becoming endemic in many local centres.

John Howard, by allegedly telling lies when prime minister, involved us in the illegal invasion of Iraq.

Howard planted the first seeds of negative credibility in many citizens toward Australian politicians. LNP federal governments since then have brought Howard's seeds of negative credibility to fruition.

Scott Morrison added further credibility damage to Australian politics following the revelation of his "secret ministerial appointments" when prime minister.

Morrison did not have the support of his executive council prior to having the Governor-General David Hurley appoint him to at least five ministerial portfolios.

He then failed to inform the Parliament of his actions. Actions which were required to be published in the Commonwealth Gazette and placed on the federal register of legislation but were not.

Thankfully, Morrison's "secret" and very concerning actions are now public, but what still remains untold publicly about Morrison's "Donald Trump-like activities"?

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is quite right ("Strong fuel rules or Australia remains back of EV queue", canberratimes.com.au), and we must improve our position as soon as possible.

Perhaps the Opposition could do a bit of homework and instead of claiming that fuel emissions standards will slap an extra $5000 on the price of a Hilux, it might discover that, if we follow the lead of Aotearoa NZ and the long line of other progressive countries, there is in fact a wealth of similar, electric vehicles being developed and already on the market which could be made cheaper with subsidies.

Had the now Opposition done its job when it was in the driver's seat, Australia would be a lot further along the EV path, perhaps even at the front. When the last car manufacturing plants in Australia were being shut down a few years ago, imagine if Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull had said, "no problem, let's invest in EVs and make them here".

But no, as usual the fossil fuel lobby got their way and here we are at the back of the queue.

A recent article about the Attorney-General, Shane Rattenbury, facing attack over "soft" sentencing in the ACT mentioned three e-petitions sponsored by the Liberal's Jeremy Hanson and launched by Mr Tom McLuckie.

One petition calls for a review of appointments to the ACT judiciary to allow transparency and for nominees to meet community expectations.

A fully worked-up draft Judicial Appointments Protocol, which was unanimously endorsed by the executive of the ACT Bar Association, and which would secure both outcomes, was delivered to the Attorney-General on September 26, 2021.

It appears to have gone down the rabbit hole which is the Justice and Community Safety Directorate from which body the Attorney-General draws advice.

Why? Why are judicial appointments in the ACT still "arranged" behind closed doors, with no input from the community at large and by word of mouth or by a wink and a nod when the Attorney-General has a protocol sitting somewhere in his portfolio ready to go?

It is concerning that just two people can collude to sequester the executive powers of the Commonwealth government into one person. It has echoes of events in another place in March 1933, that didn't end well.

If an inquiry should conclude the action of these two is constitutional, then we need to amend the Constitution quickly, to ensure it is unconstitutional.

D Zivkovic mocks the "science" about wearing masks (Letters, August 22). Many studies have shown that masks reduce transmission of COVID.

The fact that people won't wear masks in indoor settings doesn't make this untrue. I have no idea why people would not want to slow transmission, as far as possible, of a disease with recognised and serious long-term effects, and the significant possibility of re-infection.

Do you have to undertake a RBT prior to completing the Pub Test (Peter Broelman's editorial cartoon, August 22)?

Drivers do not have to join the NSW FuelCheck scheme to access real-time fuel prices. I have been using the Petrol Spy app on my phone for over a year. This allows me to access fuel prices Australia-wide.

The "pile on" over the ex-PM is done. Women and children are sleeping in cars. Get on with the important stuff.

Graham Downie (Letters, August 19) questions the fuss over Morrison overriding "constitutional and traditional niceties", stating "nothing happened". ANU academic Frank Bongiorno calls this "a serious threat to democracy". I know whose opinion I pay more heed to.

I am neither a Scott Morrison fan nor a Liberal supporter but consider this; if the then PM found he could not trust the ministers directing those five portfolios to do the right thing perhaps he did want to be in a position to intervene. I say perhaps but it is possible.

What a shame Scott can't be prosecuted. He could have been given a Community Service Order to work with the Rural Fire Service.

What a relief it is when the only problem our government faces is how many hats our previous prime minister wore two years ago.

Yes Jane Craig (Letters, August 24), you are absolutely right. My tongue-in-cheek remark about the Prime Minister being good at multitasking, in spite of being a man, was not funny and I apologise.

Re: "Support for Morrison in the community very hard to fathom" (Letters, August 24). That was, and remains the case, with Trump. History is replete with examples of rotten leaders enjoying such support.

Elections in some democracies can be tragically violent with passions often running high. An unfortunate development in Kenya is the murder of electoral commission officials.

I once heard a yoga guru say "God and I make a majority". Perhaps Scott Morrison holds the same belief.

Scott Morrison might have thought that he was God's anointed Prime Minister but, now the facts are out, it's clear he was just a very naughty boy.

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