Time to step up

John Richardson writes: Re. “‘Just following orders’ is not an excuse” (yesterday). On the day that our nation supposedly sought to commemorate the sacrifices of Australians in defending our way of life, it was necessary for doctors to break our laws to expose the shameful behaviour of our politicians that lead directly to the death of asylum-seeker Hamid Khazaei. An act of omission or commission: murder all the same. And not a peep from any of the cowards responsible. Then, in an almost perverse decision, though too late to save Hamid Khazaei, the PNG Supreme Court ordered the Manus Island camp to be closed, after finding its activities were unconstitutional. Who would have thought that a former Australian protectorate would wind up telling us how to behave? Shame Australia, shame.

Sub-standard

Robert Richardson writes: Re. “Government gets it part-right on submarines” (yesterday). So while all other nations with large oceanic areas of strategic concern have decades ago opted for nuclear power to provide the long range, high transit and escort speed as well as the ability to stay deeply submerged away from modern detection capabilities (the US, Russia, China, UK, France and India), Australia knows so much more about diesel-power than everyone else that we will now now pay billions to convert a nuclear powered vessel to diesel power! This will mean that any wide area surveillance will require our submarines to remain close the surface most of the time. It’s ‘back to the 20th century’ with a vengeance!