The PC boffins are touting "productivity increases" by using AI in the workplace. Why not remove the entire political class: federal, state and local? The Electoral Commission could instead send a once-in-three-year written survey out to everyone in Australia over the age of 16, and have AI distil our answers. On the fourth year of the cycle, a policy referendum distilled from the original survey would circulate to voters on how they think the country needs to change or grow, from such things as strengthening our defence force projections into the Indian Ocean, to whether our bins should be picked up twice a week (yes please!). The Electoral Commission AI (known as The pAIrliament) would count the votes and set our policies for all administrative levels in our federation to implement over the next survey cycle. These answers would be used to adjust legislation and council by-laws and disburse funds. Any person who refuses to participate in the survey pays double taxes. Being electronic, this process saves at least $3 billion in the cost of politicians and elections across Australia, though it's imperative that public services remain in place to implement the will of the people. Think of the productivity gains. As an author, I could write about this marvellous cost-saving democratic system but I think I'll task ChatGPT to write the book. I'm sure it will be hilarious, especially the chapter in which the politicians vote the proposal down. Your plea to appreciate, and do more to look after, our natural environment is timely ("Tread softly when enjoying the bush", August 18). The 2021 State of Australia's Environment report used the phrase "poor and deteriorating." Since then, the situation has worsened with a global marine heatwave leading to unprecedented coral bleaching and mortality on both sides of the continent, and a massive algal bloom down south. It's good Ken Henry was invited to the three-day economic reform roundtable. His recent Press Club address shows he is one of the few who understands that it's not just the economy, stupid - it's the environment too. Meanwhile, if we all do our bit as stewards of the natural world as you suggest, and communicate our passion to MPs, perhaps, just perhaps, we can halt the decline. But stronger nature laws and climate targets are clearly needed. My wife and I attended the Matildas match at GIO Stadium on June 2. We wanted to see the Matildas just once before we became too informed. We spent over an hour in a traffic jam trying to access a park, but the car parks were full and we were waved on. Along with many other people we parked on the nature strip about a kilometre from the ground. There was no roadside parking, evidenced by "No Parking" signs all along the road. We did not obstruct any driveways or footpaths. We were told at the match that it was a record crowd for GIO Stadium, over 25,000 people. So the ground parking proved inadequate. I can only conclude that the ACT government saw it as a revenue-raising opportunity (Do parking inspectors normally work at that time of night?). Sadly, my wife ended up spending the night in Canberra Hospital (excellent care). A review did not consider that an extenuating circumstance. That parking fine soured our visit to the national capital and I believe it an overreach of government authority. I note that the city of Canberra motto is "For the King, the Law and the People". It seems the people don't count unless they can contribute revenue. It was Friday morning local time, August 15, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska. Standing on the tarmac was President Trump clapping for Putin as the Russian alighted from his transport and on to the red carpet and strode towards him. President Trump greeted him with a warm handshake, while patting his arm and hand. This greeting coincided with a B-2 flyover. The bonhomie extended by the President was to someone shunned by the international community and a man wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes against Ukrainian children. In addition, Russia, under Putin, continues to be a serial belligerent warring country. Over the past 30 or so years they have engaged war in Transnistria (1992-93), Abkhazian war, 1994-96, Chechen wars (1999-2009), the Georgia war (2008 war), Crimea (2014), Syria (2015), and Ukraine (from 2022). President Trump should be rebuked by Congress for his effusive acceptance of Putin's presence on American soil. Dr Sally Sargeson claims Israel's creation was a reward for Zionist terrorist groups (Letters, August 17). In reality, the Jewish community was forced to form militias to defend themselves against Arab fighters determined to drive them out. Sadly, this need to defend itself against those seeking its annihilation has been a common theme throughout Israel's existence. Israel was recognised because it met all of the prerequisites for nationhood and it had agreed to the UN partition plan. Another common theme has been the tendency of some to ignore all context and misrepresent Israel's self-defence as aggression, as Dr Sargeson does here. Israel is not indiscriminately killing people or destroying housing. It is fighting a defensive war against a terrorist enemy that uses its civilians as human shields, while Israel tries to evacuate them away from fighting, and which militarises and booby-traps their buildings. The Palestinians Israel holds "captive" are not hostages, they are prisoners detained for terrorism or crimes. A road-user tax on electric vehicles would penalise owners who choose cleaner transport ("Charge ahead: road-use tax looms for EV drivers", August 18). It would be counterproductive to the very reason EVs exist: to reduce climate pollution. At this stage, it would be an unfair disincentive and slow the transition away from petrol and diesel. Real reform could happen if the government removed existing subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, and not taxing their cleaner alternatives. EVs should only be included in a fair framework that charges all vehicles according to road wear and pollution, especially heavy vehicles. Australia is still far behind in EV uptake, and incentives remain essential if we are serious about meeting our climate goals. The fossil fuel lobby's support for an EV tax is hardly surprising; they have every interest in delaying change. A genuine tax reform agenda should be simple: those who pollute more, should pay more. My EV has a claimed range of 511 kilometres and WLTP of 485 kilometres, which, with one top-up, should be enough to go anywhere in the country in one day. On a recent trip to the Dubbo zoo (great place) I arrived at destination with 18 per cent showing after 403 kilometres, slightly better than the WLTP. However, we had a very strong headwind and by the time we arrived at Boorowa we had a range of 105 kilomteres left and 135 kilometres to get home. So, conditions do affect EV range as they do in ICE-powered vehicles. My main contention shouldn't be range anxiety, but the infrastructure for charging, which at present is inadequate. My thoughts are that chargers should be integrated with service stations which would help to eliminate any worries about range. Milad Haghani discusses options for a more equitable system of road user charging ("Good policies have a shelf life", August 18). One interesting possibility that did not get a mention is a tax on tyres or tyre rubber. Since the wear and tear on the road is created by the tyre, the wear on the tyre is a reasonably good measure of road damage. Changing to a levy such as this would not only take care of the electric vehicle anomaly, it would also deal with size/weight issues, and with just a little ingenuity could eliminate the problem of interstate-usage-only truck registrations and could also be used to eliminate the currently inequitable separate fees for vehicle registration and third-party insurance. In following what has been unfolding at the ANU with a mixture of sadness and disbelief, I am yet to hear of any basic explanation of how the university got itself into such a dire financial state. To simply say it was general bad management just does not cut it. While there might be some form of ongoing internal inquiry about previous decisions, it is crucial to have key basic facts now about what went wrong as the context for decisions being made to axe jobs and sections of the university. For it could be that some of those are being unfairly targeted implying that they were a major part of the problem. But in the absence of known facts in the public domain, we just do not know. The enormous mass nationwide protest in Israel (nearly 1 million participated) to end the Gaza war and the human suffering shows that, unlike their ideologically twisted political leaders, there are huge numbers of ordinary Israeli people who believe in humanity and human decency. I wonder how India, with the world's largest population, is feeling about Trump's 50 per cent tariff for buying Russian oil, after seeing Putin get the red carpet treatment in Alaska? I'm sure India won't forget this example of Trump's diplomacy. As a number plate spotter (there must be a word for that), I note that NSW over the past few years has issued number plates starting with "D" and then "E", and then "F" before jumping straight to "Y". I wonder who was the bright spark that made that enlightened decision. Travelling to the South Coast recently, we observed the Kings Highway massacre. Blood-stained roads, where 34 kangaroos, 24 wombats, one deer, one possum and three foxes lost their lives. Queanbeyan-Palerang council should at least remove the dead or install real or virtual barriers to this death trap. Of the two most enlightened bosses I ever worked for, one was a woman and one was a man of the cloth. How unfortunate for the ANU staff that the Julie and Genevieve shows should align. You have our sympathy and the support of the Canberra community. ACT number plates display the letters ACT. Supercapable cameras, human programmers with superhuman skills, AI with its miraculous powers and many indignant commentators haven't noticed. Attention to this would have prevented any confusion with NSW number plates. Contrary to the view expressed in a recent article, it is likely that more AI and less Access Canberra people would provide better results ("Pink car fined instead of white NSW ute", August 14). AI has long been able to differentiate between white and pink cars. Good news about Transurban offering refunds: in early June I was promised a refund within 28 days. And the refund? In ya dreams! Just a short reminder- if Hamas had not attacked Israel on October 7th, then the number of casualties in Gaza would be zero. The Trump-Putin meeting reminds me of the organ grinder's monkey. It is pretty obvious who was the organ grinder and who was the monkey.