Last Post: Haircuts, Porterhouse steaks and fires that are hard to put out

It is hard to fathom why Queensland authorities would not have used COVID-19 testing for people needing to enter the state for health reasons or on compassionate grounds. Testing would make it quicker and simpler for those traumatised by loss, grief and terminal illness to be with those they love when they need it most. This would offer a medical solution to this issue, but maybe not a political one.

Clare Horan, Somerton Park, SA

Dan Andrews said that Melburnians shouldn’t be concerned about the curfew because “there are very few legal reasons to leave your home”. A major reason to lift the curfew is to stop us feeling like caged animals.

Iain Carmichael, Richmond, Vic

I am pleased my border collie-cross can have a haircut in two weeks. But I would have been even more pleased if it were my hairdresser we were preparing to visit.

Virginia Rogers, St Kilda, Vic

Is anyone able to explain how Daniel Andrews can keep his hair so neat when all the hairdressers are shut?

Sam Halvorsen, Coolum Beach, Qld

No doubt Eddie Betts will feature in the AFL Hall of Fame (“Blue sees red over black disadvantage”, 12-13/9). He is a role model for all the Indigenous children who have such a natural flair for the game. He has experienced the home life that so many youngsters still endure today, but he is an example that there can be “a new normal for Aboriginal kids”. I, like many, will back you all the way, Eddie.

Ann Watson-Brown, Arundel, Qld

I am delighted to see our government quarrelling with China. Accepting the pain of a probable reduction of trade benefits is a necessary, and acceptable, price to pay for dodging the bullet of becoming part of the CCP’s neo-colonial empire. It is time to decouple; and maybe — just maybe — after a readjustment, Australians will get access to the products of their country at a reasonable price. To me, Porterhouse steak at $45 a kilogram is just plain un-Australian.

Geoff James, Darwin, NT

Paul Kelly (“Dangerous rise of the woke warriors”, 12-13/9) asserts that the progressive left has aligned itself with a postmodern theory that has departed from science, reason and genuine scholarship. But he overlooks that it is the radical right that has engaged in denialism and denigration of science and reason in regard to the issue of climate change and environmental degradation.

Andrew Bullock, Bundagen, NSW

Come on — let’s hear it: the raging infernos along the west coast of the US are not unprecedented and climate change played no part in them.

Ian Bayly, Upwey, Vic