Sussan Ley has now clearly indicated the government's ongoing antipathy to Medicare, and its cosy position with the private health insurers. Scott Morrison and Turnbull himself are now talking up tax "reform" in terms the conservatives prefer: an increase to the regressive GST, while their rich mates, and companies, get more tax cuts. And no word yet that the government will reintroduce the tax transparency legislation obfuscated by Josh Frydenberg under Tony Abbott's watch. So, business as usual for this government of the people, by the privileged, for the rich. To say I am surprised would be untrue; to say I am disappointed would be fair.

Stuart Kennedy, Corunna, NSW

The Turnbull government can establish a progressive GST that is fair to all and reduce the budget deficit by reducing external debt.

It can be installed and in operation within six months without any cost to the government. Here is the way it works for water. A GST would be introduced on the sale of water. The GST rate depends on the household per head water consumption, the ability of the household to pay the GST, and on the needs of the community to reduce water consumption.

Those with a high consumption and a high household income will pay the most. The amount collected is given to those who consume less water as water rewards. How much is given depends on the household consumption, the household income and the needs of the community.

Water rewards cannot be spent directly, but must be used to buy debt created by the government to build water facilities, to build new water supply infrastructure, or invested in ways to save water. A government being in debt to its own taxpayers is not a problem, as the taxpayers can sell their rewards and use the money to pay their taxes. Similar approaches can be used for all government-supplied goods and services.

The greatest barrier to its introduction is not political, or economic, but the entrenched views of government economists against hypothecation of taxes and against the idea of local variations to taxes.

Kevin Cox, Ngunnawal

Malcolm Turnbull has just told us, 'We need to be vastly more agile and adaptive" and "We are expected to govern, we are expected to deliver. Ideology is no substitute for results."

I am sure that if Bob Menzies returned from the dead, after watching what has happened to us after his death, he would give the following advice: "Look, Malcolm, during my time I did not sell off profitable government-owned enterprises, and to ensure Australian businesses had a secure customer base, I had a large public sector. I did not float our currency, I had real control over the banks and I had very high tariffs. I had no GST and I taxed high-income earners at 66.7per cent.

"As a result, Australia had a thriving manufacturing industry, virtually 100 per cent employment, very affordable housing, cheaper electricity, and on a per capita basis, far less crime and drug addiction.

"We enjoyed a superior quality of life than people today, despite not having access to cheap goods made in foreign sweatshops. Neo-liberal economics has been tried for 40-plus years, my boy. It began when Whitlam reduced tariffs by 25per cent, and became further entrenched under Hawke, Keating and Howard. It has been an absolute failure!

"If you are as agile, adaptive and as non-ideological as you claim, you will replace ridiculous economic ideology with the policies we employed, as history shows that our policies actually worked."

Rod Campbell, Ainslie

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is going to waste about 200 equivalent full-time jobs because its workforce is above its affordable average staffing level, like many other agencies across the APS ("Fresh public service job cuts in PM's department", November 7, p1).

The affordable average staffing level is a creation of the duopoly we have and if it continues, will achieve Third World status for Australia. It seems most Coalition ministers, and some from Labor, confuse productivity and service delivery because of their own ignorance.

Getting rid of public servants strikes a chord in "Woop Woop" but what will they say if the fossil-fuel industry doesn't receive "on time" the hundreds of millions and maybe billions of dollars it receives in government subsidies, in spite of its industrial incompetency.

Prime Minister Turnbull has an opportunity to wisely "cash in" the political capital he has accumulated – or, like his predecessor, waste it.

Les Brennan, Sunshine Bay, NSW

What drivel, Judith Ireland ("It's time we brought Charles and Camilla in from the cold"; Forum, November 7, p2). Australia needs a future head of state who unifies the nation, reflects us to ourselves, projects us unambiguously to the world, and whose appointment has democratic legitimacy.

It is irrelevant which couple of rich, hereditary, privileged, patronising, unmerited Britons is the most worthy, wrinkly, loving, photogenic, hard "working", or charitable.

It is even irrelevant which nation's rugby team they support – if it is not Australia's. Charles and Camilla Windsor are irrelevant.

And the bloke – stupidly – already has the Australian knighthood that his father was so controversially given earlier this year – among his swath of other unearned and unmerited decorations.

Mike Hutchinson, Reid

Scrap the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Imagine what $24billion could buy, says Barbara Godfrey (Letters, November 8). Hear hear!

Peter W. Tait, O'Connor

Claims made in the article "Capital Metro takes focus off buses after tweaking tram poll questions" (November 10, p1) that anything untoward was involved in communications between the ACT government and market research company Piazza Research in development of questions for a survey on light rail are unfounded.

It is normal practice for a market research company to work with its client to develop survey questions.

Piazza Research is a market and social research firm certified at the highest international level for its scientific research technique and it is unfair to imply it would let itself be compromised. Every question it asks follows a rigorous 15-step testing process ensuring non-biased, fair, and appropriate questions in the context of the research.

The article also misses the intention of the survey questions, which is to give the government useful information about issues related to the introduction of light rail in the ACT. This is not an issue of light rail versus buses; the ACT government is building a fully integrated light-rail and bus network as part of a public transport system that is designed for Canberra's future.

The survey results showed support for the project at 56per cent in August 2015, and this increased to 67per cent when people knew it was part of a wider plan to connect the whole city with an integrated transport system.

The Piazza Research survey results are an accurate representation of community views on Canberra's light-rail project.

Simon Corbell, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Capital Metro

Perhaps Capital Metro could tweak the next poll to test familiarity of respondents with their own environmental impact statement document. Q: Do you support light rail because it will: a) increase congestion; b) be slower than bus; c) reduce access to public transport; d) require twice the subsidy per trip of ACTION; e) replace large trees with overhead wires on Northbourne Avenue; f) all of the above.

Kent Fitch, Nicholls

Had lunch in Civic on Friday last week. Caught the bus both ways – they were on time and the drivers pleasant. As I was travelling down Northbourne Avenue, I reflected on the problems people experience commuting from Gungahlin during peak travel times. The government needs to address the problem now, as it will only get worse with new suburbs opening, and not wait for light rail, if it ever eventuates.

I am not a transport expert or an urban planner, but I can see how a dedicated bus lane from Gungahlin to Civic with extra buses, together with traffic-light switching, would go a long way in addressing this problem now.

I suggest the cost of buying land by the government in Dickson for a light-rail bus station would have been much better been spent on lane marking paint and signage, together with electronic controls, to create a bus-only lane to move the buses faster and more frequently in peak hours.

Martin d'Este, Kaleen

The ACT government wants to curb drinking ("Call for tips to fix drinking problem", November 9, p1). This is not the first time a government has tried to cut drinking in Canberra.

In 1911, the minister for home affairs, King O'Malley, was a teetotaller.

From 1911 until 1928, prohibition reigned in Canberra. It didn't work. To get drunk, drinkers went to Queanbeyan. No prohibition there.

Today, cigarette packets must have pictures of cancer victims. Cigarette consumption (and lung cancer) has dropped.

The ACT should lobby the Commonwealth government to put lurid pictures of drunks on bottles and cans. Gone would be the elegant and enticing labels.

Truth cut cigarette use. It would cut alcohol use.

Graham Macafee, Latham

Nancy Tidfy (Letters, November 7) poses the question as to whether Australians are simply uninformed or intellectual cowards unwilling to face reality when it comes to accepting that population growth is the primary cause of climate change.

Whilst I agree with her statement, another factor also comes into play. The more people on the planet there are, the more goods are consumed, which means more company profits.

The Coalition, Labor and the Greens would rather address the symptoms and not the cause, as this does not upset their corporate supporter base. The Greens promote themselves as the party of the environment, but I am yet to hear a peep out of them on the evils of population growth.

The same situation is occurring with the domestic violence issue. A significant contributing factor to domestic violence (in fact all violence) is alcohol.

Some years ago, I went on a holiday to Brunei, which is an alcohol-free country. On a tour of the city, the guide mentioned that since alcohol was banned, the incidence of domestic violence and traffic accidents had dropped dramatically.

Unfortunately, once again, the major parties would rather ignore the obvious than upset the corporate apple cart.

A. Quinn, Palmerston

As opportunistic real estate agents rub their hands with pleasure, the Chinese-owned suburbs like Lawson are providing a lucrative financial gain for conveniently approved, newly minted Chinese/Australian citizens spouting altruistic comments about how their investments are "good for Australia".

Together with a naive, grasping, cash-starved government, they also welcome this additional increase in the cost of housing for young Australians, seeing prices skyrocketing, daily.

When will we ever learn that foreign or psuedo-Australian housing purchases, which should be illegal, are a cost that future young working Australians will never be able to afford.

Rhys Stanley, via Hall, NSW

As a disabled person, I'm used to struggling to access places. One place I didn't have to worry about was the National Gallery. However, it has decided to get rid of its motorised scooters, as I discovered when I went to the Big Draw on Sunday. This means no access to the NGA for me (and, as the front desk said, many others).

I was upset enough about that, but yesterday they apologised for my "inconvenience". Since when has being denied access to a national institution been an inconvenience? It's a disgrace and Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield should remedy this ASAP.

Liz Blackwell, Canberra City

Christopher Smith and John Burns (Letters, November 6) appear to believe that everyone has or should have a positive attitude towards the Union Jack flag because, as Christopher and John see it, it is a symbol of all that is good and true in this world.

Unfortunately for the very many Australians who are not of English descent, it has past associations with anti-democratic policies, dispossession, cruelty, imperial arrogance, injustice and racism – in Australia, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and even parts of the British Isles. There is no place for it in the symbols used to represent a modern, progressive post-colonial Australia.

While Australia adopted elements of British law and political systems, we have long had very effective and uniquely Australian legal and governance systems, and an economy and society forged by our own efforts, particularly since World WarII, when we were saved by one of those dreadful republics. It is what we ourselves have made that makes Australia attractive to immigrants, not the faded and dubious glories of British heritage.

Jim Adamson, Flynn

After reading the Canberra Times article "Andrew Barr talks up Westside container village visitor numbers as costs top $1million", I thought I should head over there to have a look. At 3.30pm on a sunny Saturday, about 10 potential customers and about another 10 or so staff waiting to sell something. How incredibly unvibrant, unattractive and unexciting and all that for only a little over $1million.

Anyhow now I have been there twice ... first and last time all rolled into one.

Roger Brown, Rivett

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