The irony of the fact that the bashing, in fact of two Aboriginal men, who were so severely beaten that they were admitted to Canberra Hospital, was in the same week as further hearings were being held in the Coroners Court into the death of Steven Freeman, was not lost on the Aboriginal community.

While disappointing, it was no surprise to read that the Minister for Corrections would not provide any detail of the circumstances of the bashing or of the response of AMC management to its failure to once again keep Aboriginal detainees safe.

The Minister's Office is reported as saying that there will be no further information provided because the matter is subject to a police investigation.

How convenient. Meanwhile ACT Police, who have still not explained why they failed to successfully investigate the bashing of Steven Freeman two years ago, are again, with their silence, treating the Aboriginal community with contempt.

Surely the CCTV cameras in the cell block where the bashings took place hadn't been turned away again.

Despite the damning report of Phillip Moss into the bashing of Steven Freeman, it seems nothing has changed.

Julie Tongs, CEO, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service

The Commonwealth's intended drug testing of welfare recipients will push not just them to the brink ("Welfare drug tests 'will push users to the brink'," August 23, p9).

Compulsory drug testing will intensify the marginalisation of the most marginalised.

Such testing will aggravate the factors that led the drug users to dabble in drugs in the first place.

It will load more financial strain and worry on families forced to pick up the burden the government has dropped.

It will destroy the financial viability of struggling drug treatment services that rely onthe welfare payments of theirpatients.

The Commonwealth has failed miserably to keep drugs out of the country.

Indeed, it is clear that prohibition stimulates supply and guarantees availability.

So having failed to keep its side of the bargain, the Commonwealth is coming after young Australians, their families and drug treatment services.

Even if cutting off welfare payments improves the budget bottom line of the Commonwealth, it will blow out that of States and Territories that shoulder the greater part of law enforcement and health costs of a drug policy set at the federal level.

Bill Bush, President, Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform, Turner

I like John Galvin's proposal to re-name the "Gnats" as the "International Party" (Letters, August 21).

I also love to recall the artistic wit of the incomparable Gough Whitlam, who referred to the then Country Party as the "Cavalleria Rusticana".

Oh for the good old days, when Parliament exhibited some tone.

In the interests of balance, I should also mention Jim Killen calling Gough "a king of threads and patches".

James Gralton, Garran

The response of the Australian government to the current crisis over North Korea – supporting the US to the hilt – reflects an appalling lack of judgment about the risks of nuclear war.

It potentially endangers millions of lives.

Australia should be urging diplomacy and negotiations as a priority for de-escalating the situation.

Australia should also be urging the US to cancel the provocative military exercises planned for South Korea this week.

We should not be effectively urging the US on by contributing personnel to these war "games".

Australia should be supporting a resumption of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's Nuclear Program that began in 2003.

These talks offer the possibility of de-escalating the conflict between the US and North Korea, and of working for a comprehensive outcome that takes into account the concerns of all and lessens the risk of a catastrophic war.

Where is our pride as an independent nation contributing to international peace?

David Purnell and Kathryn Kelly, ACT representatives, Independent and Peaceful Australia Network, Canberra

Subsection 44(i) of the Constitution is very clear about a person's eligibility to be elected to the House of Representatives or the Senate: "Any person who- (i.) Is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights and privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power... shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives".

Senators Waters and Ludlum did the right thing. What possible legal advice can Joyce, Canavan, Nash and Xenophon et al have from the Solicitor-General to mitigate this section of the Constitution?

Mark Slater, Melba

Does the Catholic church know if they have gay employees now and if they are married?

Have they fired employees because they are gay?

I assume gay couples, like the rest of us, just want to get on with their lives. Having a job is important.

I don't accept that gay people are inferior or bent on "converting" others to homosexuality whilst at work or during lunch.

Patricia Varga, Holt

Some cyclists seem determined to remove themselves from the gene pool.

At Tuggeranong I turned a corner to find a cyclist to the left and one in the very middle of my lane. I slowed to less than 15km/h, sounded my horn, crossed to the wrong side of the road and passed.

I stopped the car and two old men argued through the window that I should have seen them move to the middle of the road to do a right hand turn. I pointed out they had failed to indicate so then they tried to intimidate me with a loss of a point from my rego (it doesn't work that way). I told them to take it further.

I now get it. We are in the era of psychic cycling. You point where you want to go and everyone will know and avoid you.

Lucky for them I did.

My only child was killed on the road. I have seen three dead bodies on our roads, all cyclists two of whom ran a red light. I have twice given first aid to cyclists who fell off their bike where no other vehicle was involved.

Cyclists as a community should lose this sense of entitlement and encourage each other to adopt responsible, considerate, and safe behaviours.

Stephen James, Chisholm

Sunday's weather was perfect for our tandem training ride. And it was a good ride until the last kilometre or so on Canberra's worst road for cycling — Kuringa Drive.

There's nothing wrong with the road other than the absence of a shoulder.

Instead the problem arises from the impatient motorists who proliferate here.

On Sunday it was Ms YFN — the letters of the number-plate on her grey hatchback. She blasted her horn causing my stoker — the rear rider, to yell "Stop".

Ms YFN then wound down her passenger window and yelled a string of profanities. She repeated the exercise to those riding 50 metres ahead. We probably did hold her up, perhaps for 30 seconds.

If you were tough, Ms YFN, you would have just ridden 80 kilometres. If you were tough, Ms YFN, you would be riding the Hartley Challenge in late November. But, Ms YFN, if you were really tough you would come forth and sit with us six riders and a mediator and explain your actions.

The riders you abused included one autistic person, two who are blind and one paralympian.

Ian Wallis, O'Connor

I hope the graffiti near the synagogue is cleaned up immediately. ("Rabbi riled at rise in local hate crime", August 23, p.6).

If the ACT Government leaves it there after it's been reported, surely they are also responsible for this hate crime because they allow it to be seen.

In the article readers are asked to report crime like this to the police or Crime Stoppers.

Maybe I should ring them up and tell them the ACT Government appears to be in on it, too.

Jane Craig, Holt

The government's light rail obfuscation continues with the release of the consultation on the light rail route to Woden.

Rather than focusing on route selection the consultation should have been on the merits of the extension. The government's justification for the project, that it was an election promise, was made before any detailed assessment of the project.

The Government clearly believes light rail is an end in itself rather than a means to an end.

It should identify the transport need the project is addressing and establish it is superior to bus based alternatives in meeting that need.

It should also demonstrate that the funds could not have been better used in addressing housing, health and education needs.

The assessment of the extension to Woden should analyse a scenario in which the funds required to extend the light rail were used improve the frequency and comfort of the bus fleet across the City which would improve the accessibility of most Canberrans.

By not addressing the transport needs of the majority, light rail could increase rather than decrease car dependence.

Mike Quirk, Wanniassa

We live on the driest of continents with the poorest soils and a capacity to feed 60 million people according to one estimate.

A 1994 conference of the Australian Academy of Scientists concluded: "The quality of all aspects of our children's lives will be maximised if the population of Australia by mid-21st century is kept to the low stable of the achievable range ... approximately 23 million."

It is 33 years short of the deadline and we are already in overshoot.

Exotic food production [e.g. seaweed] notwithstanding, between maintaining a food buffer, a food export capacity, and the ongoing loss of agricultural land, a sensible approach would be to stabilise our population.

This can be done easily through of control of net inward migration since our birth rate is already below replacement level but is incompatible with the current economic paradigm of neo-liberalism which must continue to grow if it is not to collapse.

Ultimate collapse is inevitable since no material thing can grow for ever but it would be better by "design than disaster" [Peter Victor, "Managing without Growth"].

The architect/ journalist Elizabeth Farrelly advocates that the the boundaries of cities should be defined and, when "full", new development commenced elsewhere.

Dick Varley, Braidwood, NSW

Recent opinion polls suggest Labor has a real chance of winning the next election.

There are two caveats: policy direction has to be centred on vision and principle; and leadership has to be popular and credible.

The ALP has been tempted to follow the coalition's spruiking on business methods in government processes and needs to go back to its social vision. As Bill Shorten has performed well as opposition leader the party is well placed now to inject fresh belief and credibility into its leadership.

Polls aren't everything but they're a good guide to when you should take action.

Philip Telford, Tarago NSW

SAME-SEX SUPPORT

Paul Kringas asked (letters 22 August) what gives the Chief Minister the right to spend our money promoting one side of the same-sex marriage debate.

Perhaps it was the authority of the democratically elected Legislative Assembly and the agreement of the majority of the citizens of the ACT.

Or is our money less precious than his?

Felix MacNeill, Dickson

ALL COMERS IN MIX

Any valid elector should be eligible to be a candidate.

John Burge, Curtin

LIGHTBULB MOMENT

The street light opposite our house in Hawker has been out for 2.5 months, despite it being reported and acknowledged the day after it went out. The relevant ACT Department clearly needs more hands to change lightbulbs.

Colin Steele, Hawker

A SURE SIGN ...

A friend noted that there have been a lot of rainbows over Canberra lately. Is this a sign from God?

Ruth McLucas, Weetangera

ARCHBISHOPS OFF MARK

After exposure of decades of abuse and cover up of abuse of children you would think the archbishops of the Catholic church may exercise some circumspection before threatening to sack gay marriagees. If they think this might help sway the ABS survey they are delusional. I despair.

Malcolm Leslie, O'Connor

ABBOTT SHOULD RETIRE

Is it too late to add a second question to the upcoming plebiscite?

Q: Should Tony Abbott retire from politics?

Vote: YES

Ross Crichton, Yarralumla

WRONG FORUM

Mike O'Shaughnessy (Letters, August 22) is opposed to eating eggs and cheese. Would he prevent hens laying eggs and cows giving birth to a calf? Mike is entitled to his ideas, but I am not happy with his proselytising in the Letters columns.

Auriel Barlow, Dickson

QUEEN QUERY

Ronald Elliot (Letters, August 21), concludes with 'God save our gracious Queen'. I am very familiar with the words to this song, having been born in this country many years ago.

What I am unclear of is what the Queen is being saved from?

D. Perry, Amaroo

NO VOTE BOOSTED

Well done Chief Minister. Your decisions and sanctimonious attitude during the past week have guaranteed an increase in the 'No' vote.

Bill Stewart, Pearce

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

Keep your letter to 250 words or less. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).