When the new Assembly sat for the first time recently, we established a cross-party Select Committee to examine the detail of the operating model and necessary legislation to establish the Integrity Commission. That committee is expected to invite public submissions and have public hearings to enable expert and community input.

This transparent, cross-party approach seems the most sensible way to ensure both that the Integrity Commission is effective, and that the community can have confidence in it.

The Committee will report by August 2017 after it has examined how models work in other jurisdictions and consulted with the community.

Legislation will then need to be drafted and passed.

All of these will be publicly accessible processes, which interested members of the community such as Mr O'Connell can follow.

Shane Rattenbury, ACT Greens MLA

Jenny Andrews (Letters, December 24) is incorrect.

The Greens did not support the resurrection of the Building and Construction Commission, and the increased Landcare funding was tied to the "backpacker tax".

The Green Army, on the other hand, was criticised by the Greens since its inception, as being "exploitative and ineffective". In early December, Fairfax reported: "Greens leader Richard Di Natale welcomed the decision. 'We always opposed the Green Army. It was not an environmental program, it was an employment program and a bad one at that'."

Peter Marshall, Captains Flat, NSW

Almost a whole page of letters was about our obviously non-functional shared walking and cycling paths on Christmas Eve.

My wife and I have been on a functional shared path. It was near the ancient ports L'Escala (Roman) and Empurias (Greek) in north-east Spain, now a tourist destination.

From our roads it's obvious that we have a large force of road-marking specialists.

Here's the Spanish recipe for a working path they can make.

Paint a dashed line near the centre.

The narrower half is for cycles. The wider half is for walkers. Every 50 metres paint signs to show riding or walking correctly — to the left here; to the right, in Europe.

Once the idea is accepted and the paths are working again, widen the busiest ones to three to four metres.

Brian Stone, Weetangera

Recent complaints in these columns by walkers against cyclists using shared "pedalestrian" paths have the solution in their own hands, or should I say, feet.

Walk, jog on the right facing oncoming traffic, then you will not encounter scary surprises.

Oncoming cyclists are then easily avoided by side-stepping on to the verges, except when crossing an overpass.

I have never understood the logic of the argument for walking on the left.

As far as expecting to hear bells being rung by approaching cyclists, the last time I had the pleasure of hearing one, Adam was not yet old enough to shave.

Michael Adler, Gungahlin

In a world that is constantly changing it is refreshing to see a secular masthead would continue to devote its Christmas editorial to the traditions of what has now become an over commercialised holiday season ("What Christmas asks for the whole of us", Forum, December 24, p8).

Your guest leader writer, Right Reverend Professor Stephen Pickard, whilst mentioning the lowly shepherds being "first on the scene", misses a key part of the eyewitness account. It was the message the angelic hosts proclaimed to those in the fields that would have seemed at the time to be aspirational, something to our 21st century minds that would have been beyond belief, "peace on earth, good will to all".

Down through the years the angels' message appears to have been lost against the clamour of guns and mortar and it seems that the fruitless and senseless acts of war, death, destruction and hatred brings into question whether peace will ever be achieved.

Yet the central message of Christmas remains through the birth of the Christ child.

Whether we are people of faith, little or no faith, we need to recognise the value of each other, respecting our individual religious and cultural beliefs and work together for a better world.

Allan Gibson, Cherrybrook, NSW

I read with interest your article Christmas "inside", at the Alexander Maconochie Centre ("Inmatex to enjoy traditional lunch", December 24, p5), and the limited festivities the inmates will enjoy.

I was somewhat surprised to read that prison's chaplaincy program was running services for "Jewish, Muslim and Indigenous inmates".

I did not know there was an Indigenous religion that celebrates Christmas.

I am fairly sure that Islam does not.

And as AMC Jewish Chaplain I can reassure you that while I was there and we did commemorate Channukah, the festival Judaism celebrates during this time of the year, we certainly did not mention the Christmas that Christians do celebrate.

Chag Channukah Sameach, and Merry Christmas.

Bill Arnold, Chifley

If anyone of any political persuasion – other than Queensland boofhead types – has any time left for our Prime Minister, please let them have bought him for Christmas a copy of Istvan Szabo's profound film, Mephisto, about the futility of compromising more and more in cutting deals with morally bleak entities holding sway over oneself.

You just end up with nothing, less than if you'd actually led and never compromised, as in that classic film's chilling denouement, which Mr Turnbull is in danger of playing out well before the next election.

Alex Mattea, Kingston

Yes, we can learn from the great philosophers.

This is what Aristotle wrote (Rhetoric 2, 16): "Wealthy men are insolent and arrogant: their possession of wealth affects their understanding ... wealth becomes a sort of standard of value for everything else, and therefore they imagine there is nothing it cannot buy.

"They are luxurious and ostentatious ... and vulgar, because they think that other people's idea of happiness is the same as their own ... Rich men also consider themselves worthy to hold public office; for they consider they already have the things that give a claim to office".

In a word, the type of character produced by wealth is that of a prosperous fool.

Doesn't this sound vaguely familiar?

Thomas Mautner, Griffith

In a striking rupture with past practice, the United States allowed the UN Security Council on Friday to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a "flagrant violation" of international law. Had they also abstained on66 other vetoes supporting Israel over the past decades instead of being corrupted by the Jewish Lobby in the US, there would be no Middle East problem, no need for the many negotiation attempts, all planned to fail. Only 50 years late in this action.

Immediately Israel withdrew (for "consultation") ambassadors from those countries who initiated this resolution such as New Zealand. Wait and see ... ambassadors recalled, grants cancelled, trade stopped, and heightened violence against Palestinians, all Israel's modus operandi. But apartheid can't win and hopefully this may be the just beginning.

Rex Williams, Ainslie

So, David Headon (Letters, December 22) is asking about the criteria for selecting Tony Abbott as a Rhodes Scholar.

As there have been 62 Australian Rhodes Scholarship recipients over the years, we can therefore assume that Mr Headon has been completely satisfied with the criteria for the other 61, all of whom he's obviously familiar with. Or perhaps he just wants to show his obvious bent and bias without bothering to do any research?

Michael Curzon, Kambah

Seeking wider benefit

I agree with Stephen Petersen's thoughts on high-frequency equities trading, though not his proposed solution (Letters, December 24).

High-frequency trading has no advantage to society but does have the positive disadvantage that it increases market instabilities and thus the chances of market distortions, if not crashes. It benefits no one other than its very few practitioners.

A separate issue is that our government is desperate for revenue.

Both issues could be alleviated by a trading tax as suggested by Mr Petersen.

Contrary to his suggestion, there is a need for trades of small number and odd-size parcels to consolidate otherwise unsaleable quantities, often the result of bonus issues and the like.

It is not the low quantity trades that are the problem, but the automated high-frequency trades that rely on tiny profits each time, multiplied by many transactions.

A better measure would be to impose a flat tax of perhaps 0.05 per cent on every trade. This would have a negligible effect on productive investment and trading but would be a significant deterrent to high-frequency trading.

It would also bring around $1billion to the government each year, as well as increasing market stability.

It is time our government developed the backbone to put community interest ahead of sectional small minorities by adopting measures like this, measures that can benefit society as a whole.

Julian Robinson, Narrrabundah

Philip Benwell (Letters, December 26) says the Australian Monarchists League has been "overwhelmed" with letters from outraged Liberals saying they'll never vote Liberal again because of Malcolm Turnbull's view on a Republic. He would say that, wouldn't he?

The issue of a Republic is far greater than just the celebrity politician Malcolm Turnbull, and what he thinks or wants is just one person's view. There are 26 million of us and the AML surely know that all polls show that the majority of Australians want a republic.

Jennifer Saunders, Canberra City

An incessant stream of articles and letters demand cessation of negative gearing to halt the rising cost of housing.

Negative gearing was made significantly profitable by the amendment to capital gains tax, which deemed 50 per cent of capital gains to be tax deductible expenses.

Remove that tax exclusion and many of the investors clogging the market would disappear. Disallowing negative gearing entirely and leaving the 50 per cent capital gains rule in place would perpetuate a discriminatory tax which prevents elderly homeowners from claiming as deductions the full losses incurred including interest, maintenance, improvements, rates and taxes and inflation over some 40 or 50 years.

Disallowing residential negative gearing would also attack the basis of free enterprise but only for the individual.

It is used extensively by large corporations, which disguise the manoeuvre with a complex web of divisions and subsidiaries, many of which make a trading loss.

Disallowing negative gearing would, moreover, do nothing to discourage foreign investors who are less interested in profits than laundering suspect cash.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

TRUMP'S CHALLENGE

The US President-elect promised to "drain the swamp", then selected his own cadre of billionaires and bankers; he revelled in cries of "lock her up", then said, "Now we don't care, right?". Based on Donald Trump's self-contradictions, and there are many more, I've no clue how he can keep his commitment to "make America great again".

Judy Bamberger, O'Connor

BLACK DUCK NATIVITY

A surprising – and very Canberra – Christmas present. Driving along Belconnen Way past Black Mountain bushland along, I screeched to a halt as a black duck led her half-dozen ducklings across the final lane.

I thought of those Nativity scenes – ox and asses, no birds, but yes, guardian angels pictured above – protecting the likes of my virgin mother black duck!

C. Lendon, Cook

INEXCUSABLE ERROR

What a good article by Crispin Hull ("Events put democracy and international order under challenge", Forum, December 24, p2).

However, veniality means pardonability, excusability (from Latin venia, forgiveness): the word he wants is venality, meaning bribability (from Latin venum, thing for sale).

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

GAMBLING IT ALL AWAY

Further to John Kent (Letters, December 23), a member of my family loses not $420 a year at ACT licensed clubs, but, according to my calculations, at least $60,000 a year, or pretty much his entire income. He has not acknowledged that he has a problem nor agreed to seek help.

Karina Morris, Weetangera

PENALTY RATES

In his Christmas message, Bill Shorten was banging on about penalty rates, again. I don't think he could care less about workers' penalty rates one jot, as the 1998 enterprise agreement signed by Mr Shorten's AWU Victoria and Cleanevent showed.

Craig Thomas, Watson

POLICE PRESENTS

I see that Father Christmas gave ACT Policing two jet skis for Christmas and gave them permission to hoon around Lake Burley Griffin.

Alan Robertson, Canberra City

TORTURING LIVE BAIT

Fish used as live bait also endure unimaginable torture.

A common method of rigging a live bait fish is to shove a cable tie through the fish's eye sockets then attach it to the hook.

Imagine how you'd feel if someone did this to you.

Christine Evans, Brighton, Vic

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