There is little hope, on this doleful anniversary, that any of the Liberal or Labor Party members returned to the Parliament will take the time to reflect on the injustice of that policy or indeed on their personal responsibility for the permanent psychological, neurological and physical harm suffered by the men, women and children whom Australia has abandoned on Manus and Nauru.

However I, and I am sure the majority of Canberra residents who oppose this policy, would appreciate an indication from each of our four ACT federal representatives whether they intend to maintain their silent endorsement of this illegal and immoral policy for another three years.

If that is their intention would they also advise us whether they accept that "indefinite" really does mean "indefinite".

If not do they think that a time will come in say another one, three or six years when the people detained on Nauru and Manus Islands will, if Australia is to retain any self respect or moral standing, need to be released?

Jon Stanhope, Bruce

I thought Sarah Gill's article (July 11) on the three deceivers — Bush, Blair and Howard – was excellent. She listed some of the costs that Iraq has had to contend with as a result of Iraq invasion.

In Iraq as well as Syria one could also add the mass exodus of Christians, the loss of a secular and well-educated society, the loss of reliable infrastructure, the daily terror that innocent civilians live with and over and above all this the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the millions of people displaced, the refugee crisis and potential dismembering of Europe.

In Australia we now have the rise of Islamophobia and the pressures on our multicultural society and the coming into being of the security state.

For Howard, his successors and the LNP to ever express culpability or remorse is extremely unlikely.

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

Senator Zed recently awoke from his slumber and sprang to life, wielding the facile but insidiously envy-stoking election motto "Let's get ahead". I suppose there's nothing like the potential loss of a taxpayer-funded hobby-horse vehicle to focus the mind, particularly the threat of LGBTI barbarians storming the last bastion of decent, God-fearin' folk.

As to any suggestion that he might be promoted to the government frontbench, I suppose he wouldn't be the first politician, regrettably, to be promoted without any obvious achievement or contribution to his name.

But, I hear you say, the good senator secured funding for the much-needed clean-up of Canberra's lakes. As far as that is true, that is a good thing. However, I still marvel at the cognitive dissonance which enabled him to bask in whatever glory came from that announcement while simultaneously furiously lobbying for broadscale residential development west of the Murrumbidgee, development would seriously compromise downstream water quality.

David Jenkins, Casey

The message from the recent election to the major parties is do not dare to introduce any fiscal measures to control Australia's ever-growing national debt.

It also sends a message to most of the minor parties that by blocking any such measures they can stay as MPs for many years.

This means that we are quickly moving to becoming the Greece of the south. However, in our case there will not be any EU bureaucrats to bail us out when the crunch comes.

D. P. Banner, Coolbellup

It is puzzling that Jack Waterford thinks it is untrue that Jim Killen won the seat of Moreton on Communist preferences in 1961 (Forum, July 9, p.2). The figures are quite clear. The Communist candidate, Max Julius, got 676 votes.

His preferences were distributed first, and 93 went direct to Killen, whose ultimate winning margin was 130. If those preferences had gone to Labor, Killen would have lost by 56.

Stephen Brown, Forrest

Ross Fitzgerald is spot on in his excellent article ("A high price for killing Prime Ministers", July 12.)

As one of those who refuses to vote for a party that knifes its leader in the back I voted independent on July 2 to send a message to Turnbull, along with another million Liberal voters. As Professor Fitzgerald writes, Turnbull is badly damaged and will have to work hard to bring the Liberal team together and for that he needs Tony Abbott.

But is he magnanimous enough to give him a ministry?

If he doesn't he will be the glorious leader of a very fractured party with diminishing support from a huge section of voters.

F. Mulligan, Isaacs

Kevin Coughlan's defence of the greyhound racing industry (Letters, July 12) is beyond laughable. Why must 6000 dogs be moved interstate or rehomed or slaughtered "to meet the ban"? If greyhound owners truly love their dogs as much as they are claiming in the media, why do they not retire them properly and keep them as part of the family to live out their post-racing days in comfort? Could it be that their "love" for their greyhounds is totally dependent on the dogs earning them money?

Regarding the comparison between the ACT government subsidising the greyhound racing industry and an AFL team, last time I checked footy teams don't use live baiting.

Jan Darby, Isabella Plains

The editorial of July 11 claims that Canberra's voters are badly done by because we have more than twice as many voters as the Northern Territory but the same number of seats. In my letter dated July 8, I explained why the ACT and the NT are both entitled to two House of Representatives seats. It is because seat entitlements in the states (other than Tasmania) and the ACT and the NT are based on population, not voter numbers, and the ACT's entitlement is just under 2.5 seats (rounded down to 2 seats) and the NT's is just over 1.5 seats (rounded up to two seats).

Frank Marris, Forrest

Hearty congratulations to the childcare centre in Manuka winning their battle with the ACT Labor government to keep their lovely centre open.

Why does the local government cause so many people such grief as they try to bulldoze too many successful places in Canberra and the locals have to fight tooth and nail to keep them?

We fought and won the Fitters Workshop for musical events when it was discovered the building had wonderful acoustics. The government wanted to spend thousands (or was it millions) of dollars to refurbish it for Megalo Printmakers who now, with very little cost, have an excellent alternative building close by.

Then the fight was on and won to preserve our beautiful Albert Hall from insensitive development.

The government should rebuild the burnt down RSL centre next to Manuka Oval in exactly the same place. It has lain vacant and sorely missed for years now. The original one was a one-storey, lovely old homely heritage building, much loved and used by many people. We don't need a six storey impersonal building in its place.

The fight is on now to stop Giants and Grocon to ruin Manuka Oval and environs with more hideous development.

Penelope Upward, O'Connor

Economist Chris Richardson reminded us on ABC TV's June 27 Q&A, that today's low interest rates are responsible for high house prices (because of commercial "capitalisation"). That treats owner-occupier borrowers like traders.

They're not. No negative gearing, etc. for them. "Market" forces aren't working for housing affordability, despite some increases in supply. In fact, housing is the only "market" that is deliberately prevented from behaving as such — it never really falls.

Affordable home ownership is slipping away, but it's vital for population health and wellbeing. Clearly, "bona fide" (non-investment and non-speculative) housing needs a transformative, separate, fairer financial system, and not just for first-home buyers.

New-estate housing (near employment centres, to avoid urban-sprawl blight) is a good starting point. There, decent sized (for living amenity, solar access, etc.) house plots should always be made readily available (by law), one each directly to proven bona fide owner-occupiers.

All existing mortgages to bona fide owner-occupiers could be recast to reflect that system. The impacts would be dramatic but relative. Flow-on effects could include more affordable investment-housing prices and rentals. Funds for more productive industries in post-resources-boom Australia could be freed up.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

It is a disgrace that that those standing, individuals or a party, in the recent election and elected or not, will be paid $2.63 per vote from the public purse if they achieved more than 4 per cent of the votes.

Individuals go into an election on a voluntary basis and pay for their electioneering out of their own pocket. If they are unsuccessful, that is an expensive exercise. If they are successful, they go into politics on a very lucrative financial package.

Revelations about political parties' recent donations towards campaigns reveal very substantial elections fund. Participating in an election is voluntary, if you miss, that is unfortunate both financially and personally. However the taxpayer should not reimburse the election costs of those that receive the required quota of votes.

Pay for your own electioneering and do not expect the public purse to compensate you. New members of parliament have got their nose in the trough before they are even sworn in or do a day's work for those you elected them.

Alan Leitch, Austins Ferry, Tas

I totally agree with Mike O'Shaunessy's letter (July 12).

How can greyhound racing be justified when thousands of young, healthy dogs are purposely bred and slaughtered, their only crime being they are not able to bring home the money?

Many of those considered "wastage" by the industry are not afforded quick deaths by vets' injections, they are often slaughtered the cheapest way possible, immorally and unethically. The decision by NSW and Canberra is justified as any animals forced to race and win have very tentative futures.

For too long "man's best friends," in the form of trusting greyhounds, have been abused and exploited for gambling, and suffered at the hands of the people who fail to care for and respect them.

Mike's statement is right – stopping greyhound racing may be the first step, but there's plenty more steps to go.

Di Cornelius, Seacliff Park, SA

It has been fascinating to read all the comments about the abolition of greyhound racing in the ACT and NSW over the past week. Even more so as a new-ish resident of Queensland where the dishlickers still have support.

But no one has yet asked the obvious question: if all the breeders, trainers and owners love their dogs so much, why will they destroy them now that racing has been banned? I love my dog, and will keep him as a pet, even though he is hopeless at catching rabbits, rats or even flies.

Stuart Kennedy, Birtinya, Qld

The federal election shows the major parties squandered the trust of voters.

The current generation of politicians has lost community standing which is why Australians turned out in remarkable numbers to support independent candidates. This follows a decade of broken promises, endless bickering and uninspiring performances.

We need simple measures to restore public confidence. A good start would be freezing the salaries and allowances of MPs and senators until they work together and return the budget to balance.

People who have consistently failed to balance the national chequebook cannot expect a pay rise until they fix this fundamental issue.

Businesses would never tolerate a similar situation. Why should voters?

Bob Crawshaw, Weston

Contrary to the report that ministers have "dug the first hole" ("Construction starts on tram line's Mitchell depot", July 12, p2), the ACT government are just continuing to dig the tram hole ever deeper, ignoring the concerns of economists, transport experts, their own Auditor-General and even Capital Metro's own reports which unambiguously show increased congestion and travel times caused by the tram compared to "business as usual".

As a progressive voter who has waited for Labor/Greens governments since 2001 to deliver on "social justice" programs, my patience is at an end. Provision for public housing places has fallen from 45 per thousand residents in 1995 to just 27 in 2015 and Stanhope's plans for affordable housing have been sacrificed for short-term revenue from inflated land prices to the detriment of home buyers.

Oblivious to glaring perceptions of conflicts of interest, the current government sees property developers rather than residents as its constituency, and as Turnbull now realises, you ignore your political base at your peril.

We might not be waiting with baseball bats on October 15, but we will be ready with our Electoral Commission pencils.

Kent Fitch, Nicholls

Interesting to read my detractors supporting the ABC presentation of climate change using the long discredited term "settled science" as if science in such an impossibly complex area could ever be settled.

Indeed, hardly a month goes by where some aspect of the climate surprises the experts, but one would be unlikely to learn of this from the ABC. But then the ABC still turns to Tim Flannery for informed commentary on climate change, the man who said that regular rain was a thing of the past and our dams would never fill again. Says it all really.

H.Ronald, Jerrabomberra

SUIT HIM TO A TEE?

So how is Jarryd Hayne's golf

swing?

Brendan Dobson, Macgregor

WORDS LACKING

H. Ronald (Letters, July 13) asks: "What am I missing here". Sadly, I can't help as letters to the editor are restricted to 250 words.

Ray O'Brien, Wavell Heights, Qld

NUMBER'S UP

Mea culpa. The constitutional provision that guarantees each founding state (but not the ACT or the NT) a minimum number of senators is section 7, not section 6. Proof again, that when it comes to representation rights, it's never helpful to be numerically challenged or at sixes and sevens.

Bob Bennett, Wanniassa

FACING FUTURE

Ray Edmondson (Letters, July, 13) says now is the time for the real Malcolm to return and "seize the day".

Alas, we may have seen the real Malcolm already: shortly after midnight on election night. His disgraceful, petulant speech showed no sense of leadership or even direction.

David Townsend, Curtin

GOVERN FOR ALL

Now that you have claimed a win Malcolm Turnbull, we want you to govern for all Australians, not just the squeaky wheels on the right in your party who want to dictate their agenda at the expense of the "majority" of Australians.

D.J.Fraser, Currumbin, Qld

TAXING PROBLEM

If the people who designed myTax ever designed an electronic electoral voting system it would take years to get the outcome of an election. What a pathetic system.

Roger Smith, Scullin

MOVE ON

No Senator Conroy, opposition spokesman for defence, we do not want the RAAF and RAN to get involved in the South China Sea dispute with China, one of our major trading partners. So what if China occupies a few tiny uninhabited islands and fortifies them to protect its trade sea lanes?

Adrian Jackson, Middle Park, Vic

GAMBLERS NEVER WIN

To the $13 billion over 20 years forgone on poker machine profits must be addedgovernment "incentives" granted to the Barangaroo development, plus social and health costs directly attributable to gambling.

Taxpayers always lose; the "house", never.

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

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.

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