My husband and I live in Tuggeranong and have found the service most helpful at a time when it was not possible to see a doctor.

It has saved us hours waiting in emergency.

The staff were very professional and the wait was short.

They advised if an X-ray was needed or medical attention was required.

My elderly friend had a fall one night. We took her to the nurses centre.

They examined her wound and gave her a tetanus injection.

The comments made by doctors in the article appear to be very misleading.

The nurses always refer a patient to a doctor or they are sent to emergency at the hospital if required.

As soon as they see you, they tell you what they are able to do or not able to do. It is a wonderful service which personally I would not like it to be maligned or stopped.

As for the costing of the service, it too needs further examination.

Figures can be misleading.

The comparison with bulk billing was very simplistic.

Obviously a lot of factors need to be considered.

Cesira Costello, Kambah

Dr Thinus van Rensburg has turned his lance against the nurse walk-in centres ('GPs say nurse centres waste of tax money', November 18, p3).

It should be pointed out to Dr Rensburg that these walk-in centres cost $188 per visit because they are open from 7.30am until 10pm. If they kept the sort of hours that most GPs have, implying scheduling of appointments, they would be a lot cheaper. I have found the nurses at the walk-in centres to be incredibly good value: very knowledgeable, helpful, and well organised.

All the centres are spotlessly clean and one would be far less likely to acquire anything infectious in them than in a hospital casualty ward.

As a 75-year-old cyclist, I look forward to the new walk-in centres, giving me more choice in case I fall off.

John Mason, Latham

Some conservative members of the Turnbull government are keen to ensure that religious freedoms are protected in the legislation to extend the right to marry to members of the GLBTQI community.

Peter Dutton has suggested these can be debated at a later time.

Let's, by all means, debate religious freedoms in Australia. As part of that debate let us explain what religious freedoms currently exist and let us debate whether or not some of them should still exist.

Far from being powerless churches have sweeping rights to discriminate as they choose within their own organisations.

Already there have been threats that church-related employees, who choose to marry their same-sex partner, will be fired.

Yes, a church can do that.

A young straight couple mentioned their support of marriage equality and were told their own wedding was no longer welcome in their own church. Yes, a church can do that.

The list of what a church can do is very long indeed. Is it time in a modern world that some of these "religious freedoms" were clipped?

I personally believe that everyone has the right to worship as they see fit without interference. That is religious freedom. What some are now demanding, it seems, is that religious freedoms extend into the secular world.

There is meant to be a separation between the church and state. A far-reaching community discussion of religious freedoms could look at whether that separation is being maintained or whether our churches are taking unwarranted liberties.

Lyn Farrand, Kambah

You would have thought the same-sex marriage voters would have thanked the Liberal Party, and particularly Tony Abbott, for providing the platform for this to happen.

After all it was in Labor's six years of power that people like Julia Gillard, Bill Shorten and Penny Wong specifically said they did not want Australia to have same-sex marriage.

Yet they were the ones celebrating after the result.

The "yes" voters also said if we had a postal vote or plebiscite the gay community would be victimised and assaulted. Yet it was the "yes" voters that were doing most of the assaulting of the "no" voters.

An ex-PM gets head-butted, a young woman losing her job, "yes" voters holding signs to burn churches, people defriended friends because they voted "no".

The "no" voters have been very tolerant and accepting of the result.

The "yes" side, on the other hand, has been gloating and so the Christianaphobia continues.

If this is the sign of things to come it is a worry. Our country was built on the Judeo-Christian beliefs that have served us well for a long time.

Ian Pilsner, Weston

I was wrongly under the impression that the postal vote was to be anonymous.

The bar code on the ballot paper obviously gave away a lot of personal information.

Information such as age, sex, postal address (to determine my electorate) were all available.

Someone has cross-referenced the bar code to the electoral roll to generate the statistics as published in the papers this week.

The end result was a foregone conclusion so now we require time-consuming new legislation and the requisite debate.

But all this can be avoided by simply repealing the 2003 legislation which they should have done months ago.

Wal Pywell, Wanniassa

Apparently the Queensland Coalition party is planning, if elected, to build two new juvenile detention centres.

I would have thought the money would be better spent on preventing the need for what is too often the beginning of a spiral downwards for those who end up in these facilities.

It seems to be significant that most of the current residents are the offspring of the former owners of the land who have never been compensated by those who took it off them.

Is this yet another chapter in what is a far from commendable history?

(Dr) Audrey Guy, Ngunnawal

Talk about burying bad news on a good news day.

The same-sex marriage vote gets up, and on the evening news, we are told the ACT can expect rates and utilities to rise 12 per cent over the next two years. When will the peasants uprising begin?

Gather your pitchforks and light your torches you poor downtrodden masses, workers of the ACT unite, we cannot afford this government, gather the tumbrils and parade this shoddy gang of self-indulging petite bourgeoisie through the streets so we can shower them with our scorn.

Long live the proletariat.

Ian Jannaway, Monash

The findings from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory are shocking, but not unexpected.

We are lucky to live in the ACT, the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a Human Rights Act.

It wouldn't be possible that procedures that re-traumatise and work against the rehabilitation of children and young people in our youth justice system are allowed here, would it?

Some joining of the dots suggests otherwise.

On April 15, 2017, The Canberra Times ("Bimberi staff raise human rights concern", p.3) reported staff at Bimberi Youth Detention Centre were concerned about human rights violations at the facility including the use of "squat and cough" during strip searches of children as young as 10 years old.

A Community Services Directorate spokesperson claimed "All searches (are) conducted in accordance with relevant legislation and guidelines".

That sounds pretty hollow when you look at the Human Rights Commission's Annual Report 2016-17.

Page 53 states "Following advocacy from the commission, this practice (the 'squat and cough' strip search procedure) – previously identified as unlawful in the 2005 Human Rights audit of Quamby – was discontinued".

It had been happening. The report also states that of the 78 strip searches at Bimberi in 2016-17 not one found any contraband.

There have been numerous allegations of abuse, violence and neglect inside Bimberi this year.

The latest concern staff's failure to provide young detainees with an initial health assessment within statutory time frames.

Will the HRC's investigation into allegations about Bimberi, due for release by the end of 2017, examine the use of: segregation (solitary confinement); force and restraints; and strip searching?

The royal commission found these practices were being abused in the Northern Territory. It would be good to know they are not being abused here.

Sarah Cowdery, Barton

Juliet Ramsay's claim (Letters, November 16) that the new West Basin boardwalk will "damage" the "naturalistic" lake edge would probably carry more weight if the development wasn't rebuilding the (entirely artificial) West Basin lake edge to match the formal arc originally intended by Walter Burley Griffin in his 1913, 1916 and final plans.

During his time as the Federal Capital Director, Griffin was given ample opportunity to give the three central lake basins a "naturalistic" edge, but persisted in favour of a precise geometric treatment. In Griffin's words: "because of (the basins') largeness of scale and severe simplicity they conform to the architectural character of the centre of the City with its monumental groups and throngs of busy people."

In the interests of financial and hydraulic efficiency, the lake edge built in 1963 dissolved this formal relationship in favour of a meandering, picturesque treatment that instead contrasted the lake shores with the city's built form.

When combined with the construction of Parkes Way and the removal of the recreation building group from the central basin's northern shore, the Lake Burley Griffin of today remains a ghostly shadow of its namesake's true intentions.

There are certainly aspects of the West Basin transformation that deserve closer scrutiny (looking at you, Parkes Way realignment).

Rebuilding the West Basin lake edge to match Griffin's geometry is not one of them.

Ryan Hemsley, Wright

When astronauts looked back at the Earth from the moon, they were struck by its beauty, its small size and its vulnerability.

This brought home to them the point that Dick Varley made (Letters, November 20) that the Earth cannot possibly sustain infinite growth.

Growth of economies, and populations, and use of resources cannot possibly continue ad infinitum, and pollution of our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and methane cannot continue indefinitely at the present rate, let alone increase.

The Steady State Economy concept supported by Mr Varley does, however, have a major, intractable problem.

Equitable distribution of wealth has always been an impossible dream.

We seem unable to break out of the cycle of long periods of polarisation of wealth — as is happening now in many countries — followed by uprisings of the (much) less well-off majority.

Steady-state economies would be nice, but I don't like our chances of making them last.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Now that our elected representatives have shown willingness to spend $122 million of our tax money confirming our opinion on a matter involving social inclusion may we expect that they will spend an equal amount confirming our opinion on the important matter of medically assisted voluntary euthanasia?

The emphasis in this consideration seems to have strayed from humanitarian changes to our laws to the supposed effects on our religious persuasions.

The fact that the desired assistance is voluntary and does not in any way impel participation by any person not seeking such assistance or providing the assistance for religious or any other reason seems to have been lost in the hysteria.

Hopefully the majority of our elected representatives are capable of not hiding behind the excuse that it is too hard.

Maxwell Lotton, Fisher

Apropos your editorial, ("Is the end finally in sight for Mugabe?", November 17, p. 16): I've visited Zimbabwe several times (and Rhodesia, in the distant past) and I have to agree with your gloomy prediction for the country's immediate prospects. A minor correction, if I may: Zimbabwe-Rhodesia came into being in June 1979 (not December 1979) following the so-called "internal settlement" which saw Abel Muzorewa become prime minister.

This was unacceptable to the international community, including Australia, which forced Zimbabwe-Rhodesia to the externally monitored election in February 1980 which Robert Mugabe won, albeit amid widespread accusations of vote-rigging and voter-coercion.

Peter Moran, Watson

A pair of Yankee dogs with diplomatic immunity running riot in our capital? Where's Barnaby when we need him most?

Nigel Thompson, Queanbeyan, NSW

The Canberra Times wants to hear from you in short bursts. Email 50 or fewer words to letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au.

CITIZENSHIP MYSTERY

Strange it will take Jacqui Lambie four weeks to get written confirmation of her renouncement of British citizenship when Mr Alexander (British) and Mr Joyce (New Zealand) had written proof virtually overnight, enabling byelections to be conducted in 2017. Mr Turnbull should insist Mr Alexander and Mr Joyce display their renouncement confirmation paperwork for scrutiny immediately.

P. R. Temple, Macquarie

SHARE THE LOVE

With all the love around more thought should be given to the lines "Love is in the air every sight and every sound... don't know if I'm being foolish Don't know if I'm being wise" (credit to John Paul Young).

Peter Brittliff, Kambah

DON'T MESS WITH S.44

James Grafton could not be more wrong in claiming (Letters, November 18) there should be a reversion to the pre-1948 situation where Australians, along with citizens of many Commonwealth countries, were citizens of the "British Empire". While there are parts of our constitution which are now hopelessly out of date, Section 44 is not one of them.

T. J. Marks, Holt

A.C.T. WELCOMES GAYS

With the "yes" result making us the San Francisco of Australia and with a rainbow roundabout to celebrate, we have a new angle for promoting Canberra as an international tourist destination.

Michelle Barron, Lyneham

CHANGE THE TOPIC

I voted for equality. The right to have your sexual orientation normalised and therefore slip into the background and not be spoken about. I did not vote for gay monuments or rainbow roundabouts. Can we now just stop talking about it and get back to talking about the weather or sport.

Bryan Cossart, Stirling

TAKE HEED, P.M.

It is sad and pathetic to listen to a leader trying to cling to power after losing the support of the people and powerful elements of his own party. What was Malcolm Turnbull thinking when he heard Robert Mugabe's speech?

Tony Judge, Woolgoolga

IT'S ONLY OUR MONEY

Peter Toscan (Letters, November 20), would you prefer a trip to Melbourne to see an Australian-made tram dIspatched to the ACT or take a taxpayer trip to Spain? This is the ACT Legislative Assembly we are talking about.

Mark Urquhart, Palmerston

JUST DESSERTS

Years ago when the GST was introduced it was all about bakers and their cakes and how GST was calculated in the various ingredients of the cake. Now the discussion has returned to bakers and their wedding cakes in light of the recent SSM vote. Let everyone have their cake and eat it.

Doug Hodgson, Pearce