As someone who regularly visits public housing tenants in Braddon, I can say that this is a gross misrepresentation.

In recent years, the government has built three substantial blocks of units and several smaller ones in Braddon, and has also bought units in private blocks of apartments.

All this new housing is vastly better than the accommodation being demolished.

It's within easy-walking distance of the light-rail corridor and much is within easy-walking distance of Civic.

Paul Pentony, Hackett

The ACT government decides it wants to fund its light-rail project by selling off its old public housing apartment complexes along Northbourne Avenue and in various other parts of Canberra, thus displacing many tenants from their long-term homes. Why?

In so doing, it says it wants to rehouse the tenants along main transport corridors, but excludes all public housing from the Northbourne light-rail transport corridor. Why?

To justify its apartment complex sell-off, the government describes these complexes as "concentrations of disadvantage", only dropping this description when people start questioning how this label came to be. Why?

It also decides to replace the complexes, in part, with 30-unit clusters around the city, without explaining why they won't be "concentrations of disadvantage". Why?

Weston Creeks residents discover that such clusters are planned for open spaces resumed by the government through furtive amendments to the Territory Plan, and with no consultation. Why?

Then a public-housing tenant publishes a plea for public-housing tenants ("Care for refugees? Why not your neighbours?", April 7, p17), while "friends of public housing" start writing letters attacking Weston Creek residents for being upset at how they were treated (Letters, April 11).

In all of this, no one questions the government's stewardship of its public-housing estate. Why?

To paraphrase an old saying, while the battle rages below, the government sits watching from its ivory tower, emerging only to "shoot the wounded".

And still we ask: why?

Michael and Christine O'Loughlin, Griffith

In the article "Carpageddon is coming, but we're not" (canberratimes.com.au, April11), Simon Chapman, an emeritus professor of public health at Sydney University, expresses concern about our preparedness to release the carp herpes virus next year.

Rather than the planned initial release in the 1440-kilometre-long Lachlan River, Chapman suggests starting in Lake Burley Griffin.

This, I believe, is an excellent suggestion, as the efficiency with which ACT government manages the collection and disposal of tonnes of rotting carp will provide valuable lessons for the nation.

Alan Robertson, Canberra City

No doubt Canberrans will be relieved and delighted that the Brumbies have been spared the axe and can now look forward to a bright and secure future ("Brumbies safe to look forward", April 11, p44).

However, spare a thought for the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels.

Those teams – the players, support staff, coaches, fans and sponsors – have been kept in limbo far too long by the ARU's failure to nominate which team will be axed.

There can be no excuse for this delay: it's been known for a long time that one Australian team will go.

The ARU board has shown weakness in decision-making. The situation should never have reached this point.

SANZAAR created the debacle by increasing the Super Rugby competition to 18 teams. Australia should have vetoed that increase from the start on the grounds of excessive travel and accommodation expenses, not to mention the effect such travel would have on players.

The loss of a team will have disastrous downstream effects on all aspects of rugby in Australia. From World Cup winners, we could now easily become a second-rate nation, needing to go into qualifying rounds to meet World Cup qualifying requirements.

N. Bailey, Nicholls

Like others, I welcome ActewAGL chief Michael Costello's acknowledgement of the anxiety and pain his company caused through incorrect billing ("ActewAGL bill shocker", April 6, p1).

Canberra Times readers were told that adjustments will be made to future gas bills to ensure customers are not "out of pocket".

This raises more questions than it answers.

Customers were told to contact the "customer team" to discuss their bills. Based on my elderly mother's experience, this approach has been a frustrating waste of time. Further, bills she received for the last two quarters were each more than $1000 more than previous bills for the same period.

How will ActewAGL repay such a massive overcharge through bill adjustments?

Finally, some of her neighbours were so distressed by their gas bills and ActewAGL's lack of response that they paid their bills and disconnected the supply. Have they have lost their money?

To regain trust, ActewAGL should establish a clear procedure to inform customers of how they will be repaid.

Customers should not have to chase the company for repayment of bills that were the company's mistake.

C. Banwell, Aranda

Last Friday, on my way to a friend's burial at the Gungahlin cemetery, I had a sudden flat tyre on the Barton Highway.

I had barely registered the problem or had time to feel stressed when a car pulled up and the driver offered to change the tyre for me.

My helper would not give me his name but he did tell me he was a gas plumber. He certainly brought light and warmth into my day and his neatness and efficiency had me back on the road in less than 10 minutes.

Thank you, Mr Gas Plumber. I'll try to keep the ball of kindness rolling (though changing tyres is a bit beyond me now).

Elizabeth Baxter, Reid

The government's double-talk on the welfare debt-collection mess continues ("Centrelink's robo-debt scheme slammed", April 11, p6).

The Commonwealth Ombudsman reportedly "confirmed that 20 per cent of people sent an 'initial request for information' were able to prove they owed nothing" but also found "the widely reported 20 per cent error rate was not accurate". These findings appear contradictory.

The Ombudsman concluded: "the request for information was reasonable".

One fails to understand how that could be when a more sophisticated search algorithm would have excluded many of the troublesome 20 per cent.

According to departmental leaks, staff were banned from applying standard clerical checks previously applied in overpayment retrievals.

One fails to understand how the Ombudsman could say: "Many of these problems could have been reduced through better project planning, system testing and risk management", yet maintain that the requests for information, in the cases of the problematic 20 per cent, were reasonable.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

What is a good sign you are on the wrong side of an argument?

When your best strategy is to play the woman, not the issue.

When Australia's former MPs come out blustering ("Patronising people is a special Helle", April 10, p14), it is usually worth pausing to check the facts.

Australian aid levels have been cut to an all-time low, below the average for countries of Australia's economic standing.

As Amanda Vanstone says, this cut is "not ideal".

But we cannot just opine about the less-than-ideal world we live in and accept it as it is. This would be to ignore the powerful change we can drive.

More than 25 million people are facing starvation in Africa and Yemen. Since World War II, never have more people been displaced – forced to leave their own homes.

Relative to other nations, we are in a strong position to respond. We are unapologetic in arguing that we should be a champion for helping those in need in the world and will continue to call for greater resources to do so.

Marc Purcell, chief executive, Australian Council for International Development

Jack Kershaw (Letters, April 10) naively thinks that government ownership can safeguard the Anzac Park buildings.

Their significance is in symmetrically framing Anzac Parade. Government ownership has undermined that symmetry in the rooftop carbuncle, ugly multi-storey aluminium sleepout and outsized legoland portico tacked onto Anzac Park West to attract a government tenant that then reneged on the tenancy.

Anzac Park East has suffered decades of costly malign neglect. It is a long-vacant eyesore. These buildings must rate for "heritage" as classic examples of poorly conceived, badly executed, Stalinist, public-works architecture.

They are now beyond economic salvation as efficient office space, let alone offices that might appeal to public service agencies' contemporary aspirations.

The National Capital Authority needs to ensure that future ownership and development of these sites yields better use and maintenance, and full restoration of symmetry to a high design standard.

It has proven to have no power or capacity to secure this from government ownership. But it can – and must – from a future private owner and developer.

Mike Hutchinson, Reid

Housing affordability (in regard to both price and loan repayments) is slipping away, but it's crucial for population health and well-being.

Fiddling with fiscal measures or increasing supply doesn't seem to help because the housing "market" is generally very protected. Also, massive retail mark-ups in the developer-housing production chain are running rampant.

Clearly, "legitimate" (non-investment, non-"project" and non-speculative) housing requires a transformative, separate, fairer system. New-estate detached houses on initially Crown land would be a good starting point.

Decent-sized house plots in well-planned estates on such land should always be available, one each to bona-fide owner-occupiers (not just first-timers) who undertake to reside in-situ for a significant, stipulated period. The plot price to those buyers only should be independently ascertained as the true wholesale cost to produce, plus a fair, but modest, site-specific mark-up (the "cost-plus" system).

Plot owners can then source the building component more competitively, environmentally responsibly and creatively, free from profiteers. The effects would be initially dramatic (probably requiring some compensation to extant recent qualifying owner-occupier borrowers) but it would free up investment for more productive industries.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

The gruesome killing of the service-station attendant was heartbreaking ("Rampage", April 8,p1). Then we had the cruel attack on paedestrians in Stockholm ("Truck terror grips Swedish capital", April 9, p13).

As a Muslim, it pains me to see my religion twisted and held responsible for deplorable crimes.

However, the fact that one of the targeted victims was a Muslim shows it's not a war between ideologies. It's simply a war of us and them.

I am an Ahmadi Muslim and my religion teaches me peace and tolerance. The terrorists practise everything but.

Sahar Bashir, Londonderry, NSW

Jack Kershaw says he is willing to challenge, in court, the sale of Anzac Park East and West (Letters, April10). Does he plan to spend his own money doing this or, by trumpeting his thoughts in the letters pages and gaining public support, thus use other people's money? Everyone can talk big when it's not their cash!

Sonya Georgalis, Kingston

If modern education (and I include the malign influence of social media) has accomplished anything at all, it has infused the hoi polloi with what, in educated folk, might be called "a healthy scepticism". But in the case of the masses, it is not healthy at all: sixth-grade nature study makes you a climate expert! So from "don't let the buggers fool yer, mate", it is a short step to a gullible acceptance of every conspiracy theory in existence. Distrust of vaccination, "global warming is crap" and so on. Will someone please write a thesis on the socio-political implications of this gap?

Barrie Smillie, Duffy

If it wasn't clear before, it is now: the cost of moving the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority to Armidale just doesn't add up ("Taxpayers to fund PS remote link", April 11, p2). Not a week goes by without some extra cost added to this already expensive move. And the required new building to house the authority in Armidale hasn't even been costed yet. What are the benefits for taxpayers, who will end up footing the bill? Certainly none in dollar terms.

Don Sephton, Greenway

For those decrying the "devolution" of public servants out of Canberra and into the sticks, I'd like to point out an upside. Who among us has not, when travelling and admitting to living in Canberra, had someone share their opinion of public servants as a lazy, no-good, whingeing bunch of taxpayer-fund-wasting fat cats? If government agencies are flung out to the provinces in fits of pork barrelling, I'm looking forward to hearing not "what are you bastards in Canberra doing to us?" but "what are you bastards in Armidale/Alice Springs/Adelaide/Tingalpa/Marangaroo/Colac/etc doing to us?"

Dallas Stow, O'Connor

We can have the world's biggest coal mine or the world's biggest coral reef, but not both.

Peter Campbell, Cook

So Donald Trump is "a visual and auditory learner" who had requested fewer words and more graphics in his briefings. The mounting pile of evidence that he is illiterate is growing.

Paul McElligott, Aranda

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