Yet Chief Minister Barr had a Manuka Oval project briefing from David Lamont and Pierre Huetter on November 30, 2015, and minister Meegan Fitzharris had an official meeting on February 18 with her husband, Huetter, and an ACT government officer.

In defending Fitzharris, Barr said: "Nearly every member of the assembly I understand has had that background briefing or had the opportunity to have one."

These facts support Jack Waterford's assessment ("Ministers need to get frank, fearless advice", Forum, April 16, p1) that "even by low ACT government standards, the processes and incestuous appearances of the Manuka proposal [are] appalling".

As well as Huetter and Lamont (former Labor deputy chief minister), Grocon and GWS Giants have hired Dan Stewart, who left his job last August as deputy chief executive of the ACT Land Development Agency.

Lamont is also a respondent, along with the Brumbies board and others, in a lawsuit filed by ACT Brumbies chief executive Michael Jones, alleging that Lamont and others have taken detrimental action against Jones because he instigated a police investigation of some Brumbies transactions.

Something needs explaining.

G. Fitzgerald, Griffith

So Mr Barr is seeking to remove the Manuka Oval controversy from the election agenda. He says that the redevelopment of the Manuka Oval and the surrounding precinct will be deferred until after a cricket Test match in the summer of 2018-19.

However, make no mistake, he has also made it clear that the project will go ahead under his watch if his government is re-elected: "We will be adjusting development plans ... to take account of this most significant development" ("Manuka oval development on hold for at least three years until Test", April 21, p1).

Mr Barr seems to have had a very close involvement in more than one redevelopment proposal involving sporting bodies. We well remember the controversy surrounding the redevelopment of the Brumbies' former headquarters in Griffith.

In the article, "Barr wants peace amid Brumbies court saga" (April 21, p2), we learn that he was recently involved in a discussion with the Brumbies' chairman and Australian Rugby Union chief when the Brumbies board decided to stand down its chief executive, who was concerned about what a KPMG report had revealed about the use of the profits made from the sale of the Brumbies' Griffith site. This calls for an explanation by Mr Barr and for the documentation surrounding these events to be made public.

Margaret Fanning, Griffith

Now that Chief Minister Andrew Barr has put the ridiculous Manuka development proposal on hold ("Manuka Oval development on hold for at least three years until Test", April 21, p1), maybe he can direct his attention to some long overdue work at Bruce Stadium.

First, install a new, modern big screen at the southern end. With some clever design, there is also an opportunity to create more undercover seating for those wonderful Canberra winter evenings.

The Brumbies and Raiders are the real home football teams in the ACT, and the stadium is perfectly located and just needs some decent upgrades and a maintenance program.

Horst Kirchner, Queanbeyan, NSW

Any royal commission into the banking industry should also study other financial institutions like insurance companies and pay-day lenders, along with the regulatory authorities that are supposed to oversee them.

These should include the Foreign Investment Review Board that I helped provide advice to in relation to investments in Australian resource industries and which also covers housing and property investments by overseas entities.

All these authorities have had major failings, much of which can be attributed to inadequate funding, and need a good shake-up.

Ric Hingee, Duffy

One hopes that Channel Nine will also see fit to offer considerable recompense to the federal government for what must be hefty consular assistance costs arising from Nine's failed chequebook journalism debacle in Lebanon ("Deal struck: Channel Nine to pay compensation", April 21, p2).

In addition, individuals involved who may also have been eyeing up substantial income from future glossy magazine and other media coverage opportunities should also offer compensation, given the expensive consequences of their irresponsible actions in another country.

Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill, and such financial follow-up actions, clearly advertised to the tax-paying public, might help to deter more misguided money-making missions in the future.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Hurray! Channel Nine's 60 Minutes team is safe ("Deal struck: Channel Nine to pay compensation", April 21, p2). Bring on the dancing girls.

Meanwhile, the team allegedly paid by Nine to kidnap the Elamine children appears to have been abandoned to its fate.

If I hired someone to commit a crime and they were caught, lickety-split I would be charged the same as those who had actually acted on my orders.

Is it really that hard to understand why the media is held in such contempt when, on the one hand, it sees itself as being above the law, and on the other, it is prepared to cynically abandon its own?

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

I take as light-hearted Peter Baskett's claim (Letters April 19) that we wouldn't have State of Origin rugby league games if the states had been abolished at federation.

However, New Zealand's provinces (along with their governments) were formally abolished in 1876, yet inter-provincial rugby rivalries thrived on.

In the same way, footy in Australia would have continued to be organised according to former colonial boundaries (as would a lot of other community and government endeavours). And a Queenslander would still be a Queenslander.

Colony of Origin Series does, however, lack the same marketing zing!

Ian Douglas, Jerrabomberra, NSW

R. Neville (Letters, April 20) claims to be able to assign Sir Peter Cosgrove's failure to shake Tanya Plibersek's hand directly to bad manners, and even political bias and sexism. In doing so, he ignores reports that Sir Peter rang Ms Plibersek to apologise and explain that he had simply not seen her outstretched hand.

We have all at some point failed to acknowledge a greeting or not noticed an offered hand without intending to offend, and governors-general are not above such human slips.

R. Neville might care to be more hesitant before leaping to such unfounded conclusions.

Kym MacMillan, O'Malley

I felt very disheartened to see the used McDonald's paper wrappers and wine cask boxes discarded at the gates of the Hall Cemetery on Thursday. It is such a lovely country cemetery. Have the folk who did this no feelings deep enough to realise how upsetting such behaviour is? Visiting a loved son who died so many decades before he should have is hard enough without such thoughtless and disrespectful acts. Please don't let there be a next time.

Janey Wallace, Reid

As usual, Amin Saikal blames Israel alone for the lack of peace with the Palestinians ("Bernie Sanders dares to challenge Israel", Times2, April 20, p5). However, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he supports the principle of a Palestinian state next to a Jewish state, and is available to negotiate any time. Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, refuses to even meet.

The current wave of stabbing and car attacks by Palestinians is not a result of frustration, as Saikal would have it, but of incitement by the Palestinian leadership, which makes false claims that Israel will change the status of the Temple Mount.

Saikal blames the situation in Gaza on an Israeli siege, but Israel allows in all the food, water, fuel and medicine needed in Gaza. It is also allowing in materials for rebuilding, but Hamas diverts these materials to reconstruct its military infrastructure, including elaborate attack tunnels into Israel, rather than houses.

The matter can only be resolved when the source of the problem is correctly identified. It is not Israel. Falsely blaming Israel is counter-productive, because it only encourages Palestinian intransigence.

Athol Morris, Forde

An ACT health spokeswoman has claimed that air quality in Canberra has returned to normal ("Controlled burns reducing air quality and increasing respiratory problems", April 21,p5). This same spokeswoman claims that every effort is made to conduct burns when "atmospheric conditions promote sufficient lift and dispersal of smoke", but on Thursday I could see that the Tuggeranong Valley was encircled by smoke because of burn-offs.

Like others with serious lung or heart conditions, I have been suffering in the last week or so, particularly at night. It is quite scary waking up and not being able to breathe, wondering if I should call 000 this time, or choke and gag on Ventolin. I know that burn-offs are essential, but why have they gone on so long in conditions adverse to medically vulnerable people? Is it not possible to wait for better conditions?

David Roth, Kambah

NOVEL THOUGHT

Here's a thought ("AFL commission decides to blow the siren on grand final replays", Sport, April 20, p29). If two teams are equal on points at the end of a game, it is a draw, with the competition points shared equally. If it is a final, the trophy is held by each team for half the following season.

David Purnell, Florey

BANKING ON IT

Will the $121 million the banks pay to fund ASIC be tax deductible, Treasurer Morrison?

John Passant, Kambah

SHARKS CIRCLING

There exists a god of rugby league and another for AFL. Unjust decisions are compensated often by the rub of the green. It's called karma. Now I believe in a god that rules the legal fraternity ("Clock ticking for Slater and Gordon", BusinessDay, April 20, p9). It would appear that the sharks are circling the shark. Hope it gets devoured.

Gerry Murphy, Braddon

PEOPLE THE PROBLEM

Don't let Canberra become a big city. High density housing creates stress problems with too many close neighbours. We're lucky to be living in a smallish house on a 1970s-size corner block. Yes, near a main road, but the on-off rush-hour traffic noise is more tolerable than the behaviour of other people.

Susan MacDougall, Scullin

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

What stood out in the anti-voluntary euthanasia "evidence" by Peter Comensoli ("Growing euthanasia statistics should be a warning", Times2, April 20, p5) – which mostly consisted of predictable cherry-picked statistics designed to misrepresent the findings of various reports – was the inclusion of a quote attributed to none other than Peter Comensoli! Well I suppose it is, an opinion piece.

Victor Stevens, Rivett

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