I feel that Mount Ainslie is not the most suitable resting place due to the lack of security and being open to the elements.

Canberra International Airport or Civic Square (if appropriately housed) would be appropriate venues.

I have had a long association (since I was a child) with the Canberra bomber.

It was first flown to Australia from the United Kingdom in1950.

The navigator was my father, Col Harvey, Group Captain (retired) and now deceased.

My father also was navigator of a Canberra bomber in the London to Christchurch air race in1953.

Despite honourable efforts by some individuals, the powers that be have never officially recognised the link between the plane and the city.

I understand that the Australian War Memorial has a restored Canberra in its Michell annexe that could relatively easily be "brought to life" for permanent display.

I invite Dr Brendan Nelson, director of the AWM, who has done a fantastic job in bringing the memorial to life, to consider being actively involved in a permanent display of the plane.

The 50thanniversary, in April 2017, since deployment of No.2 Squadron to Vietnam seems an appropriate time to honour the Canberra bomber.

Chris Parks, Torrens

Some Curtin residents are concerned the scale of a proposed shopping centre redevelopment is too large for the central square ("Curtin call to reduce size of development", January11, p.1).

Public response for the preparation of a Draft Master Plan, Master Plan, and for the developer stressed the importance of scale and for no additional shadowing of the square.

The development application for Mrs Haridemos claims few people sit or linger in the central square in winter and that the proposed building, predominantly the commercial section, would shadow the courtyard progressively from noon on June21, lengthening further from 2pm. Its wall height adjacent to the square is the equivalent of three residential floors. Documents note "ground floor with mezzanine", which may be why the commercial section is sohigh.

The applicant states new retail developments tend to deliver floor-to-ceiling heights of five to six metres. The height could be reduced by two metres, satisfying the developer and lessening the shading of the courtyard. On the wall facing Strangways Street, the floor height of the commercial section equals three residential floors. The reduced height of the ground floor still would comply with the waste collection standard of a six-metre overhead clearance.

Jeremy McGrane, Kingston

Edna McLean of Weston makes a good point about public toilets being inadequate for some people (Letters, January9).

"Disabled toilets" have safety handles for manoeuvring on and off safely. The answer, therefore, is for all public toilets to be equipped with safety handles. Maybe Westfield could lead this improvement in public safety by upgrading the toilets in Belconnen Mall.

Kenneth Griffiths, O'Connor

An excellent article with solutions for school improvement by Kelsey Munro ("Poor report card offers hope", Forum, January7, p.12).

Unfortunately, Australia's politicians and bureaucrats care more about money than education. This fiscal responsibility has now been passed down to principals in the ACT, who manage their own school budgets and will soon begin hiring only the youngest, cheapest teachers to save money.

Add to that the latest bandwagon in educational "theory" to sweep the capital which has gained the backing of the bureaucrats and principals because it states class size and funding have no effect on studentperformance.

Addressing inequality will become very difficult with large, high-needs classes and inexperienced, under-resourced teachers filling our disadvantaged schools.

C.Shipp, Tuggeranong

Once again, the residents of the Gungahlin area must thank the Barr government for its consideration of all the daily commuters who travel to the CBD and beyond.

Not only are we confronted with a roundabout controlled by nine sets of traffic lights, but then we are later confronted with the resealing of the Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE) on both north and southbound lanes. It is inconceivable how any planner could create such a monumental foul-up.

Yes, the GDE resealing states traffic speed is restricted to 40km/h but on Friday at 4pm we crawled along at 5km/h.

Our only salvation will be when Mr Barr and his Minister for Transport accept the invitation to sit atop the island roundabout and witness the traffic gridlock that has been designed by his government.

When millions of dollars are being expended on light rail surely there is enough money for the resealing to be undertaken between 10 pm and 6 am when traffic is minimal, tar can congeal and workers are cooler.

N.Bailey, Nicholls

Andrew Reeves' (Letters, January12) re Summernats is "spot on".

What amazes me is, Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury are so obsessed about the environment, yet they welcome Summernats each year.

I couldn't think of anything worse for the environment, and I am definitely not a tree-hugger.

Anne Prendergast, Reid

I just went to my local petrol station in Wanniassa. I was shocked to see the price of petrol has gone to $1.45 for standard fuel, and for a car like mine, that only takes 95 ron, it had gone to $1.60.

Can somebody please tell me what the ACT government is doing about this, and also what is the point of the ACCC, it doesn't seem capable of doing anything about this.

As an aged pensioner, who doesn't have millions stashed away, this is a massive blow to our budget. I cannot now, afford to fill up my car till the next pension pay day, which is a week away. Its is only going to get worse when the last of the Australian cars are not being made.

The federal government wants to abolish the 91 ron fuel, as it is the dirtiest in the world, or so it tells us, and we all have to use 95 ron or better, what is the cost of fuel going to be then?

H. M. Smith, Canberra

The Queen's recent illness raises the horrific prospect of Prince Charles becoming king of Australia.

As an ex-serviceman I feel for our servicemen and women who in that event will be required to swear allegiance to one hardly deserving of that loyalty.

We have a flawed individual who is an admitted adulterer, who earnestly speaks to trees and who once expressed his fervent desire to be one of his mistress's personal hygiene items.

The prospect is too horrendous to contemplate.

Long may her majesty reign and may we subsequently have the wisdom for Australia to become a republic.

Derek Gough, Queanbeyan

Crispin Hull ("Forget the PM's plan, here's how we should become a republic", Forum, January 7, p.2), proposes we decide if we want a new type of government and then vote on the limited options Parliament proposes. Surely Australians are reasonable, rational and intelligent enough to have a full debate on the type of governments we could have and then decide the type of government we want.

It may be that we would prefer to have the flawed style we currently have rather than any of the options Parliament is willing to propose.

Any constitutional change should be proposed in full, not in a piecemeal way that asks "do you want change?", and then says "OK, you can have this or this, but not what you currently have".

Steven Tony Cox, Oxley

Peter Martin has presented a fair and accurate description of the Centrelink letters debacle (Centrelink and its weapon of math destruction canberratimes.com.au, January 7).

We received a letter making a query about a block of land, which means Centrelink must also have access to local government records.

In this instance the record was very inaccurate and was a problem created by our local council 27 years ago.

A quick call to Centrelink and the problem was clarified within a few minutes.

Despite this anomaly we have lost our meagre part-pension with the biggest losers being charities.

It was handy to have a few dollars to supplement our superannuation and it meant we could support a couple of charities and still pay the bills.

Our support of charities will now end due to the penny pinching policy of the current government which was ably supported by the Greens.

Robyn Lewis, Raglan, NSW

It seems as though disabled pensioners are being thrown off the disability pension by stealth. Apparently when one applies for the NDIS, their medical history is viewed by something known as NDIA to ascertain whether or not they remain eligible to receive their pension.

People are being struck off using this method, leaving these poor souls without means to survive. Is this fair?

Australia was always known as the nation of "the fair go"; it seems that reputation is quickly being eroded by the Turnbull government.

Shaun Newman, Deeragun, Qld

It is pleasing to see Pedal Power, the Greens and Labor have come to an agreement to provide funds for separate bike paths to please the few cyclists who will use them – ("Cyclists peddle separate paths", January 8, p.2).

It is a shame the Greens and Labor could not come to a similar agreement to help all Canberrans by agreeing to get rid of the graffiti that now covers Canberra suburbs.

The graffiti covering the walls and fences along Hindmarsh Drive makes the place look worse than many Third World cities and towns.

The vandals should be caught and severely penalised.

I am quite prepared to offer some of my time to remove the graffiti if the Chief Minister supplies the equipment. I am sure some of my elderly friends would assist.

Trevor Willis, Hughes

It's been a busy week of letters regarding bike registration. As older bike riders of some 35 years we find this to and fro quite interesting. Pity the poor rider who has a jihad of vitriol directed at his or her ability to sound a bell. By all means register pushbikes and, to show balance, let's register pedestrians as well. We could have "P" plates for pedestrians and "B" plates for riders.

Anne Richardson and Steve Thorn, Wanniassa

Why is all of Coles Supermarkets' Australia Day merchandise made in China? Is it because the Chinese government is the acknowledged world leader at nationalist indoctrination? Is it a kowtow to the fact our few remaining vestiges of sovereignty and independence are purely a whim of Beijing? Or can we dare to hope it is because Australian manufacturers refuse to make anything so jingoistic, superficial and ephemeral?

Brendan Whyte, Phillip

Perhaps Joe Hockey should return and lecture the coalition party room on the end of the age of entitlement?

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

How come the ABC News weather pictures are not pictures of the weather?

David Brand, Griffith

OF LITTLE HELP

I sympathise with Edna McLean (letters, January 10). It seems ACT government policy to provide little, unusable things. Users of the hospital will have noticed the kindergarten seating in the waiting areas. Woe betide the large, infirm or just plain old.

Peter Dale, Page

NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE

If the Tax Office sent out deliberately incorrect assessment notices to big business, the Commissioner of Taxation's resignation letter would be on the Treasurer's table that day. One rule for the rich, another for the poor.

John Passant, Kambah

If the Centrelink debt recovery debacle is working as intended, does that mean the Turnbull government is even nastier that any of us imagined?

Maria Greene, Curtin

AGE OLD PRACTICE

Federal politicians have been finessing their travel entitlements since Mal Colston was a boy.

M. F. Horton, Adelaide, SA

DON'S MIDDLE MAN

People should be asking of Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East adviser: "Is he qualified to do it?"

The answer is: "Who cares?" All he has to do is tell the Donald what Netanyahu wants, and then tell N what TD wants in return. I think he'll be fine.

S. W. Davey, Torrens

DUTTON'S CHANCE

It is great Donald Trump is going to block the ludicrous plan to offload refugees from our hell-hole camps onto the Americans.

Perhaps Peter Dutton can exercise his Christian principles and bring the refugees here, as Malcolm Fraser did so successfully.

Richard Keys, Ainslie

CHAOS THEORY

Paul McGeough's description of the President of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, as someone who is driven more by his own autocratic sense of power ("Absolute Power fuels sharp descent," January 7, Forum p4) must be familiar to European leaders who have rejected Turkey's application to become a member of the EU.

Erdogan's obsession with absolute power is likely to create domestic opponents.

This will create more chaos, of which the region is not short.

Sam Nona, Burradoo, NSW

MODIFY FOOD LAWS

With surveys finding at least 90 per cent of Australians favour mandatory labelling of genetically modified food, this democracy should act!

Linda Vij, Mascot

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