It happens most years; last year it took Telstra three weeks to get around to repairing our line after a storm.

This year, storms in the Shoalhaven valley south of Braidwood have resulted in lost connections. Like many others in the area, we don't have mobile phone coverage and have to walk up the hill a way to make calls.

The internet is a joke compared with the city; interim NBN via satellite is dismally slow and highly prone to congestion. You might say it was a "lifestyle choice" to live in the country after retirement, so we should put up with the costs. And so it was for us. But this is also an area of primary producers, people who grow beef, lamb and wool, part-time or full time, as well as those who run other businesses from home. Why should they put up with inadequate services, driven by the ideology of privatisation – of profit over service?

Before privatisation, there were locally based technicians who knew the ground, and helped ensure speedy repairs. No longer.

Now we wait, hoping meanwhile that neither of us suffers a stroke or heart attack, or breaks a hip before the phone is back on.

Ian Keen, Braidwood, NSW

As one of 1.3million Australians who watched SBS's Struggle Street, I was left asking myself why there are areas of the "lucky country" that have missed the good times and are living in squalor.

Yes, there are some who choose to live under such conditions, but sure as hell, there are many who are condemned to living in poverty and have little, if any, hope to escape the squalor and hopelessness they are in. Those who condemn these people should try walking a mile in their shoes. Perhaps then they might have more compassion.

D.J. Fraser, Mudgeeraba, Qld

Let's be grateful that Greg Bird's pathetic attempt to get his penalty downgraded has been thrown out by the NRL judiciary. The judiciary was right to oust Bird for eight games – including the entire State of Origin – for Bird's dangerous throw at the weekend.

The judiciary simply has to stay on top of this sort of thuggish play. There is way too much of it already in the game. One often wonders, what's the point of continuing with this legalised gladiatorial combat, long after the Roman Empire was rejected as a pretty bad idea.

Matthew Higgins, Ainslie

As a retiree needing interest from savings, I'm unhappy about the latest reduction in interest rates. My draft budget for surviving them is to reduce spending by:

■Not using our bar fridge and chest freezer, relying on a single fridge with small freezer and eating more tinned food(pity that baked bean production has been moved offshore by Heinz, affecting local workers).

■Only taking a shower every other day.

■Washing hair once, instead of twice, a week.

■Not eating lunch out more than once a week.

■Not drinking coffee or snacks at cafes (not that we do now).

■Not paying bills well before the due date.

■Transferring immediately any spare cash, benefits, dividends and interest from our basic account to an online savings account or term deposits.

■Saving petrol by not driving more than necessary.

■Not going away on holiday (not that we do now).

■ Having two doonas on the bed to avoid the need for electric blankets.

■Going to bed early and turning the heater off sooner.

Would anyone like to add more suggestions?

Susan MacDougall, Scullin

The unthinking bean counters have struck again – with a hormone-replacement therapy (Vagifem) recently deleted from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, at a cost increase to aged pensioners using simple pessary rings in the management of prolapse. The alternative is costly invasive debilitating radical surgery for this minority of our community. This decision should be revisited – to the relief of the aged in their declining years – and the public purse, if surgery becomes necessary.

A.L. Christie, Phillip

I was very taken with the article "Taxing rich 'would boost revenue by $19.5bn a year" (BusinessDay, May 5, p7) written by Nassim Khadem. I had a look at the report on the Australia Institute website, and was pretty impressed with the logic of their budget suggestions. When one criticises a budget, the response is often that it's one thing to criticise and another to provide a viable alternative.

Having read the report, I believe it is a viable alternative, and while I don't really expect it to move Joe Hockey, I would really hope that it will give the opposition parties food for thought. I highly recommend the report to anyone interested in a fair budget and a fair Australia.

Margaret Lee, Hawker

I loved Graham Downie's reference ("Parties need to come clean", Times2, May 6,p1) to Simon Corbell's comment of September 2011, castigating the Greens for their push for light rail ("they want to jump on the wagon – forgive the pun – of rail").

As one who lives in a location very close to the proposed light rail route, and who could ultimately make good use of it, I remain appalled at the wastefulness of such a grandiose scheme.

All strength to the arm of the Liberals in wanting to jump off this transport folly.

Ross Kingham, Canberra City

The new northern suburb called Lawson is maintaining the standards of our city, now becoming known everywhere as Sardine City.

If the revenue from rates is based on the number of units now being squeezed on to a once normal-sized block, then this will be a real money spinner for the cash-strapped ACT government trying desperately to justify an unwanted and unaffordable light rail system. Sardine City, the capital of Australia.

Alan McNeil, Weetangera

Why doesn't Ruth Pollard ("Israeli soldiers say 'shoot to kill' orders put civilians in firing line", canberra times.com.au, May 4) present a more balanced view on the Breaking the Silence report about the Israeli defence forces, instead of a clearly one-sided position?

There is no mention of the warning methods used by IDF to minimise casualties and there is no mention of the fact that Breaking the Silence has refused to provide the IDF with any proof of these claims. Breaking the Silence is also an organisation of somewhat dubious repute. NGO Monitor has revealed that a number of funders associated with Breaking the Silence made their funding conditional upon a minimum number of negative testimonies.

I am sure the IDF is not blameless when it comes to their behaviour in any military conflict, but surely you can do better when it comes to balanced reporting.

Yury Glikin, Maroubra, NSW

Millions of people have died from the effects of tobacco and alcohol: should we execute tobacconists and publicans for selling the stuff? We all have a free will and demand the right to make choices. This freedom is conditional.

Having exercised our free will and made our choices, we must accept sole responsibility for the consequences of our decisions. If we choose to "do drugs", we are responsible for the damage done to ourselves and our family. I have sympathy for anyone who has lost a loved one to any drug, and, as a parent, I know that to say some of these tragedies could have been prevented by better supervision is unkind and unfair.

Nonetheless, we cannot salve our consciences by passing the blame to others. Most governments have failed to tackle the problem of dangerous drugs, depending heavily on draconian legislation that seems to have created many problems and solved none.

I see execution as an act of frustration and vengeance arising from this failure. Most systems of "justice" have this element within them to some degree. Having failed to prevent crimes being committed in the first place, we appease ourselves by punishing, severely, those who embarrass us. To accept killing as the final solution to what we perceive to be a problem has to be the ultimate failure for any civilised society.

G. Burnell, Narrabundah

In November 2014, Michael Costello said he would take a pay cut of 40per cent if the Australian Energy Regulator restricted ActewAGL's operating allowances and revenue raising. Well, the AER's done just that and now we read ("Job cuts as power bills fall", May 1, p1) that Mr Costello would cut jobs to make up the $26million shortfall. Memory loss or breach of promise?

On May 1, he said he hoped to have details for staff "late next week".

Well, it's "late next week" and not a word from him. Is this another "promise" not met?

Or will ActewAGL's cash cow (the water bills we pay) be milked yet again? This has been happening for years now, with the "dividends" to the ACT government effectively subsidising the commercial electricity and gas arms of ActewAGL.

Suzanne Vidler, O'Malley

The federal government should lend the $449million to Western Australia instead of giving it away. That would save approximately the same amount as the savings from salaries for public service.

S. Engstrom, Deakin

PETTINESS FROM PM

Tony Abbott ("Abbott deflects blame over ambassador snub", May 7, p4) is quoted as saying "he doesn't deal with trivia". Does this mean he considers the partner of the French ambassador as "trivial" or is this a reflection of how he views all things he finds distasteful, as trivial?

E.R. Moffat, Weston

ARE KILLERS IN ON THE ACT?

Have Martin Bryant and the Anita Cobby and Janine Balding killers, for example, dissuaded anti-death penalty supporters from seeking a referendum on a constitutional amendment such as that proposed for Aboriginal issues?

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

REFORM NEEDS TO WORK

Of course, Stephen Brown is right (Letters, May 5). A change isn't a reform just because the government of the day says it is. The media should refer to a "reform" as a "change", until it can be shown that it is a change for the better. In the meantime, we will continue to have the farcical situation of commentators discussing how bad a particular "reform" is.

Gordon Fyfe, Kambah

NEGLECT TOO APPARENT

I have just spent five weeks house-sitting in Crace. After visiting Belconnen Mall I couldn't help but compare its bright and vibrant decor to our southside shopping centres ("Woden small businesses demand revamp", May 3, p3). Woden Plaza looks neglected and unloved, Tuggeranong Hyperdome is even worse and Kambah Village Centre is a disgrace. Time for a Southside makeover!

Judy Bailey, Kambah

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