My father, Robert Boden, then director of the Australian National Botanic Gardens, advised Harry Howard on plantings.

I was married there in 1989 and, as an educator in the landscape architecture program at the University of Canberra, I took my students there every semester.

I note that the design documents for the International Design Competition embrace the history and complexities of the site and appropriately reflect the cultural mission of the gallery.

All good "renovators" know that ongoing maintenance is integral to longevity and design success. With living landscapes, this is a greater stewardship as care is custodian ship of an eco-system of dynamic and fragile plant and animal interactions.

With harsh budget cuts and despite the dedication of existing maintenance staff, the Sculpture Garden biota has suffered. Frustratingly, a pre-COVID approach to the gallery about a firming community gardening group, has fallen on deaf ears.

I implore the competition jury to make maintenance implications central to their assessment of entries. They, as many of us would like to be, are custodians of an ecology in which art is sited.

I fully support Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's invitation to "bollard man" to become an Australian citizen ("PM invites 'Bollard man' to become an Aussie", April 17), hopefully on a permanent basis.

Monsieur Damien Guerot is a selfless hero, more concerned about other people's lives than his own.

Reading The Canberra Times I was struck with the importance of our listening to each other and hearing what the other person is thinking, even if it differs from our own view.

We read on April 16 that independent MP Kyla Tink is sensibly arguing that there is "absolutely room for merits review in our national environmental laws" and Joel Townsend and Kim Rubenstein express their concern that such review is mostly excluded in the federal government's current proposal for a new Administrative Review Tribunal.

Surely the more we are involved in a decision-making process, the smoother the implementation of that decision will be.

Then think of the points of view about the horror of the Gaza conflict. Why don't we hear what all sides think about their histories and cultures as they allow this to be the basis for some new types of collaboration?

And when a person has a history of feeling mentally unwell, why don't we fund health personnel to stay close beside them and to talk to them about what they are thinking?

My dad used to say that it was important to know how to speak to people who think differently. He used to say, when he disagreed with someone, "It's interesting that you say that. Tell me more".

When I raved on about my point of view, he'd say "You're lucky to be so sure".

I'm not "so sure" any more but perhaps that's what I'm saying.

Dick Smith has taken out adverts in national newspapers to highlight the failure of successive governments to produce a population plan that would cater for the limits of growth that are dictated by our fragile soils, water scarcity and climate change.

It is an issue that concerns the majority of our population but one ignored by the major parties and the Greens and alarmingly very few politicians, including my local member, will reply to my letters on this topic.

The 2021 State of the Environment Report deemed Australia's natural environs to be "poor and deteriorating".

Despite promising to reform the weak and ineffective Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, almost two years into their term, Labor is still dancing around the edges.

Introducing new statutory bodies like the new Environment Protection Agency and the Environment Information Agency is all well and good but unless the laws change to favour conservation over destructive development, our environment will continue to suffer.

I read with interest the comments of Zoe Wunderberg that she feels that the right to self-protection is unclear ("Bondi attack raises questions of our right to self-defence", April 16).

I teach self defence, including against attacks with a knife. While I am not a lawyer, to my understanding, an attack with a knife is a lethal threat, and the defences I teach are not nice, but are an appropriate response.

Two things I believe: if you have to defend yourself against a knife attack, you are at serious risk of being cut. The second: better judged by 12 than carried by six.

While millions of Australians will soon commemorate the sacrifices made by veterans from all three services, thousands of those will sit at home suffering from the wounds and injuries they received in those services.

Wounds are both physical and psychological. PTSD and depression are probably the most frequent and the hardest to treat.

Many veterans will be trying to block out the speeches and praise from leaders and politicians knowing they are simply empty words. They will still face an uncaring and toxic system of the Department of Veterans Affairs and a minister, Matt Keogh, who is more interested in political and financial goals.

If you hear a politician or leader praising the sacrifice of veterans, remember when Anzac Day is over they will go back to ignoring the deaths and trauma caused by their wilful lack of basic respect and courtesy to those they have been praising.

Lest we forget. Those who are employed and paid to support us have already forgotten.

In 1788 when the First Fleet arrived, Doug Hurst (Letters, April 10), estimated average life expectancy in densely populated, unsanitary London was 19 years.

Based on the osteological and ethnographic evidence, average life expectancy in Australia was about 40 years.

The colonists took all the land and resources and later took the children.

First Nations peoples were pushed to the margins.

So much for the "benefits" of modern civilisation.

The Canberra Times on Friday reported that "Albanese will walk the Kokoda Track ahead of Anzac Day".

To "walk the Kokoda Track" is a five to six day exercise for quite fit young people and I doubt very much if this is actually what our PM is planning to do.

Even in his press conference he merely said he would be "on" the track to attend the dawn service at Isurava. Attending a dawn service on the track and then being flown out again by helicopter is not the same as walking the track.

This is not a reflection on Mr Albanese or his press staff - it's more likely a result of sloppy reporting and ignorance of what actually walking the track would entail.

Ricky Stuart put it best at his media conference (April 15), but Des Hasler really was proving the validity of his "Mad Scientist" tag when he bagged Sunday's referee, Kasey Badger. Was he even at the game? In short, Ms Badger had a terrific game as referee of the Raiders vs Titans match at Canberra Stadium.

It is almost a default, and weak, position for defeated coaches to blame referees (Ricky can do that, too), but Hasler was just, as Ricky said, "off the planet".

The Kokoda Memorial, depicting "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel" Raphael Oimbari escorting wounded Australian Private George Whittington, was gifted to the Canberra Services Club by the Kingston Narrabundah RSL sub-branch in 1983.

Since the destruction by fire of the Club in April 2011, the memorial has been shamefully neglected. The Canberra Services Club has proven an unfit custodian of this important memorial.

If accepted, an offer to the Papua New Guinea government, perhaps during the Prime Minister's forthcoming visit, to relocate the statue to the grounds of the Papua New Guinea High Commission in Canberra, would provide a fitting reminder of our long-standing bilateral ties. It would provide a chance for the Papua New Guinea High Commission to honour one of their own and for our veterans to receive the respect so sadly lacking in recent years.

"When, oh when" are we going to turn off the scratchy old record about Australia not being able to make a difference to global warming (Letters, April 10)? We can set an example by not only reducing our own emissions, but by also producing emission-free products.

Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of "coming back for his hat". He should not have listened to his lawyers. I hope he won't throw more good money after bad.

As much as I hope for a rate cut, I hope the RBA doesn't cut rates. If they do, God knows what will happen to the property market. As is, it's almost impossible to buy a property.

It is an interesting leap from the proposition that the federal government should take more pride in Canberra to the proposition it should pay for annual maintenance of Walter Burley Griffin's grave in Lucknow, India (Letters, April 15).

The federal government is investigating the modus operandi of the two largest supermarkets. Perhaps regulations should be introduced that force the supermarkets to ensure that all goods sold are sustainably and ethically sourced and packing is kept to an absolute minimum.

Re "Taking a lesson on student debts" (April 17), here's a suggestion. Make the HECS debts interest free. Simples.

Peter Martin says the income threshold to repay HECS is $51,550. I seem to recall that was the income threshold in the 1980s (when HECS was introduced). Has it really not been updated in 40 years?

Barr is wrong about great cities. Cities become great when they have lots of money. In Australia, that was because of the gold rush. In Europe, it was trade and commerce, and then exploitation of other parts of the world, and then the industrial revolution. Then they built the trains and trams.

I enjoyed Peter Brewer's article on cars and kangaroos ("More roo strikes on cars," April 14). But shouldn't the heading have been "More car strikes on roos"?

I wholeheartedly support the PM's announcement for a "Future made in Australia Act" which will underwrite new investment in clean energy and local manufacturing of industrial goods. It's a plan long overdue for at least a good three decades.

If Albo is going to use the Gillard speech Rob Ey (Letters, April 17), he will need a dictionary. Looking up the meaning of the word "leadership" would be a fine start.