This is nesting season and it pays if you are a cyclist or walker to keep on the right side of them.

I have lived adjacent to parkland and magpies in two areas.

I have struck up a good relationship with them, which is important because they are very territorial and more so in nesting time.

In normal times it is casual. When I am having a quiet beer they will drop in for a beer nut or two. The occasional feed and a neighbourly relationship.

At nesting time it changes.

Anyone who has heard the incessant squawks to be fed coming from a nest would know what I mean.

They come knocking at the kitchen window and we oblige with whatever we have that is suitable. They are an independent bird and at no time does the relationship change to anymore than distant friends.

As far as I know no one has ever been swooped near either of our homes.

Howard Carew, Isaacs

The ACT government should rethink the proposed light rail line linking Civic, Barton and Woden.

The cost, at $1.5 to $2.0billion, is high and [it is] encountering considerable political headwinds.

There is no obvious groundswell of public support for building Capital Metro Stage 2 without the Gungahlin to Civic service first having been shown a winner.

Nor is there a shortage of alternative opportunities for enhancing public transport in and around Canberra. Some might even attract federal support and funding.

In the run-up to the NSW election, the major parties have committed to investigating upgraded rail services between Canberra- the Southern Highlands and Sydney and even restoring the former Canberra-Tuggeranong-Cooma rail line with a spur to Canberra Airport.

Each opens up fresh options for dealing with road congestion and parking issues inside the ACT. Unlike the much promised and multibillion-dollar Very Fast Train, these medium-speed rail options are already progressing.

For a fraction of the cost of Capital Metro Stage 2, the ACT could link such services to a light rail line from Kingston Railway to Barton via Kingston and Manuka oval.

This could be paired with new long stay parking facilities on presently under-used land near the Kingston railhead.

Trams this link could be battery-powered and wouldn't need overhead wires.

And the feds might even help pay for it.

Bob Bennett, Wanniassa

The ACT government can't continue to allow engineering criteria to dominate if it wants National Capital Authority approval for the Civic-Woden tram.

With Commonwealth Avenue, the National Institutions area (notably King Edward Terrace), upper Kings Avenue, and Windsor Walk in Barton involved in the ACT's preferred route; surely, vital aesthetic, urban-design, heritage, landscape, and national-significance considerations have been relegated.

The ACT still has major engineering problems such as getting the tracks up from London Circuit to Commonwealth Avenue, and integrating them into Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.

The NCA seems to be encouraging the use of Constitution Avenue and Kings Avenue. Surely, that's also seriously problematic re the above national-significance criteria.

It is time to look at taking the route south-west from Civic on Edinburgh Avenue (serving New Acton); along Lawson Crescent around to the far south-west shore of Acton Peninsula (serving West Basin, ANU, National Museum, and The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies); across the lake on a fine new curving bridge redolent of Griffin's missing third crossing and more straightforward and probably cheaper than integration with an existing bridge; to popular Lennox Gardens, which could be expanded, encompassing Flynn Place, to enable some sensitive development, and a better site for Floriade); up short Flynn Drive; through the State Circle cutting, with a stop at the top of Kings Avenue serving Parliament House, the National Institutions, and Barton; and on around State Circle to Capital Circle, and on to Adelaide Avenue – overhead-wires-free around Capital Hill.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Despite your report "ACT govt urged to stick to main avenues on second stage of light rail" (canberratimes.com.au, October 22) it is clear that the Chief Minister Andrew Barr has other ideas.

He disclosed on ABC Radio on October 23 that he has been in discussions with the federal opposition about relatively unfettered approval for his preferred route for light rail Stage 2, should the opposition win government next year.

In the same radio session Duncan Edghill, Deputy Director Transport Canberra, said that the rapid development of technology would ensure that any requirement for wire-free operation could be satisfied by the time construction began (2020-21).

Surely it is irresponsible not to consider what other transport technology is likely emerge before the 2020-21 decision time.

Before then, it is highly likely that trackless trams will be in service in some Chinese cities and commercial ride-sharing services in driverless vehicles will be available in some US cities.

Thus, there will be mature technology that would make it far cheaper and more effective to dismantle the overhead wires on the Gungahlin-Civic route, dispose of the Urbos trams, and develop any Gungahlin-Woden corridor for trackless trams than to persevere with an antiquated light rail network.

Moreover, such a development option could be readily adapted to more flexible driverless services in the future.

John L Smith, Farrer

I am somewhat mystified by the massive ACTU-led unions protest marches around the country.

If Labor is such a shoo-in at the next election, what exactly is the ACTU trying to do?

With only 15 per cent of industry unionised, who is it trying to impress and to do what?

With Mr Shorten often accused of wanting to run the country like a union and one of his ministers-in-waiting the brother of the leader of the biggest and most militant of unions, is the ACTU helping or hindering Labor?

M. Silex, Erindale

Prince Harry for GG? Only if he meets the same citizenship test as our federal parliamentarians.

Geoff LeCouteur, Dunlop

The call by Kerryn Phelps for the Federal Liberal Party to move to the "sensible centre" is even more relevant for the ACT Liberals.

Despite the poor performance of the Labor-Greens government the Liberals are destined to remain in opposition, a position they have endured since 2000.

The only two Liberal chief ministers since self government, Kate Carnell and Gary Humphries, were from the "sensible centre". The social and economic conservatism of the current Liberal Party is unattractive to the majority of the electorate. Consequently the Barr government is not being held to account for its policy positions.

It has not fully justified its policies in relation to the acquisition of rural leases, despite a damning Auditor-General's report; is not even considering alternatives to light rail on the Civic to Woden inter-town public transport link, which are likely to be more adaptable, flexible, less expensive and deliver similar urban renewal benefits; and is undertaking a superficial review of the ACT Planning Strategy.

The Chief Minister is casting himself as a champion of public transport and climate change action while he under-funds the bus network so its coverage and frequency is inadequate to compete with the car, with resultant high greenhouse emissions.

The Liberals are wandering in the desert but don't seem to be looking for a saviour.

The ACT is poorer for their inability to move to the centre and offer an alternative to the mediocre, lazy and arrogant Barr government.

Mike Quirk, Garran

After the Liberals knifed the former PM, Malcolm Turnbull, and replaced him with Scott Morrison, Malcolm immediately resigned and spent two months in the US.

He then refused requests to assist the Liberal Party in electioneering for the vacant seat of Wentworth – an election that the Liberals lost in spite of holding the seat since it was established.

The Liberals are in deep trouble across Australia and, on the Wentworth results, it is expected that they will lose the next general election that is required to be held no later than May 18, 2019.

The PM appears so scared that the LNP will not win the general election, including the seat of Wentworth, that he is trying to lure Malcolm Turnbull back to the fold by proposing he represent Australia at the next round of Indonesian Bilateral Discussions to be held in Indonesia.

Politics certainly is a dirty business.

Jack Wiles, Gilmore

The Wentworth result is a harbinger of the next federal election, and Malcolm Turnbull can take most of the credit.

A man who developed subterranean undermining in the political sphere to a fine art form, who sought membership with any political party that would allow him to fulfil his prime ministerial ambitions and who, along with his acolytes, has guaranteed a far-left union controlled Shorten government. One of John Howard's few mistakes was to convince Turnbull to stay in Parliament.

Owen Reid, Dunlop

There is much discussion at the moment about bringing refugee children under Australian detention to Australia on medical grounds. Politicians are haggling over the terms on which adults may be sent to New Zealand, if NZ were to accept them.

Are our major party politicians seriously considering sending children to Australia and their parents (fathers at least) to NZ from which they may never get to rejoin their families?

Is this now a new form of torture being formulated to prop up a deficient policy that has more than run its course?

Please, can our so-called political representatives grow some heart and develop the spine to bring all these people to Australia and help them settle. These people have been punished enough for their supposed sins.

Geoff Rohan, Kambah

I felt that at last there was a glimmer of hope for the humane treatment of refugees, when Karen Phelps raised the issue of treatment of refugee children on Nauru in her campaign.

Ordinary people responded.

Of course the Liberal candidate and Prime Minister rallied and were talking big, doubtless in the hope of salvaging some self-respect and votes along with it.

But it appears their rhetoric will come to nothing. Morrison talks about not "negotiating with people smugglers ..." whilst children continue to suffer needlessly.

The reality is people smugglers have long left the scene and it is our job to fix the problem we have had a hand in creating.

We get nothing but hot air from the government and the Opposition on this debacle: both are too frightened to do something humane.

I simply cannot see how our current Prime Minister reconciles his political grandstanding on the issue of treatment of refugees on both Naura and Manus with his Christian values.

When are all political parties going to put their heads together to produce a policy that will resolve the plight of refugees in limbo on Nauru and Manus by just bringing them to Australia and giving them a chance?

They have been needlessly locked up and punished endlessly for years.

We are a country built on immigration yet we cannot deal properly and humanely with the inhumane consequences of the bipartisan disgrace that continues to exist on Nauru and Manus.

P. Bewley, Barton

To his credit, Michael Cooney of the ARM has publicly stated that a republic must evolve from something more substantial than "monarchy bashing".

Australia will be ready to become a republic when we, with humility, ask the Australian Aborigines for their consent and their blessing.

Our head of state may even be an Aboriginal woman who has brought new life into the world – as it is they who have sustained life in this land for time out of mind.

Let's pursue a united republic built on "solid rock, standing on sacred ground".

Ronald Elliott, Sandringham, Vic

TROUBLE SHOOTERS

The wise burghers of Wentworth have finally convinced me that maybe a Labor/Greens government taking "Real action on Climate Change" can indeed leverage Australia's trivial 1.3per cent of global emissions to reduce the temperature of the Pacific Ocean to a more coral-friendly level. As a bonus, they can solve the world refugee problem by accommodating as many of the camp-bound 65 million as can secure passage to Australia. All this while keeping the budget in balance too. Happy days. Roll on the general election.

M. Warrington, Garran

DOWN MEMORY LANE

I had a moment of genuine nostalgia this week. Turning right from Antill St into Northbourne, I felt the rear end of my car skip out slightly as it bounced across the new tram tracks. Brought back memories of when I was in Melbourne in the 1980s.

N. Ellis, Belconnen

RISK AVERSION

A free bit of advice for any aspiring Liberal candidate – "try and pick a safe seat to stand in".

Malcolm Paterson, Greenleigh, NSW

BOGGLES THE MIND

So a journalist walks into a Saudi Embassy in Turkey, picks a fight with 14 Saudi security officers and a forensic scientist with a bone saw and unexpectedly dies. Saudi truth is worse than fiction.

Peter Harris, Belconnen

BEYOND FORGIVENESS

The Liberals cut down Malcolm and now some of them are criticising him for not supporting them in the byelection last Saturday. Now, I am a Christian who believes in forgiveness but I am with Malcolm on this one.

Tony Hill, Chifley

LESSON FOR ABBOTT

By moving on gracefully, Turnbull has vanquished his foes who stupidly pulled him down, including of course the nay saying, eminence grise whose continuing presence after his own loss of the prime ministership has arguably brought a once great party to its knees. Does Abbott now have the integrity to put his party above himself and at last depart?

Dennis Hale, Beecroft

ROYAL LOVE AFFAIR

Christina Faulk (Letters, October 24) may be mistaken. Not all republicans are gnashing their teeth at the visit of the royals. We enjoy seeing popular celebrities, especially those doing good works when the world news is so depressing. Americans also love the royals, but don't want to be ruled by a king or queen.

Susan MacDougall, Scullin

SAVING GRACE

Good to see another capable female in federal parliament who will outshine the many cringeworthy Coalition male politicians with their never-ending obfuscation on issues of growing concern. Thank you, Peter Dutton.

Sue Dyer, Downer

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