There is a way to eliminate that risk. If it is in the national interest to increase the take home pay of particular employment categories, then the income tax system should be the vehicle to deliver that.

The ATO already provides a tax benefit to some through the Zone Tax Offset allowance so why not establish special employment categories that raise the tax-free threshold for those identified as employed to meet a particular social need?

For example, Special Employment Category 1 - Early Childhood Educators, might have a tax-free threshold of $30,000. Over time additional SEC's might be added, eg SEC 2 - Aged Care Workers, SEC 3 - Disability Care Employees.

Within each SEC it might be appropriate to have bands which recognise and reward differing levels of qualification and encourage professional development.

Those in SECs would need to be members of an appropriate professional body (or trade union) which can register and regulate their necessary professional qualifications.

Employers would be required to provide the ATO with details about eligible employees, including the period of employment in a special employment category.

Rod Olsen (Letters, May 1) asserts that there is no compulsion to actually fill out one's ballot paper, and that one can go straight to the ballot box and deposit a blank ballot paper. Perhaps he might care to test that proposition on May 18 in the company of an electoral official.

Section 245 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act provides that it is the duty of every elector "to vote", and that an elector commits an offence if the elector "fails to vote".

Good luck with convincing the electoral official that depositing a blank ballot paper constitutes voting.

What happened to the promised "WorkSafe ACT inspectors and police crackdown on illegal fireworks ahead of Orthodox Easter celebrations on April 27 and 28"? (April 25, p2). The first fireworks explosion woke me up around 12.06am on Sunday and there were about six more loud explosions over the following 30 minutes or so (and I don't live particularly close to Telopea Park).

It is disappointing that nothing seems to have changed from previous years.

Surely it can't be that hard to apprehend the offenders.

The fact no rental accommodation in Australia is affordable to someone on Newstart is alarming enough to be classified as a social emergency.

Newstart is the central plank of public assistance to those who are unemployed for any reason (including being made redundant in their fifties, being a single mother fleeing domestic violence, being young and without experience) and it is not enough to provide for the basic human need for a home.

Neither of the major parties has a budget allocation to remedy this. The minor parties and independents (with the noble exception of the Greens) pursue only their own narrow goals.

I propose in the interests of accuracy that we begin with a name change. Newstart is not giving anyone a new start. Let's call it Deadend or how about Rot-in-hell-for-all-I-care?

The piece on a local high profile media personality's upcoming lavish wedding ("Kristen Henry to mayy next weekend in New Zealand", April 27, p20) provided interesting social contemplation when compared to the "less stuff-more meaning" article below it "One Man and his Bus: I'm the happiest I've ever been".

The grand plans of the luxury event with exotic location, designer clothing, beauty specialists and sensory overload, has little to do with a happy marriage. It also highlights the difference between those who have, and those who have less.

In contrast, the young live-in owner and restorer of the 1949 bus who sold his possessions to travel Australia selling coffee and advertising from his tiny mobile home, collects and donates most of it to charity.

His comments " the more I let go the lighter I became..." provokes a thoughtful reflection for all consumers; most definitely this reader.

I have nothing but the utmost praise and gratitude for the ambulance officers, doctors and nurses in Accident and Emergency as well as Ward 6A in the Canberra Hospital, for the care they gave me during my recent visit. The praise however, stops there.

I was discharged from the ward around 10.15 in the morning and taken to the discharge lounge, to be told there would be a bit of a wait. This bit of a wait ended up being just over seven hours.

A seven- to eight-hour wait, I was told, is the norm.

Although we are continually being told by our town council that there are no problems with our health system and hospitals it was obvious that the staff was overworked and there is a shortage of beds.

Again I ask the question, why have the Barr/Rattenberry government wasted our money on the tram (oops LRV) instead of putting our money where it is desperately needed, that is the hospitals, the homeless and the general maintenance of our once beautiful city.

As Australians mull the unenviable choice of a Liberal National or a Labor Greens government, it is worthwhile summarizing what the essential message of each - greed and growth in perpetuity - has contributed to in 2018.

Population is up 1.7 per cent; mean temperature is up 0.05 degrees; days over 35 degrees were up 12 per cent; ozone decline was up 27 per cent; bio mass burned was up 10 per cent; rainfall was down 15 per cent; soil moisture was down 6 per cent; river flows were down 20 per cent; wetlands were down 23 per cent; leaf area was down 11 per cent; soil protection was down 6 per cent; persistent vegetation was down 12 per cent and carbon uptake was down 15 per cent.

In 2018, Australians added 54 species to our official list of threatened species of 1775 (47 per cent more than 18 years ago).

We are among the worst performing nations on the planet; collectively, as David Attenborough recently observed, humanity has reduced the world's animal population by 60 per cent since 1970.

What is it about such figures that our greed and growth merchants - and some dunder-headed demographers - do not understand? One can hope that, at this election, the 75 per cent of the population who believe Australia does not need more people will show they have finally joined the dots. It will certainly be time!

The National Archives of Australia has built its profile by publicising government records documenting the dramatic national events of 50 or more years ago, including world wars and mass immigration.

For most of us alive now the government decisions of greatest impact have been those of economic management.

Think of "the recession we had to have", the GFC recession we avoided, the end of tariff protection and the decline of manufacturing, the retreat from aggressive wage bargaining since the Accord, and the consequences of the privatisation and marketisation of services.

The major economic decisions, actions and non-actions of our national government have filled the news and affected our lives.

The NAA should now progress to the records of government's economic management, including those of major regulatory agencies such as ASIC and APRA.

Under-resourcing is forcing the NAA to a "distributed custody" approach, where government agencies take responsibility for preserving and publicising their non- current records.

Given the political sensitivity of regulatory failure, this is a risky approach in the age of electronic records.

Contemporary public analysis of government's economic management is hindered by incomplete information, departmental spin and media proprietor bias.

The archives must be empowered and resourced to preserve and publicise the evidence.

What does one say in the face of such senseless violence? Well, as a Muslim, I say sorry. Sorry to the beautiful people of Sri Lanka. Sorry that a small group of people, who dare to call themselves Muslims, could even conceive of such a treacherous act, let alone go through with it.

I condemn these attacks unequivocally.

How does a plastic bag in Canberra end up in the ocean? Do we really need to ban single use bags in Canberra or just the seaside suburbs?

Also, why is there no deposit on wine bottles, nor on milk bottles? And, how would it be posible to impose a carbon tax on industry without the cost being passed on to the consumer?

Greg Cornwell (Letters, May 2) cautions against voting Zed Seselja out of office on the basis of maintaining a balanced voice for the ACT. I can't see how having a parliamentary representative who acts so consistently against their interests could possibly achieve better outcomes for the residents of the ACT.

I compose this while this beyond capacity tram pulls away from Alinga St, leaving people on the platform who couldn't fit. It strikes me that the Transport Minister would characterise this as a victory. See. The tram is so popular, people can't even use it.

Now, while we are awash with election cor-flute advertising on all public land, the ACT government might consider telling election candidates to be prepared to remove their images by close of business on May 19 or face being summonsed for littering and/or being a public nuisance.

My husband received a letter from Zed Seselja, critical of Labor. What may have tempted me to vote for him was if he offered something positive regarding what his government colleagues were planning for Canberra and Australia.

I was driven from Bonner to Civic on Gungahlin Drive in the middle of morning peak hour on Thursday. It was fast and easy, no hold ups at all. I can only assume everyone is on the light rail.

I like to vote early at 8am on voting day. There are regulars among the first at our polling booth who greet each other with delight. Short queue, quick find of your name on the roll and in and out of the booth like lightning. All done by 8.10am.

Greg Cornwell (Letters, May 2), writes that if Zed is eliminated in the coming election there will be no "balanced" voice for Canberra.

In what universe Greg Cornwell, could any sensible, intelligent person ever classify Zed and his extreme right wing, sky spirit loving personality as providing a "balanced voice"?

Re Greg Cornwell (Letters, May 2), far from providing unbalanced voices five Green/ALP representatives would ensure they acted in the best interests of Canberra. What a refreshing change that would be from the dismal display the current incumbent LNP senator has subjected us to.

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