Holding several professional qualifications and two degrees, I can claim to be well educated. However I chose to spend my working life in the public health system so, whilst a self funded retiree, I am far from affluent and do not live in the inner city.

I am also an avid watcher of both SBS and the ABC. Unfortunately you did not mention the Murdoch Press and the daily denigration of the ALP.

Having been brought up in a working class family with a disabled father, I am happy to declare my support for the ALP and their commitment to equality.

Many of my close friends are Liberal voters and some are very right wing. I have no intention of ending these friendships.

Hopefully Scott Morrison can work with Anthony Albanese to restore the current rifts and divisions, much the same as Bob Hawke did. He guided politics, unions and business to unite the country.

There are two sides to every story. But I hope we will all continue to live in the one lucky country.

I would like Zed Selseja to tell Canberrans how much of "taxpayers money" he spent on his corflute, his truck of lies, and on his campaign overall.

I would also like Zed, who I believe betrayed Canberrans on restoring territory rights on voluntary euthanasia and on the same sex plebiscite, to tell us if he believes his spending of taxpayers money on his campaign was value for money for the taxpayer.

If my numbers are correct, in 2016 Zed and his Liberal Party received 84,615 votes with a quota of 0.9964. In 2019 the current counting shows Zed and his Liberal Party have received 43,399 votes with a quota of 0.8957.

I would argue it was a disgraceful waste of taxpayers hard earned money.

No doubt Zed would say that it was worth it because it seems he will get re-elected.

Switching between the ABC and another channel on election night provided an interesting contrast in reactions to results as they came in.

The swing forecast by the ABC's expert panel was not what they expected. One could see looks of dismay and even emerging humiliation on several faces.

There was a distinct lack of professionalism in relating what was really happening.

I suspect the ABC needs another panel for any other future political events. A panel of taxi-drivers would very likely do a really good job.

A nickname is defined as a familiar, invented name for a person instead of the actual name and usually indicates intimacy, affection and closeness through the shortening of the original name.

When did the Canberra Times decide it was so familiar, affectionate and chummy with Anthony Albanese it could run the headline "Bowen out, Albo set to lead Labor"?

Perhaps Morrison, with his irritating bumptiousness and increasing arrogance, will soon burst like an overblown balloon. At a meeting with all departmental Secretaries at Parliament House he vowed to deal with "bureaucratic blockages".

He wielded the whip by talking of "performance targets", overlooking many damaging "efficiency dividends" in the past. To do this while foreshadowing substantial cutbacks to the public service, indicates a certain cerebral deficiency blocking rational thought.

The higher they rise, the harder they fall.

Your time will come PM. It's the damage you wreak in the interval that's the concern.

It is my belief the right wing side of politics is more ruthless, untruthful and vicious than the progressive side of politics.

No greater demonstration of this can be seen in the gloating on the letters pages of the Canberra Times (May 24).

Given atmospheric carbon levels have reached 415 parts per million I see no reason to gloat over the victory of a government not interested in taking action on climate change.

An interesting selection of letters on May 23. A common theme was outrage at the unexpected election result. "Scaremongering, foreign intervention, Clive Palmer" they shrieked.

Then they turned on the voters, denigrating them for their ill-informed and or selfish choices.

Would these outraged correspondents be happier back in the 19th century when only the educated middle classes got the vote and the working classes knew their place?

It seems the Canberra Bubble really does exist.

When I was young people didn't take such a personal interest in politics unless they were uni students or academics.

The average person was more interested in what Sonia MacMahon was wearing on the cover of the Women's Weekly.

Now everyone takes election results personally, but does little or nothing to contribute to the political stage.

I don't think the average person ought to take the election outcome hard. I told my friends I myself don't want to see or hear any complaint from anybody who is not a member or active supporter of a political party or human rights organisation.

The young and able-bodied should get up and become politically engaged or suck it up. At least no-one has to die to fight this battle, just join a nice group of folks and work together.

Your story about the painful death of the kangaroo hit by the police vehicle (canberratimes.com.au, May 18) brought home every driver's nightmare.

I have had to "finish off" an animal hit by a vehicle several times. The only means to do so on each occasion was a tyre iron, nearby large stick or rock.

I hated doing it. The pleading eyes. The grunt of pain. But the agony was over.

The agony of starving kangaroos and the cull is a matter for scientists and park managers. I am pleased I don't have to make the decision.

I do know what an old and dying kangaroo looks like in the wild. Bloody sad.

Tim Kerslake (Letters, May 21) is quite wrong to write, "the animal's death was over with quickly and the animal was not made to endure the agony of waiting for a ranger".

The article (canberratimes.com.au, May 18) said the police officers had to leave the injured animal, after four failed shots, and a ranger arrived two hours later to euthanise it.

In the ACT, it is always best to call Access Canberra first, to ascertain the availability of a ranger.

ACT rangers have the animal welfare training, experience and appropriate firearm (a rifle or shotgun, not a handgun), as required by the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies.

Depending on the circumstances, as an experienced Wildcare volunteer with an animal welfare firearms permit (NSW), I believe it is often better to wait for the more humane option, even if that will take some time.

I suggest other considerations would be to increase the availability of ACT rangers overnight, improve police animal welfare training and equipment provision (ready access to a rifle or shotgun for example).

Chris Steel should give more thought to the implications of his Bill regarding animal welfare. It should be remembered the worms in my compost bin, the moths on my window screen and the cockroaches in my kitchen are animals, too; no more or less so than the cat at my feet or the cockatiel on my shoulder.

While I will grant that all these creatures possess a degree of sentience, I don't think that means I should necessarily treat them all with the same level of compassion.

As far as I can determine, his Bill does not allow for this distinction.

If the analysis of the election outcome by David Pope (May 23, p15) is correct, and I see no reason to doubt it, then Australia has just voted Palmer in as a kingmaker.

After all, it is he who pays the piper that gets to call the tune.

If the recently defeated Labor Party thinks Anthony Albanese is the answer, then they clearly don't understand the question.

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