Embracing art is not an "add on", it is a way of life and everything this city sets out to achieve should be done artfully. For example, the tram, with its disfiguring and inept overhead wires, is art too. It is just that it is bad art. It does not make bad art better by claiming that the seats were designed by an artist. Talk about lipstick on a pig.

And in Jon Stanhope's time as chief minister, for example, we saw his planners allow views from the city centre west along Alinga Street towards Black Mountain to be built out. What better art could there be in a city than having beautiful views to surrounding hilltops? No amount of "destination art" as now proposed can offset such loss. Until our civic leaders see that all they do is "art" we will always be a visually impoverished city.

I refer to the article of July 26 ("The grammatical gaffe that everyone pretends isn't there", canberratimes.com.au) concerning the grammatical gaffe in describing Michaelia Cash as "the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business." Leaving aside the bigger gaffe in appointing Michaelia Cash as a minister, the description is a nonsense. The portfolio title could be improved slightly with an "and" before "Small", but surely an enterprise run by a family fits within the small business category (unless you happen to be, say, Gina Rinehart). "Family business" is commonly used to describe personal and private matters within the family. If it is really important for warmth and fuzziness to refer to family, it should be "family businesses".

The report "Abbott tipped for War Memorial move" (August 2, p2) describes yet another case of what would be "jobs for the boys" if Scott Morrison succumbs to pressure from Tony Abbott's allies in parliament. They want the PM to "look after" the former prime minister and appoint him to the Australian War Memorial council.

The article describes Mr Abbott as "a keen war historian", which could qualify him for the role, but perhaps his major war-related assets are his book Battlelines and his pugnacious persona.

Another concerning issue raised in the report is the plan to redevelop the memorial is supported federally by both major parties. This is despite considerable public concern at the over $500 million cost, and opposition to the demolition of Anzac Hall - which has won architectural awards - and its replacement with a warehouse-like building to house large weapons of war. To many, this signals a shift away from the intended purpose of the AWM as a memorial to those who have sacrificed themselves in fighting for their country.

I congratulate David Smith, newly elected Member for Bean, for his commitment to support the right of residents of Norfolk Island and Australia's other external territories to the democratic rights enjoyed by all other Australians.

I still find it remarkable, four years after the event, that the ALP allowed itself to be duped, in contradiction of the party platform and a core Labor value, ie democracy, into supporting the abolition of self government on Norfolk Island. The position taken by Labor was ill-informed, lazy and unprincipled.

I do hope, however, that David's principled stand will be a catalyst for a reversal by the ALP of the unthinking and wrongheaded position it has adopted on the governance of the external territories.

The residents of Bonython have had their many serious concerns about the Wing drone trial validated by the recent report from the ACT Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Development and Tourism.

It also seems the residents of Bonython had a better understanding of Australian aviation law than the federal department of transport, Project Wing and the ACT government, when they correctly asserted that Wing aircraft should have had a certificate for noise approval issued before they started the Bonython trial. In an article in The Canberra Times of August 1 ("Drone opponents vindicated by inquiry", p7), it was stated the federal department of transport had measured the noise of the new so-called quieter drones flying in Gungahlin at 69 decibels. That is way above EPA noise standards for ACT suburbs.

During the Bonython trial my neighbour measured the drone noise at their fence during a delivery at 85 decibels. Do people now understand why the majority of residents in the suburb complained about the drones? The drones destroyed the quiet amenity of our homes and surrounding bushland. It was a terrible six months to live through.

These drones are not in any way suitable for Canberra suburbs and should not have approval to fly.

It is infuriating that AGL has buckled to federal political pressure (read: Angus Taylor) and is keeping Liddell's coal-fired power station open another year, to 2023. The reason given is to ensure power supplies through the summer of 2022-23. Yet recent history tells us that coal-fired stations are the very ones that break down in summer, particularly Liddell. It is not reliable. It has been costly to maintain. It has had frequent outages. It was unable to respond in the 2017 heatwave.

It is not as though there is nothing to replace it. AGL had its own plans for replacing coal power with solar, wind, pumped hydro, batteries and gas.

This week, Dr Hugh Saddler, in the National Energy Emissions Audit of the electricity sector, noted that New South Wales' annual output from grid scale wind and solar generators doubled over the past 14 months. Indeed, NSW is in a race with Victoria to take over as top state for total wind and solar generation. The current transition from coal to wind and solar in the Australian electricity supply system is comparable to the rates of growth of the whole electricity supply system during the 1950s and 1960s.

And it is renewable power that has shown to be the reliable source of power in recent heatwaves, preventing blackouts. We really don't need Liddell kept open.

I agree with Jim Graham (Letters, August 1) that politicians should face our energy realities and "Get real or get out". I don't agree that getting real includes "going nuclear".

This is why. At some point now, every day in Australia, around 30 to over 40 per cent of our total electricity is being generated by renewables (solar, wind, hydro - not gas). At the lowest point (overnight) the figure is around 9 to 15 per cent. (Source: Open NEM and NEM Watch widgets, based on real-time data from the National Energy Market itself and viewed by me over the last month.)

Although it may seem hard to believe, our energy needs are finite.

Anyone who doesn't invest in renewables now is going to miss out. Such investment is being sown up by people with foresight: big companies that are in the process of dumping fossil fuels and leaving others holding stranded assets, small investors, and all those in between.

And nuclear? It's missed the boat...

Jim Graham (Letters, July 31) correctly offers that we burn enough coal and gas to yield the 40 gigawatts of energy required to sustain Australia's needs.

His alternative of 75,000 wind turbines as a substitute indicates that each device yields 533kW. Given that 10 megawatt wind turbines are available "off the shelf", Jim's figure reduces to 4000 turbines.

Allowing that suitable wind conditions are only available one third of the time, Australia then requires 12,000 turbines and a few dozen coastal pumped hydro reservoirs to act as "batteries".

This wind and coastal hydro solution is old school 1950s engineering and well resurrected by the Australian National University news item "ANU finds 22,000 potential pumped hydro sites in Australia" (September 2017).

Imagine if Bob Brown and his entourage had visited Queensland lamenting "which towns would like to manufacture 12,000 generators, the turbine blades and towers?" and "which mining communities can excavate hydro reservoirs?". This nation-building rapidly ends in: Sustainable energy solution achieved - tick; Exportable technology and manufacturing industry revival - tick; and "Australian industry and pensioners have lowest energy costs on planet".

In Jim's words, "for the sake of my grandkids and yours, get real".

John Howard and Tony Abbott easily made us miss Malcolm Fraser. Scott Morrison comfortably makes us miss John Hewson. And, in many ways already, foremost amongst them his now revealed stance on a proper federal ICAC, Anthony Albanese is distinctly making us regret Bill Shorten. Wow.

For a self-righteous government guided by the "rule of law", outsourcing, without apparent oversight, a purportedly targeted compliance program, ie Parents Next, subjects vulnerable welfare recipients to its harsh mandated penalties, while unquestioningly enriching miscreant providers responsible for its carriage ("Government sticks with controversial parent program", August 3, p4).

As a seven day a week user of bus services I am gobsmacked by the absolute "tinpot" weekend bus services in operation for a capital city ("Bus turmoil could continue for a year", August 2, p5) provided by what appears to be a "tinpot" regime.

From my experience you don't just miss one bus but have a great chance of missing the following bus as well and these are on blue ribbon routes. Terrible for those working on the weekend and relying on bus transportation to get there.

There is a very simple and available fix to the problems of noise and intrusion of privacy caused by today's breed of drones. That is to force them to fly over the network of public space called roads. Few could take issue with that, and delivery of life's mostly non-essentials would still be much faster than by car. Urgent medical supplies only could be excepted.

To anyone worried about the removal of large trees by developers and the resulting impact on Canberra's tree canopy: don't worry, the Conservator of Flora and Fauna ensures that the canopy is maintained by preventing home-owners from removing large, poorly-sited trees from their suburban blocks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told us in his election victory speech that he has always believed in miracles. Is that why he thinks recipients can live on Newstart? Perhaps Morrison is convinced by something akin to loaves and fishes, or perhaps there is an element of speaking with forked tongue?

The recent announcement of Julie Bishop as chancellor of the ANU is at least untimely. Her alleged breach of guidelines - not to mention the pub test - with respect to her post-retirement employment is currently under investigation by the Senate. The ANU should not be offering her a job unless and until her behaviour is fully cleared.

Noise limits will be extended allowing venues in the city and town centres to make amplified noise. ("Sax and the city", August 1, p1) I recommend that music is played instead at these venues.

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 186, Fyshwick ACT 2609.

Keep your letter to 250 or fewer words. References to Canberra Timesreports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (only suburb is published).

To send a letter via the online form, click or touch here.