I was appalled to see that general waste, recyclable material, and green "waste" were all collected before being crushed together by an hydraulic ram.

All of this "waste", including recyclable material carefully set aside in yellow-topped "wheelie bins", was obviously destined for landfill.

The ACT government's much-vaunted waste recycling program seems variably applied - if at all.

Financially secure people like the Treasurer and Gerry Harvey fail to acknowledge why many thousands of Australians have decided to live with their 2012 model toaster ("Economic data exposes Coalition's sins", canberratimes.com.au, September 6).

For years consumers with precarious jobs have been suffering the impacts of widespread wage theft by employers across many industry sectors, others have been stung badly by the equally deliberate and fraudulent conduct of banks ands insurance companies and a large percentage of the population has also been left untouched by the steady flow of more wealth to the already wealthy.

The Treasurer's unimaginative and relentless spin about the economy and spending those tax refunds falls on many deaf ears.

I congratulate John Hewson ("Economic data exposes Coalition's sins", September 6, p18) for writing an accurate account of how politicians of the ruling party or Coalition react to bad economic indicators.

They often cook the books to show a glittering view of the economy like John suggested in his article i.e. "our economy is strong" or "our economic fundamentals are strong".

But the same politicians when responding to a raise for the low paid workers often say "the economy cannot afford it". Strange enough all politicians of the government and opposition benches agree on a raise for their pay package.

If Britain were to proceed to a no deal Brexit, as advocated by the Clown in Chief Boris Johnson, that would put Britain on par with third world countries which default on their international debts.

What Boris does not seem to get is that Britain has no hand to play in negotiations.

Europe seems to have already moved on and actually has the plans in place to exclude Britain.

Britain has no plans. This may led to the significant devaluing of the British pound as one of the main determinants of the exchange rate is political stability, something in short supply in Britain.

It would also probably see the dismemberment of the United Kingdom with Scotland and Northern Ireland's interests better managed within the European Union.

Unfortunately, the British people did not have a well developed fear of clowns or a bull dust detector when it entered the Brexit debate three years ago. They are now left with the consequences.

Scott Morrison went to the election promising nothing and, true to his word, has achieved nothing. His vision-less government has put forward only one recognisable policy and that is to be as cruel as possible to the powerless and disadvantaged.

The government's only social initiative is bashing the poor through indiscriminate drug testing and a "welfare card" designed to remove any shred of dignity those desperately trying to survive on inadequate benefits may still have.

The Liberal Party pretends that its core ideology is "individual choice" and "small, non-interfering government" when in fact it is an authoritarian mob that gets pleasure from controlling the lives of those who are not powerful while rewarding its powerful friends.

When it comes to the most vulnerable citizens the Coalition demonstrates what cruel, selfish, arrogant, hypocritical bullies they really are.

We share fully the sentiments of B Moore of Kingston (Letters, August 31) regarding the proposed introduction of open air processing using fragmentising machines in the central urban area of Fyshwick.

Whether or not the material for processing is handled indoors or outdoors it seems inevitable there will be a residual pollutant escaping into the atmosphere.

That aside, the convoy of trucks transporting the material together with those servicing the proposed waste transfer centre and rail hub in the same street will not only cause traffic gridlocks in and around Fyshwick but will also leave in their path a trail of possibly toxic odours and dust damaging to the environment and our health.

This can't possibly be good for a centre like Fyshwick whose business produces an annual boost to the ACT economy of $2.3 billion; second only to Civic.

Developments of this kind appear to be incompatible with Fyshwick's pattern of growth and will impact adversely on the amenity of Fyshwick and the neighbouring community.

While safe and effective recycling measures are to be applauded, Fyshwick is not the place to be hosting this sort of industry. For some time now, progress in Fyshwick has been trending towards a much broader and lighter range of industry including retail trades and office activities, showrooms, cafes, markets and other food outlets, and residential development nearby.

These are the hallmarks of Fyshwick's (and Canberra's) diversification and success and should not be disrupted.

Guider and others like him may be monsters but he has served his full sentence and the law is primarily there to educate about what is right and wrong, using an operant conditioning model.

The problem is that appropriately just penalties cannot be imposed on findings based on arbitrary whims, as in the Pell appeal case. "Beyond reasonable doubt" means exactly that and one opinion vs another will not do, even if the guilty escape justice in this life, contrary to a recent Mirko Bargaric opinion.

If appropriate penalties such as the death penalty or life in prison are to be handed out, as they should be, this is essential.

The emotional rubbish about education and high quality meals for prisoners being fanned by media is really a joke. Guider is a monster who under the law was sentenced and he has completed his full sentence.

The law and administration of the law is at fault but cannot be changed after the event. The guaranteed outcry at any notion of the death penalty, which was probably appropriate in his case, shows the hypocrisy of people.

Perhaps they could better use their energies ensuring that those on the dole have sufficient money, to eat as well and be educated to the same extent as prisoners, before even more "dole bludgers" decide on a bit of rape and pillage in order to gain admittance to one of Her Majesty's prisons.

In my mind the government's solution for getting people off the dole is typical of people who have no understanding of the complexity of the issues underlying unemployment and poverty.

They see unemployed people as the cause of their own problems; they are drug addicts, gamblers, alcoholics, welfare cheats, neglectful of their kids, leaners, people who not prepared to have a go etc. etc. even though all the evidence points the other way.

So they think that if they can force people to fix themselves all will okay and they can continue to pay people who can't fix themselves (the undeserving) the below poverty pittance called Newstart. Then we can all wash our hands of these undeserving poor and sleep smugly at night.

This proposal strips away the last vestiges of dignity left to unemployed people. Many people in our society take drugs, drink too much, neglect their children, and also receive government subsidies. We don't seem to want to mandatorily test them.

We don't seem to want to punish bankers who defraud their customers or builders who build shonky buildings that fall down or catch fire. We seem to just want to punish the people who are easy to punish, who are not like us respectable and deserving folk. This is the old workhouse philosophy of Dickens' day.

The unemployed are people who have very little in the way of economic, social or emotional capital but the government just wants to vilify them instead of focusing on building a better, more equitable society. The government knows our society has become more unequal, it ordered the ABS to cover up this fact because it doesn't fit with its "people get what they deserve" model.

Hong Kong protesters have called on Trump to "liberate" the Chinese city. Now Trump isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but even he is unlikely to be that dumb. Unless of course his boss, Vlad, gives the go ahead in which case hold on to your hats. Trump would get a military parade and fireworks in one go.

Now work on the Isabella Pond dam wall has been completed (or has it?) and the water level is low our (allegedly) green government should do something about collecting the litter. The amount of rubbish, including that left when the temporary fencing and netting was removed, has to be seen to be believed.

What luxury Kevin Cox (Letters, September 9) who lives in Ngunnawal. The choice of tram, bus or car. Us oldies in Wanniassa have no tram or bus and must battle the loonies on our roads in a car.

The idea of drug testing politicians is a good one. But dope testing would be better.

When the USA experiences a mass shooting they offer thoughts and prayers. Silly America. When Australia faces bush fires in early Spring, we open another coal mine. Smart Australia.

Bushfires are raging in drought-stricken Queensland where Stanthorpe is on emergency water restrictions. Yet Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised the Adani mine free groundwater for 60 years despite the link between the fossil fuels and global warming. What can Palaszczuk be thinking? Of the next election perhaps?

The solution to the UK's brexit problems are obvious. The UK should be in Europe on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, and out of Europe on the other days. Everybody will be happy half the time. The UK can import European goods on the '"in" days, and better quality, cheaper goods from Commonwealth countries like Australia on the "out" days.

Obama advocated no Brexit. Trump of course advocated the opposite. Just based on this alone and forgetting anything else, anyone can tell what is best for England.

I have been weighing my prepackaged meat and dividing it into smaller portions. I find regular, and sometimes significant, discrepancies between the actual weight compared to the weight claimed.

Concerns foreign interference are a threat to our security are spot on. When is the government going to scrutinise the multiple US influences here, such as the US Studies Centre at Sydney University, which strengthens an alliance that creates enemies for us?

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