The repeal of the medevac rule is beyond my comprehension. To refuse medical help to some of the most vulnerable people in the world is just breathtaking in its inhumanity.

Of course LNP supporters are saying it was just a scam to get to Australia. My eyes are now rolling to the back of my head. Loads of these people in Canberra commenting on social media. They exist here.

Then today they are decimating our beautiful city even more with their slashing and burning of departments and sacking department heads.

No doubt there will be more people out of work before Christmas.

To top it off, NSW is on fire, as far as I'm concerned blame can be laid at the Morrison government and their fellow LNP government in NSW for their ignoring of climate change and for cutting funding. Having to wear a mask in Sydney over the past few days was no fun Mr.Morrison and Ms Berejiklian.

Jo Dodds's moving article ("Where do bushfire survivors go when Canberra won't listen?", December 5, p.18) contained valid reasons for action on bushfires. What jarred, however, was her final sentence and that headline.

Surely Jo and the sub-editor who wrote the headline are aware the people of Canberra have suffered in bushfires. In 2003, several people died and hundreds of houses were destroyed.

Metonymy, the use of one word to indicate another, is inappropriate when equating "Canberra" with the Federal government.

Canberra is a city and a region of feeling people. The government is largely made up of visiting politicians from the rest of Australia. If you mean "the federal government", then say so.

Does anyone else feel the need to choke back a vomit when seeing the big sign, on entering Canberra through Fyshwick, proclaiming our capital as a "friendship city" with Dili (Timor Leste)?

I would like to take a spraycan and add "we might even stop stealing your oil and bugging your Cabinet offices, though we'll prosecute and persecute anyone who talks about it".

I will not, of course, deface a road sign however. (There's not enough space for a start).

I must, once again, congratulate Pope on his fabulous cartoon on Wednesday skewering "foreign interference in Australian politics".

Is it right for an American, who renounced his Australian citizenship, to be able to prosecute a public relations campaign against progressive Australian political parties?

Unfortunately, Australia is sadly lacking any sort of moral leadership under the current government and Parliament. We have entered a period of "fake news" (they're not refugees - they're rapists, murderers, non white and potentially terrorists).

The Coalition agenda is one of vengeance against workers and their unions, whistle blowers, and anyone offering a rational alternative to the corporatist regime.

The Australian value of giving everyone a fair go and the Australian dream are both relegated to the archives, replaced by fake Christian values (prayer being the first resort to win elections, resolve disasters, repair a damaged cabinet minister, and stop climate change but never mind being a good Samaritan).

We are on a slippery slope into a mire of corporate deceit.

It's not government policy that is stopping the boats; it's the simple fact no one wants to come to Australia as it spirals toward becoming a fascist state.

For some time now The Canberra Times has reported on land deals by the now defunct Land Development Agency.

Stories about Glebe Park, the Dickson Tradies Club, West Basin and the rural leases made sad reading.

One thing however is clear. These inexplicable transactions have cost ACT taxpayers millions of dollars. Documents have gone missing, senior people involved don't recall important details and valuations have been inflated by someone, somehow.

One possible explanation is the Land Development Agency was amateurish and sloppy in how it did business. Another is that other interests, not the public interest, may have been being served.

Taxpayers should welcome the referral of the Agency's dealings to the ACT Integrity Commission. But questions of Ministerial oversight remain. Who were the responsible Ministers? What did they know? When did they know? And what did they do when they first learned of these deals?

If Ministers claim they knew nothing that raises equally serious questions.

Hopefully the new ACT Integrity Commission can provide some answers.

Frank Bolton (Letters, December 6) proudly pins his MBE initials to all his letters. I assume he is entitled to do so even when writing to The Canberra Times, but let us remember it stands for "Member of the Order of the British Empire". At its height the Empire was regarded by its (white) rulers and subjects as being forever. The same attitude of blithe unconcern seems to exist in the minds of Frank and his ilk in regard to climate change.

Now I clearly don't have as much experience as 94-year-old Frank (I'm only 84) but I long ago learned to accept the findings of the overwhelming majority of experts who, with their collective global knowledge and evidence, put the dangers of ignoring the increasing impact of the changing climate at the highest level. We must make the transition from fossil fuels as soon as possible.

I also know that scientists are developing, indeed in some areas have already developed, more eco-friendly materials and plastics to replace non-renewable sources.

Scott Morrison says his just announced public sector changes will improve both services to the public and delivery efficiency.

But he didn't ask the public about what we need or the service about how they can improve delivery.

So who advised him?

Was it political staffers, or perhaps business lobbyists?

Or did a bunch of politicians just get together and make stuff up?

And would now be a good time to start feeling afraid? Or even very afraid?

ScoMo has created a mega department that includes the previous departments of infrastructure, transport, cities and regional development, communication and, puzzlingly, the arts.

How do the arts fit in with the others?

Sure there are some overlaps, Paul Hogan used to be a painter of the Harbour Bridge and I read of unemployed actors working on construction sites but one set is about creating mostly solid objects and the other about intangible beauty.

I think the merged areas will present some surprising outcomes.

There will be builders in tutus, concrete will be multicoloured and opera singers will wear hard hats rather than viking helmets.

And some people think that the ABC's Utopia is just a comedy.

Thank you to The Canberra Times for publishing my letter of September 1 on the air disaster memorial.

Also, thank you to Minister Mick Gentleman for offering a meeting and taking action on my request for a new sign.

I am pleased that there is now clear direction to the historic memorial on the site of the 1940 air disaster that killed key members of prime minister Menzies' War Cabinet.

The victims included three Cabinet ministers and Australia's leading general.

They were flying into Canberra for a vital meeting about Australia's participation in World War II.

It was just a month into the Battle of Britain.

The tragedy changed Australia's history.

It led to the downfall of the Menzies government and its replacement by the Labor John Curtin government the following year.

It also visited terrible grief upon the families of the 10 victims.

Many of the victims' descendants will gather at the memorial next August for the 80th anniversary of the disastrous crash.

I hope the ACT and federal governments will go further and upgrade the site and access to it for this major anniversary.

That fact Israel Folau received a multi-million dollar payout and apology from Rugby Australia shows that by using your religion as an excuse, you can slander, persecute and threaten any section of the community don't agree with. It will open the door for others to use their religion to preaching hate and derision on social media.

Of course our PM has a contempt for the arts. It's difficult to be the run-on water boy at any arts event without being mocked.

More coverage of the bushfires in The Canberra Times (November 6). But is the The Canberra Times following the conservative mantra we can't talk about climate change and fires at the moment?

I find the headings allotted by sub-editors to letters interesting; often amusing, sometimes ironic and usually apt. Never did I expect to see a letter of mine (Letters, December 6) under the title "Hanson was right" no matter how accurate. That hurt.

2000 years ago Petronius Arbiter noted that when Rome's government faced a problem it's preferred method to demonstrate to the public that a solution was being actively sought and would soon be implemented was to reorganise. It did not work then and and it will not work now.

When Tony Abbott was prime minister he replaced prolix names of government departments such as the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities with names that were concise and easy to remember. Alas, prolixity is soon to return with horrors such as the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

If you're wondering where the Coalition's interest in the arts lies it is buried under tonnes of concrete and bitumen, new rail sidings, NBN cabling and discarded bodies from the ABC, in the new Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

I was very impressed by the footpath and road repairs around my suburb. Can this mean there is an election not so far away? Maybe I shouldn't be so cynical.

RE: Keith Hills' and Eric Hunters' (Letters December 05) on Frank Bolton. Gee whiz fellas, lighten up a little. Talk about a pair of nit-picking nit-pickers. How about taking up a hobby to ease the tension.

While many are impacted by drought and bushfires; the government is only focusing on further punishing refugees and union members. When will they bring forward policies that will benefit our citizens, rather than just scoring political points?

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