Their short sighted planners failed to recognise that preventative treatment for sufferers of the various forms of arthritis and other rehabilitation treatments in the main public hospital was cost effective.

Instead they built a new facility at the UC Hospital at Bruce, a great distance from the southside of Canberra.

Now some 500 users of TCH facility must look to a private pool in Kambah which is to be subsidised by the government. The fact availability times have been significantly reduced, and are inconvenient for many is part of the agreement.

This is to fit in with current users. It means many TCH pool patrons will fall by the wayside, increasing the cost to the public hospital system in bed usage and staff numbers.

We would like to thank the team from the Arthritis Association for fighting a long and arduous battle.

This is a very sad ending for a facility that could have had a useful life for many years to come.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr has defended a major blowout to the Territory's budget, saying it would be "crazy" to prioritise a surplus amid the threat of coronavirus and the bushfire recovery.

Opposition leader Alistair Coe has said: "the debt will increase by almost $1 billion to almost $4 billion by 2022-23 compared to past forecasts".

He also said: "the escalating level of debt is alarming. The fact that we now have debt in the ACT at $3 billion and that's going to be escalating to $4 billion in just a couple of years should be of real concern to Canberrans".

He is right. This is an accumulation of fiscal mismanagement over many years that has happened on Andrew Barr's watch. To blame the budget blowout on the threat of the recent coronavirus and the recent bushfires won't pass the pub test.

I guess ACT residents can now look forward to increased rates, parking and public transport costs, more special levies and energy costs.

We also have to pay for the second stage of the tram. Bring on the 2020 election.

I am concerned about the Tamil family who have been the sole occupants of the Christmas Island detention centre until very recently.

The family, from Biloela in rural Queensland, have been in immigration detention for almost two years; first in Melbourne and then on the island.

The parents came here from Sri Lanka and their two daughters were born in Australia. After months of being the only people held in the detention centre they have been joined by evacuees from Wuhan who are there for quarantine.

Our PM is keen on extolling the virtues of Australia with words like inclusiveness, tolerance, multiculturalism and a fair go. Yet he and his government are quite happy to continue punishing this family who have had their lives disrupted for such a long time. This is intolerable

In October 2019 the United Nations Human Rights Committee asked Australia to end the "existing situation of detention" for this family. Australia has done nothing. "Out of sight, out of mind"?

The family should be returned to Biloela which has been lobbying for their return for the past two years.

It diminishes us all when people are treated this way.

No, George Christensen, it's not your pro-coal policies for the benefit of some north Queensland electors which returned the government last May. It was the huge number of marginal seats around Australia which were bought off and shored up by the corrupt political allocation of public funds to local groups.

When is someone requesting the Governor General to do his job, contact the Queen, dismiss the government and call fresh elections? We are, after all, not supposed to be a banana monarchy.

Since the bushfires it's become a bit of a fad among those not willing to face unpleasant truths to quote Dorothea Mackellar's My Country as if it somehow proves that the work of climate scientists around the world is wrong or has been faked.

Imagine you go to a doctor feeling very sick, and are diagnosed with a serious illness.

The doctor says: "Not to worry, people have been dying from this illness for a long time. You just have to adapt to it. I've got a little poem here you'll find very helpful. What's that? Yes, there's a treatment. You won't be getting it, though - it's far too expensive and it would be bad for the economy".

You would go away determined to have the doctor struck off. Somehow, though, we keep electing climate emergency denialists.

I have read a number of letters to the editor flagging water restrictions.

If the drought continues long term our water supply will only deteriorate. I believe our population is increasing by about 6000 per year.

Our combined volume of water is about 44 per cent of capacity. Does the ACT government have any contingency plans to cater for the ever increasing population or are they "just praying for rain".

I would suggest they consider a moratorium on all new high rise unit complexes until our water storage increases.

But then that would upset rich developers and reduce revenue from over inflated rates. At some point in time our water supply may get to a point where demand exceeds supply.

I am enthralled Ross Garnaut is at least proposing something a tiny bit different ("Zero emissions nationally", canberratimes.com.au, February 10) to the Scott Morrison solution of fracking Narrabri until it drops.

But can we please have a reality check? The stubborn reality is we're an international climate laggard.

It's not just the "emissions" is it. Our entire environment is visibly in fire and water crisis. Our population growth is off the OECD scale. We're still wedded to logging and land clearing, not to mention the fossil fuel exports.

Sure, let's get cracking on the energy transition. But "zero net emissions" and "energy superpower" are the siren song of an international trade economist.

Even in 2020 Garnaut apparently believes "carbon capture" and "carbon credits" can magically mitigate the environmental downsides of endless growth.

How about we crawl with the scorched koalas through the beleaguered Australian environment before we talk up the global emissions markets?

Senator Corman says the government "would support a feasibility study" into coal-fired power generators "but... a project like that would have to stack up commercially ... in that context, hopefully, this feasibility study will be able to demonstrate that this project can stack up based on private sector investment".

So, we are going to have a "feasibility study". The government will not underwrite such a project.

But we can't be sure for George Christensen says "the Morrison Liberal National Government is providing funding to coal-fired power projects" and "a clean coal-fired power project has been granted $4 million by the Morrison government for planning works to get the project to construction stage".

That is more than just a "feasibility" study.

Christensen says "When" - not if - "the Collinsville clean coal-fired project is ready to be constructed, it will be eligible for consideration under the Underwriting New Generation Investments program".

That sounds like the government may well underwrite a "clean" coal-fired station.

What is the government's actual policy?

Are the Liberals and Nationals trying to have an each-way bet in order to try and satisfy two different constituencies.

Hank Jongen should issue an unreserved apology for the angst and harm caused by the government's flawed, and aggressively implemented, income-averaging and debt-recovery scheme.

An alarming number of "clients" classified as "vulnerable" died after the scheme commenced in January 2017.

I challenge Mr Jongen to prove he and his department's decision makers care about this issue.

The denial of the ABC appeal against the AFP warrants reminds us the harassment and intimidation of whistleblowers and investigative journalists is ongoing. It seems the law, and the AFP, are the tools of a government determined to be secretive and unaccountable. The integrity of our democracy is at risk.

Re: "Federal government's religious discrimination bill could hurt women, transgender people, Chief Minister Andrew Barr says" (canberratimes.com.au, February 16). Diversity of sexual orientation is not a problem. Religion is.

Les Bienkiewicz (Letters, February 17) suggests cameras be installed along "Printers Way dragstrip in Kingston". Not only that Les. Given the number of pedestrians using the area all of it it should have a 40km/h speed limit.

Why hasn't there been more commentary on the possible effects of "Sports Rorts" and pork barreling on the last Federal elections and the implications stemming from that?

Ethelred the Unready got his moniker because he tried to rule without expert advice in a time of continual crisis. Morrison is also trying to rule in a time of continual crisis. He has plenty of expert advice available, but only listens to advice that suits him. It won't end well.

Barnaby Joyce has indicated a truce in his challenging for the Nationals' leadership. This is truly a case of "peace for our time".

When Morrison first ascended the throne his diktat was politicians decided policy and it was merely up to a servile public service to action them. This now appears to have been extended to requiring the head of the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to put the interests of the politicians ahead of his own, and that of the APS.

Is there a financial counselling service around town willing to explain to the ACT government that digging a hole for themselves by attempting to build stage 2 light rail is not a good idea? It should cut its suit to fit its revenue cloth; not take the ACT ratepayers down with it.

If Professor David Lindenmayer's proposal for culling feral animals in Namadgi is to be adopted it should have input from conservationists and ecologists so as not to place the pure dingo at at further risk of extinction. Dingos are an Australian animal with an important role as an apex predator.

I am fed up with Scott Morrison; his miracles, prevarications and rorts. A national integrity commission may be a solution. It is time for the remaining honest politicians to take action.

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