Despite the announcement being made by the City Renewal Authority and the NCA, they would not have proceeded without the agreement of ACT Labor.

There is no evidence reported to support the project - despite it being billed as "nation building" and "a big feather in the cap" (of Canberra).

Where is the comparison of the costs and benefits of the current situation and the probable outcome?

Furthermore, the timing of the announcement and any consultation period really look like they are planned to avoid attention.

Come October's ACT Election, the Greens (who have the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly) also have to take responsibility for allowing this to occur.

It is obvious nobody will face any consequences for the deaths of people stemming from positive-test cruise passengers being wantonly let loose upon the community.

Meanwhile, it's moving to hear Scott Morrison now piously feigning angst and agony at the thought of parents having to decide between "putting food on the table" and otherwise.

More and more economically vulnerable Australians have been doing just that for years under the Coalition's mercilessly disinterested gaze.

The usual impunity, and the usual sanctimony.

There have been a few letters regarding Jenna Price's opinion piece ("I will not be lectured on toilet paper by this man", canberratimes.com.au, March 20).

I'm not seeing any letters supporting her position. The (mostly) male correspondents are critical of her stance. Most have totally missed the point.

It is difficult for anyone to take seriously anyone, a leader or not, who yells and hectors them. Further, it is nigh on impossible for anyone to take seriously a leader who has form (think bushfires) in obfuscating and dodging facts to the extent our PM and his minders do.

While Price is experienced enough to defend herself and her views, it's fair to say many have missed the underlying reasons for her opinion. Still others have missed the fact that her article was "opinion".

The Prime Minister's first position is always one of defence. He and his government were slow to the table in addressing important issues around this disaster.

Perhaps, if he was a leader with a bit more humility and empathy, punters would be happy to follow his directions and advice. His "lecture" to the electorate did not result in a reduction in panic purchasing. That speaks volumes about the thoughts of the electorate.

I was horrified to see two notices concerning the installation of traffic lights at the intersection of Kuringa and Owen Dixon Drives, North Belconnen.

The notice stated, in part : "We signalising this intersection..." signalising?' "signalising"?

No punishment is enough. Those guilty of this language atrocity ought to be boiled in oil, then executed slowly and painfully. I am a sensible and even natured person but everyone has a limit.

I demand Roads ACT change the wording of these repugnant signs immediately. Children could be corrupted by the very sight of them.

Death to murderers of our language.

For the information of Bruce Hambour (Letters, March 14), Mr Albanese is not committing a Labor government to zero carbon emissions by 2050.

He is calling for that to be the target, something our PM does not understand.

Mr Morrison is said to have a background in marketing, but does not accept that it starts with a target of where you want to be, followed by a plan on how to get there.

He wants to start with a plan. That begs the question "a plan for what?"

If the hospitals get overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and, just like in war, triage has to make the decision on who to treat, one might expect the young with long, useful, lives ahead of them to be given priority over the elderly.

This is the latest news out of Italy where over-80s are reportedly being left to their fate.

This could boost the economy as the money in superannuation funds of the deceased "oldies" gets passed down to kids and grand-kids.

I wonder how the PM will explain this if our underfunded, understaffed, public hospital systems succumb to this policy.

While COVID-19 is scary, and is bigger than most understand, it will not be as bad the world's worst pandemics. The Black Death killed nearly half of Europe's population and the mortality rate from the Spanish flu in 1919 was around one to two per cent, many of those young and fit.

What is different today is that the world is more globalised and debt levels are massive; partly as a result of decades of quantitative easing. COVID-19 will likely impact the world economy and supplies much more than the Spanish flu did for these reasons.

I don't know the answer, but a creative solution is likely to be needed to solve a new problem.

The UK government is moving to a form of universal income which fits with what some had considered for the future anyway.

There might also be something workable in winding back the debt machine by putting all interest related payments at zero for now but to be recorded as a debt to address later.

Temporary, but different and substantial adjustments to our economic infrastructure, are likely to produce a better outcome than conventional choices.

David Pope's cartoon (March 18) is an astute depiction of the reaction by the Australian Defence Force investigation into the killing by soldiers of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) of four unarmed Afghan men as revealed in the ABC's Four Corners program on March 16.

A former SAS soldier interviewed by Four Corners directly witnessed three of the killings and was present at the fourth.

Three of the killings were the shooting of men who had surrendered and/or were unarmed. Another was of an injured man who dragged out of the sight of medics and reportedly beaten to death by an SAS soldier.

One killing was excused by an Australian Defence Force inquiry as a response to the victim's reaching for the SAS soldier's gun. According to the witness the man was shot from about 30 metres away. A second victim was allegedly "talking on a radio". The witness said it was common practice of his SAS unit to plant a radio or an AK47 rifle on victims.

Another killing was the point-blank shooting of an unarmed man cowering in fear in a wheat field, armed only with prayer beads. That killing could be seen as outright murder. If found guilty, the perpetrator should be punished accordingly.

It was good to read Clive Williams' anti-decluttering voice ("Don't take bad advice...", March 17, p29).

I have been forced to move house twice because of my propensity to collect books (which, incidentally, is perverse because it seems the older I get, the less time I have to do any reading).

Because I don't want move again (we are currently blessed with living in The Hamptons of Tuggeranong), I'm actually thinking of a shipping container in the backyard.

Anyway, an incident that has always stuck with me is that when we moved house last time, I took the bit between my teeth, girded my loins, and determined that I would declutter (because that is now, apparently, the right thing to do).

The result of that exercise was that I threw out three books. Unfortunately, within two weeks I found I needed two of them. Decluttering proved to be a bad decision.

Sometimes Australia can afford compassion. That Biloela family still stuck on Christmas Island, and maybe Assange, and other refugees from Nauru or PNG, all deserve consideration. But wealthy Australia is afraid to do so because of appearing weak.

Why not have an annual compassion award, where rules are waived on grounds of compassion? And what better time than Good Friday, a day of cruelty and oppression. Compassion Day to honour a strictly limited number of cases, to avoid appearing weak.

Now is the time for all Australian companies to bring their call centres back to Australia. The country needs those jobs.

To think, it may be like this until a vaccine is found.

Why isn't the media printing any stories from people opposed to the whole lockdown? Its either pro-lockdown or nothing. A lot of people in the real world agree that what is going on in response to coronavirus is overly hyped and way overkill

I am very concerned about the likely increase in homelessness during this global pandemic. Please strongly consider a ban on evictions for the duration of the crisis.

I am concerned the forced closure of drinking establishments means we can no longer apply the "pub test" to our elected leaders' actions and decisions.

I don't think it was a good use of ABF Commissioner Outram's time to hold a press conference to say "it wasn't our fault". Providing the authorities apologise for human missteps I'm okay with that. We all should be. Many of these people must be at the end of their tether.

When this is all over it will have been the nurses, doctors, ambos, police, supermarket workers and other "ordinary" heroes who have pulled us through.

Let's address the fact that many of these people are grossly underpaid for what they do.

We have seen an unprecedented use of the word "unprecedented".

"I am no expert but..." says Jevon Kinder (Letters, March 20). It is clear to every reader you not an expert and have no idea what would happen if we followed your advice.

Workers who are self-isolating have 14 days to get their resumes up-to-date.

What are the odds that there will be a full lockdown announced over the weekend? It's only a matter of time before we follow the other developed countries on this. It's the obvious thing to do and our best chance of breaking the back of this plague.

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