The Curtin horse paddocks are part of a deciduous, fire mitigating area; a haven for bird life.

It is a far cry from the "Barr-esquian" boxes which cover the slopes of Molonglo and Gungahlin; homes with virtually no backyards for children to play in thanks to a greedy land grab by an ACT government that gives little thought to the environment or people's quality of living.

The Curtin horse paddock is the closest thing to a deciduous wilderness we have.

It should be protected at all costs before the government turns it into another desert of tar and cement.

One can actually feel insulated from the noise of the roads there at the moment.

The area settles comfortably into the suburban landscape. There is a sense of space and green relief. Birch trees, hawthorn, and beech form thickets. Birds shelter in the sunny wild glens. The bird life is prolific.

One local ornithological society member tells me he sees more than 100 species of birds each year.

They include golden whistlers, blue wrens. diamond fire tails (small vulnerable finch), southern white face finches, and more. These nest and feed in the paddocks and surrounding thickets and wilderness.

The area is also home to the golden sun moth and echidnas. Stands of mature eucalypts provide even more food and shelter for many species of birds.

The shady pin oaks were planted by a long-standing resident of Yarralumla more than 40 years ago. They flourish to this day. She propagated these beautiful trees from the Yarralumla nursery where she worked for decades.

It has taken many slow and quiet decades for this green space to become beautiful.

It is well used by the community. It must be nurtured as a green community space for generations to come.

As the song goes: "they paved paradise to put up a parking lot". And "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".

My neighbour is a nurse in community health. She has to catch a bus to and from work in Civic because of the cost of parking.

She takes social distancing and isolation very seriously at home but each day, on the trip to and from work, she runs the risk of encountering someone, or something, contaminated with COVID-19.

How about a parking fee exemption for our front line health workers?

It's not a big ask for people doing such a big job.

It is not obvious that providing essential services to the ACT community requires a more senior ACT chief police officer and the creation of another senior ACT public service position ("ACT's top cop steps into new ESA position", April 29, p1).

There is no doubt police do difficult work. But how will appointing a more senior person to head the ACT police help front-line police or the community?

Questions also revolve around the need for a new senior position in the ESA.

While some questions were raised around the interaction between the volunteer RFS and paid staff during the bushfire season, it is hard to believe resolving these requires an additional senior position.

While I'm sure the government's spin doctors can come up with a rationale for the appointments, I think the better view is that the balance of the arguments favours avoiding the extra expenditure, and consequent probable higher rates and taxes.

I have been following with interest the idea of riding around the lake clockwise. My view is cyclists should be riding in one direction and people out for a walk should go in the opposite direction.

I live in Tuggeranong. If my wife wants to go for a walk I go along as a "lookout for cyclists". I am constantly looking over my shoulder as most cyclists do not sound a bell or call out.

The first you know of their presence is when they overtake you at speed.

I have found cyclists to be among the most selfish, inconsiderate, and rudest people I have come across.

When I have called out to them I have been given the "finger" and copped offensive language.

It seems cyclists think the paths are for their exclusive use. People who are out for a walk are just a nuisance.

If cyclists travelled in one direction and walkers and runners in the other you could see them approaching and keep a safe distance.

The ACT government needs to address this issue before someone suffers serious injury.

While I praise James Gralton (What's the difference, Letters, April 25) for trying to do the right thing on shared paths, it is my melancholy duty to advise him he is doing the wrong thing.

Unfortunately he does not understand the purpose of walking on the right hand side of a road. If a person walks on the left of a road the clearance from an overtaking vehicle is often only about a metre.

Walking on the right increases the separation to a much safer four metres.

But, on a shared path, the separation between walkers and cyclists (overtaking or passing) is only about half a metre regardless of which side the walker is on.

A person, like Mr Gralton, who walks on the wrong side of a shared path causes confusion and danger.

The ''young cyclists'' he complained about have not been ''appallingly rude''; they have unsurprisingly vented their spleen because James has confused and endangered them.

Walk on the left. You will be safer. Also, you discover most cyclists are more polite than you think.

Your piece "Craft breweries face collapse due to COVID-19: IBA" (canberratimes.com.au, April 29) makes some good points about the plight of the brewing sector. But several claims are all froth and no beer.

Usually the small brewers are some mates having a crack at making beer for a living. Good on 'em. But that romanticism doesn't change the fact that the 650 independent brewers make up less than 5 per cent of the Australian beer market.

Imported beers, at 15 per cent of sales volume, are three times bigger. It means the small guys are competing against each other for a niche market.

The assertion "our beer is handcrafted, which means we employ 15 times the number of employees per litre of beer", compared with big brewers, highlights two things. It goes some way to explaining why indie beer is so expensive. It also illustrates the lengths you have to go to in order to concoct an economic argument.

In reality, the three major breweries employ more Australians than all 650 indie brewers combined.

With beer sales falling 35 per cent in the wake of COVID-19 nobody has a monopoly on doing it tough.

The call for wine-type tax rebates isn't the answer. This perpetual handout is distortionary, rewards mediocrity and does nothing for punters. Governments of all persuasions have learned that costly lesson. They are loath to repeat it.

The best thing government can do for everyone looking for relief and recovery - consumers, brewers and hospitality - is freeze the next round of beer tax increases for a year. We can all drink to that.

Since the loss of John Clarke in 2017 I try to imagine what he and Bryan Dawe might be doing with character impersonations of our current Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

I see John seated opposite Bryan assuming the character of Scott Morrison.

John says to Bryan, "Well, aren't you going to ask me a question?"

Bryan replies, "No".

John asks, "Why not ?"

Bryan replies, "Well Prime Minister, you have a history of not answering questions so why ask you one?"

John (Scott Morrison) tries to continue the interview by saying to Bryan, "Go on, ask me a question about my football team. Ask me a question about Hawaii. Ask me a question about...". This is where Bryan terminates the interview.

While I sympathise with Michael Doyle's (Letters, May 1) desire to see the Chinese ambassador given his marching orders, the sad reality is these guys never act alone. He is simply following the script his Beijing masters have set.

Mike Kelly hadn't even formally announced his resignation from Eden-Monaro when the vultures, including John Barilaro and Andrew Constance, started picking over the bones. Disgusting.

Now it appears we have a toilet paper glut as nobody is hoarding the stuff anymore. I am patiently waiting for the price to be slashed before I buy any more.

Liberal. It is an adjective. It can mean being willing to respect, or accept, behaviour and opinions different from one's own. It can even mean being open to new ideas. That obviously doesn't apply to Malcolm's critics, Ian Pilsner or Sankar Kumar Chatterjee (Letters, April 30) or many members of the Liberal Party.

Why is Barr standing up to the petrol companies who have been fleecing us for years? Could it be that there is an election looming? ACT residents have been pushing this government to do something about this for years. Timing is everything.

Your nit picking, Bruce Cameron, (Letters, April 29) about the PM's Anzac Day speech is unwarranted. If you have that much time on your hands, I can give you a list of older folk who need their lawns mowed.

With apologies to Shakespeare, methinks the Chinese ambassador doth protest too much. Maybe he should take a leaf from his predecessors' books and opt for some quieter diplomacy instead of his rather clumsy and exaggerated tub-thumping to impress his Beijing masters. He would be a lot more credible if he did so.

By vigorously opposing calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, the Chinese look like they have something to hide. If they are innocent an inquiry would prove it. If not, they will just have to take their medicine.

Why is China appearing to threaten us with economic hardship if there is an independent review into the origins of COVID-19? I would have thought they would have embraced it. If it proved that it came from elsewhere that would let them off the hook.

An independent international inquiry into the pandemic is essential to improve the response to the next virus. It should not only include an analysis of China's response, but of all countries. The high number of cases and deaths in the USA, Italy, Spain, the UK and France, when compared with Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, needs investigation. Will their leaders be willing to undergo such scrutiny?

Credit where credit is due. However, it looks like a lender of last resort is a bridge too far (Pope, editorial cartoon, April 29).

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 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

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