I recently visited my GP and she told me about these changes.

I am dismayed and appalled by them.

I have had severe pain for nearly 36 years. I take four to six Panadeine Forte in 24 hours. Sometimes eight. I take two Endone when I go out, sometimes two before a friend visits.

I no longer can get repeats for Panadeine Forte. Both these medications do not get rid of pain (arthritis) but do bring it down a couple of levels. I do not sleep well.

I have been seeing a very good pain specialist for about eight years. I have had quite a few procedures that have helped parts of body. You need Private Health Insurance.

I did visit the Woden Hospital Pain Clinic in the 80s. That doctor upset me in about two minutes.

A relative of mine visited that hospital a few years ago and was told to take paracetamol. He laughed and has never returned.

The rate of suicide is going to increase if chronic pain sufferers cannot access adequate pain relief. This will likely exceed deaths from accidental opioid abuse.

N. Bailey (Letters, June 21) evidently hasn't noticed that Ian Warden's humour is satirical, often subtly so, and he'll take the mickey out of anyone - not only fair dinkum firefighter Tony Abbott - if the time is right.

Mr Bailey needs to resuscitate his comatose sense of humour, or develop a new one.

As for his political "learning" (Allan Gibson, ibid), rather than trying to hide it or disguise it with clever words, Mr Warden proudly wears his political predisposition on his sleeve.

I have been reading and laughing at Ian Warden's columns for over 30 years and, unlike N. Bailey, regard Warden as a national treasure. Long may he keep writing.

I wish to join with Ian Warden in my admiration for the secluded sanctuary of the statue of spiritual luminary, Sri Chinmoy, in Canberra ("Toppling tall statues is nothing new", Panorama, June 20, p2).

Having been a student of this wonderful person for 25 years, I can attest with much sincerity that the feelings evinced by communing with him, as near as can be personally, will surprise many who never knew him personally as such a humble, self-giving person.

Thank you for such a refreshingly insightful article.

I am astonished at the lack of maternity services in Yass highlighted by recent media reports.

As a young general practitioner working in Australia as part of my general practice, I delivered babies.

This was not just normal deliveries, but also forceps and breech deliveries, and Caesarean births.

Surely a suitably trained general practitioner should be able to be involved, with midwives, in delivering almost all the pregnant mothers in Yass, with only the occasional complicated pregnancy needing to be referred to a specialist obstetrician.

The letters page of June 25 carries arguments against spending $10 million to install traffic signals at four intersections ("Gold plated signals"), $12 million to build a second light rail stop at Mitchell ("Do the numbers") to complement the existing light-rail-staff-only stop, or a couple of billion dollars to build light rail between Woden and Civic ("Now is not the time to build a second tramline for the ACT").

On a more positive note, I propose that the government spend about $1 million to convert Canberra's under-used bus-only lanes to T3 transit lanes.

The resulting travel time savings will encourage more car drivers to become car passengers.

This will reduce traffic congestion, and will also reduce greenhouse emissions.

If car occupants come from the same household, then travelling together will not increase the risk of coronavirus transmission.

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