He said the ACT government had an arrangement with wildlife carers to look after birds in these sort of circumstances, and that he would switch me through. I went on hold for another 22 minutes and 18 seconds and was then cut off. I went home and called "Wildlife Carers Group Inc". A recorded message said they were on a call, I should leave details, and they would call me back. Two hours later, after no call back, I called again. Same message. While I had avoided calling the RSPCA, reasoning they were more for pets and livestock, I finally gave them a ring.

A real live person answered promptly, promised to find out who I could deal with, and that I would get a call back. Within 10 minutes ACT Fire and Rescue rang and, 10 minutes after that, met me at the dog park. They climbed up and cut the string which had caught around the magpie's foot. It then flew away.

Thanks and gratitude to the ACT RSPCA and ACT Fire and Rescue, from me, others at the dog park, and the magpie. I remember when Access Canberra provided a good service, answering phone calls promptly, and efficiently solving problems. The ACT Government could usefully give it many more extra staff.

As the dust settles on the byelection in Eden-Monaro it is worth reflecting on lessons learned in this imperfect process.

From a Liberal party perspective, this was one of the most disgraceful campaigns since 2013. The distortions regarding debt in Bega Council, the half-truths, and down-right smut spread like molasses through every letterbox in the electorate.

Not that the Labor Party can claim any higher moral ground. While Kristy McBain's personal brochures were straight forward, the morass letter-boxed by a range of Labor Senators in NSW was cringeworthy. They addressed neither the issues of the community, the politics of the region, or our national crises.

We should all seek considered discussion on the future needs of our children and their families, how we can safely feed and house ourselves, provide water for agriculture, and how we might restore faith in the Parliament. This will require community members talking to each other about solutions; not the Trumpian stupidity of hurling personal abuse at anyone who expresses a different opinion to our own.

Re: Bill Dejong bemoaning the woes of Eden-Monaro and lack of action by the government (Letters, July 6). Last Saturday voters elected Labor candidate Kristy McBain. Not being in government means she has no ability to do much to ease the suffering, distress and so on in the electorate. Maybe Bill should have taken this into consideration before casting a vote.

As for the old chestnut of "governing for all", the reality is governments always default back to their core policies and constituents.

Terry Werner (Letters, July 4) claims that trams are an "outdated transport mode". Perhaps Terry should be enlightening the decision-makers of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.

These cities are investing in expanded tram networks and employing thousands of Australians to build the infrastructure and, in the case of Victoria, the rolling stock.

Given the low interest rates and the need to provide jobs for our citizens as we emerge from the economic damage of COVID-19, this is precisely the perfect time to invest in the extension of the tram network.

The sudden increase in COVID-19 infections in Melbourne caught many by surprise. Government authorities are scrambling to pinpoint the cause of this new outbreak, announcing lockdowns of suburbs, multi-story buildings and border closures.

Did anyone consider that the new outbreak could be an aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests, where tens of thousands of people marched in state capitals - against all medical advice - with recommended social distancing being ignored?

What's more inexplicable are the 10,000 plus individuals who refused to be COVID-19 tested - over "conspiracy" theories - in Melbourne suburbs that are now under coronavirus restrictions.

One such conspiracy theory claimed that nasal swabs were being used to "implant microchips". Were any refusals triggered by the requirement to provide personal data: birth date, phone number, address, etc, which could expose individuals who overstayed their visas, or criminals?

If this outbreak of infections is traced back to the Black Lives Matter protests, then the protests' just cause could be tarnished and discredited. It's a pity that organisers could not find an alternative way to get their message across such as this year's observance of Anzac Day, where thousands in Australian suburbia stood in their driveways.

While it would appear that the government has merely added a decade's worth of defence expenditure together for byelection purposes, it should seriously consider a gradual move towards an ANZUS-type agreement with Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand, and share expenditure on defence.

As these nations grow in prosperity the Pacific Islands could also be included. The ASEAN bloc is too large and risky for this purpose.

Such an arrangement would alleviate the burden on individual nations, enable us to have much more clout in our sphere of influence, bring us closer to south-east Asia (we'll be no longer seen largely as "white") and there are many other benefits. It won't always be a smooth sailing relationship but neither has ANZUS.

Moreover, the US will always put its own interests first and it has a lot of interests. Given a choice to defend Taiwan and Australia, for example, I know who it would sacrifice.

It is simply obscene to keep spending such an amazing amount of money when there are so many other needs.

The government's announcement of $270 billion to be spent on military hardware comes at a time when there's a track record for punitive misery-causing attacks on the vulnerable in our society.

The grudging rise in unemployment benefit is already being earmarked for reversal. Then there are the cuts to Medicare in recent years, the appalling treatment and cost of asylum seekers, the botched "reforms" to higher education, tax cuts for the higher end of town, the softening up narrative for a hike in GST and the agenda for corporate tax cuts.

All of these things from a government by and for the wealthy, and business operators who are clearly already over-endowed with tax breaks and avoidance tricks.

And now the greatest gift of all: $270 illion of taxpayers money to the military-industrial complexes of our "allies".

This gift to the USA, France, the UK and other war-machine manufacturers will do absolutely nothing for our society, and near nothing for our economy.

Police threats of doing something about speeding drivers in the ACT come up every now and again. It seems to me that as good as the police's intentions are, very little is done in this regard.

On any given day I witness drivers exceeding the speed limits and even racing one another in 60 and 80 km/h zones.

This will continue all the way along for five to six kilometres and there isn't a police vehicle or speed van in sight.

Now I know the police can't be everywhere at once, and they have other duties to perform, but if you come out and make a public statement about doing something ACT citizens would like some indication it is being done.

While driving along I am continually being confronted with approaching cars with their headlights shining on high beam.

Worse still are the ones following behind as they cannot be alerted. It is happening in suburban areas and on highways.

I wonder how many readers are experiencing the same frustration.

I am seriously considering attaching a powerful "bitumen-melting" spotlight behind my car to awaken the snoozing driver behind.

Daniel Andrews, when asking us to play our part with regard to the virus lockdown, used the phrase "..this could not be more serious.". Had he said "..this is very, very serious", many more would have understood immediately what he was trying to convey. Keep the language simple.

The noise about minor inconveniences in the media seems to have replaced considered thought. Otherwise intelligent folk seem to think civilisation is built on coffee, takeaway food, hair, and finger and toe nails. "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," JFK in 1961 challenged every citizen to at least think. How lucky we are.

Here's a true take on the meaning of 'fake news': it's news from a fake, i.e. Trump.

I was astonished at Robyn Leigh's (Letters, July 7) incredible claim Kristy McBain should give up the seat of Eden-Monaro because she needed preference votes from other parties to win the seat. Had Fiona Kotvojs prevailed it would also only have been with the preference votes of other candidates. Perhaps Robyn should find a text book that explains the Australian electoral system.

Robyn Leigh (Letters, July 7) says if Labor candidates can only win with preferences from other parties she should do the honourable thing and surrender the seat to Fiona Kotvojs. If so the same should apply to Scott Morrison. Without preference deals with Clive Palmer, Pauline Hanson and The National Party, Bill Shorten would be our Prime Minister.

When it comes to COVID-19 we're all in this together. The exception to this is the leader of the Opposition in Victoria. Trying to score points in a crisis by criticising a leader who is doing his best to resolve the problems stands out as poor form.

We've tried self regulation, privatisation, outsourcing, public/private partnerships, consultants, contractors, corporatisation, commercialisation, public asset and infrastructure sales, outcome-based funding, user pays, self assessment, foreign ownership, transnationals, tax havens, restructuring, and "for profit" public services. None of this seems to have helped us. I think we've lost our minds.

How sad John-Pierre Favre (Letters, July 7) that you, like many others on Saturday, wasted your vote.

Re: Greg Adamson (Letters, July 7). Who is rewriting history? Acknowledging that in the "winners" version so many of the wrongs that were done were ignored or denied, is embracing the whole truth, not re-writing it. Santayana's maxim: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is truer today than ever before.

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