I grew up in one of the more than 1000 homes where asbestos was installed for years after the 1968 warning. My non-smoking mother died precipitously from lung cancer. Now my youngest brother has mesothelioma.

Once the land values of Mr Fluffy homes increased sufficiently, the ACT government became concerned enough to profit from selling these larger blocks in older suburbs. Somehow it never occurred to them to set aside funds to provide health care support to the inevitable human victims.

The grandstanding ACT government has found the wherewithal to ban circuses and dog racing, and legislated animals to be sentient beings. The human citizens knowingly and unnecessarily exposed to loose-fill asbestos need a special fund to obtain the best available treatment and support immediately.

The enforced separation of families and friends is difficult, especially when serious illness, impending death, or funerals are concerned. Sadly, one of our close family members has recently passed away and because he lived in a designated interstate "hot spot" we were unable to attend his funeral ceremony.

Instead of publicising these difficult circumstances by contacting the media, or responding to media enquiries, we knew that for our own good, and the good of the wider community, we needed to accept the current health guidelines.

I sympathise with everyone experiencing loss of loved ones, but demonstrating one's grief by demonising political leaders and health authorities helps no one.

The media should think twice about giving tabloid-style prominence to such personal tragedies.

Queensland President Palaszczuk or Premier Trump?

Queensland and the USA are starting to get mixed up in my mind.

They share a distressing lack of basic compassion, defended aggressively by leaders whose political egos are wreaking havoc on decent people.

What an insensitive, heartless person the Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has turned out to be. Her government, on one hand, has stopped three young kids from visiting their dying father.

It has also stopped a Canberra woman from attending her father's funeral as it would allegedly contravene border protection rules currently in force.

Yet, on the other hand, it has allowed in well-known personalities and footballers. Saying that the decisions were not hers to make, and were made by the chief health officer, is disingenuous. The Premier has the power to override such decisions.

The Premier has not shown any compassion whatsoever. The decisions made were for purely political purposes. One can only hope that this disgraceful state of affairs will manifest itself at the ballot box.

This week, September 6 to 12, is National Child Protection Week, an initiative endorsed by the Australian government.

While Scott Morrison and his government nominally support Child Protection Week, it must be remembered that they continue to implement refugee policy which is underpinned by a callous disregard for the safety and well-being of children.

There are hundreds of children suffering serious, and probably permanent, effects of the gross neglect and abuse they experienced while in Australia's immigration detention centres.

Despite the government's claim there are no children in detention there are two young girls, now held on Christmas Island, who have been in detention for over two years.

They have been put in an environment completely adverse to normal, healthy child development, with little or no medical care and very limited opportunities for education.

To force children to live in conditions so detrimental to their wellbeing is, by definition, child abuse. That this cruel treatment of children continues to be acceptable brings shame on us all.

It is good to see Labor is now promising 90 new electric buses to slash transport emissions.

It must also be time to consider trackless trams which have a greater passenger capacity than buses and can operate on roads instead of the hideously expensive light rail extension to Woden.

Greg Connolly needs to widen his research into the impact of egg-cultured vaccines on those with an egg allergy (Letters, September 9).

There is plenty of research (including from ASCIA and the Mayo clinic) showing the egg protein levels in a vaccine are less than 100 times that needed to trigger a reaction, even for those with severe reactions.

More vaccine misinformation I think.

I was just wondering if other residents of the ACT have taken particular notice of the condition of the road surfaces in the ACT.

It doesn't really matter which road you go down, sooner or later, you run into poor road surface conditions. One section that comes to mind is the public road where you pay for parking at the rear of the football park in Phillip.

This forms part of Irving Street.

At least 70 potholes have recently been filled again. Another band-aid solution, because when you get severe rain, the patches wash out.

I'd assumed that our pandemic would bring out the best in people but, once again, I'm left in a state of confusion.

When I lived on the coast you could guarantee that when the surf was up you'd have a snowflake's chance of getting a tradie to quote on or show up to a job.

Now residing in sunny Queanbeyan with access to local and Canberra tradies I thought I'd have no worries. How wrong I am.

As someone with hands suited to piano playing and the finer things in life I do rely on more handy people to do stuff around the place.

So far I've encountered Hagar the Horrible, Ivan the Terrible, and an untrustworthy Marcus Brutus. Not their real names of course, just names I've dubbed them.

Their work has been outstanding once engaged but their customer service is terrible. Getting a tradie to show up and give a quote is as frustrating as ever.

Ian Morison (Letters, September 7) asks why we are not banning driving, locking up drivers, calling them criminals, or fining them?

One presumes this question, coming after a comparison of coronavirus and road crash victim numbers, emanates from a view that people should be permitted to behave just as they like during the pandemic, without restraint. The premise of the question is wrong.

We do sanction drivers who behave dangerously.

We also now have laws that try to get people to behave more safely in this pandemic.

There are people around who just don't care about the safety of others.

I am grateful for the laws and their enforcement.

It is party placard time and my vote for the most irritating is at the western end of one of the most dangerous and neglected roads in Belconnen, Kuringa Drive.

While our attention should be on negotiating the tight bend at the start of the road, our eyes can't help but be drawn to the face of Yvette Berry, Deputy Chief Minister of the ACT, on three identical Labor Party placards planted right in the corner.

A couple of meters on from these placards you can witness the trail of ever-present road-side rubbish, unkempt verges, often the body of a dead animal not fast enough to negotiate a dangerous crossing, and bent metal barriers damaged by drivers refusing to obey posted speed limits or lines on a road.

Occasionally even the actual vehicle itself can be left for days or weeks before being removed.

Like much of Belconnen, Kuringa Drive bears witness to years of neglect by this government.

The irony of arrogantly planting "Vote Labor" placards in the middle of this neglect is lost on them.

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