The Strategic Bushfire Management Plan 2019-2024 identifies protection of "critical infrastructure" (eg utilities, communications, hospitals etc). Hazard elimination, by clearance of land around facilities, etc, would be more appropriate than hazard reduction to protect this vital infrastructure.

The Bushfire Operations Plan 2019-2021 does not address the issue of protection of critical infrastructure.

Why, for example, is it still accepted that bushland can extend to the back door of buildings in the Calvary Hospital complex, or to the base of the Black Mountain communications tower? Canberra can no longer afford to have the security of Canberra's critical infrastructure in areas of high risk from bushfires being compromised by ecological considerations.

The challenge to candidates for the upcoming elections is to agree to take meaningful action to protect us all.

Canberra is our fastest growing city: bush and farmland all around are being swallowed by sprawling, almost treeless suburbs of ever increasing density. Bird calls are replaced by traffic noise. This ought to be the biggest topic in the election debate ("Little evidence of a game changing poll", editorial, September 16).

Instead we have the same boring parties offering us a few inconsequential scraps, and we anticipate that another Labor/Green government will continue with its pretence of sustainability and public consultation.

After our Chief Minister made a commitment at the September 4 national cabinet meeting to let ACT residents returning home from overseas quarantine in Canberra, I wrote to thank him, and to ask when this might be possible. The reply I received advised that: "we are currently considering how we can do this into the future".

It went on to say: "One of the key considerations is the capacity of our health and emergency services personnel to monitor and enforce quarantine requirements, consistent with the findings of the national review into hotel quarantine. Outbreaks of domestic clusters and subsequent border restrictions put additional pressure on these services as we can have hundreds of people in home or hotel quarantine. This means that at this time, to manage the capacity of our workforce as well as the as health of the broader Canberra community, we can't take an additional international flight".

What on earth has the ACT government been doing since March? And why bother making a promise you know full well you are not capable of keeping? No wonder Australians overseas are feeling helpless and forgotten. Isn't there a register of those wanting to come home?

How hard can it be to say these people in country X want to return to city Y, and to organise flights that travellers can pay economy fares for. My son and family have had three flights cancelled and have now been told their flight will not be until November 24. It defies belief.

The ACT government seems to have got itself in a bit of a "not" concerning the options it has been assessing for a new sports stadium. To look at further candidates, a very good option would be to locate it between the airport and Mt Majura. Access from Majura Parkway would be very good for both locals and visitors. A location close to the airport would be helpful to teams and supporters from interstate. Noise objections from people living nearby would be minimal.

Aren't corflutes a distraction to motorists? I am always surprised when nobody challenges their presence on the roadside, especially after the police have been asking us to pay attention on the roads.

I keep wondering why they are there - not just the political ones. They also pop up to advertise other activities which you may never be able to attend after you are hospitalised in a car accident or sent into the next life when you tried to read them.

And, above all, they are ugly.

In his recent skirmish with his Coalition partners John Barilaro claimed efforts to save koala habitat are a threat to regional areas.

To which regions and constituencies is he referring? The State Environment Planning Policy does not prohibit the clearing of koala habitat.

The changes to this document may affect development applications by local councils.

Tania M Howard (canberratimes.com.au, September 12) wrote: "development pressures on the NSW north coast have likely fueled this latest stoush".

In the past decade the relaxation of land-clearing laws in New South Wales has contributed to the unprecedented destruction of wildlife habitat.

Landholders have rights, but they also have responsibilities. Clear-felling of bushland can lead to severe land degradation. Trees also absorb carbon-dioxide and help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This was a major contributor to the intensity of the bushfires in Australia last summer.

We are all stakeholders in the future of our country and the planet and we all share the responsibility to preserve what is left of our bushland and wildlife habitat.

I'm no expert on vaccines or eggs (oh, why has "eggspert" been so overdone), but Jevon Kinder's letter of September 12 is confusing.

An egg protein level in a vaccine "less than 100 times that needed to trigger a reaction" is alarming. Consider, for instance, an egg protein level 90 times that needed to trigger a reaction.

I suspect that what was meant was "less than one-hundredth".

Thank you for the article "Urban Tree Plan should consider allergies", (canberratimes.com.au, September 4).

Having not suffered for many years I have now developed allergies to many of Canberra's trees and do not look forward to spring or autumn at all. The trees that cause the most grief are plane trees, cottonwood trees, photinea robusta and jasmine. It's anything that fills the air with pollen, strong fragrance, or wind dispersed seeds.

Because Canberra is situated in a hollow these air pollutants take forever to dissipate. Even a daily antihistamine can't relieve the runny eyes and sneezing.

I, along with many others, would be forever grateful if serious consideration was given to the selection of trees less likely to cause allergies to be planted in the greening of our beautiful city.

Mr Barr is looking for more jobs for people who have sadly lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

May I suggest he employs more people to mow the wilderness formerly known as Calwell? Oh, and he could employ even more people to collect the rubbish before the mowing is done so we don't get thousands of pieces of rubbish from the hundreds of pieces of rubbish left by uncaring individuals.

He might even employ more people to find the mowers that get lost because the grass is so high and they can't find their way out once they've entered the sky high grass.

I can remember when Canberra was a lovely city to live in. Sadly it seems those days are long gone, perhaps never to return.

Greens candidate Emma Davidson has not considered the limitations of single light rail track routes raised by the community for years during the planning and then operation of Stage 1 light rail ("'Literally won't fit': ACT Greens' Canberra light rail express plan 'impossible'", canberratimes.com.au, September 14).

It would also seem she has never travelled on light rail from Gungahlin to Civic in peak hours to help work out that a Stage 2 express service could not happen without additional tracks running overhead or underground.

That the Greens have helped foist too many bus/rail inefficiencies already onto so many inner north active travellers is bad enough, but to suggest fairy-tale outcomes for Stage 2 is totally irresponsible.

But if express rail services are somehow provided for Stage 2 then Stage 1 rail and its feeder bus servicing links need to be brought up to the same standard, at the same time.

Prime Minister Morrison's claims about using coal seam gas from Narrabri pre-empt the independent review into CSG that is now under way. In the absence of any previous independent assessment of CSG, or a previous government study, this independent review is critical.

Victorians must be getting a bit stir crazy, what with the Victorian police getting bored with arresting people for Facebook posts, and now taking to chasing protesters through Victoria Market on horseback while being pelted with bananas. The best one was where they drove into a bloke and then charged him with damaging a police car.

John Rodriguez (Letters, September 16) asks if the CIA will be next (after ASIO and the Chinese) in spying on us. They have almost certainly been spying on us for many years, as have the Russians, the Poms, and just about any other significant country you can name. It is part of what they do.

Eric Capello (Letters, September 15) exhorts us to "keep awake" to Labor's "timely" announcement addressing an old issue. "Here we go again", he says. He should also have warned us to keep awake to the Liberals' timely offers to cut all our taxes while offering better services. Here we go again indeed.

Neither the editorial on fuel security, or the federal government, mention that encouraging electric vehicles would improve our fuel security. The current level of fuel storage could soon become ample if the government were to encourage, rather than disparage, EVs.

Trump told climate scientists the weather would cool down again. One of his little jokes as winter arrives in the northern hemisphere? He is apparently unaware, or doesn't care, that recent winters are the warmest on record. And we have Scotty marketing gas as the answer. God save us.

Oh the irony of the Prime Minister being subjected to the strict Queensland quarantine rules during the forthcoming state election campaign which would preclude his participation.

Mokhles K Sidden (Letters, September 17) says he "can't imagine anyone in their right mind voting for Trump". Well that's precisely the problem. How many such clear thinking people are there in the US? The last time over 62 million Americans voted for Trump. That's a big number of Americans not "in their right mind". How many this time?

Re: Mokhles k Sidden (Letters, September 17) and who would vote for Trump. The answer is simple: 2016.

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