The Liberals are a worry. I am sure everyone would like a rate freeze and lower registration and the like. But what is the cost?

It seems it will be up to 100,000 extra people living in Canberra. Population growth is a false economic stimulus. How many schools, hospitals, fire/police stations will be needed? Such growth would entail enormous infrastructure costs.

The social and environmental costs of increased congestion, and the stress on public utilities is unsustainable. There will be no bush left to allow Canberra to be called the "bush capital". Do we wait till the ACT is covered in concrete border to border before people realise they went a bit too far?

We need a population policy, determined through open debate, that takes into account the environment, water and food availability, the effects on the ACT's congestion and liveability, and a target for the ideal Canberra population size.

Labor, the Liberals and the Greens policies have all failed us on this issue. I will be voting for the Sustainable Population Party. They won't win, but I will feel better for it.

Andrew Barr took more than two years to admit he was a "bit over the top" when he said he "hated journalists" and was "over mainstream media" ("Barr lets go of anger" October 15, pp6-7).

At the time he also had a go at older ACT voters over the Northbourne Avenue/tram issue.

He is not a "shy and introverted" politician. Such a creature does not exist.

I'm just so glad that Alistair Coe and Nicole Lawder had the hard hats and high-vis for Thursday's copycat, British Conservative Party-inspired breaking through the foam block wall. Those foam bricks are deadly.

I hope the hundreds of supportive locals and the children who illustrated an anti-carpark banner can continue to appreciate the green space near Cooleman Court.

This gently undulating land and several trees will be levelled to make way for a "temporary carpark" if Labor's Chris Steel has his way.

Temporary, because it will no longer be required once the belated Molonglo shopping centre becomes operational. What an obscene waste of taxpayers' money to put in street lighting, drainage, entry and exit points and bitumen surface... and in a year or two try to return to the original landscape.

The young artists chose blue and green over red. I encourage others to do the same.

If I was Jodi McKay, the NSW Opposition Leader, I would lay low about the allegations against our Gladys.

NSW Labor has led the race in Australia for corruption over the past few decades, with many convictions and jailings, and with some criminal trials still under way.

The level of corruption in NSW Labor, and the amounts involved, are staggering by comparison with anything the Liberals have ever done.

The need for those who study economics to have heroes and mentors in that profession is not strong.

As a result the view from outside that tent on how to survive these difficult economic times is different to our fearless leaders.

Anthony Albanese's budget reply contained a quote attributed to Tom Uren: "The healthy looked after the sick, the strong looked after the weak, the young looked after the old".

That vision is a remarkable contrast to the federal budget which set the levers for the rich to inherit the earth.

Due to the interstate and global travel ban, we at Guerilla Bay have seen a massive increase in the number of day trippers and tourists in recent months. While understanding the attraction of Guerilla Bay for sightseers, it is unfortunate this influx has led to a degradation of the very environment that is the drawcard.

Residents understand and treasure the sensitivity of our natural surroundings. The tourist may not.

The ancient banksia forest on Burri Point headland at Guerilla Bay is a native breeding ground for diamond pythons. The diamond python is a non-venomous snake and a protected species.

We have a resident python that goes between our neighbouring properties; a quite beautiful and very friendly creature. Recently our python was crossing the road when a day-tripping motorist spotted it, stopped his car, got out and clubbed it with a lump of wood.

We rescued the python and delivered it to the vet, courtesy of Wires. It is doubtful our friend will survive.

Please if you are visiting regional areas, take some time to read about and understand the local environment.

The reason right-wing evangelicals strongly support President Donald Trump is that they not only conflate white supremacism with nationalism, but they they further conflate these two powerful forces with the Biblical doctrine of predestination ("Those irksome Christians are more complicated than you might think", canberratimes.com.au, October 12).

From its very beginning, America's founding impulse was governed by the early white Puritans, who followed the teachings of John Calvin. As so-called Calvinists, they believed they were specially chosen by God to be predestined for salvation, while all others were condemned to eternal punishment.

In white evangelical circles throughout America, whiteness is still largely regarded as God's favourite skin colour. Hence, in a rally held last month in Minnesota, President Trump declared to his assembled white supporters that they were bearers of "good genes".

This constitutes a flagrant distortion of the example set by Christ.

Whinging is the staple response to proposed budgetary changes. If the letters to the editor are anything to go by this is usually "I want more money because I deserve it".

This makes me cringe because our country is one of the wealthiest. We have a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. This higher standard of living is costlier to maintain so we should pay more taxes when we can.

Even our aged pensioners have a high standard of living compared to most people in the world. Yet all I hear from them are demands for more because of the rising cost of living.

The real strugglers, not the fake "Howard Battlers", are the unemployed, homeless, low-income, refugee and disabled disadvantaged. Let's look after them before we expect the money-grab for the rest of us.

Steve Evans' article ("New threat for grey nurse sharks when Batemans Marine Park opened to fishing", canberratimes.com.au, October 12) highlights the fact the NSW government does not appreciate sanctuary zones within the park serve both biodiversity and fishing interests.

Fishers, please tell the NSW government you want the places that breed the fish you want to catch, and where the large fish can grow, protected. Without the large marine predators that eat the urchins, these increasingly virulent pests will turn the marine area into one big urchin barren. There will be no biodiversity and no fish.

When Churchill wrote, "...democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried...", he was referring to democracy in all its forms. If he could have seen what's happening in the US today I think he would have narrowed his definition.

Parliamentary democracy may have its faults, but to a goodly proportion of the American public, a system in which a non-executive prime minister, who can be removed by a vote of no confidence by members of an elected chamber, must seem like an attractive proposition.

King Donald believes he has a divine right to rule. I doubt he will give up his throne without a fight. "Stand down and stand by," he said to the militia who support him. I don't believe this was a slip of the tongue.

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