In fact, almost all the borders had been drawn by the British government before 1860. Federation eased them with Section 92 stipulating "trade, commerce and intercourse among the States ... shall be absolutely free". The borders were stiffened by Littleproud's fellow Queenslander, Bjelke-Petersen, as the upholder of states rights.

The Assistant Minister for Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ben Morton, complains he has to scratch his head when viewing the displays at the Museum of Democracy in Old Parliament House.

The government's call for citizenship tests might well start with candidates of parliament. Begin by setting a NAPLAN test to see if their comprehension levels are up reading the constitution.

Those who pass would then need to satisfy a Year 12 paper on its contents to qualify as members of Parliament. A flock of them had not understood that the provision of section 44 (i) excluded those "entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power".

And is it too much to hope executive-level bureaucrats absorb J. A. La Nauze's The Making of the Australian Constitution (1972) to save their ministers from making galahs of themselves?

An assistant minister has ordered the Museum of Australian Democracy to present Australian democracy only as "strong" ("Old Parliament House given new statement of expectations", October 25, p1). His direction insults the MoAD Board, many of whom are more expert in democracy.

Any museum that presents its subject area uncritically - as this assistant minister demands - is not a museum but a propaganda centre.

This while Australian democracy is seriously weakened. The government has effectively neutered the role of the Parliament in holding it to account.

The undemocratic silencing of opposition members in the house is now routine. Parliament is bypassed as a venue for policy announcement. The unfinished business of federation - Indigenous rights and representation - remains neglected. Ministerial responsibility is optional.

The unlawful conduct of ministers in matters from asylum seekers to grant payments goes unpunished. Confected outrage over a minor matter of corporate gifts contrasts with indifference to much more material malfeasance in administration of Commonwealth monies.

Independent scrutiny is blocked and the audit office defunded. Question time is a joke. The purpose of government often seems to be little more than to denigrate critics and hold office.

And this while the watchdog role of a vigorous and independent press is weakening, deliberately so in the case of ABC resourcing.

Mr Morton ("Old Parliament House given new statement of expectations", October 25, p1) misses the mark in his criticism of the Museum of Australian Democracy. Part of all museums' educational role is to highlight what academic institutions are telling it about we, the people's, feelings about our democracy.

Provoking discussion about how we perceive our democracy and how we think it can be made even stronger, serves to engage people in the way Mr Morton desires.

Our democracy is a living thing and needs nurturing. Its future is as important as its past.

The minister responsible for the Museum of Australian Democracy clearly doesn't understand that democracy means the freedom to challenge other people's ideas shows just how dire a state our democracy is in ("Old Parliament House given new statement of expectations", October 25, p1).

Ben Morton seems to think the museum's role is to celebrate the strength of a system his government is doing its best to undermine, from prosecuting whistle blowers like Witness K to criminalising protest, to underfunding the vital work of the public service. Telling the museum to seek corporate funding is adding insult to injury. MOAD's democracy audit is a vital service to us all - long may it thrive.

The recent sightings of eastern brown snakes at two ACT schools sent shivers down my cowardly spine.

The eastern brown is the second deadliest snake in the world. The mere thought of them takes me back to my terrifying days as a child on the farm when we had heaps of red bellied blacks, eastern browns, and tiger snakes on our property, and even under the house.

I never slept a wink for 10 years as I was sure the snakes would crawl up through one of the holes in the bedroom floor and pop into bed with me on a cold winters night.

One day my brave brother, with my full support of course, raced inside and locked our dear mum out on the verandah because a monstrous brown had slithered up onto the verandah rail. She never forgave us for that cowardly effort.

Recent advice suggests that if eastern browns are lodging in your backyard or playground you should stay calm and collected. Tell that to your bowels and see if they will understand.

I love the way Canberra politicians on the Labor and Green side have interpreted the latest election results as an overwhelming majority. A combined 16 seats versus nine Liberals.

It looks convincing until you look at the stats. Taking the June 30 2020 ACT electoral roll, (301,178 electors), on first preferences, (the only ones that really matter) 113,845 wanted Labor to govern; 187,333 didn't.

Another 40,659 wanted the Greens to govern; 260,159 didn't. Labor and Greens combined have the support of 154,504 electors; they do not have the support of 146,674 electors.

So, to make things good for Labor, Andrew Barr will give two ministerial spots to buy off the 40,659 Green vote - which he doesn't need because the Greens will never be partners of the Liberals.

It was cheap, and the Greens fell for it. They chucked away their integrity and autonomy for a couple of ministerial positions where they have to toe the "solidarity" line rather than be in a position of influence where they can work for all Canberrans. Weak. Or was it the ministerial salaries?

Methinks Ray Edmondson (Letters, October 21) takes too literally the "creation myth" that Canberra was designed by Walter Burley Griffin.

I've come to think of Griffin as the Canberra equivalent of Chairman Mao. We extol his plan for the world we inhabit, ignoring the vast disconnect between what he envisaged and what we ended up with after the Federal Territory bureaucrats (our Deng Xiaoping) wove their magic. This feat of doublethink allowed the latter's product to bask in the glow of its purported author.

It also allows him to be invoked, when it suits, to Griffin-wash piecemeal pseudo-elements of the original plan. Did Griffin really envisage satellite towns connected by trams?

I agree with Ray's argument a tram is nicer to travel on than a bus, but I also agree with Ian Pearson (Letters October 21) that the $142,000 Audi E-Tron would be nice to have. Of course, no-one wants to be the bunny that pays for everyone else to have a tram but misses out themselves, so every part of Canberra now wants one. I fear this will be a heavy first claim on the ACT budget for years to come, with implications for hospital care in the region and the ability of opposition parties to offer you a real alternative.

I am amazed the business world is such a bunch of whingers. They just want consumers to be the same, that is, drive your car to the shops, buy up big, go to the bank and so on despite what is happening.

I've been waiting for empty carparks to erupt into "pop-up drive-throughs" with take away deliveries or safe-distancing pick-ups. Where are the mobile banking vans (my credit union in the 1970s had one that visited offices on a fortnightly basis) that drive to the suburbs to enable people to do their banking business? The fruit and vegie trucks, and the bread and milk delivery vans of the past are noticeably absent, along with the coffee and sandwich vans for the parks.

That's just a few ideas for some business entrepreneurs to get going and have a go with. The "new normal" is just waiting to be found!

Early last week I drove from Hall to Casey. It was pleasing to see most of the plastic corflutes had been removed. There was just one group who had failed to collect their electoral detritus promptly; the ACT Liberals. Is there a message there?

If a political party had told me they would cut the grass in Monash, I would have voted for them. It has got to the point where I can't find my dog. Instead, I elected to not vote for the one that should have cut the grass. Look where that got me.

Shane Rattenbury glibly rejoices at the increase in seats for The Greens. But perhaps a prudent explanation is that ACT voters started from the least acceptable candidates and worked their way up the ballot paper to the last person standing. A Hobson's Choice-type outcome rather than a mandate for any party.

So a three per cent increase in the ACT Greens' electoral popularity has resulted in a 200 per cent increase in the party's representation in our Legislative Assembly. Hmm.

Stan Marks (Letters, October 25) notes the under 40s are the only people Andrew Barr cares about. Many of these are based in Braddon, They are Canberra's version of the "inner-city left-wing elite" ABC news boss, Gavin Morris recently bemoaned.

So, despite the leader of the free world now declaring himself immune to the latest global plague, five members of his deputy's team have now come down with the dreaded lurgy. Who would have thought? It turns out that COVID-19 has a very grim sense of humour.

The way COVID-19 is going it seems we will have more depressed people than people infected with the coronavirus.

As the owner of a unit-titled property I feel the same pain as Oliver Raymond (Letters, October 16). In the ACT, with tax apartheid, as members of the unit-title underclass we are supposed to feel grateful that we do not belong to the lowest class, renters. While we wait for justice we just keep chanting the government mantra "tax makes us free".

Great to hear COVID-19 infected diplomats can arrive in Australia and be granted special exemptions. ACT authorities say this poses "little threat" to the community. How do they know? There are thousands of stranded Australians who can't get back. Will they benefit from exemptions if they return?

I'm surprised climate change advocates are not blaming the abundance of weeds on climate change or global warming.

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