The big picture is that more and more Australians are becoming aware of the effects of climate change and this is being reflected in changing voting patterns, including in the ACT. Clearly, many Canberrans' vote in this state election was influenced by climate and energy policy differences between the candidates.

In the Tuggeranong area, the unprecedented effects of global warming were right on our doorstep during the summer bushfires, leading to heightened awareness of the importance of dealing with climate change.

A recent ANU study found that the majority of capital city-dwellers saw global warming as a serious threat. Importantly, these views were also shared by people in regional areas. It does not make sense for major political parties to support the production of fossil fuels and ignore the need for a comprehensive plan to reduce carbon emissions.

For our climate, this is a disaster.

Unfortunately for Kenneth Kuhlmann's thesis (Letters, October 29), there has never been a proclamation under section 69 of the Constitution transferring state quarantine public service departments to the Commonwealth.

The responsibility for quarantine is shared between the Commonwealth and the states, thereby allowing them to pass bucks and point fingers at each other whenever there is a stuff-up.

It is highly unlikely the Liberals will ever govern again in this tenured Truman Show that is Canberra where voters consistently lean to the left in large numbers.

The figure of 64 per cent voting left crops up frequently: 16 out of 25 seats is 64 per cent; the gay marriage vote was 64 per cent for and social questions in The Canberra Times weekly survey often come up with 64 per cent or greater.

The Greens were obviously the big winners at this election. However, they had better make the most of it (in moderation, hopefully) over the next four years because this is good as it will ever get for them. By then, disaffected Labor and Liberal voters will have returned to their respective folds.

While the Greens can expect to hang on to the balance of power, their numbers could easily drop back dramatically like in 2012. The main reason for that is the Greens have not exactly been totally up-front with voters.

For starters, they claim to have achieved 100 per cent renewables for ACT electricity. They may have bought it but, in fact, 63 per cent of the power being consumed here comes from fossil-fuelled generators outside the ACT.

People will realise soon enough that whatever Canberra does to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have zero effect on global warming, let alone climate change.

Greens policies might be considered groundbreaking by supporters but, in reality, the effect is negligible in the scheme of things. Is it more about self-righteous virtue signalling than good policy for the benefit of all?

There is a lot of truth in Joe Biden's comments about Abraham Lincoln ("What we learnt from the debate", October 24, p32).

The American Civil War was not about abolishing slavery, it was initially about the states' rights to extend slavery into their territories. Four of the "northern" states supported slavery (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri).

In August 1862, 16 months into the War, Abraham Lincoln stated in a speech: "I would save (the Union) the shortest way under the Constitution ... if I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that."

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1863, 28 months after the war began, took effect on January 1, 1864. It changed the war's purpose; only then was it officially declared the emancipation of all slaves, both "north" and "south" was the goal.

I completely concur with Jorge Gapella (Letters, October 26) that there is zero exercise when travelling around and standing still on these newly introduced e-scooters.

I recently saw one male dressed in an athletic shirt, exercise shorts and runners on an e-scooter doing laps of Yerrabi Ponds on a sunny day. He was completely still as he passed me. He may as well have been wearing a full suit. On another occasion I saw a male office worker in shirt and tie in Civic on an e-scooter. One might have thought he was either late for a meeting or in a rush to meet someone for lunch on the other side of Civic. Or was it just plain laziness because he couldn't be bothered to use his legs to walk from A to B?

The poor judgment and profligate spending of public money by the chief executive of Australia Post was just one more example of the greed we see almost daily in the lives of so-called top executives and politicians.

The sports rorts continue in different ways, but have the same basis: It's all about me - my position, my power, my couldn't care less attitude for those who don't have money, position or even a job, or place to live.

How can one be proud to be Australian when we see the jobs of posties reduced by half and their salary no doubt reduced accordingly. Yet the person at the top buys Cartier watches for people who are already being handsomely paid to do their jobs. Is the excuse "everyone is doing it" the guiding principle?

A country can only be judged only by the way its so-called leaders treat its citizens, especially those doing it tough.

The Canberra Convention Centre is about to take possession of 1300 wrist beepers ("Beepers stem billion dollar COVID-19 loss", October 26, p4) at a cost of $75,000. The beepers will warn delegates to the conferences when they are closer than the mandated 1.5 metres.

I shudder to envisage what the cacophony of beeps would sound like when several are activated simultaneously, particularly in the larger venues.

Although the system has some merit, as it also has other worthwhile functions, I would suggest that the beeper be replaced by a mild electric shock device which would have the additional advantage of making the wearer desist from getting too close to others.

A few of the beeper models should be set aside for delegates wearing pacemakers.

Listening to the Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, spruiking the government's plan for a manufacturing and digital transformation recovery post-COVID-19 can only be described as sickening and offensive.

The coalition has trashed the NBN, bungled the COVID-19 app, and has been lacklustre in its response to cyber-security threats from foreign countries. Under this government's stewardship we have seen the loss of 75,000 manufacturing jobs, the shutdown of the car industry and research and development grants cut by $1.25 billion.

No doubt this announcement will end up in the round filing cabinet like all the others in recent times. One announcement we won't be hearing from this government is the establishment of a federal integrity commission. As Scott Morrison and Ministers Robert, Taylor, Colbeck and Sukkar are fully aware, they would have little chance of surviving a NSW-style ICAC investigation.

The Goulburn Post has reached 150 years of publication. It has survived because it has been supported by the community purchasing its products. Both the paper itself, and the advertising space.

I purchase it when passing through Marulan. Why? It gave a young Canberra-born aspiring reporter his first job. He now works for a major Sydney paper.

And because the best cartoonist I have laughed with over my approximately 60 years of reading newspapers was with the Post. He may still be. With great respect to the efforts of Ray Martin, the key to saving regional media is simple - buy the product. Every edition. Used newspapers make great fire lighters (winter cold inland Australia). And in these COVID times, the crossword is welcome entertainment. Introduce your children to hard-copy news and entertainment.

If David Hutchison (Letters, October 29) does not understand why the ATO is giving him a tax refund based on franking credits, then he needs to make an appointment with his tax advisor as a matter of urgency. It's his money not the ATO's.

David Hutchinson (Letters, October 29), if you're so well off you can deplore franking credits then I can only wish I had as much accumulated as you. I'm an early retiree, small-time investor, and I still pay tax. Those credits are a small but welcome help.

I'm 40. The last time there was a recession in Australia I was 10. As a business owner I am not complaining. I can find the staff I need. More premises are available. My business is in a much better place for the future.

Of course, as Scott Morrison now says, the Coalition's "policies won't be set in the UK, they won't be set in Brussels" - whether in relation to carbon emissions or anything else. Setting them will continue to be outsourced to favoured industries, political donors and News Corp.

The only serious transitioning that the federal Coalition is prepared to consider is its own mutation from muppets into mugs, leaving non-mates paying the price for decades to come ("Morrison's government is fixing to be mugged by reality", canberratimes.com.au, October 30).

Motorists, when stopped by the police for speeding or driving dangerously, often indignantly point out that the officers could better spend their time arresting "proper' criminals".

I haven't tried it myself but I'm sure they'd see your point and let you off with a warning.

Halloween is here again. I'm personally looking forward to the Thanksgiving and Independence Day holidays. Cokes and hotdogs all around. We could celebrate by just invading some country. Buddy ...

The waning of one wave of COVID-19 seems only to be the harbinger of another one.

How many innocent refugee women and girls have been subjected to intrusive strip searches, indefinite detention, dehumanisation and other abuse on Scott Morrison's watch? It's unfortunate they can't take advantage of his newly discovered high moral standards.