Self-government has not been kind. The long unkempt grass, weeds growing out of drains, illegible and damaged road signs, litter and bad roads.

I suggest Canberra council takes a look at Queanbeyan as an example of how to look after your town. As for the housing expansion, how many public servants do you need and who approved the expanded occupancy of building blocks? It really isn't a good look.

To Mark (the organiser) and those hardy band of workers who took to their mowers, rakes, brooms etc on Boxing Day to attend to the disgracefully overgrown, dangerous and neglected (by the ACT Parks and Gardens mob) patch of parkland in our street to make it habitable to walk on the path and play at the swings, a huge thank you from all the residents of Middleton Circuit, Gowrie.

To the recently elected ACT Legislative Assembly members for Brindabella, Joy Burch, Mick Gentleman, Nicole Lawder, Mark Parton and Johnathon Davies, thank you (not) for the great representation you exhibit that has rate-paying punters in your electorate having to perform the duties for which those rates are paid. Voters at the next elections need to seriously think about the merits of independent candidates who will genuinely represent their constituents, not those beholden to party donors.

And to the ACT government, the fact that the streets, parks and the general common areas of our city are in such poor shape that ratepayers feel the need to band together to carry out basic government services is a disgrace, and you all should be ashamed. But I guess the large pay packets, not to mention the allowances and privileges you enjoy, eases the conscience somewhat!

And finally a suggestion to other parts of the ACT community that may be forced to carry out the duties once the responsibility of the elected government, and for what you pay your ever-increasing rates, perhaps if you register your street as a 'developer', and make a promise to 'donate' to the relevant minister and/or political party, you may get some attention and avoid the need to perform the duties so terrifically carried out by the good burghers of Middleton Circuit.

Well done, Bob Salmond (Letters, December 28) and Alan Shroot (Letters, December 29), for speaking out against Michael Pettersson's absolutely outrageous proposal to legalise possession of hard drugs.

It's like dad, while presenting a young family member with a birthday package, saying: "Here you are, this is your supply of LSD, ice, heroin and cocaine. It's all legal now, so you may freely take it, then go out and commit violent crimes, get sick, embarrass your family and friends, generally make an idiot of yourself and ruin your life." What a dumb plan!

It beggars belief that we continue to bus overseas travellers into the heart of our largest cities to isolate them in expensive hotels when NSW Sport and Recreation owns multiple self-contained holiday camps across the state with more than enough capacity to house everyone safely and comfortably. They could be monitored by local medical staff and the Army. A simple solution which protects the most populated areas.

It seems so logical, I can't understand why it isn't done? Politics I suspect? It can't be costs, as the government owns them?

If you have any ideas I welcome your thoughts?

Considering the type of economic arguments that are used nowadays, it's unclear why we at all need to work. Why doesn't the federal government simply send cheques to everyone so we can buy goods and services that don't need to be produced?

Australians now accept the fundamental principle that everybody is entitled to government support in lower middle-class comfort. Australia is now a welfare state; 2021 could be the year that Australians find out how much all this free government actually costs as the cost of living begins a long overdue move higher in the form of consumer price inflation.

Average workers are being denied the full benefits of capitalism - more choice at lower prices - thanks to monetary inflation and productivity killing regulation and government spending.

Government intervention in healthcare, education, childcare, aged care, housing and the energy sector has reduced competition and increased costs and/or reduced supply.

When the public at long last does feel the economic and financial pain most voters will blame the free market and capitalism. A few of them may blame the pandemic. But almost nobody is going to blame pernicious statism in the form welfare state ideology, Keynesianism and central banking.

With reference to Andy Hogan's letter of December 31 about the unit of energy, the Joule. Let's say you have a 2.4kW heater (that's 2400 Watts) and you use it for two hours. The energy it consumes is found by multiplying the power by the time, which is 4800 Watt-hours. We call that 4.8kWh.

If you buy that at 30 cents per kWh it will cost you $1.44. In these circumstances, using Joules instead of the kWh is too cumbersome; 4.8kWh is in fact 17,280,000 Joules, and at the same cost as above you buy each Joule for 0.0000083 cents.

That's why energy retailers sell energy by the "unit", which is a kWh.

Perhaps when the Commonwealth Parliament resumes next year and the Coalition holds its first joint party meeting, the members could watch the documentary titled The Great Acceleration.

Maybe it would help some of the attendees to think more carefully about where our immediate and long-term future energy requirements are to come from. They are certainly not from coal and gas.

After watching this documentary, the prime minister could surely commit to the target of reducing emissions by 2050 without a detailed cost-benefit plan. The costs may be significant but the benefits will be of even greater significance.

The Labor Party, Greens and Independent parliamentarians might also like to watch this documentary. I hope the ABC will show it again, in prime time and frequently.

Quietly released on December 10, alongside Parliament's Christmas adjournment speeches, was Environment Minister Sussan Ley's announcement that the Australian War Memorial's $500 million extension had been approved.

She acknowledged "the diverse range of community and stakeholder submissions made during the consultation period and the public interest in the project". She did not acknowledge that the submissions were overwhelmingly opposed to the project, nor explain why such cogent and detailed opposition had made no difference to the government' s intentions.

In the public interest an accountable government would take well-argued advice seriously and respond to it, rather than communicating the impression that parliamentary inquiries are cynical box-ticking exercises, used to justify decisions which it never had any intention of reviewing or explaining. Regrettably, public accountability is not notably the strong suit of the current government.

My husband is a working police officer who for the last two years in a row has had to work Christmas - it's part of the job, I guess. What has impressed him is his selfless boss Superintendent Mick Calatzis who always turns up at Christmas with gifts and wishes them well and appreciates the police's great work and knows they are away from their family.

Such acts of kindness are applauded by me as I know that my husband will not be home at Christmas lunch with his kids, knowing that his boss cares means so much to me. There is humanity out there and it's nice to know the Christmas spirit is alive.

I was concerned to see no police presence on the Federal Highway when I returned from the coast on Sunday. Rather, there was just a sign saying you needed to complete an online form if you'd been to Greater Sydney and surrounding regions etc.

It's too easy for people to just slip home from these areas and not self-quarantine if there's no enforcement activity at the border, even if just stopping cars randomly.

Yet another parading their 'goodness and humanity' while conveniently ignoring reality. ("It's time to put an end to the incarceration of refugees" from Gerry Gillespie, Letters, December 28).

The UNHCR estimated there were some 4.2 million stateless people residing in 79 countries at mid-2020: do we offer them all a home, Gerry, or where would you draw the line? Is arriving here illegally to be a qualification for citizenship? Of course, the world could and should do more but let's have some practical proposals from you.

Yes it is true that I quite happily breeze through summer without having to live or die with every comment from Test cricket. Interestingly, I seem to continually see reference to Steve Smith and David Warner whom I recall as being exposed as cheats in South Africa while purporting to wear the Baggy Green with honour. Just musing that some would consider their ongoing employment by Cricket Australia reeks of hypocrisy.

In support of your editorial ("Rule breakers putting all of us at risk", December 31) I ask why name and shame or deportation already has not been introduced? Arguments against doing so are weak and the offenders generally are known. Why the misguided tolerance?

Deportation seems like a great option for those who don't respect our way of life or laws. We need to set the precedents loud and clear. Deport those partying backpackers.

P. O'Keeffe lauds China's contribution to the safe evacuation of an Australian expeditioner from Antarctica (Letters, December 30). Equally remarkable, the most challenging leg of the retrieval was flown from a makeshift airstrip by a Basler BT-67. It's a rebuilt, re-engined Douglas DC-3. This venerable aircraft from 1935 still has unique capabilities.

"Worst in 30 years," screams the headline of The Canberra Times pointing gleefully at the latest sleepy time effort of the Aussie cricketers versus India. Team changes seem justified but is there something that is being overlooked? Perhaps it can be seen on the faces of the poor blokes and their change of expression from happy grins to forced smiles. They are overtired! How many broken sleeps have they had since COVID began? Change the guard, get fresher lads. Maybe just a few, since we want to encourage the others.

According to the Good University Guide, the book which most high school students use to plan their territory education, a fruit and vegetable picker in Australia should hold a Certificate 3 in agriculture. I need to keep reading, I'm curious if it is also recommended by the Good University Guide that it is a prerequisite to have an Bachelor of Arts degree to serve coffee.

Leon Arundell (Letters, December 31) questions the viability of the next stages of light rail which will cost the community billions. A bigger question - regardless of what is offered, Canberrans voted overwhelmingly for light rail and by implication public transport and then have walked away from it, preferring to use their cars instead. You are paying for it, so why not use it?

Len Goodman (Letters, December 28) asserts "the ACT with its 100 per cent renewables policy is delivering us by far the most expensive energy in Australia". This is precisely wrong. ACT retail prices for electricity are the cheapest in the country by a fair margin.

Purveyors of unseasonal hot cross buns clearly misunderstand the special nature of those Easter holiday treats, in their headlong plunge for additional sales. But the customers are equally at fault. The value of a holy day is a clear differentiation from ordinary activity - buyer and seller please take note.

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