In spite of the mumbling of certain politicians I am not concerned about waiting longer than other countries.

I am grateful that the TGA has formally tested and approved the vaccine as safe.

My hope now is that all our state and territory premiers and chief ministers work with the federal government to ensure a successful roll-out.

Now is not a time for opposing political parties or independents to try to score political points.

I refer to Charles Gascoigne's letter (Letters, February 8).

When I was a kid in WA in the 1950s all bicycles had to be registered to be on the road. The cost was about one or two shillings (10 to 20 cents) a year, which was about a week's pocket money.

In fact it took me to the movies on Saturday afternoon, and bought an ice cream and a drink at half time.

Every bike had a number plate like cars, and if a bike was stolen, the serial number of the frame was registered to an owner so the police could return it when/if found.

The police even came to school once a year, checked our bikes for road worthiness and ran a rules of the road session.

It's a pity modern cyclists don't have that type of education. Most would be much more aware of traffic and its dangers.

I understand that police duties are now taken up with more serious matters, but I understand there are a group of police volunteers that could perhaps carry out school visits and instruct budding cyclists.

As for Charles' comment on his three-year-old's inability to pay, I wouldn't expect a tricycle of small bike on trainer wheels to ride on the road or for that matter that a three-year-old would ride by themselves at that age, so it's a moot point.

Anyway, that's what parents are for.

Peter Martin ("Most save enough, some too much", February 15, p36) does not live in the Australia I reside in.

Just where does he find these low-income earners whose "cocktail of super, the pension and private savings gives them about as much or more per year in retirement as while working"?

If that were so, there would be no pension in their "cocktail".

He continues this nonsense by claiming the bottom one third of retirees will get more than they got while working if the super guarantee is increased.

Not increasing the super guarantee will guarantee one thing, just as allowing people to use their super to buy houses will.

That is that future governments will have to fund a seriously inflated call for the aged pension.

We are all aware that both super and wage come from the same pot, the employer.

We must ensure that we have adequate funds in our super when we retire.

PACER rebates for school student visits to Canberra have increased ("Rebates for civics excursions to increase after COVID border closures limited student visits", canberratimes.com.au, February 12).

The PACER website (pacer.org.au) tells us that to get the rebate students must visit Parliament House, the Museum of Australian Democracy and/or the National Electoral Education Centre, plus the Australian War Memorial.

The last one is interesting: not the National Library, the National Museum, the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery, the High Court, ANU, the Institute of Sport, AIATSIS, the Aboriginal Embassy, or even Questacon, but the AWM.

The compulsory stop at the memorial is a legacy of the introduction of the PACER scheme in the John Howard years. What does it say about the type of country we are or aspire to be?

Trump has been acquitted. It's now time for the Democrats to concentrate on the future rather than revenge.

America has many problems that require attention, such as the need for universal health care, endemic poverty, poor basic education for all, and rampant gun violence.

To the Democrats: why not look abroad to see what the rest of the developed world, including Australia, has done to create an egalitarian and low-crime society?

Then import the best of it.

To the Republicans: democracy is best served by regular rotation of the governing party. Now is the time to put Trump and his family behind you, and to pick younger and more aware leaders to reclaim the Presidency, the house and the senate.

I recently visited my ancestors' graves at the Riverview Cemetery in Queanbeyan where I regularly inspect the state of the graves in the heritage listed cemetery.

Sadly, the inscription on one grave had been vandalised with several lead clover leaves forcibly removed from the headstone.

It takes a special kind of idiocy to desecrate a grave. However there is little to stop idiots at the Riverview Cemetery.

I posed several questions to the council which merely confirmed the lack of security and any ongoing heritage management plan for the site when these specific questions were ignored.

What the council could do as a minimum is to provide a wire fence surrounding the site, to be locked at night, to deter nocturnal idiocy (similar to the Gungahlin Cemetery).

Council could also develop an ongoing heritage management plan for the heritage listed site.

Driving around Canberra I have noticed that many road signs are peeling off, faded or damaged or sometimes missing completely. The ACT government seems to be able to find funds for many arcane purposes, so I wonder if funds could be provided for better maintenance of our road signs? Visitors to the national capital will hardly be impressed by the ever-increasing dilapidation of our signage.

Stephen Jones says the ACT carbon-neutral commitment is an uneconomic handout (Letters, February 13). He says it's a welfare-destroying measure making us all worse off.

But carbon producers don't pay the costs of their carbon production. They don't even pay for mine rehabilitation (the partial amounts they should pay under the law are generally forgone in practice), or for direct pollution death and damage (ignoring climate impacts). What isn't paid for can't be seen by the market, and so is ignored by it.

Subsidies for fossil fuel production and use should be ended. They are the welfare-destroying handouts that should worry Jones; they worry me. As the national government won't act, the ACT needs to counterbalance a little.

And the pressing need to move away from fossil fuels more quickly would support some subsidy for early change, even if we did make fossil fuel production and use pay for immediate externalities.

Make the switch away from fossil fuel production and use quicker, and low income earners will benefit sooner.

Your editorial ("Time to recognise stolen generations", Forum, February 13) was spot on on the day marking the 13th anniversary of the apology to the stolen generations.

The establishment of a permanent healing place for the entire community, but especially those long-suffering Indigenous survivors and their forebears, is long overdue.

The federal government should be commended for its commitment to reconciliation and healing. And what a powerful statement of truth telling, treaty and self-determination it would make if the establishment of a healing place coincided with a constitutionally recognised voice to parliament/government.

This ACT government just cannot get their priorities right. First we have Andrew Barr saying his best decision has been installing lights at Manuka Oval. If this is so he should pack his bags and leave town. His worst decision is light rail that he will not admit to.

A driver who hits a cyclist is fined $393. Who comes up with the figure of $393, not $395 or $400? This is out of proportion when you consider parking in a disabled car space carries a fine of $600.

I believe the ACT government is to spend $10 million on mobile phone use detection. While drivers using mobile phones is a pet hate of mine, the ACT road toll for 2020 was just seven.

How many of these fatalities were caused by motorists using mobile phones? The money could be well spent elsewhere.

The new F-35s have picked up the soubriquet "Lightning II". Is it the P-38 Lightning or the English Electric Lightning that is being written out of history? And that is without counting the Arado Ar 234 "Blitz" jet bomber ("Blitz" being the German word for lightning), the Heinkel He 70 "Blitz" transport or the Messerschmitt Me 271bz "Blitz Zerstorer" ramjet fighter?

Tennis players are essential workers, but not teachers? Welcome to Victoria.

I do feel sorry for Anthony Bruce being tailgated by a Volvo. All I can suggest is that he tries a different brand of electric scooter.

The UK strain may very well be swift and dangerous but by far the most dangerous strain of all is the Dan Andrews strain.

Having accumulated an absurd number of cables, cords and adaptors for connection and charging functions over many years I wonder what the chance would be of a universal, standardised plug for charging electric vehicles? It seems a great opportunity for global standardisation: or is it already too late?

After donating $65 billion, entailing automatic escalation clause contracts, for strike fighters, to Eisenhower's military industrial complex, a road to Damascus insight suggests, presumably to Lockheed Martin's horror, there may be "other options". ("Retooling for new objectives, Air Force looks beyond fighters", February 12, p18).

The sign says Athllon Drive is to be "duplicated". Does this mean twice as many potholes?

Dutton needs reminding self praise is no recommendation. His "pride" in his integrity is a case of navel gazing. It's for others to say what they think of Mr Dutton's integrity on the basis of his actions and decisions. Others might not score him as highly.

Jenny Morrison for PM.

Maybe Australia would be better served if Jenny Morrison were prime minister, as it seems that her judgment is superior.

Does Jenny Morrison also suggest to her husband, our PM, that he should consider the Biloela children as if they were his, when considering their circumstances?

Barnaby Joyce's support for new coal power stations seems to have been proven unwarranted given South Australia recently experienced one 100 per cent electricity delivery from renewable energy sources.

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attachment. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.