After complaining to Housing ACT, we were asked to provide proof of this which we did over many weeks. It included photos of "visitors" who stay for weeks at a time filling up the drive and spilling over to the lawn right outside their door. It also included a recording of the horrible domestic arguments we are subjected to.

My husband has mown the lawn on several occasions and fixed the letterbox because neither the tenants nor Housing ACT would do anything about either issue.

Last Friday, we received a response to our Housing ACT second level complaint advising us that it was now closed because the tenants in their view had not breached the ACT Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and the extra cars were explained away. We were also advised not to mow the front lawn of make any repairs to the property.

We are being forced to live next door to an anti-social run down property and pay increasing rates and taxes for the privilege, or sell our beautiful home at a diminished price just because this government is unwilling or incapable of managing ACT housing tenants. To top it off, today we were also advised after weeks of seeking clarification, that the two properties next door will be demolished by Housing ACT so an increasing number of housing units and tenancies can fill the block.

"Salt and Pepper"? More like "Set and Forget". ACT Labor is running like a power unchecked and we as Canberra's homeowners have paid and continue to pay the ultimate price.

It seems no one gives a damn about how the main thoroughfare of our capital of Australia, which was once a beautiful part of Canberra, has become an eyesore. It's hard enough as a rate payer to stomach the tram when so many Canberrans didn't want the tram in the first place. Now we are being visually assaulted daily when travelling down Northbourne Avenue and beyond with the sight of overgrown dry grass weed all the way along, apart from a very small section adjacent to Haig Park and the small area of the Civic terminus. And the same will be happening to our south side! Seriously? Will our beautiful Commonwealth Avenue bridge and beyond be dug up in the process to be inflicted with the same eyesore? Maybe a lobby group needs to be formed to tackle this important issue.

I find it hard to give any credence to "art" that could be emulated by a child at kindergarten. I'm referring to the work of Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) now being exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia in "Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour" ("Cerebral, calculated use of colour", Panorama, February 27, p11).

It reminded me of the excellent Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London in 2020 where one of the exhibits was a garden rake stuck in a bottle with a cerebral title and priced at 3000 pounds.

All this smacks of emperor's new clothes and conning the gullible - but not so amusing if the "art" is being paid for by public galleries with taxpayers' money. I'm not totally against modern art. I once spent two weekends with Henry Moore at his studio, and he clearly had a prodigious talent for producing monumental abstract sculptures. Fortunately, we have some "real" art to look forward to on March 5 with the NGA's blockbuster opening of "Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London".

I challenge anyone to visit both exhibitions - and tell me I'm wrong!

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the Facebook news ban. For once, I am sympathetic to Facebook. The legislation allows the minister to make an arbitrary decision that certain IT companies should pay certain media companies for the media to post items on the IT company's platform. News is defined as "issues or events of interest to Australians". It is woefully vague, silly legislation to allow Murdoch's government to recoup lost advertising revenue for their boss, nothing more. Facebook demonstrating how stupid the legislation is doesn't make it their fault.

Many thanks to The Canberra Times for highlighting the impact of climate change on Australian sports ("Climate change could hit sport: report", February 25, p13). The changing environment is already affecting many sports and threatens the future of these games. A classic example was last year's Australian Open tennis in Melbourne, where the heat was so intense and air quality was so poor that several players had to retire from their matches early, either due to heat stroke or respiratory issues.

We can no longer turn a blind eye to the warming planet. Sports are one of the many joys in our lives that will be sacrificed at the altar of climate change if we do not take action. I personally cannot imagine anything worse than living a life in a sweltering environment where outdoor sport is no longer a feasible option.

Two observations about the COVID vaccine rollout ("Canberra aged care vaccination rollout on track amid delays", February 26, p6). Firstly, the standing aside of Healthcare Australia's chief executive would seem to indicate that private enterprise has a better grasp of the "Westminster" principle of accountability than our politicians. Secondly, bungles and failures with the rollout are yet another reminder that contracting the provision of public services to the private sector is not always as efficient or effective as successive conservative governments would have us believe.

No true bird-lover likes to see roadkill, even of our carolling magpies which no one seems to get fussed about. But pretty, domesticated peafowl cause a howl despite their true home being in a zoo ("Two peafowls dead in a week in Narrabundah", February 26, p18). Peafowl do not have the road sense of the equally bizarre but native brush turkeys that wander the streets of Brisbane (and sweep up fallen leaves into a mound). What a pity that the clever ANU researchers noting the calls of copulating lyrebirds ("Lyrebird a liar bird as it mimics predator threat", February 26, p3) could not coax those rare native songsters to inhabit our Canberra suburbs, just as those canny currawongs have done. Now that would be conservation in practice.

As usual, Jack Waterford sums up the nature of our current political culture with his devastating comment that "it's a pervasive culture of contempt for almost anyone outside the political class", including not just women, but the unemployed, the aged, the disabled, Indigenous Australians, migrants and refugees ("Abuse part of a sad, degraded culture", Forum, February 27, p30).

The problem is if we don't turn this mentality around, towards a sense of community, of common cause, of mutual respect and caring for others, we will be even less able to cope with the challenges that are heading towards us, courtesy of the changing climate.

When parts of the country are uninhabitable due to constant high temperatures and regular extreme weather events, when much of our agricultural production is in serious decline, when poor people are dying because they can't afford to keep cool, and when our neighbouring countries are experiencing social and political breakdown because of sea level rise and food and water shortages, we will need governments which are more mature, more caring and more future-focused than the current bunch.

If I might make one suggestion towards an improvement in current political culture, it is that political parties should not recruit any staffer who has less than five years' experience in a "real world" job.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Public Sector Union, 40 per cent of respondents said they were subject to bullying and harassment ("Almost half of Parliamentary staff bullied, harassed", February 27, p6).

Coincidentally, it was also recently reported by Minister Ken Wyatt that over a 12-month period, 40 per cent of aged care residents never have a visitor. This is a tragic indictment on the family and friends of those residents.

The recently released report following the Royal Commission into the aged care sector, aptly entitled "Neglect", makes some fairly damning observations of the standard of administration and care in some aged care facilities.

Just as bullying and harassment in the workplace must never be tolerated, it is beyond intolerable that our elderly are not treated with dignity and respect.

As a licensed New South Wales real estate agent of 45 years, I am appalled at the sales method of Canberra real estate agents. There is no doubt they promote units onto the market by underquoting sale prices to create crowd scenes in order to panic the possible buyers.

Some properties may sell in a frenzy at prices $100,000 over and above the asking price. They appear to keep buyers in the dark to manipulate sales. Residential strata units are basically cookie cutters and not that difficult to value.

Here in NSW there is the Department of Fair Trading whose mission it is to stamp out fictitious marketing practices such as underquoting.

There is more pussyfooting on the Tuggeranong Parkway. Constructing a third lane northbound from the Cotter Rd on-ramp to at least the transmission lines would solve a major congestion problem.

So Craig Kelly left the Liberal Party because he could not speak freely. I hate to think what's coming up. At least the average IQ of the Liberals has gone up a few points.

After waiting in line for two hours at Access ACT to complete a "working with vulnerable persons" clearance I realised working in the ACT isn't worth it. Clearly the ACT government has no interest in its people. So I've returned to NSW.

Rather than ask alleged victims who claim to have been sexually assaulted at Parliament House to come forward, might it be more practical to have those not so claiming to step back?

ACT drivers must be the most discourteous in the country.

If one wants to drive below the speed limit then use the left lane, as per traffic rules.

It's nigh on impossible to drive around here on the speed limit. The "slow pokes" should be fined as they appear to be asleep at the wheel.

Hopefully this will bring an end to that obnoxious little "me" that bounces around to the haunting tune of the Hot Butter's 1972 hit single, Popcorn ("ME Bank agrees to BOQ merger", canberratimes.com.au, February 23).

Ann Villiers says: "It's time to say that the women's final is a significant match, on a par with the men's." (Letters, February 23). Sorry, until they play best-of-five sets for their equal prize money, it isn't.

Ed Gaykema wants the prime minister to get vaccinated last, remaining at risk of being sidelined with COVID-19 (Letters, February 23).

Is he really such a big fan of the deputy prime minister?

When did Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes become our prime minister? "Don't ask me ... I know nuffing."

Perhaps the government could tell the public the correct vaccine dosage and we could check it ourselves.

With respect, if anyone thinks increasing the dole by $25 a week is too little are they prepared to pay the extra tax for a larger amount?

Where else do you think the Morrison government can get the extra funds?

From their own pockets or an inheritance?