Jeremy Hanson MLA chaired a previous Legislative Assembly inquiry on drones. At least 80 per cent of the submissions were against. The high-pitched, invasive noise of delivery drones drove the residents of Bonython nuts until the "trial" was ejected from that suburb.

Quality of life and a supportive environment are important in these challenging times. The submissions to the previous inquiry showed how stressful this is for people, dogs, horses and wildlife.

It speaks volumes that the ACT government can still support such destructive practice in some suburbs.

Greg Carroll (Letters, March 11) asks who is with him in not wanting the sky full of whining drones.

Many people in Bonython are with you, having experienced the same angst due to the constant presence of noisy, whining drones.

The Bonython Against Drones Action Group's website explains what we did about it.

With 172,000 known cases, COVID is out of control in our nearest neighbour, PNG.

Because it is well under control here, why not pause our vaccine rollout and redirect it to PNG where it is more urgently needed?

Then Australia would lead by example to encourage wealthy nations to adopt poorer ones by supplying them vaccine and expertise. Otherwise these countries where COVID is rampant may never receive the vaccine. What then?

If God himself hovered over Parliament tomorrow and wiped COVID-19 from the face of the earth Labor and the unions would still complain.

They have not been bipartisan or supportive during the pandemic. I am sick of their whinging and their lack of gratitude for the billions already spent.

The federal government cannot be an endless money bank forevermore for all Australians, and neither should it be. They trust us to get up and on with life.

Labor and the unions, on the other hand, would have us as grateful little sheep baaing around their beneficence.

I have a British friend who claims that now I am living in Moscow it must be like George Orwell's 1984. He is rendered speechless when I explain why I am happy with it.

Each time I enter my apartment block I see a CCTV camera. Moscow mayor Sobyanin says that that's how criminals on the run are now apprehended in the Russian capital.

Instead of a two-way television we have gadgets. Those used by Muslim terrorists and Ukrainian spies are hacked by the state. Our media show them being arrested while in possession of explosives and Kalashnikovs.

Russian historical records are rewritten by no less a person than Mr Vladimir Putin himself who has acknowledged that Polish officers had been massacred in 1940 by us, not the Nazis.

I read 1984 as soon as it became available in Moscow in the 1990s. But even before that I knew not everything in the West is good.

The first time I saw Barrie Smillie's name in the Letters pages of The Canberra Times was on December 1, 2010.

This is what Barrie wrote:

"On the 'national day of wonderment' we'll stand beside a lemon tree in blossom, inhaling its perfume, sit for a while and listen to music offering elegance, tranquillity and excitement, step outside in the clearness of the night, and look at the stars."

On a freezing cold night in the Flinders Ranges in 2012, I woke suddenly, quickly donned beanie and jacket and, recalling Barrie's beautiful words, stepped outside to live briefly amongst the stars, to breathe in the stars.

The trouble with architects ("The airport is a gift to the city", canberratimes.com.au, March 9) is that they never seem to have to live in, work in or make use of the structures they create.

Why the Canberra Airport got an award is a mystery to me. In my view it's by far the worst national capital airport design I have seen and I have been to many.

Let me explain. When you arrive from Hobart or Sydney in a small plane, you disembark somewhere closer to Queanbeyan than Canberra. It's a good march across the tarmac to get to a covered walkway, also open to the elements. You arrive at a side door, where you have to go up to another level, which turns out to be the departure lounge.

So you are standing at the Gate 12 exit wondering where you went wrong. No signage anywhere on where to go. Wander along, and near Gate 10, if you are lucky to spot it, in minuscule lettering, there is small arrow to "luggage claim". Through some doors and of course down steps or escalator to arrive in the arrivals hall. A good march to the collection belt and to the cabs, also last door out.

Definitely an award for making a tired traveller even more so. Not the people's award, I can guarantee you that.

I write RE recent coronial findings on suicides within The Canberra Hospital mental health unit. Having experienced the trauma and grief over the loss of a son to suicide in the old PSU at The Canberra Hospital (Coroners findings November 2003) I can empathise with the families and the loss of their loved ones.

Design improvements alone do not stop a determined and ill person from committing suicide. While limiting ligature points, removing belts and other potentially dangerous items can help, the best reduction method, as clearly demonstrated in the recent findings, is adequate staffing.

Over a period of a couple of years I both observed staff and patient interaction and participated in family support within the ward at 2N and the PSU and, to some degree, with patients.

I believe the introduction of suitably trained voluntary members of the community in the ward would alleviate the demands on the professional staff and allow for more frequent individual interaction with the patient. If the system allows for "normal" discussion time with a professional or volunteer the outcome is beneficial for all and potentially reduces the suicide risk.

Michael Lane (Letters, March 8) tackles the social evil of travelling slowly in the right lane; even if slowly is the speed limit. The right lane is for speeding, not for slowing, in Michael's book.

In my Volvo-driving days I was never sure which side of the road to drive on, let alone how close to the middle line, so I am not one to argue. What intrigues me, though, is the very up-to-the-minute confraternity of drivers in laned traffic who decline to use indicators.

It is high time "lane discipline" is taught as a pre-emptive skill ahead of the blind adherence to keeping left in multi-lane conditions. Yes, that includes indicating before changing lanes, driving to conditions, anticipating turns and intersections, and respecting traffic lights and speed limits.

G Gillespie (Letters, February 26) and George Gerrity (Letters, March 8) both assert that there is not a proliferation problem with weapons material from thorium reactors.

There is, however a 2018 article available online, "Thorium power has a protactinium problem", which describes in detail how to extract uranium-233, a functional weapons material, from thorium reactor products.

So this assertion needs qualification at least.

Tony Eggleton (Letters, March 9) admires the native grasses and gum trees on the median strip of Northbourne Avenue because they evoke the "long paddock" of droving fame.

Others, including myself, see this as a messy strip of tinder-dry, waist-high grass and weeds just waiting for a careless cigarette butt.

Mr Eggleton is opposed to Peter Sherman's "bird-attracting shrubs" because they would result in unsightly roadkill.

As it stands, the Northbourne Avenue median strip could become yet another haven for rabbits, which would result in even more unsightly roadkill as they cross the road to seek water.

Labor claims Defence is in disarray due to the minister's extended absence. In my experience (in Defence) the department ran more efficiently when the minister was absent.

No, Jonathan Lyall, (Letters, March 9) Italy's move to ban the export of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia was not "putrid vaccine nationalism". With hundreds of deaths per day they need it more than we do.

The response of some legislators to the JobSeeker payment is to tell some of the people who elected them to go to beggary.

The phrase "cannot be underestimated" is becoming entrenched. It is mainly uttered by politicians and journalists. It is also patently illogical. What the speaker surely means is either "should not be underestimated" or "cannot be overestimated". Are others equally troubled by this?

The Queen and our PM are always, avowedly, the last to know of what is festering under their noses in their respective palaces. They're so good at damage control themselves they hardly need all the taxpayer-funded spin doctors in their retinues.

I know he's our prime minister but why are we subjected to a constant barrage of television and newspaper picture of this hollow man's constant masquerading as a tradie, chef, motor mechanic, truck driver and so on when we all know he doesn't know the first thing about these jobs?

Michael Doyle (Letters, March 11) probably didn't live in Canberra when those paths were constructed around the lakes and other parts of the city. Back then they were called "bike paths".

RE John Warhurst's "The future is in the PM's hands" (canberratimes.com.au, March 11). One thing that has always puzzled me and has not been addressed is what happens if a PM does not accept a genuine resignation? You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

The attempted trashing of the presumption of innocence by the "woke" left is their most repulsive move yet. The termination of Annette Kimmitt at MintersEllison is a turning point in the fightback against being controlled by "wokeness".

Our Prime Minister Scott Morrison has decided the majority of destinations for cheap flights are in what appear to be marginal seats. Does this mean pork barrels can fly?

There are so many airfares offered by airlines and many competitive platforms. Just what is a half price airfare?

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