Now the public housing tenants have been evicted, many to the distant suburbs far from the services they need and the neighbours who provided mutual support. And they're to be replaced by yet more "mixed-use" towers of apartments and offices and shop-fronts and cafes for the more privileged members of the community.

As residents and visitors approach Canberra's CBD in future we'll travel between walls of glass and steel and concrete, interspersed by cranes on construction sites, just like the approach to so many other anonymous cities the world over.

Canberra used to be of world renown, a beautiful city in the landscape. Now the focus has moved to cookie-cutter development opportunities disguised as "revitalisation" and "mixed-use urban villages" and "pedestrian destinations". We're all the poorer for it.

I feel I must respond to the letter published on Saturday, March 27 under the heading "No to quotas". The writer expresses his belief "that we shouldn't design a system that puts hurdles in the way of merit-based representation" and therefore he opposes "any rule that predetermines eligibility for candidacy to parliament on a non-merit basis".

I would challenge the writer to examine the assumption that more female representation has ever resulted in a reduction in the quality of female representation and, more importantly the assumption that current system of pre-selecting (predominantly male) candidates is in fact merit-based?

I would suggest the writer needs to explain why he assumes that quotas would result in the nomination of "less meritorious female candidates over a more meritorious male" would not ever produce a better parliament, before demanding that 'scoffers' need to explain what seems obvious to at least one political party; that in any truly merit based process it is highly likely that 50 per cent of those selected will be women.

While I am not our current PM's greatest fan, I congratulate him for his reported willingness to consider the issue of quotas in his party and I hope he follows through.

Recent letters (March 24 and March 26) have decried the fact that the Canberra Hospital is underfunded to the extent that it lacks the facilities to provide the best service to the ratepayers of Canberra. It seems to me that too much funding is going to the 'white elephant' light rail and not enough to essential services like the hospital. Money from the light rail project should be diverted to provide extra dedicated bus lanes, to enhance an already efficient bus service, and to the hospital.

My wife is waiting anxiously for an MRI but, because she has a pacemaker, there are limited locations where that can be done. On advice, we first went to the Canberra Hospital, only to be told that the waiting time was likely to be three or four months. We are told that this is because in-patients are given priority, which is probably fair enough, but mainly, because the only available MRI machine is unable to meet the demand in a timely fashion. We would like to suggest that the government divert some of the light-rail millions to provide a few thousand dollars to fund the purchase of a second MRI machine for the hospital. What about it, chief minister?

Recent events in Parliament House make it obvious where Cabinet leaks. If drunken staffers can enter a minister's office at 2am on a Saturday, in the certain knowledge they won't be interrupted while using it as they please, then how easy must it be for someone to extract documents or information and sell to the highest bidder? Until cameras are installed for after-hours surveillance of those offices, Parliament will remain a branch office of the KGB.

It is tough to be the prime minister. You have to listen. You have be empathetic. You have to be understanding of the issues that prevent our ever-dynamic employers from recruiting thousands of job-seekers and wanting to pay as much tax as they can for the good of all Australians.

Then there are the women who forget their place in Australian society, failing to respond gratefully if a "bloke" looks their way or down their blouse.

After all, Scotty is from marketing. It's not like anyone could actually think that marketing actually does anything: they don't hold a hose, or a syringe, or build anything other than "aspirations". So let's all email the PM with our real view of how he's doing as PM.

Why is it that a good action that has the potential to help with our climate change issue should be taxed? This is not what people thought would happen when they put on solar. This sun tax will restrict those who are keen to take up solar, penalise those who have and send the wrong message to the broader community.

Our governments need to stop being greedy and consider the future and support the future and its generations.

A recent article in The Canberra Times reported on an attack on sheep in our region by 'wild dogs'. While domestic stock need to be protected there seems to be an issue with the label 'wild dogs'.

The latest issue of Australian Mammalogy reports almost all so-called wild dogs are genetically pure dingo or dingo-dominated hybrids. The lead author of the study, Dr Kylie cairns, states there is not a feral dog problem in Australia and the term 'wild dog' is a euphemism. Dingoes are native Australian animals and apex predators that play a fundamental role in shaping ecosystems and keeping herbivores such as kangaroos and smaller predators in check. So let's not demonise dingoes, and while protecting domestic stock, protect our native dingo as well.

Ricky Stuart's criticism of the referee for missing an apparent Warriors forward pass against the Raiders ("Stuart under investigation for alleged referee abuse", March 29) was both predictable and misguided because it implied the decision cost the Raiders the match.

Rather than focus on the match officials, Stuart should examine how his team blew a 25-6 lead. A moment-in-time decision by a referee has no more impact than a single skill mistake by a player or a tactical miscalculation by the coach, but cumulative blunders by a team ultimately determine the final score. The team that makes the least errors will generally win. If Stuart wants to find the reasons for the weekend loss, he needs to look inward.

Perhaps now is the time for the 15,000-plus Raiders supporters to let the NRL know what they feel about the disgraceful error by all officials in failing to award the Raiders a scrum as a result of a blatant forward pass.

Ricky Stuart has been most circumspect in his press conference remarks and for the NRL to take any action against him as a result of hearsay remarks would be grossly unfair and unwarranted.

Regarding the article "Tram Route plants big pain in the grass" (March 29), I couldn't agree more with the negative sentiments expressed in the article. Without doubt Northbourne Avenue is a national disgrace. All it says is "Welcome to Weedsville". Enough is enough and we shouldn't have to wait for the appearance to improve. It is just disgraceful and will continue to be. Why not start again?

I love the tram route grasslands (CT, March 29). To me they are evocative of Canberra's setting as the Bush Capital. While I'm in my car crawling along in the traffic, the landscaping gives me a taste of being out in the bush. I hope I'm around in 10 years to see their promised maturity. Thank you landscape designers for your vision.

In any normal workplace, someone caught up to the shenanigans Andrew Laming has been perpetrating would be instantly dismissed. Not in Parliament: like Laming, you get a year or so's grace until the next election. What a total disgrace.

While we are currently experiencing torrential flooding, surely there should be some serious thought going into how this water can be redirected and stored for later use, rather than constructing a 60-kilometre pipeline to shunt the water out to sea?

I refer to the unspeakable debauchery currently prevailing in Parliament. I am perplexed that a possible remedy, seriously proposed, to restrain this ongoing bacchanal, is to increase the number of women employed there.

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of our country. Because the women of Australia are angry. And rightfully so. For far too long the man's world in which women inhabit has ignored their rightful place. That is, side by side with men and equal in every way imaginable.

If I were the PM, perhaps, as a start, one idea might be to remove all the internal doors inside Parliament House, but lock the Prayer Room forever. Immediately reduce all male salaries to match those of females' wages. And lock the external doors at 5pm after the whole building is evacuated, no exceptions. Just a few ideas.

It might not a good idea to buy a second-hand desk from the ex-government furniture store any time soon.

A local bookshop has Australian Politics for Dummies on sale at 20 per cent off. Do they know something we don't, or is there a new edition on the way?

Although I was never a great fan of John Grey Gorton when he was our prime minister, I greatly admire the statue in the photograph accompanying Ian Warden's article "When a damsel is not really in distress" (March 28, p13). Melbourne sculptor Lis Johnson has excelled herself in creating such an amazingly lifelike bronze replica of Sir John and his devoted pet, Susie Q.

It was always said that the bawdy Pommy movie series never had a tale from the colonies, now Morrison has delivered Carry-On Up The Hill.

Yet again we see a game being lost due to an incorrect refereeing decision on a forward pass (Raiders v Warriors). Surely, a combination of either the 'Hawkeye' system as used in tennis and the 'world record time to beat' as used for many years in swimming could be utilised by the bunker. The premiership could be on the line over this.