We already have our local government, it's called the ACT government. It would be ludicrous to set up another level of bureaucracy for our population of 450,000.

By comparison, the Brisbane City Council services an area with a population of 1.25 million, roughly the same as the ACT, Tasmania and the NT combined. And how fortunate is Queensland in not having an upper house in their state parliament.

Most states are doing their best to reduce the number of local councils but face significant pushback from vested interests. Our local community councils, including our Inner South Community Council, do an admirable job of connecting local areas with government and do so extremely cost effectively.

Let's scupper this silly idea before it goes any further. This proposal shouldn't be conflated with the very strong argument that the people of the ACT should be able make our own decisions on such important issues as euthanasia. That's a totally different matter.

As a fully AstraZeneca-vaccinated Baby Boomer, I'm angry with my fellow Baby Boomers. Your low COVID-19 vaccination rates are inexcusable and are putting others in danger.

Your fellow taxpayers have spent millions to give you a safe, effective, vaccine free of charge. We're drowning in AstraZeneca and you still won't get the jab.

Surely you realise that driving a car or consuming alcohol has a higher probably of causing you death or disability than AstraZeneca?

You're behaving like spoilt brats. Boomers, book yourselves in today.

Parliament should cancel the pointless 2022 federal election. "Scotty from Marketing" will win it anyway. "What's his name" Albo has put the finishing touches on remaking the ALP as a centre-right party by promising the Coalition its parliamentary support for Morrison's wealthy-class tax cuts.

It's just as well pollies made sure that political advertisements were exempt from laws requiring advertisers to be sort-of truthful. Otherwise outraged left-of-centre citizens would successfully sue the ALP for falsely claiming to be a political party of the left.

With three centre-right parties dominating parliament, why have an election? Hungary is the prime example of how to dismantle a parliamentary democracy in the 21st century. I suggest renaming the three-party federal coalition: "The Orban Party".

As we enter Homelessness Week (August 1 to August 7) every night there are more than 116,000 people who are homeless and don't have somewhere safe or secure to sleep. This includes 37,715 in NSW.

There are many reasons why people face homelessness. For some it's family breakdown, domestic and family violence, job loss or financial pressures. Others have fallen through the cracks of our mental health system.

At Mission Australia, we hear the cries for help on the frontline. Many of our services are at capacity. Social housing wait lists are ballooning. There simply aren't enough safe, secure homes to house people. That shouldn't be the case in a nation like ours.

We anticipate August's 2021 census will show an increase homelessness yet our federal government still has no national plan to end homelessness in Australia.

Please join me and the thousands of others who are calling on political leaders near and far to make the changes needed to end homelessness.

Please also consider signing up to the Everybody's Home campaign to call for solutions to end homelessness at everybodyshome.com.au.

There was a distinct lack of leadership in the federal budget - we need to do better.

We are invited to fill in our census forms as soon as they are delivered. They can't be serious. The census is supposed to capture the status of the population on census night.

How can I confidently predict who will be domiciled at my location 12 nights out from the target date? Anyone in the household could be in an accident between now and then and be in hospital.

With arbitrary lockdowns in force, some of us may be trapped elsewhere. Some of us may die. What would be wrong with asking us to fill in the form after August 10 with the details of who was actually present.

With the veiled threat "we will contact you by letter or in person if you have not submitted your form by Thursday, August 12", it would be a brave person who waits until the eleventh before submitting the form.

On the wall of a building on the corner of Cunningham Street and The Causeway in Kingston there's a large mural of Marion and Walter Burley Griffin and part of their plan for Canberra. However, a tall wooden power pole has been placed right in front of the mural thereby spoiling its effect.

It would be wonderful were the pole to be relocated. If that's too costly our caring government might consider a speech balloon for Walter - who seems to be looking right at it - with the words "who put that bloody post there?"

Is it worth continuing with the Light Rail Stage 2? We know the direct costs are going to exceed two billion dollars. Canberrans will have to live with severe traffic congestion on major arterial roads for some four years.

We also know the proposed tram services will take some 10 minutes longer than existing bus services.

Presumably the existing rapid transport corridor between the Hyatt Hotel and the roundabout at the junction of Adelaide Avenue, Yamba Drive and Melrose Drive will be reduced to a disjointed trip of speed zones which will have a permanent impact on emergency services, taxi services and the motoring public.

The main aim of introducing trams in Canberra was to reduce carbon emissions. This can now be achieved with battery-operated buses and without unnecessary inflexible and expensive infrastructure.

So, South Canberrans, is a tram worth the total cost, prolonged chaos, lasting anger and a final increased travel time? With extra buses our government could maintain a faster public transport corridor and avoid unnecessary disruptions, while directing huge saving toward more urgent needs such as community housing.

Bill Shorten's colourful description of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout could easily be applied to Light Rail Stage 2. What a disaster. If you add the huge economic costs of the government's planned four-year traffic chaos onto their original estimates then perhaps it's time to investigate solving all the headaches by tunnelling under the lake.

Mr Barr must be looking for early retirement. North Canberra voters won't be happy at the loss of Dickson parking space. The thousands who have been fined for "speeding" in the absurd 40 km/h zone that now blankets Civic won't be happy either. Nor will the inhabitants of most of southern Canberra when they suffer the effects of four years of traffic chaos.

The government remains deaf to the concerns raised about their proposed route for the light rail extension. The alternative route, spelt out in Jack Kershaw's letter (Letters, July 28), has been proposed many times before by Jack and others. I advocated it myself in letters to the editor published as long ago as December 2017 and June 2018.

I refer to the article "ACT Coroner launches inquiry into origins of Orroral Valley fire in Namadgi" (canberratimes.com.au, July 28).

Whilst searching the ESA website on the day of the fire I came across an amateur hour (presumably ESA) promo video of the army helicopters on the fire ground choreographed to David Hasselhoff music.

It seemed out of place and the link was gone the next day as someone may have woken up to themselves.

Hopefully all aspects surrounding those days will be uncovered by the inquiry.

Leon Arundell (Letters, July 28) accuses Fred Goldsworthy of not understanding the concept of averages. Perhaps Mr Arundel doesn't understand a weakness of "average" or, more correctly, "mean". With a population which has a small number of outlier very expensive cars the mean can be misleading. That's why the real estate market uses median (middle-most score).

Until we have elected a caring and competent government a publicly funded holiday home in Hawaii should be arranged for Scott Morrison to retreat to whenever we have a crisis in Australia.

If Anthony Bruce was only fined $253 for departing the CBD at 47 km/h recently (Letters, July 29) he should count himself lucky. I was fined $301 and lost one point for driving at the exact same speed and in the same place.

If the Doherty Institute's plan works Scott Morrison will claim it as his own, lock, stock and barrel. If it fails, then the Doherty Institute will be thrown under the bus. It's the Morrison way.

Talk of mandatory vaccination is reminiscent of a totalitarian state. This should be a voluntary decision given the risk associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Why is Australia behaving in an unintelligent way? We should look to other countries, such as Sweden, for ways to deal with COVID-19.

Re: the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation's Family Home Guarantee Scheme. This makes a mockery of the financial plight of single parents in this country and is ludicrous given the state of the housing market in the ACT.

Can somebody please explain why they are called "Liberals".

Am I the only true believer who is devastated by the ALP's decision to drop its plans to scrap negative gearing and its new found willingness to pass the government's tax cuts for the rich and infamous? I haven't left the Labor Party. If the truth be known the the Labor Party has left me (and many others).

When today's Aussie soldiers retire one medal citation will read: "I helped to blockade the Sydney ghetto back in the days of the first COVID-19 wars".

Despite all the hoo-ha pushing the merit of participation in the Games when all is said and done nothing matches the pre-eminence of Olympic gold. It's not remembered who came second.

Only three more lock downs till Christmas.

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