Mine is a mind blower. I know of two young doctors only just into their second year of marriage.

One works at Canberra Hospital the other at Nepean. Both accepted the imposition of separation to give to the community.

They have not seen each other since June and they don't know when they will.

They continue on with stoic acceptance as they are health workers who say "it is what it is" and that others are worse off than they.

They don't have the hide or the indifference to others that our PM constantly displays.

My daughter lives 10 kilometres away as the crow flies and I wasn't allowed to see her and the grandsons on Fathers Day (or at any time for more than three weeks, with who knows how many to go?)

Now I'm not demanding a VIP jet to take me there. A Commonwealth car would do. Fair's fair.

Ernst Willheim (Letters, September 7) reminds us of the Tampa affair of 2001 and claims Australia failed its legal maritime obligations. But in telling the story, he omitted some very crucial facts.

The Tampa rescued the refugees on the Palapa 1 on August 26 in international waters. The Tampa's Captain (Captain Rinnan) followed international law and protocols and set course for the closest port, the city of Merak in Indonesia.

Indonesian maritime authorities (Palapa 1 was an Indonesian vessel) also directed him to head for Merak.

The rescued refugees objected, occupied the ship's bridge and demanded to be taken Australia.

Fearing violence and threats that refugees would jump overboard, Captain Rinnan complied and sailed towards Australia, entering Australian waters on August 29, 2001.

As for Mr Willheim's concerns about insufficient lifeboats and life jackets while at sea, it seems this was not an issue when the refugees demanded the Tampa take the journey to Australia rather than back to Indonesia.

I have to wonder if Mr Willheim told the whole story when he presented at that Oxford conference?

I am an avid golfer but unable to practice or play a sport that has in built social distancing as a matter of the way you participate and or practice.

Yet mountain bikers can continue to gather in groups of 20 or more at the site on the Monaro Hwy next to the paint ball facility over the past two weekends.

This seems unbalanced and/or discriminatory, not to mention just as dangerous an environment for the transmission of COVID-19 as golf participation.

The Prime Minister has taken a politically dangerous stance by saying Australia will open up at 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination rates despite Doherty's modelling of the consequences.

By raising expectations unnecessarily he will end up backing himself in a corner.

Mr Morrison seems to have learnt nothing from Donald Trump's statements. We don't want a divided Australia.

Week after week I read articles highlighting how stamp duty on the sale of a house is an inefficient tax that impacts property flexibility, makes homes unaffordable and creates a barrier for those wanting to upsize or downsize.

Writers usually praise the ACT government for transitioning away from stamp duty to larger annual rates increases.

I have to wonder if any of these so called tax experts have actually bought a house in Canberra in the past few years. If they had they would know by just how little stamp duty has been reduced?

The ACT government has only adjusted stamp duty at the very edges. It is currently making money hand over fist by continuing to tax house sales whilst gorging on renters via land tax and homeowners through annual rates.

I was shocked to find out that friends recently paid well over $10,000 more in stamp duty on a median Canberra house than I paid in stamp duty a decade ago for a similar average Canberra home.

The ACT government has been gaming the situation by not increasing the stamp duty tax thresholds in line with the growth in median house values.

Stamp duty has proved to be a very efficient tax for Mr Barr and his changes haven't made housing more affordable for Canberrans.

If I was a business owner that didn't put my hand up for a JobKeeper subsidy because I assessed I would not be worse off as a result of the lockdowns, I'd be pretty miffed that other businesses, regardless of making squillions in profits, are able to keep public monies they didn't actually need.

I'd be asking whether I could apply retrospectively.

I cannot but fail to see the similarity between the USA exits from Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Both were on the back of unwinnable wars, both involved civilians scrambling for the last aircraft, both left desperate people behind.

America was late for World War I and World War II. When they get into wars of their own they lose.

American foreign policy usually involves people dying.

It was most successful as a country during the the 1930s when it was isolationist. Surprisingly not many people died.

America is not the world's policeman anymore, they cannot even police their own country.

There have been complaints (Letters, August 31, September 1) about ACT Health's contract tracing not performing at 100 per cent all the time, day in day out.

Yes it is frustrating about not been informed on the appropriate day when to exit from stay at home quarantine. I also had to isolate a few weeks ago and can only praise ACT contact tracing team.

Thank goodness we have a contact tracing system in place and 99 per cent of the time it works without fault. Let's be grateful for the system and workers behind the system, that overall is working exceptionally well under pressured demand.

Let's be grateful the system works well most of the time. I don't know of any electronic system that works perfectly all the time. The Chief Minister and his team are doing a great job, my thanks to you all.

A short sharp lockdown obviously means different things to those in government. Maybe those who flocked to the supermarkets to stock up when the "short" lockdown was first announced should have been applauded rather than maligned. It seems that they were able to read the future and were just trying to make sure they could do the right thing and stay at home for the lengthy "short" lockdown. Further, it is to be hoped that the Chief Minister does not follow the definition of "short" as defined by the Victorian Premier.

Going into Afghanistan was a political stunt. Getting out was definitely a political stunt. Going in actually provided great benefits to the people of Afghanistan; especially by allowing women and girls to live a full life. Getting out was a complete disaster especially as the Afghan people now face a very bleak future made much worse by knowing what could have been.

The US has hundreds of bases all over the world, many of which are deeply resented by local populations. They chose to pull out of almost the only one which provided significant benefits to the local population.

This abrupt and completely chaotic withdrawal has potentially given the world an unstable and uncertain future. It is now quite conceivable that Donald Trump will successfully contest the 2024 election, a scenario which would have been unthinkable before the pull-out. The world now faces an uncertain and unstable future.

The pull-out political stunt was I think supposed to be a grand "peace with honour" moment associated with the upcoming September 11 commemorations. This will now be very very difficult to achieve.

Like Tony Greenwell (Letters, September 2) I am with those who wonder at the length of time being taken with the Gaetjens report on a serious matter such as alleged rape. The matter, I thought, was ready for further action. What's the hold-up?

I find it interesting that anti-lockdown people like to compare Australia to North Korea. But surely advocating no lockdowns and the resulting deaths of many citizens is much closer to North Korea than trying to save it citizens by whatever means are necessary?

Re: Dick Parker of Page (Letters, September 6), I wasn't questioning CDF's need to go to Hawaii - just the timing. It wasn't a good look for him to be in Hawaii during the Kabul crisis (nor for ScoMo during the bushfires).

Your article 'Deputy PM wants to tell voters he's a changed man' (September 3, page 6) confirms nothing has changed. Barnaby Joyce is a dangerous combination of wilful ignorance and gross arrogance.

Yes John Panneman, (Letters, September 3) if Karen Hardy's choice had been "black and strong, I would have been equally offended but the image of all you white men, with sunscreen on, marching forward, just boggles my mind. I have to say I also love men who have a great sense of humour. Well done.

Stuck between a rock (NSW) and a hard place (Victoria), ACT locals will be confined to our local region until fully vaccinated residents outweigh the COVID-19 health dangers.

To whoever wrote the encouraging phrases and drew the smiley faces on the bike path near Hazel-Smith Crescent in Oxley, a big thank you. Your efforts cheered my heart while I was on my walk.

The Chief Minister and the Chief Health Officer continue to reiterate that a symptom of COVID-19 is the loss of [a sense of] smell or taste. I know a number of people who have no taste and I don't think they've been for testing.

It seems the Minister for Health speaks with a forked tongue when he states the government is in full compliance with ATAGI's vaccination recommendations. (Letters, September 4). There is still no sign of vaccine choice for oldies despite ATAGI's support for such.

The Deputy PM's difficulty in reading out his confused take on ancient history at the start of his National Press Club address on Friday suggests that his resident media adviser must have done a rush job on copying out the Wikipedia extracts.

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