Mr Barr has made a point of emphasising the value he puts on human life, but vaccination alone is not the complete answer: the vaccinated also catch, spread and in some cases get very ill and even die with COVID-19.

Home "rapid antigen" test kits reduce the "friction" associated with testing for COVID-19: they are much faster, cheaper and more convenient, even if not as accurate as PCR tests: for each infection undetected by PCR, somewhere between two and four are probably missed by rapid antigen tests.

But if, as the Therapeutic Goods Administration says, rapid antigen testing is valuable, it is vital that they are made freely available as widely as possible to encourage everyone, not just those able to afford the home test kits or those motivated and able to attend a PCR testing site and wait for the results.

By distributing six test kits free to every household, the Singapore government is signalling that it understands and is committed to the importance of testing and wants their community to do the same. They are setting an example that all governments should follow. As with the Commonwealth's penny-wise-pound-foolish failures to prudently secure vaccine last year, the costs of being proactive are negligible compared to the costs of inaction, particularly for one claiming to value human life.

I can't speak for anyone else, but it frustrates me when I hear or read about ACT officials asking why people aren't coming forward to get tested at the slightest sign of symptoms.

I myself have never had a driver's licence. I've never wanted the expense of a car and all that goes with it. I know that I am in a minority here, but without a car it's quite an effort to get to a testing centre.

I know those with cars have often had to wait for long periods of time to get tested. But actually getting to the testing centre to queue up doesn't take that long if you drive.

For me, the closest testing centre is EPIC, which is not open to anyone on foot or using public transport. Gold Creek pop-up has more limited hours, and on weekends it can be hit and miss with buses. There is no pathology clinic offering testing anywhere near me.

So really my only option is to take a tram to Civic and a bus to Garran if I want to get tested - about 90 minutes each way. For those of us who don't have access to a drive-in testing facility, it's a long journey on public transport ... and that only increases potential exposure.

So how about more pop-ups similar to what was done in Watson in the last weekend of September? Make testing an easy thing to do. At present it's definitely not.

Thankfully, the start of daylight saving coincides with the Labour Day long weekend, enabling most workers to catch some extra sleep.

All who enjoy a well-earned rest on Monday, may give thanks for the provision of safe and properly remunerated workplaces, and for the eight-hour day.

While a holiday is a holy day, involving rest rather than employment, it would be a mistake to regard work as a "four letter word". In fact the biblical Hebrew verb for work ("abad") also means to serve or worship.

The goodness of work and the rights of workers have come to us through biblical concepts that we take for granted, but which do not grow on a tree. Something to ponder on this holiday long weekend.

Having just joined the illustrious ranks of my many fellow Ken Behrens who've copped a voluntary $300 fine and one demerit point for furious driving along Barry Drive out of Civic, I take some comfort in the knowledge that I'll be contributing to paying off our 19th century transport solution.

Meanwhile I note that Brisbane has just ordered a new fleet of 60 all-electric, high-capacity buses. Canberra, it seems, is to Brisbane as Australia is to Scandinavia - about 50 years behind the times.

Martin Butterfield (Letters, September 27) overlooks two things in taking his cheap shot at Andrew Barr.

Firstly, all of the leaders, whatever their party, have put their best slant on the figures as they relate to their state or territory. It's not just a Barr thing.

Secondly, the underlying premise of Butterfield's argument seems to be that large numbers of out-of-town workers crossing the border into the ACT to work may pose some sort of threat. Uh, Martin, those workers are mainly from NSW and as we see from the daily statistical updates on vaccinations, NSW is marching in lockstep with the ACT on vaccinations, both single and double doses.

When it comes to the Chief Minister's prediction, there's no need to fear that it will be undermined by an inferior result from across the border.

The headline "Doubts on case for stage 2a" says it all (canberratimes.com.au, September 25).

Will the government once more ignore its own watchdog? The poll reported on Sunday, September 19, by the Australia Institute of 1057 is hardly a ringing endorsement of the headline "Most Canberrans support light rail".

We need some answers. How much fill is required at the intersection of Edinburgh Avenue and London Circuit to achieve the required level for the track of light rail?

I have been seeking this information for about three months and the "team" cannot, or will not, tell me.

Eric Hunter (Letters, September 24) is surely wrong in bluntly stating that "AUKUS" is not an acronym but an initialism.

The Macquarie Dictionary, for example, defines an acronym as "a word formed from the initial letters of other words, as radar (from radio detection and ranging), or ANZAC from Australian and New Zealand Army Corps". AUKUS is such a word.

Initialisms are formed in the same manner but need not be words, but abbreviations such as ABC, RSL and LNP. Acronyms are simply pronounceable initialisms.

As an Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, Amanda Stoker is a law officer charged with a particular responsibility to discourage unlawful behaviour.

Talking out of both sides of your mouth (on the Melbourne protests) doesn't cut it.

She has proven no more fit for public office than George Christensen who, bizarrely, wants to arrest Victorian police officers for simply doing their job to protect the broader community.

Ms Stoker must resign or be dismissed. Over to you, Mr Morrison.

In 1909 a UK Conservative politician coined the slogan "We want eight and we won't wait" in response to support for increased naval strength relating to the introduction of the Dreadnought battleship which in itself sparked a dangerous arms race.

Is the slogan relevant today given the long wait for our new eight submarines and is there a member of government willing to do anything to improve our naval strength in a timely manner other than offer a new slogan?

Mr Morrison should stop using the flag mask altogether and save us all a lot of embarrassment.

Besides being disrespectful to the flag, this blatant manipulation of jingoistic sentiment signals to the world at large that here is a national leader who is not a serious player.

National leadership requires depth, intellect and discretion. It's time for a new mask; they are available at all pharmacies.

Trust the Americans to know how to get pariah nations usefully involved in furthering US interests.

After sharing the Indian (Delta) variant of COVID-19, created through the woeful maladministration of the pandemic by Narendra Modi - India's answer to Brazil's far-right Jair Bolsonaro - Australia and India can now cooperate on maximally using coal for energy, and on baiting China geopolitically.

A triumph of international alliance.

Klaus Inveen has some questions about the "mystery" infections in Canberra's COVID-19 outbreak (Letters, September 30). If we had all the answers, they wouldn't be called mysteries, would they?