Whatever happened to 'salt and pepper' public housing?

Something also worthy of discussion is how many extra social housing properties the ACT government could build were it not to waste money on constructing public housing on $1.5 to $2 million blocks in suburbs and streets already overcrowded with public or social housing, while other suburbs have little or none.

The sale of this land would fund double or possibly triple the amount of public housing if it were built on more affordable land. Add that together with the tram and that's an awful lot of money just being frittered away while too many people are in desperate need of a home.

A conversation is sorely needed and remember, it is our rates and taxes paying for the government's waste and mismanagement in this area. The government proclaims to have a "balanced" approach to public housing. We don't think so.

In my slightly disorderly house my eye just happened to fall upon a full-page advertisement cut out from The Canberra Times. It advertised a rally in support of Bernard Collaery on "Wednesday, December 16" (not Thursday).

This was not a misprint. The advertisement was for a rally on December 16, 2020.

But now, in about a fortnight, exactly a year later, on Thursday, December 16 at 8.30am there will again be a rally in the same cause outside the courthouse.

Mr Collaery is being prosecuted - or, more correctly, persecuted - for giving legal advice to a whistleblower. A whole year has passed and the case is not yet settled.

Mr Collaery is a person of impeccable repute. The same cannot be said of the government which persists in its malicious court actions against him.

How can Canberra MP Alicia Payne justify the time and effort she and her staff have spent to ensure a recently arrived Afghan family will be granted accommodation suitable to their taste while more than 2200 other Canberrans remain homeless and the ACT faces its worst ever housing affordability crisis?

Could it be that helping the local citizens of Canberra is not dramatic enough to earn you the applause of the left?

While ever our representatives prioritise virtue-signalling and whatever cause is the trend of the day, they will continue to push voters into the hands of the fringe parties who are willing to state the obvious.

If Josh Frydenberg still thinks voter identification requirements for federal elections are a good idea does he fear his own election might have been fraudulent?

Now the proposal has been at least temporarily dropped does he think the next election might therefore be fraudulent? If the Coalition loses, will they go around like Donald Trump complaining they were cheated out of a win?

Roderick Holesgrove (Letters, December 2) claimed that global warming causes "a lessening of rainfall" then corrected himself by noting ANU climate scientist, Dr Joëlle Gergis, has written that global warming "can cause heavier rainfall".

According to NASA: "Current climate models indicate that rising temperatures will intensify the Earth's water cycle, increasing evaporation. Increased evaporation will result in more frequent and intense storms, but will also contribute to drying over some land areas. As a result, storm-affected areas are likely to experience increases in precipitation and increased risk of flooding, while areas located far away from storm tracks are likely to experience less precipitation and increased risk of drought."

The long El Nina rainfall event in (eastern) Australia is actually two consecutive La Nina longer-term weather patterns.