In the real world, where you're not an MLA owning multiple properties, it's called eviction; one of the most traumatising things that can happen in your life. The older you are the worse it is and can precipitate stress levels similar to the bereavement following the loss of a partner.

The whole policy stinks of abuse of power: "we do because we can".

This is so characteristic of the arrogance associated with long-term governments. Think Morrison's robodebt and rorts and Barr and Rattenbury's extravagant Stage 2 tram traumas and now this.

What a poignant comment from 74-year-old evictee, Yvette Van Loo, that, 40 years ago, they gave people like her - perceived to be of no account - small houses in Ainslie because important people didn't want to live there. But now, a generation later, dollar signs have sprouted, and it's time to evict.

I read with interest about the affordable housing project underway in Dickson.

Perhaps the way these units are managed will provide a valuable example to follow for Housing ACT whose management of public housing is woeful.

I have lived opposite one of their properties for over 41 years. During that time I have had to endure druggies, dealers, rubbish (literally) hoarders, domestic disturbances, fights requiring police presence many times, squatters - you name it.

The property is never inspected and is an eyesore.

In between tenants I once rang Housing ACT pleading for some decent people.

The person I spoke to lied and said it was no longer public housing.

I have read letters to the editor from other unfortunate people in the same boat as I am.

ACT government, lift your game.

Crispin Hull ("The real winners from the debate", canberratimes.com.au, May 10) believes the ABC is the only organisation capable of hosting a properly constructed impartial debate. He is only half right. Historically the ABC in general, and Q&A in particular, are perceived by many as being anti-Coalition, and therefore incapable of impartiality.

He goes on to accuse the PM of "weakness" for declining to appear on the ABC's Q&A program. In view of the above circumstances I call it practical plain common sense. No winners resulted from the "great debacle" on Sunday, only losers - primarily the two participants who acted like undisciplined, bullying schoolboys.

To elect an independent candidate the community must unite in voting for one of those candidates to make their votes count.

I am deeply concerned that ACT voters seem to be driven by their obsession with sporting, and in this case actually ex-sporting, personage even when it comes to considering electing someone other than Zed to the Australian Senate.

Just what qualifications does David Pocock bring to qualify him for such a position?

Yes, we need to replace Zed with someone who will be a senator for the ACT and not for the party machine, but people, please consider Kim Rubinstein as the person to do that, not an ex-rugby union player.

Surely the ACT voting public can put its sporting mania aside for a moment and realise that Kim Rubinstein may be somewhat better qualified to represent the ACT in the Australian Parliament.

In case you are wondering, I am in no way connected with or to Kim Rubenstein but I have studied the CVs of the candidates and think she may be better in that job then David.

An election issue some ACT voters may not have considered so far is the need to restore the ACT Parliament's right to consider voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws.

VAD laws give terminally ill people experiencing intolerable suffering the right to choose to end their life on their own terms.

In 1995 then chief minister of the Northern Territory, Marshall Perron, sponsored the passage of the world's first VAD laws which were accessed by only four individuals before being overturned by legislation backed by MPs on both sides of the federal parliament that to this day prevents the NT and the ACT from even considering such laws.

Since 2017 parliamentary votes have seen VAD laws passed in every state apart from NSW where a debate is in progress.

There is now no place for a federal law that destroys the rights of the ACT and NT parliaments when it comes to even debating VAD laws, let alone drafting or enacting them. The unfair and discriminatory federal law must be scrapped ASAP.

That means sufficient federal MPs and senators need to be elected on May 21 to make it happen.

The Clem Jones Group has helped campaigns for VAD laws elsewhere and hopes to see them returned to the ACT and NT to offer another sensible, legal, and well-regulated choice at the end of life.

If those elected on 21 May truly want to represent residents of the ACT, then they must as a matter of principle support the restoration of the ACT parliament's legislative rights on this vital issue.

Having seen Scott Morrison debate twice and Peter Dutton debate once, I am forced to admit the Defence Minister surprised me. He was courteous and across his brief last week, unlike Morrison on Sunday. Don't write him off as a future leader if Josh loses Kooyong.

A majority want our governments to do more to combat climate change. But energy-use is only part of the answer. We need to address a growing disconnect between climate objectives and planning.

Consultancy reports such as that on the growth potential along the Civic to Woden tram corridor are examples of the type of thinking causing the problem. The extension of the tram to Woden will be used to justify higher densities that allow no imagination and no vision; just a plethora of apartments and treeless suburbs.

Will we be content to accept this as long as the new dwellings don't have gas connections and there are two enormous electric (rather than petrol-driven) SUVs in the driveway? I cannot believe that Canberrans want to see the amenity of our beautiful city destroyed in this way.

If we must have more population then increase housing supply by taxing investment properties that are empty for more than six months of the year; reduce plot ratios in new developments to enable trees and gardens to flourish; re-invigorate (for both social and private purposes) models of tree-friendly cooperative housing such as Swinger Hill, Urambi Hills and Wybalena Grove and take full advantage of the potential of buses for flexible public transport use.

There is so much we could and should be doing to ensure that the Canberra of the 21st century is a genuinely green city.

Australia's sole producer of newsprint paper, Norske Skog's Boyer Mill in Tasmania, will be charging 80 per cent more for its product from July 1 ("Labor to match Coalition's $10m regional papers lifeline", May 10, p5).

The justification for this enormous increase seems to me paper thin. Newsprint paper, including that used by The Canberra Times, is now so thin that printing on one side can be seen quite clearly on the reverse side. It also very prone to tearing.

Users of Norske Skog newsprint, i.e. every Australian newspaper, will be paying 80 per cent more for less paper. It's time to support your local newspaper lest it disappear forever.

When visiting schools, politicians should keep the topics party politics free. That said, this is very hard during an election campaign.

It was most unfortunate that Mr Albanese chose to open with a remark about the bell tolling for the end of the LNP government during one such recent visit.

During the 1960s a teacher who had previously been at the same school (visited by Mr Albanese) told of a student doing his homework under the street light outside his inner Sydney home which was then in a low income housing area.

The determination to achieve at school now should be the basis for any address to students. Don't despair (too much). Voting is for the future.

Politicians should not give the press question time at or outside any school.

Go for it, David! ("Pocock pledges territory rights bill in 'first weeks' if elected", canberratimes.com.au, May 10).

There are a number of proposed initiatives to get smart students to become teachers but if they are smart they will find out what being a teacher is like and not go near it. Teachers need to be respected, better paid and not overworked. It would help to get those smart students to think about it.

On behalf of the sheep of Australia, our fellow sentient beings, I would like to thank the ALP for promising to bring to an end the barbarity of the live sheep export trade. The LNP is never going to let stopping animal cruelty get in the way of making a dollar.

I was very disappointed that the ABC news made a point of stating that Ncuti Gatwa will be the first black Dr Who. Statements like this only perpetuate racism. The BBC just mentioned he was a Scottish actor born in Rwanda.

You don't let your relatives decide your voting preferences. So why would you let a party decide which is your preferred candidate amongst those standing for your party? Please vote below the line.

I C Dillon's nonsensical rant against Scott Morrison (Letters, May 9) only displays the political barrow he or she pushes. All I see in this individual's trite, facile and ridiculous claims is another "arm chair parrot". Stop this gratuitous nonsense.

Scott Morrison claims the federal government could not intervene when the Northern Territory leased Port Darwin to China for 99 years.

Why didn't the Commonwealth Legislation (the "Andrews Bill") that prevents territories from enacting legislation on issues such as Voluntary Assisted Dying allow his government to act in this case? Is blocking my personal right to avoid an awful death more important to the PM than national security?

I am quite disappointed with the politicians behaviour in throwing mud at each other instead of debating policy. My 11-year-old daughter said "politicians are kids that know big words".

Advice to candidates of all hues: work hard and you will be rewarded with another term.

If you reappear on the scene shortly before the next election, voters will see through this and send you into oblivion. It is clear some parliamentarians locally don't follow this simple rule.

Former US president Harry S Truman was famous for having a prominent sign on his desk in the Oval Office that read "the buck stops here". My guess is that if the Prime Minister Scott Morrison had a similar sign it would read something like "the buck stops with the state premiers - or with anyone else I can blame".