That said, the issue of flood mitigation storage has not yet been addressed.

All parts of Australia are flood prone in the event of rare and extreme rainfall.

While Canberra has fortunately escaped the recent east coast floods it should be remembered that the national area is at risk of inundation when Lake Burley Griffin experiences riverine flooding, something that happens about once every 40 years.

The key national institutions are threatened in the event of a one in 150 to 200 year flood event.

Given the increased frequency and intensity of such events as a result of climate change that risk has increased significantly, possibly by a factor of two.

The situation is only going to get worse with the passage of time.

In setting up the ACT the Commonwealth was given paramount water rights on the Queanbeyan River (Googong Dam) and the Molonglo River.

There is an excellent dam site on the Molonglo River that could be developed to protect the national area.

It could be a combined flood mitigation and water supply storage as per Wivenhoe Dam in Brisbane and is now proposed for Warragamba Dam in Sydney.

There may be a zinc problem from underground sources at Captains Flat needing consideration, but we did major zinc dump stabilisation at Captains Flat when Googong was developed.

There needs to be an urgent feasibility study on a Molonglo Dam proposal by NCA and Icon for flood protection and additional water supply.

Walk atop any of Canberra's ridge and mountain walks and you will witness a sea of green renewal as far as the eye can focus; fresh grasses, blue, yellow and mauve flowers in abundance, butterflies and frogs, birds nesting (and magpies swooping). Not so the islands of concrete excrescences that constitute our town centres and the CBD.

What dull and unimaginative buildings we see. Nothing differentiates Canberra from any other modern conurbation. Where in any of these islands is there a "wow" factor or something that says "yes this is Canberra or Woden, Tuggeranong or Belconnen". Government, planners and builders pursuing profit over inspiration continue to develop constipated apartment blocks with fancy doilies stuck on the sides and scalloped balconies just big enough to park a barbecue or bicycle.

When the greening stops and the wide brown land encroaches on Canberra itself we are, at best, a small city with a couple of small lakes and no exciting, stimulating and nurturing environment to be proud of.

It may well take the next apocalypse before we see anything remotely interesting out there - unless there are a few inspired minds with imagination and daring. Current planning environments seem to promote mediocrity over inspiration and daring.

The controversy about toilets and parking in the new Coombs playground ("Mixed reaction to $7m price tag", canberratimes.com.au, October 31) is a direct and predictable consequence of constructing a "destination playground", as it is called by the Suburban Land Agency, on a constrained site close to housing.

At 0.6 hectare, this narrow, sloping site is significantly smaller than any other equivalent "destination" playgrounds in Canberra which are all on at least four hectares to provide enough parking.

The Coombs playground necessarily creates problems because it does not comply with the government's established minimum standards for spatial separation and set-back of recreation facilities.

What a pity this multimillion-dollar bespoke playground is squashed between a pond and a road when it could have been located on a spacious site - such as nearby Coombs Peninsula - where there would have been enough space for all desired amenities.

Could it be that in the Molonglo Valley, selling land for residential housing is a greater priority than allocating sufficient land for a destination park?

Mark Kenny puts forward some illogical arguments in his article on "Dutton's Moral Test" (canberratimes.com.au, October 30).

First he suggests that "mainstream Australians will not forgive him" if he frustrates the passing of the Voice referendum.

This is curious given that it means that the majority of Australians in the majority of states didn't support the proposal. That's called democracy Mr Kenny and no one needs to be forgiven when democracy rules.

And second, if the vote does fail, perhaps it'll be down to the failure of the government backers to fully explain how the Voice would work, who gets to participate, what limits are imposed, why the existing Indigenous politicians can't represent their communities, and the many other unanswered questions that may discourage support of the proposal.

If it fails, it'll have nothing to do with Mr Dutton's morals, but with a failure of the government to put forward a more convincing case than just "because we say so".

I was somewhat surprised to see the stupid, knee-jerk reaction of Netball Australia in criticising Gina Rinehart's sponsorship proposal. I thought they had more sense .

Yes her father, long dead, said some incredibly idiotic things 40 or more years ago. But I thought in Australia, the USSR or China, the sins of the father are not visited on the children. I was apparently wrong.

Gina Rinehart has spent a lot of money educating and employing Indigenous people in WA and elsewhere in Australia. She has arguably done far more to help First Nations people than any of her critics.

It is true, as Kathryn Kelly writes (Letters, October 26) that Jerusalem was supposed to be under international jurisdiction under the 1948 UN partition plan.

However, that didn't happen because, unlike the Jewish community, the Palestinian Arabs and surrounding Arab countries never accepted that partition plan, and immediately attacked Israel from all sides with the intention of destroying it at birth. Jordan occupied the eastern part of the city till 1967.

Kelly tries to excuse the Palestinians' refusal to negotiate by asking how it could with an occupying power. Easily. When the occupying power offers you everything you claim to want for a state, you say yes, or at least offer an alternative proposal.

The letter by Alan Shroot (Letters, October 25) accuses Roderick Holesgrove of trying to rewrite history to deny the right of the Jewish people to a state in their homeland Israel.

Alan Shroot is rewriting history. The Balfour declaration stated that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people". The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations protocol for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan.

In Palestine the Balfour Declaration's "national home for the Jewish people" was to be established alongside the Palestinian Arabs, who composed the vast majority of the local population.

Leon Arundell (Letters, October 26) is stuck in the past with regards to pedal cycle tyres and punctures. These days, many tyre manufactures make tough tyres with a puncture-guarding layer that prevents glass, tacks, etc getting to the inner tube and creating a puncture.

They may be slightly more expensive but still offer low rolling resistance and a smooth ride.

And to make sure, you can put sealant in the inner tube that will quickly fill any leaks and create a plug.

I can vouch for one brand that has, over the years, given me some 8000 km per tyre of puncture free riding around Canberra on roads and paths.

The cost of power to consumers and business has made front page news this week ("Power promise at risk", canberratimes.com.au, October 27).

While ordinary Australians bear the brunt of power price rises, coal and gas companies have made record profits in the past financial year. Yet the Parliamentary Budget Office has recently found over $2 billion in fossil fuel subsidies allocated by the previous government, but not yet committed.

This does not make sense when billions of taxpayer dollars for climate disaster mitigation have been allocated in the same budget. It's about time fossil fuel exports were reined in and curbs on domestic power prices introduced.

The Brits laughed at Australia's rash of prime ministers. Who's laughing now?

Dr Jim Chalmers has moved the deck chairs on the Titanic. Unfortunately it will still hit the iceberg.

It is very annoying to hear people in this country adopting the American habit of referring to toilets as bathrooms. The two have little in common.

A media commentator has asked "how often should Gina Rinehart have to apologise for the sins of the father?" Most activists and others affected by Hancock's terrible statements were asking for exactly once. I suppose that's your answer. Disavowing the racist statements of a parent shouldn't be a tall order.

The death of Cassius Turvey in WA is both sad and a disgrace. It is believed it was a racist attack. Why does a person's skin colour or place of birth give a person the right to vilify them, attack them physically and psychologically and in extreme cases, kill them?

It is a struggle for the not-for-profit funeral service to find suitable accommodation in Canberra because history tells us that the ACT government prefers to work with developers and for-profit groups.

J Duncan McNeil (Letters, October 31) is way off track. Nuclear power is not a silver bullet. It is way too expensive and late to supply the Australian energy market. There is only one remotely simple answer to the present energy crises. That is to change priorities which result in prices detrimental to consumers.

How can anyone with an ounce of intelligence say that: "our current climate patterns are not unprecedented. Trying to change them is a futile and expensive experiment". (Letters, October 31)? The only correct observation is that it is expensive, but what is the cost of the alternative? Science has the chilling answer to that.

Many people donate online but it is becoming a security problem to keep their account numbers safe. Why couldn't banks and post offices collect the money and send it to the charity organisations for free. Donors would have peace of mind and the financial institutions would get an opportunity to do a great social service.

Re Ben Pobjie's "Turning up the Spook Factor", Explore, p10, October 29. Port Arthur and Old Melbourne Jail are most inappropriately included in this list of Halloween activities. Why would anyone think a place of cruel and violent treatment of convicts, and much later the scene of Australia's worst mass murder should be on this list?