Urban sprawl in its treeless, large house, small block design and town centres congested with high-rise apartments defy any idea of proper planning. Urban green spaces are disappearing as they morph into slap up multi-level heat blocks. Our streets have become carparks. Our suburbs are noisy.

What is the advantage of an increased population if this is the ACT government's continued modus operandi? And how will Canberra's water and existing resources sustain the government's large growth forecasts in the years ahead? Has it considered a large population in the context of climate change and future droughts?

Canberra used to have the National Capital Development Commission, who employed intelligent thinkers with genuine interest in good planning and attractive environmental amenity for a growing population.

The ACT government and Canberra's developers today are a far cry from this once high standard. Their insatiable pursuit of population and economic growth at all costs is straining a city and environment that was never designed for the relentless and mediocre "clear, build and grow" model evident today.

The creaks from the city's growing pains are already being heard. These will become a roar if short-sighted planners continue to stretch our capital to its limits.

Mark Sproat's disparaging comments (Letters, March 22) about "refugees"(sic) is an insult to the multitude of migrants comprising different "religions, language and cultures" who have contributed very significantly to modern multicultural Australia.

What neighbouring countries do in comparison is irrelevant.

It's those of us with a certain white Anglo, allegedly Christian disposition who have a problem. Yet they, too, have positives to offer, if only they could throw off their outdated misconceptions.

As the Coalition spends a lot of time politicising matters that don't merit such treatment - issues around the detainees released following the High Court decision, Trump's comments on Rudd, and so on - it appears to have little time left to develop policies of their own.

For the Coalition to keep harping on about the aftermath of the High Court decision is simply fear-mongering as is its portrayal of the government's policy on new vehicles as a ute tax.

If the Coalition develops good policy it will fare better at the next election and make some inroads against the Teals, its nemesis otherwise.

It certainly came as no surprise to me to find that a strata management firm was charging exorbitant brokerage fees on insurance products.

In my 40 years in the building industry, I have come across developer-appointed strata managers doing all of the following:

The list goes on forever.

It's an unregulated profession where conflicts of interest seem to be the norm rather than the exception. Certainly, they are not all bad (I would even describe some as quite decent) but a little more regulation and transparency would not go astray.

It is hardly surprising that the recently released report on public school infrastructure concluded that public schools need more money, trees and inclusive spaces.

However, this is just the tip of an iceberg which shows significant and growing differences in both ongoing funding and investment in infrastructure between public and private schools.

For example, a report commissioned by the Australian Education Union revealed that in 2021 five private schools spent more on new buildings than more than 3300 public schools combined.

Further, a recent OECD report found that 41 per cent of public schools in Australia are by OECD standards, "disadvantaged". The growing inequality between public and private school resourcing continues but no government has seriously attempted to reverse this trajectory.

Even the very welcomed Gonski reforms have been diluted by successive governments. Clearly the votes of parents of non-government school students matter more than providing fair and equitable distribution of education funding.

Dr Marisa Paterson, MLA for Murrumbidgee, has sponsored an ePetition for public toilets to be installed at Ruth Park, Coombs.

This proposal does not comply with the government's own municipal infrastructure design standards that stipulate new public toilets should only be allowed in district parks.

Ruth Park has one-sixth the land-size of a district park. Despite appearances to the contrary, Ruth Park is not and has never been classified by government as a district or destination park.

Because large items of play equipment are crammed onto a small footprint there are no clear lines of sight across the playground. Hence, Ruth Park does not comply with "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design" principles.

Dr Paterson says that the toilet facility can be concealed behind trees and vegetation to limit the negative visual impact of a standalone building on the surrounding beautiful natural landscape. Antisocial behaviour is already a serious problem at night. Adding a concealed toilet block, on the edge of a pond that is dark at night, is an appalling combination of design features which would encourage - not deter - crime.

Ruth Park needs specific action now to reduce current graffiti, antisocial behaviour and intrusive noise for nearby residents, not increase it.

Why did the petition only focus on toilets when other safety measures are urgently needed, including two pedestrian crossings, traffic calming, secure fencing and the need to close the park to hooligans at night?

Was the principal petitioner just a casual visitor unaware of these problems?

A public petition should not be justification to break safety design rules. Is it so hard for a government to stand up for, and comply with, its own mandatory planning and design standards?

Mark Kenny seems baffled by continuing US support for Israel ("Biden's cowardice is dangerous", March 17), so let me set out some of the reasons for him.

Israel is the sole full democracy in the Middle East. Its many efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, including offers of a Palestinian state, have been frustrated by Palestinian intransigence.

The only way forward for Gaza and for peace is for Hamas to lose its capacity to start further wars, meaning Israel must destroy its military infrastructure.

With Israel targeting combatants, and evacuating civilians, it's Hamas's illegal and sinister human shield tactics that are largely responsible for the civilian casualties, which Hamas also exaggerates.

The problem with aid is not getting it into Gaza, which Israel doesn't block, but distributing it around Gaza, when Hamas attacks so many of the convoys and steals so much aid.

These important facts may matter little to Mark Kenny, but they do influence the US and its allies.

Naz Randeria doesn't like a higher tax rate on super balances above $3 million, or taking embedded gains into account ("Why the govt doesn't need to make changes to super", March 18). But super tax concession benefits are loaded to the rich.

Randeria calls for higher tax on super contributions: tax that already removes most tax benefit for low-income contributions, and if increased would disadvantage them.

Why should government hold back from reducing the bigger benefits super gives to high-income earners? Because Randeria thinks the rich will just go to some other, equally special tax benefit.

Even after the proposed changes, super will still give higher rates, and higher amounts, of benefit to higher incomes. Balances will still be far higher than anyone needs to be better off than pensioners.

There is something perverse about an economy structured in such a way that a fall in unemployment can trigger higher interest rates. Ideally, more people in work must lead to lower welfare payments, and better social outcomes.

Barnaby Joyce telling anyone else that they are unfit for office has to be the most hypocritical quote for 2024 (despite there being nine months to go).

Re Trump on Rudd. Could Trump even find Australia on a map?

Owen Reid, of Dunlop (Letters, March 20), decries the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia. He does not think that Israeli policy as it effects the Palestinians might be a significant contributing factor?

The units for casting votes in the Russian presidential election looked remarkably like shredding machines.

A huge swing against Russian President Vladimir Putin. He only received 105 per cent of the votes cast by eligible registered voters.

Sue Dyer (Letters, March 18) made good points about the awful bus "service" since the tram began. If our politicians had cared more about Canberra, rather than being in government, they could have made a bipartisan agreement that they wouldn't give in to the ridiculous Rattenbury demand of a tram in exchange for forming government. Roll on, independents.

Russ Morison writes: "Surely Israel has a right to destroy those who would destroy them." (Letters, March 16). Does Russ think that toddlers and pregnant women pose a deadly threat to Israel?

Kevin Rudd is a clever man, but in today's world that is not enough. The world is full of clever fools and he has behaved like one with his comments on Trump.

I recently read the ACT State of the Environment Report 2023 with a particular interest in the biodiversity section. The classification of the eastern grey kangaroo as an invasive species is a disgrace. Our national icon, slaughtered year on year, to protect some grass in Canberra.

In this era of shrinkflation, is a bakers' dozen now 11?

Aren't Lotto tickets a form of gambling? Why do the advertisements not have the warning about "what you're gambling with" at the finish?