Rinehart's own goal a big win for the NGA

Her continuing protest about two small portraits of her in the National Gallery's Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour exhibition has been just the catalyst for crowds of visitors who might otherwise have been blissfully unaware of the fantastic exhibition of works by this talented Indigenous artist.

The NGA carpark is nearly full, as a stream of visitors move through the public gallery.

They are not quite the long queues at the Louvre for the famous Mona Lisa - yet - but they could be by the time this NGA exhibition closes in late July.

Namatjira has presented, not only to Ms Rinehart but to all of us, an uncomfortable mirror to see ourselves and the reality of the monarchy and modern Australia.

Ms Rinehart has inadvertently created a brilliant promotional campaign for both Vincent Namatjira and the NGA that money just couldn't buy.

Peter Martin (May 22) suggests it be made less attractive for all property investors (not just "foreigners") to compete with owner-occupiers in buying existing houses. He shows that less than 15 per cent of property investment loans are spent on building new homes. The rest of the borrowing is mainly going to landlord investors in existing properties.

He says both sides of politics have agreed that "something" should be done about this. But that's only, it seems, not when they are in government or when they are announcing election policies.

Peter McLoughlin (Letters, May 22) must be very worried about Peter Dutton winning the next federal election if he is so concerned about changes to the public service here in Canberra.

I guess with all the broken promises from current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese he has every right to be. Albo promised to reduce our electricity bills by $275, promised to reduce the cost of living, promised the Uluru statement in full on election night then backtracked on that, and promised an honest and transparent Parliament.

Instead we have seen Brittany Higgins given $2.3 million of taxpayers' money, the PM promising a football team to PNG, throwing even more money to UNRWA, which has links to Hamas, taking little action on pro-Palestine rioters and protesters and reneging on the promised a royal commission into COVID-19 and much, much more.

I never thought I'd say this, but Bill Shorten is looking like Labor's best politician.

The recent article by Zylstra and Lindenmayer (May 17) suggesting that prescribed burning makes Australian forests more flammable is not borne out by the actual experience in the ACT from both the 2003 and 2020 bushfires.

Long unburnt forests were burnt at high severity and areas subject to prescribed burning were burnt at low severity. These scientists may be highly recognised ecologists but they are not bushfire scientists, nor does their recent research outweigh the findings of decades of bushfire research conducted by CSIRO and state agency researchers.

In a changing climate, where severe bushfires will occur more frequently, the community cannot afford the increased risks to life, property and the environment if no attempt is made to reduce forest fuel loads through prescribed burning.

Likewise, the level of smoke Canberra experienced for months in 2020 far exceeded the recent smoke from prescribed burning in the ACT and NSW.

Let's go back to basics about Israel-Hamas equivalence (Michael McCarthy, Letters, May 23). Israel, with a population of 9.5 million is surrounded by the 22 countries of the Arab world which have a combined population of 456 million. That's odds of 50 to one. Israel was attacked, civilians no less, in atrocious fashion and is defending itself - again.

Gary Fan (Letters, May 24) raises a good point. Why does the Stone of Remembrance state "their name liveth for evermore", and not "their names"?

Rudyard Kipling recommended the inscription, based on a reference from Ecclesiastes. Checking the text reveals there are men (and women) who have lived a full life and reached their potential.

They married and "left a name behind them" when they died.

This name was not only the family name, but also the basket of achievements that they had accomplished, thereby building a reputation. Through their descendants, "their praises might be reported" to future generations.

In summary, "their name" refers not only to the name that they received at birth, but also to the achievements, reputation, and place in the world [or legacy] these young men and women could have earned should they have had the opportunity to live a full life.

I learnt with astonishment that some venues are not paying musicians in a timely manner. As an ex-venue owner and long-time supporter of live music in the ACT, musicians were always paid on completion of their gig on the night. There is no excuse for otherwise.

If an owner or manager is not going to be present at the end of the night, they can either leave the cash in the till and tell their staff to get a receipt from the musician or transfer the funds to a selected account. Musicians struggle enough without having to put up with bad business practices by venues.

If a musician is not paid within seven days contact MusicACT and get them to represent you to the venue. Otherwise call me. I'd be glad to name and shame.

Even when I struggled with a venue making money I always paid my musicians on the night.

If you can't pay for musicians on the night don't ask them to play.

An entirely obvious fact that P McCracken (Letters, May 24) has either missed or chosen to ignore is that the CSIRO/AEMO GenCost report was comparing nuclear with wind and solar that was adequately supported by storage and enhanced transmission to also provide continuous power.

So nuclear still costs at least twice as much as renewables to provide only the same service.

He also conveniently chose to ignore the question of what happens to reliable energy supply when a large nuclear reactor has to close for refuelling or maintenance.

So much for better value.

Michelle May discusses the difficulties that many first-home buyers encounter when seeking a place to live and, perhaps, raise a family ("More pain is ahead for first home buyers, and they know it", May 20).

In 2021 (the most recent census) 1,043,776 of Australia's 10,318.997 private dwellings were unoccupied on the night of the census.

I suggest that the majority of the vacant dwellings were owned by investors who, rather than providing rental accommodation, wait until prices pass a certain threshold, sell, then move on to the next promising property market. If providing rental accommodation were an obligation in the purchase of dwellings, the housing crisis could greatly lessened, if not eliminated.

I note EvoEnergy is introducing a "solar soak" charge on customers from July 1. This is to encourage daytime machine use and the feeding of solar generated power from battery storage into the grid at peak evening periods.

Not all solar panel owners have batteries but many have storage hot water systems which are also an effective store of energy.

When our solar panels were installed 10 years back, ActewAGL said our solar power could not be directed to our hot water storage on a sunny day the way we wanted. However, strangely, our off-peak controlled load HW heating after midnight could continue.

Perhaps there is lack of appetite to promote daytime solar heating of hot water in preference to a solar soak charge because the former favours the consumer not the producer. A solar sting, indeed.

Despite her success and her wealth, Cate Blanchett calls herself middle class. To Australians, calling yourself upper class sounds like boasting, or claiming to belong to a dominant group. Most Australians are more comfortable thinking of themselves as either middle class or working class. Blanchett has integrity and is not a braggart.