Central Tuggeranong is the perfect site for a new stadium complex

Instead of installing it at the restricted Viking Park in Wanniassa, Zed, do it properly, and avoid a year or more of Vikings down time, by building the new stadium near Tuggeranong town centre itself.

This would provide a wider range of synergies and a perfect site plenty large enough and already zoned for the purpose. It is near existing sporting, accommodation, and convention facilities, on Athllon Drive (part of the future tram route), and opposite the swimming pool.

It's a quintessentially "destination" location, in a beautiful lake and mountain setting. Make it an ecological architectural exemplar, with solar energy and batteries, water tanks, and renewable materials like structural timber (as at Perth's new stadium).

It would complement the existing perfectly good (with some upgrading) Canberra Stadium on the north side. The Vikings could move to the new stadium and the club's land at Wanniassa would be ideal for much-needed residential development with sales helping to fund the new stadium complex.

And the (refurbished) Civic pool complex would be saved.

While the proposal for an upgrade to Vikings Park in Tuggeranong is worthy of consideration, it is unfortunate that the Vikings Club - which owns the ground - has chosen to "take sides" politically and align itself with Senator Zed who revealed the proposal.

The club exists for the benefit of its members and so should be apolitical in all its dealings with governments, especially in relation to funding and development matters.

Spoiler alert: I am a member of the Vikings Club.

The Canberra Times' assertion that Labor presided over a "wind back of the military" with thousands fewer personnel and lower spending is quite simply false. ("Australian Defence Force election promises need detailed business cases", canberratimes.com.au, March 14).

In Howard's final year, 2006/07, $19.1 billion was spent on defence (1.8 per cent of GDP) according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Within three years, my Labor government had boosted spending by one-third to $25.5bn (two per cent of GDP) following our White Paper highlighting China's military build-up and the need to prepare for the future.

Three years later, under Julia Gillard, spending was roughly the same at $24.5 billion - more than $5 billion more than Howard - and 1.6 per cent of GDP, due to robust economic growth. Labor never spent less on defence than Howard, even accounting for inflation. The Rudd Government's 2009/10 real defence spend was 22 per cent higher than Howard, and Gillard's was nine per cent higher. The defence budget also grew after my return as prime minister.

The workforce numbers - permanent forces, reservists and civilians - all chart the same course, rising rapidly during my government and levelling out under Gillard well in excess of Howard. On both metrics - spending and personnel - my government recorded levels not achieved by Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull or (before this decade) Scott Morrison.

These false claims follow on the heels of your newspaper buying uncritically into Public Service Minister Ben Morton's fraudulent claim that public service expenses had "decreased" since 2007 because it accounted for a lower percentage of spending; in fact, by his own figures, these costs had increased by 18 per cent.

The Canberra Times, of all newspapers, should know better than to be suckered by ministerial spin.

Re "Tricks of the trade" (canberratimes.com.au, March 15), here are two suggestions for public servants appearing before a Senate or other parliamentary committee. First, from Alan Greenspan, former US Federal Reserve Chairman: "If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said". And from F R Leavis of Cambridge University: "If you're capable of asking that [dumb a] question you wouldn't understand the answer even were I to give it".

In January I received a letter with an attached form advising me I was due for a visual acuity assessment (eye sight test).

I was required to have this completed by the appropriate medical practitioner and submitted to Access Canberra by March 5.

I dutifully attended my optometrist who tested my eyes and completed the required form. I emailed the form on February 9.

I received an automated reply telling me the form would be processed in the week preceding my drivers licence medical (due date March 5) and that I would only be contacted if any further action or information was required.

Words can't express the emotions I felt when I received a letter on March 11 telling me my driver's licence had been suspended on March 7 because Access Canberra had not received a visual acuity assessment form from me.

After collecting myself and several attempts, I was able to speak to the appropriate area of Access Canberra.

I provided the date, time and reference number of the acknowledgment I had received and was able to get my driver licence reinstated.

The lady apologised and said that they had been too busy to do the emails.

The legal implications of this fiasco don't bear thinking about had I been driving while suspended. Access Canberra needs to do better than this.

Russ Morison ("Tougher sentencing is needed to reduce jail overcrowding", Letters, March 12) is out of touch with reality and what is really needed.

What is needed in most cases is not tougher sentencing to reduce overcrowding at Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) but government support.

People who leave prison face many barriers, such as finding suitable and stable housing, gaps in their work history and in some cases rehab support around mental health.

If people cannot find work and have difficulty in accessing government welfare programs, including housing, this often contributes to their returning to prison.

This is supported by University of NSW (UNSW) Canberra research in 2019 that followed the lived experiences of 11 individuals after they were released from the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

There is a hell of a lot more that can be done in this space by the ACT government and Ministers Rattenbury, Gentleman, Vassarotti and the Chief Minister.

Action is needed in the key priority service areas of accommodation, employment, and welfare programs to assist people to prepare them once released into the community and not return to prison.

Fuel excise just goes into general revenue and is not quarantined specifically for roads. So, any general tax or benefits could be considered if governments are concerned about costs of living.

Reducing fuel excise would be a windfall gain for people who can easily afford more expensive petrol, which is still much cheaper than it has been in recent years in many other countries. With reduced income from fuel excise the government would be less able to fund important services, which would disproportionately disadvantage people on low incomes. It would be more efficient to leave fuel excise alone and increase pensions or adjust income tax rates to favour people on low incomes.

The most telling comment in John Hanscombe's article "C'mon now: Even Tony Abbott looked better than this" (March 15, p16) was the last sentence: "... an invisible PM only stokes the narrative the nation is rudderless".

"Scotty from Marketing" is an expert at appearing in front of a camera - to the point that I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing our ubiquitous "leader".

He also spouts a lot of words, but they usually amount to little or nothing of substance.

What Australia sorely needs is action on issues such as flooding risk; urban overdevelopment and lack of "green space"; a federal anti-corruption commission; and, of course, global heating and climate disruption.

We need a lot more than mere words.

Given Ukraine has ruled out joining NATO and is considering ceding territory in the east and in Crimea, it seems the war was totally unnecessary. If their leaders had made these concessions a month ago thousands of lives could have been saved.

John Real (Letters, March 9) and Don Sephton (Letters, March 14) have remarked on the excessive coverage on the ABC and others on the death of Shane Warne. I was equally amazed that The Canberra Times devoted six full pages to the news.

Given the Coalition will be targeting Labor as being weak on defence in the forthcoming federal election if Australia faces a military conflict one would surely expect all Coalition MPs and their supporters to volunteer for the front line.

Senator McKenzie said the floods didn't tick a big enough box, or enough little boxes quickly enough, to initially qualify as a national emergency. It sounds like bureaucratic red tape to me. I thought Abbott and Cormann got rid of all that.

The words that come to mind are those of Paul Simon "I need a photo-opportunity/ I want at shot at redemption/ Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" (David Pope editorial cartoon, March 10).

I agree entirely with David Perkins' letter (Letters, March 9) about humanity's inability to stop war. That said, I doubt Australia has the ability to think long and hard about anything except it's own belly-button.

As the bombs fall on innocent Ukrainians, there is a need for practical action. Please send money through the Australian Red Cross's Ukraine Crisis appeal.

Crispin Hull (Stop tip-toeing around the issues, canberratimes.com.au, March 15) says "over the past 20 years ... there has been precious little reform and new policy other than NDIS". It's a slip by Crispin to equate Labor with the LNP. They are not "all the same". Think climate, NBN, Gonski, dismantled or ignored by LNP. Remember the 2019 election with Labor policies vs Liberal fears. Will voters be conned again?

A short history of the Russian currency to date: From ruble, to rouble, to rubbish. And all thanks to Putin's "special military exercise" in Ukraine.

The PM's department has shown it is unfit to manage a simple communication relating to women ("PMC ditches women's network logo", canberratimes.com.au, March 16). Real leaders like Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins must be in despair about how so many well-paid public servants can stuff up a basic task supposed to support "cultural change aspirations".