Canberra Times letters: call on sub-par submarines holds water

Simply: it's a $5billion long-term domestic employment scheme supported by politicians with an unrealistic, fanciful defence rationale based partly on historical World WarII and dated Cold War experience or suppositions.

Only nuclear submarines will be able to avoid detection in the first hours of a conflict. The Australian subs may have a few hours before their location "signature" is detected by an adversary's satellite.

In fact, it's doubtful that most non-nuclear subs will survive the first hours of a future war.

The submarine project is an ill-advised, virtually obsolete military white elephant, not even suitable for covert long-range surveillance against a possible aggressor. God help our brave submariners and our besieged taxpayers.

Dick Smith's integrity call on our "new" subs is a positive contribution in facing our future combat reality. Only a nuclear-powered, long-range submarine fleet makes any sense now. Little chance we'll get this!

Byron Kaufman, Dickson

The South China Sea issue is often discussed as one of overlapping territorial claims. That is serious enough, as it brings conflict to the region. But there is a much graver side to it.

In seizing part of other countries' Exclusive Economic Zones instituted by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and in the attitude it has taken to the judgment by the International Court of Arbitration, China has declared itself to be outside international law on that issue.

When a small country like North Korea or Israel chooses to become an international outlaw, that is problematic. When a great and powerful country like China or the US does so, heaven help us all! But as the saying goes, "heaven helps those who help themselves". I see affronts to international law as affronts to the interests of all countries, and think they should band together to oppose and frustrate the law-breaker, whichever country that may be.

Ron Walker, Campbell

If The Canberra Times had provided for online comment about Tash Sultana's lost luggage ("Singer Tash Sultana slams Jetstar Australia over lost music equipment", canberratimes.com.au, September12) it would have been inundated by complaints about Jetstar.

Unfortunately, even reliable transport of domestic luggage appears beyond its capability.

My brother flew from Melbourne to Newcastle last week and stood forlornly at the carousel before being told that one of his suitcases had been lost in transit.

It is a 90-minute trip, nothing like Tash Sultana's European tour.

Terry Hastings, Hawthorn East, Victoria

Whenever Sir David Smith runs out his tired old line about a head of state (Letters, September9) I immediately consult my passport and, inside its front cover, am reassured to find that it still reads "The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, being the representative in Australia of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second".

Surely Sir David could have arranged for this apparent "anomaly" in the Passports Act to have been rectified during his "reign"!

Roger Terry, Kingston

In relation to the hand-on-heart discussion, I believe Fergus Thomson (Letters, September13) is on the money.

In relation to Charles Ellis' letter of the same date, all through primary school I also recited "I honour my God, I serve my Queen, I salute the flag". But we all stood to attention and that's what we as Australians should do if we wish to keep those cultural traditions.

The first time I saw Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull put his hand on his heart, I wrote to his office. I've still yet to get a response.

Phil Henry, Yeppoon, Qld

Nicholas Stuart's insinuation that Israel's Iron Dome missile shield is not a defensive system because "civilians" are being killed ("Equipped for battlefield failure: ADF faces tough choices in world of rapidly evolving combat aids", Opinion, September13, pp16-17) doesn't make sense.

Iron Dome is designed to protect Israeli towns and cities – not, as Stuart claimed, "settlements ... and unmanned naval vessels" — by intercepting incoming rockets and missiles from Gaza.

Iron Dome interceptor missiles do not target or hit Gaza or Palestinians. It was specifically developed to counter the 15,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilian population centres from Gaza that started in the early 2000s but accelerated when Hamas took control there in 2006.

R.A. Webb, Griffith

For the past couple of weeks there has been a telling exhibition of the impact of war on people's lives.

It's at the Hedley Bull Building, ANU, and has been put on by the International RedCross.

It shows the people side of war. The legs that have been blown off people, in particular children, in countries like Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Laos, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It shows the blindness which is another cost of war. It shows the poverty, sadness, harshness and ruthlessness of war on civilians. The people in the photos are alive but they are the ghosts of happy people.

Unfortunately, September 14 was the exhibition's last day. It's a shame that the exhibition wasn't displayed at the Australian War Memorial adjacent to the machinery used in warfare. It's all very well to show the amazing flying machines of war, but the consequences of the bombs dropped from those machines needs to be shown as well to the public, especially on a family day.

There are many families in Australia that are now suffering as a consequence of our military involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The true impact of war on our nation needs a balanced display, please.

Karen Dahl, Forrest

While I applaud the ACT Labor Party's commitment to funding a master degree course for nurse practitioners within the ACT, together with a large number of scholarships ("Labor vows to bolster ACT nursing resources", September10, p4), I have grave concerns regarding their commitment to funding positions for these highly qualified and specialised nurses once their training is complete.

As a qualified nurse practitioner since 2010, and having been the recipient of a fully funded scholarship through what was then the ACT Nurses Registration Board, I find myself still waiting for funding for a position within my area of specialty. ACT Health management has provided no apparent new funding for positions, except for the walk-in-centres, for many years.

We are expected to find money for these positions within existing resources and with a full complement of staff within a fast-growing and already overburdened chronic disease area, with long waits for appointments. Whose job goes to provide this position? I am not alone as a qualified nurse practitioner unable to be funded to work to the full scope of my practice; there are many others in the same position.

Perhaps the ACT Labor Party, if re-elected, would be better off putting some of this money into funding actualpositions.

Name and address withheld by request

Renting out an investment property for less than market rent does not undo the damage done by purchasing investment properties in the first place. The 20per cent plus of households who "own" rental properties have outbid other buyers and contributed to housing price inflation – rising house prices and concomitant rental increases being a major cause of declining housing affordability.

The negative gearing tax concessions that are being pocketed by Shane Rattenbury ("Rattenbury's portfolio", September13, p1) – and presumably in time, the more important capital gains concessions – is forgone tax revenue that could have funded much-needed social housing.

Dr Andrea Sharam, research fellow, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Vic

I support Graham Carter's argument ("Heritage worth saving", September10, p16) that the heritage values of our inner-city suburbs need protecting. These suburbs, together with the original centres of Civic and Manuka, not only give Canberra its unique character, but also its significance in the history of urban design.

It's easy to take these areas for granted while moving through them in one's daily life. But if their heritage is threatened, many Canberrans will leap to their defence.

Governments jeopardise our heritage at their peril.

Our elegant and livable inner-city suburbs and facilities need cherishing. This is all the more important when we observe the disastrous design qualities of some recent developments in Canberra, and the threats to ruin West Basin with more ugly lake frontage like that in Kingston.

I live in a strip of medium-density developments along Ainslie Avenue, and I object to the 12- and 15-storey apartment blocks that have ben proposed for this precinct.

They make no attempt to integrate, in sensitive design terms, with my long-establishedneighbourhood.

Elizabeth Teather, Reid

A stroll along Commonwealth Place on Sunday produced a shocking observation for this amateur vexillologist. Many of the new flags proudly flying there are the wrong colour!

Two examples are the Danish and Swiss flags. They both should have red backgrounds with white crosses. Now the backgrounds are both bright orange! In fact, the orange colour dominates many other flags. Wonder how the respective ambassadors of said flags feel?

What happened?

David Willenborg, Royalla, NSW

Ben Elliston (Letters, September9) is surprised that my new house is connected to the gas network, and suggests that I convert to LPG to save money.

He makes a good point, but I am not convinced it is a compelling one. With a supply charge of 73¢ a day, the annual supply is indeed about $260. His claim that I will pay only $20 for gas usage is wildly optimistic. Time will tell, but I expect gas charges to be about $200.

With LPG, usage charges are more expensive, but the supply charges are avoided. However, when I used LPG at a previous house in rural Victoria, I had to pay about $70 annually for hire and servicing of the gas bottles. I don't know if that applies in the ACT, but I expect that it does.

I am prepared to pay extra for the convenience of being connected to the gas network. In due course, I will assess how much this convenience is costing me, and decide whether it is worth the extra cost.

It is indeed a bit of a luxury that my new house is connected to gas, rather than just using electricity for all purposes. Again, that is a something I am prepared to pay for, as I consider electric induction cooktops insufferably awful to use.

John Hutchison, Coombs

Last evening, while preparing the vegetables for a Chinese stir-fry, I discovered that our French-bean stringer was made in Australia. It gave me an all-over warm feeling to realise that we could still manufacture thingshere.

It's a fine piece of plastic and spring-steel engineering, and I hope that the company that made it is still in business. Perhaps we could move on to bigger things.

Ed Highley, Kambah

UNIFORM ISSUE

Why does Jeremy Hanson disregard the Army directive that politicians should not dress in army uniforms for political advertising ("Hanson defends photos from his military service", September13, p4) This is something he should have remembered from the federal election – or is he arrogant enough to think these rules don't apply to him? This issue runs to his credibility.

Ron Janda, Ainslie

BROWNED OFF

The Canberra Times' story on Shane Rattenbury's put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is investment along the light rail route ("Rattenbury's portfolio", September13, p1) takes the cake for confected grubbiness. No wonder other decent people are turned off careers in politics.

Bob Brown, former leader, Australian Greens

Assuming Minister Rattenbury is exemplifying the change he wants to see in the world, he should reduce his cognitive dissonance by quitting theGreens.

His current party denounces the tax and housing inequities caused by people such as him reaping negative gearing and capital gains benefits from property speculation.

Kent Fitch, Nicholls

And here I was thinking that the purpose of the tram was just to enrich the government's generous friends in the development industry.

Fred Pilcher, Kaleen

MY WORD IT'S A BEAUTY

Thank you, Alex Mattea (Letters, September12), for using a word that I have not seen or heard before: "deturpation."

I looked through five dictionaries until I opened my 1953 issue of Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary (2006 pages). Even my spellchecker did not recognise the word until I added it!

Ken McPhan, Spence

FITTING ROLE OF GG

S.W. Davey (Letters, September13) asserts that the Governor-General is "constitutionally bound to follow" the advice of prime ministers. Constitutional convention has usually, but not always, seen the GG follow the PM's advice. However, the GG retains discretion in such matters,the critical words in Part 1, Section 5 being "as he [sic] thinks fit".

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

ENNIS IN THE POO

Michael Ennis can't hang shit on Raiders fans ("Ennis needs to be careful after taunt to fans, says Fittler", Sport, September12, p46). Only I can do that, and I don't even play footy. What a grub.

Gerry Murphy, Braddon

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