Canberra Times Letters to the Editor: Another ‘think tank’ insults us with developer-frenzy solution

If it wasn't enough to be intellectually insulted by that developers-funded mouthpiece, the "Urban Taskforce", through its periodic newspaper columns, we now have the Grattan Institute rushing in to relieve the yoke of oppression preventing developers properly spreading their wings and finally getting their flagging industry an adequate number of new apartment starts.

You have to love that analogy to fruit and orchards, based on the tendentious claim of even our population growth – outrageous as it is, and involving limitless student and other temporary visas – being the basic factor in the claimed "undersupply".

Not a mention of how welcome the whole world is to fill the pockets of this industry through foreign purchases.

Could the problem actually be a pyramid-scheme of unmeetable, out-of-control demand? Could Dick Smith actually deserve a hearing?

This is all before even pointing out that, thanks to world-worst-practice deregulation, new apartments have ever more been slapped together and churned out so fast in 21st century Australia as to universally guarantee owners years of litigation over multimillion-dollar costs of instantly needed rectifications?

The only buyers who don't seem to mind that are the many foreigners to our north offshoring their new wealth, who only know their apartments from off-the-plan artists' impressions, and who indeed often keep them locked up and untenanted.

Alex Mattea, Kingston

The revitalisation of the Woden Town Centre requires not only additional residential development and improved urban design but additional employment to increase the centre's day time population.

Given the ACT's employment structure, a significant increase in employment requires attracting Commonwealth offices.

The location of such employment depends on decisions made by individual Commonwealth departments. Such decisions are often made without consideration of the travel, environmental and infrastructure costs imposed on the Canberra community.

The extensive office employment at the airport, a location outside the control of the ACT government, is an example of an undesirable outcome of current decision-making processes.

To increase the vitality of the centres and to reduce travel in the Territory, it is crucial the ACT government develop a strategy focused on delivering an employment distribution that maximises benefits to the Territory.

Components would include the identification and encouragement of preferred locations by means such as rates holidays and land grants and ensuring suitable sites are available.

The Commonwealth should be lobbied to establish a centralised committee, required to consider the full costs and benefits of alternative locations, when determining the location of offices.

Employment location is a neglected policy area in Canberra and all Australian cities.

The federal government, as part of its renewed interest in cities, should develop policies to increase accessibility within cities to improve social, economic and environmental sustainability. Employment location is central to such policies.

Mike Quirk, Garran

How many times will Robert Stephens have to tell his story of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of former governor-general Sir William Slim before there is some action to remove the latter's name from the Register of Public Places? ("Call for street name change after sex abuse allegations", March 3, p. 12.)

Failure to act on a known clerical abuser by former governor-general Archbishop Peter Hollingworth, was enough to lead to his resignation from the post and later suffer stringent criticism when giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Robert Stephens has given evidence to the same royal commission as has David

Cinis, another alleged victim of the often brutal Fairbridge Farms system and of Sir William Slim.

The alleged abuse by Sir William Slim, a patron of the Fairbridge Farms system, would appear to follow the oft repeated path of abusers in targeting vulnerable children from a position of power and, in his case, considerable influence.

Regardless of the reasons why naming a major arterial road was chosen to commemorate the undoubted brilliance of Slim's military career, now is the time for the nettle to be firmly grasped by the relevant ACT minister.

The Public Place Names Act appears on first blush to be silent on the matter of removing names but one assumes that there is room to act. Get on with it minister.

Ann Darbyshire, Watson

Until recently Northbourne Avenue provided a pleasant pedestrian experience. There was a wide grassed median strip, and the buildings along the avenue were short and in many cases set well back, thus providing a garden setting.

This treasure is currently being destroyed.

The latest proposal provides for a concrete tramway corridor to replace the grassed median strip, for the existing garden-like set-backs to be abolished, and for the short buildings to be replaced with tall ones. The resulting Northbourne Canyon will be pathetic.

Pedestrian numbers will soon increase dramatically, as will distances walked because the tram stops will be far apart. There is a compelling argument to improve the pedestrian environment by providing a garden setting.

A visionary government would allow no further building within 50 metres of the roadway. All current vacant spaces would be converted into gardens or off-road bus stops. Remaining buildings would be removed when their lives expired.

The new closest buildings would be short, with heights stepped back from the avenue.

The government can exploit a once-only opportunity to develop a world-class boulevard, or it can condemn this city to everlasting mediocrity.

Bob Salmond, Melba

Judging by the number of mogul strips around Braddon roundabouts and the new ski jumps at Northbourne Avenue intersections, it would seem that Canberra is preparing to put in a bid for the Winter Olympics in the near future.

J. Howard, Cook

Once again International Women's Day (March 8) is here. Gender equality will have finally arrived when politicians address the following major social problems: chronic high levels of male suicide and male homelessness, and record high levels of male unemployment and underemployment.

Men have given away nearly one and a half million jobs to women and yet women's advocates still want affirmative action to get more women into the workforce. But why, with a declining birthrate below replacement levels and youth unemployment at around 40 per cent?

Men are allegedly "over-represented" in any area which does not have a 50/50 gender split. Of course in those areas which have a predominance of females (universities enrolments are now 57 per cent female), it's just market forces at work! Slowly but surely, men are being marginalised and their rights and status denigrated.

People rightly are opposed to violence against women but the campaign to vilify only men as perpetrators and women as victims is to grossly distort the realities of life.

It's time legislators stopped being gender blind and focused on issues facing both men and women in today's rapidly changing world — after all most women end up marrying men, and see themselves as a family unit trying to make ends meet rather than being involved in some kind of gender warfare.

Alan Barron, Endeavour Forum, Men's division, Grovedale. Vic

Gary Wilson's heartless desire to 'assess the wisdom' of expensive treatments for 'perpetuating the genes' of children with rare genetic diseases (Letters, March 7) is partly based on a false premise.

In many cases, these children do not reach reproductive age, while yet others will be infertile.

If these children reach adulthood, they would be counselled by doctors to avoid having children.

There is a slippery slope here. If we start denying treatments on eugenic grounds because of the expense, we can end up in a nasty place.

In Australia, governments rejected strong lobbying in the 1920s and 1930s for eugenic legislation.

One measure was passed in Victoria 1939, but never enacted because of the awareness of murderous 'eugenic measures' in Germany.

Nevertheless non-voluntary sterilisation of girls and young women with disabilities, without judicial oversight, continued in Australia up to the 1980s.

Clearly the underlying assumption was eugenics considerations.

Children with mental issues were compulsorily sterilised in the US and elsewhere at that time. We don't want a return to the atmosphere of that era.

David Roth, Kambah

Ross Gittins makes some important and valid points in his article "Capitalism needs its reins" (Comment, March 7, p.16).

The votes of workers (people who work for a wage or salary) vastly — not "infinitely" — outnumber those of business people. An economy is configured to "serve the interests of the many, not the few", and governments not heeding that message are "thrown out".

I believe that the workers are also smart enough to understand that the "trickle-down" theory in economics, especially as practised by the Reagan and Thatcher administrations, does not work for them.

Rather, it further enriches the companies and the already very rich.

This is why, in the long run — if not more immediately — the giving of generous company tax cuts to large Australian or Australia-based businesses, most of which already pay far less than the official 30 per cent, will be seen by the workers as further enriching employers rather than employees and ultimately will probably be voted down by the latter.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

While I applaud the Prime Minister for seeking the help of school principals on preventing bullying, I am sure that they are already doing their utmost in this area.

I wrote to him on February 11, urging him to do something about the worst examples of parliamentary behaviour and what is happening in their own backyards.

I pointed out that in 34 years of attending school principal's meetings I never once encountered any examples of that type of behaviour.

Federal members recently attended a Christian church service prior to the opening of parliament. I therefore imagine the Prime Minister is familiar with Matthew 7:1-5 on judging others that has various quotations re taking the log out of your own eye first so that you will be able to see and take the mote(spec) out of your brother's eye.

He could now do well to reflect on how members of Parliament and TV programs could reduce bullying in the community.

Ken Waters, Maida Vale, WA

I'm wondering how Ronald Elliott (Letters, March 6) has come to the conclusion that we treat animals in this country with kindness.

The animals we manufacture for food are treated as objects. Their familial relationships are bypassed, exploited or trampled.

They often suffer from 'surgical procedures' carried out without anaesthetic or pain relief.

Many spend their entire life indoors with no hope of ever experiencing anything like a natural environment. Many of the cats and dogs we manufacture to be companion animals end up in pounds or shelters, unwanted. Those fortunate ones who do have a home are often left alone all day while the kids are at school and parents at work.

Millions of mice, rats, frogs et al are manufactured each year in order to be tortured and killed in so-called scientific and medical research, teaching and repetitive trivial experimentation.

Many of those animals who are here naturally have their habitat diminished or destroyed by human expansion.

Should their interests interfere with our interests we declare them pests and kill them.

Others, like fishes and ducks, are killed in that grand old British tradition of hunting simply for sport.

I see very little kindness.

Mike O'Shaughnessy, Spence

NORFOLK WAY TO GO

I have the perfect solution for Malcolm Turnbull re the current staffer, ministerial interaction debate.

Why don't we send all the staffers to Norfolk Island (decentralisation model), and lock them up behind razor-wire fencing (isolation model).

This will keep the innocent staffers safe from the marauding ministers who are ignoring their own code of conduct and will break the current staffer/ministerial funny business model.

Sound familiar? Fits in well with their current policies.

Ed Gaykema, Reid

LET'S NOT GET PHYSICAL

When he is vice-captain of our national cricket team, Dave Warner should realise that in verbal jousting the first to get physical is the loser.

R. J. Wenholz, Holt

TILED ROOF MAKES SENSE

An increasing number of house owners replacing their tiled roofs with corrugated and other metal roofing.

The original structures of these houses rely on the weight of the tiles to hold down the roof structure from blowing away in high winds. Installing metal roofing usually needs additional anchoring elements. This can be difficult and expensive if done to the Building Code.

You're probably better off, on economic and environmental grounds, to stick with the tiles.

John Skurr, Yarralumla

SUPER-INCONSISTENCY

Re your article "Super-union will lead to chaos: PM" (March 7, p.7). Is this the same PM who commissioned a super-department under Dutton. Where is the consistency?

John Galvin, Weston

FAIR HEARING FOR JOYCE

Mark Kenny's piece "Joyce case 'compromised by interference"' (March 7, p.9) says the exposure of the identity of a complainant against Barnaby Joyce denied the former deputy prime minister a fair hearing. I would have thought knowing the identity of one's accuser, and what one was accused of, would be vital for a hearing to be called "fair".

Bill Deane, Chapman

COLSTON CONTENDERS

Clarification of recent questions about certain taxpayer-funded travel associated with federal parliamentarians will have a bearing on the next annual award of the Mal Colston medal.

M. F. Horton, Adelaide, SA

FLUFFY EYESORES

Why have so many Mr Fluffy blocks been passed in at auction? They sit unkempt and unwanted on the market. Is it because the reserve prices were too high? Did the valuers take into account their odd shape, extreme slope and gaping excavations, all of which costs a lot of extra money to build on? Perhaps not.

L. Williams, Farrer

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