It is also not surprising that the MBA, WorkSafe and other employer supporters are all saying that it is "too late" and they are making changes which have "improved the ability to respond to such incidents!"

To me that is simply an admission that such incidents will happen again and these agencies will make sure they are more prepared to counter the arguments of the pesky unions who seem to think that the safety of workers is important.

It would be interesting to know – and l am sure WorkSafe and MBA etc will say it is confidential – what the long-term effect the accident has had on the 15 workers who were injured.

While all the managers and their supporters have been virtually cleared, it should be recognised that the workers are probably still paying.

I have little faith in the "words" of the "guardians" of safety. I would really like to see some action.

Geoff Barker, Flynn

I notice that the concrete, self-promoting and claustrophobic barricades in the Gungahlin shopping precinct have been removed and replaced with cyclone fencing thus widening the footpaths and opening up the area along the light rail construction zone.

Would it be presumptuous for me to suggest that the removal of the original barricades was a result of the Gungahlin retailers' complaints that customers were deserting the precinct and they were losing trade, natural light was restricted and the narrow walkways were cold wind tunnels.

Perhaps minister Meegan Fitzharris could enlighten us on the costs to install the original barricades and the subsequent removal and replacement with the current fencing.

I'm sure the ACT taxpayers would be pleased to know that their ever-increasing rates are being well spent.

Peter Toscan, Amaroo

Choice has gone too far in its recent call to end school banking programs such as the one run by the Commonwealth Bank.

My choice is to teach my eight-year-old about savings and putting off wants now for needs (or even other wants) later.

For her regular savings she recently received a gift that reinforced the message.

I challenge Choice to try to run an alternative scheme, taking deposits of $2 to $5 per week and paying interest and bonuses to savers.

With wage and IT costs, it would soon be out of business.

If the school can use volunteers and makes a few dollars commission, that is also good news. Given Choice say it was something like $200,000 across the country last year, it was barely material.

Giving a child a lifelong skill is my choice – so don't kill it off.

D. K. House, Canberra

I am pleased that (Tasmanian state) government attempts to effectively prohibit peaceful protest have been invalidated.

I am not so pleased the Greens approve of this decision. They have no interest in defending democracy or the right to protest. They only have self interest. The Greens don't like environmental degradation (understandably!). So they oppose laws that mean they cannot protest against it.

Yet when it comes to something the Greens do like – such as abortion – they have no problem whatsoever, shutting down peaceful protest at every opportunity.

The Greens are in fact national leaders when it comes to support for anti-protest laws.

If the ACT's abortion clinic exclusion zone laws were also invalidated, would the Greens be cheering? I doubt it.

Christopher Budd, Turner

I participated in the recent Housing Affordability and Homelessness Summit ("Calls to turn talk into action after housing summit", October 18, p8), and I thank the ACT government for that. Dangerously, the government is relying heavily on the "industry" to solve the affordability problem.

Developers, spec and project builders, real estate agents and their in-house planners (land economists), some bankers, and probably, subdivision engineers and contractors, all clearly can never be free of conflicts of interest in this regard.

Having been largely responsible for forcing house prices through the roof, their solutions demand relaxations of planning and environmental provisions, hard fought for by responsible professionals, and required in "affordable" housing.

As well, that "industry" cohort is quite happy to stigmatise affordable housing dwellers by relegating them to unappealing parts of their developments.

The government needs to sell new blocks of land only to individual, or small groups of bona-fide, long-stay, owner-occupiers who can source their own dwellings.

To further assist affordability, and protect the "market", the front half of a block can be so purchased, with an undertaking to purchase the back half within say, seven years.

The owner procures a "starter" dwelling on the purchased land, pays the rates for the full block, and can extend the house after the back-half purchase.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Perhaps the editor of The Canberra Times ("Pragmatism needed on energy policy", editorial, October 20, p18) experiences a passing frisson of schoolyard credibility from presenting bad energy policy, designed primarily to appease the deranged rump of the Liberal political party, as realistic compromise in the "national interest" while dismissing rational policy alternatives, based on solid science from the real world, as "Greens ideology".

But reality always has the last word, and those of us still acquainted with it are neither fooled nor impressed.

Felix MacNeill, Dickson

Commiserations to all those Kiwis, a majority, who voted for a continuation of a highly effective centre-right National Party government.

You have been cheated.

How much more undemocratic can you get, when the ruling National Party, with a majority of votes and more seats than any other party, gets ousted by a triumvirate of Labour, New Zealand First, and the Greens to form government.

This was certainly not the will of the people.

After eight years of good, steady government under the Nationals, to an unknown, inexperienced leader, a queenmaker who is only looking after himself, and a party with a sole policy which is to block anything and everything, certainly looks like a recipe for disaster.

Mario Stivala, Spence

"If it ain't broke don't fix it." Over a 10-year period the conservatives dragged the Kiwis from being an economic and financial basket case to become the envy of many Western economies. Now they have thrown it all away by returning to a Green/left government. Why?

Owen Reid, Dunlop

What is with this paper's obsession with Tony Abbott? Itseems every day there is acolumn or letter criticising him.

Maybe the people who constantly bag him are wary that he is an effective leader and would be worried if he was in charge of the party whom they are opposed to.

Abbott did more in his two years of government than any other leader since John Howard, a major point being his implementation of tougher terror laws and giving authorities more power to investigate and apprehend offenders.

I remember when he first implemented this and some workmates laughed, saying it was a smokescreen. Well, with all the other terrorists attacks around the globe and Australia's relatively low number, I think these people can thank their lucky stars that we had a PM that had the guts to do something about our safety and wasn't worried about any backlash he may receive.

I am sure Bill Shorten would have been too worried about being labelled a racist to do anything like this to protect our future generations.

Maybe instead of the constant negativism, an appreciation of Abbott's desire to put the country's safety first would be appreciated.

There have been plenty of attempts that have been stopped by our police and investigative agencies that have saved the lives of thousands of lucky Australians.

Thank Tony Abbott for that.

Ian Pilsner, Weston

Most definitions of democracy refer to elected representatives voting on behalf of the people.

How can this happen if most of our representatives haven't a clue how we feel about issues because they don't ask us?

At election time we are forced to choose between two major parties plus a few minor ones, none of whom have asked us our opinion unless we belong to their party.

I am particularly angered by the current situation in Victoria where members of its Parliament are being asked to vote according to their consciences on euthanasia.

It should have nothing to do with conscience, which effectively is determined by education, which for many is something that happened decades ago in a very different world.

Much of what is regarded as knowledge today bears little relationship to what was current knowledge then.

The real experts in the field of euthanasia are older people who are facing this situation and families of people who have recently died, or those who help people through this situation.

They are our real representatives with relevant information and they are the ones who should be voting on this issue, not people who may have long-imbued biases.

We need genuine representatives who know what members of their electorates think and understand, and vote accordingly in all aspects of government.

Audrey Guy, Ngunnawal

If there are to be no subsidies for renewable energy in two years there must also not be ongoing subsidies for fossil fuels by state or federal governments.

That means no free water provided by Queensland, among other things.

If new gas is mined then it must be in areas where it can be mined without fracking, as that would in effect be destroying groundwater, which is another way of subsidising fossil fuel.

There must be equality of "no subsidies" for any energy source.

Caroline Fitzwarryne, Yarralumla

The transphobic bigotry relating to trans woman footballer Hannah Mouncey brings to mind the bigotry relating to black athletes who were once not allowed to compete against whites, and those who say we must segregate black and white female tennis players as black players like Serena Williams have an unfair advantage over whites.

Blacks might be superior to whites in some sports, and viceversa, due to biological traits unique to these races, but it was rightly decided that we must not segregate sports on racial grounds as it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and discrimination, and we must not segregate trans females from biological females on the same grounds.

Richard Lutz, Payneham, SA

Identifying the male sex chromosome as female (and vice versa) is the least offensive blunder in Kevin Donnelly's argument ("The Church's child abuse record doesn't disqualify it from opposing same-sex marriage", canberratimes.com.au, October 20).

Like most Catholic apologists who cite instances of abuse outside the church to mitigate the appalling culture in the clerical hierarchy, he is blind to the gobsmacking hypocrisy: these "shepherds of souls", claiming anointment by God, systematically distributed wolves to trusting flocks globally.

Donnelly and his ilk are free to oppose same-sex marriage.

But why should the general public kowtow to Catholic doctrine or any other religious proscription?

Peter Robinson, Ainslie

BISHOP'S UNWISE CLAIM

What was absolute rubbish was Julie Bishop's claim that she'd find it hard to build a relationship of trust with a Labour Party government in NZ.

Now the stupidity of her statement has hopefully dawned on her.

Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW

OUTSOURCING PERIL

I would be surprised if any of your readers can provide an example of "Outsourcing" that performed as contracted and actually saved money.

Peter Evans, Red Hill

SPEAKING OUT

Matt Gately (Letters, October 20) takes Gary Wilson to task for calling the "important work" done by "talented researchers" at Sydney and Melbourne universities studying benefits payments over generations as statements of the "bleeding obvious" and suggests Gary should consider his own output in this regard. Gary may or may not choose to do so, but when he speaks his version of truth to power at least he operates at no cost to we taxpayers.

Bill Deane, Chapman

CHANGING TIMES

It seems tales about a calamitous crash in house prices are out and stories about an imminent World War III are in.

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

IF ONLY ALL COULD VOTE

With biodiversity in decline all around our world, a minority of our politicians, are misguided enough to deny climate change for their own suspect agendas and some Australians actually vote for them.

If animals, birds, fish and plant life could vote, the likes of Tony Abbott and Pauline Hanson would be swept from power, along with those in awe of them.

John Davenport, Farrer

Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.

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