Canberra Times Letters to the Editor: Sometimes more can be too much when it comes to sports coverage

The thought of this, even 10-15 years ago, would have been unthinkable. And the commentary is, generally, of a high standard. That said, I really cannot see or understand the logic or rationale behind the recently adopted practice of interviewing players coming off the field during the half-time break.

Surely it is unreasonable to expect players coming in at half-time to readily come up with any deep and meaningful analysis of his/her performance or that of the team when all the player wants to do is have a quiet drink and unwind.

It would also be appropriate to remind players that officials are now "wired for sound" and of the need to moderate their language during the game and in after-match interviews. Some of the comments are colourful, to say the least.

Andrew Rowe, Florey

A new National Convention Centre is wrongly proposed for the south-east sector of City Hill. For such developments to be successful, vast integrated exhibition spaces are required and the site is too small and constrained for that.

Also, important built symmetry about Commonwealth Avenue, connecting City Hill and Capital Hill, cannot be realised. That's because convention centres have unique built forms, and high-rise apartments are planned for the matching south-west sector.

Those two sectors should continue to be predominantly open space, containing say, evocative matching "cloverleaf" carriageways (one's there already), maintaining vital vistas from City Hill to Capital Hill, the Central National Area, the lake, and mountains beyond.

Also blocking important vistas and lake access will be the proposed covetous West Basin development. It should be scrapped along with the expensive vertical duplication of Parkes Way, which will let currently desirably excluded traffic into Vernon Circle.

Improved pedestrian links between Civic and New Acton and the lake are needed now. In association with the ANU, the convention/exhibition centre should be west of Lawson Crescent, connectivity-enhanced by the installation of Griffin's missing lake crossing which would spring from the south-west (upper) part of Acton Peninsula to Flynn Place in a superb circular arc, complementing the shape of West Basin.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Malcolm Scoggins, in The Australian August 4) highlighted a major failing in science generally, not only in climate change reporting. Honest scientists are publishing what they believe is truth. Too many others are reported to have published what they think their superiors or peers want to hear, regardless of readily available contrary facts. The first group is remarkable in that so many of them appear to be retired or self employed, where they are less likely to be concerned about tenure, promotion or what others might think.

This is a poor look for politicians, university hierarchy and senior science supervisors.

Robert Brooks, Geraldton, WA

A recent ABC program made claims about robots and artificial intelligence replacing workers. AI, like electricity, is good when it works, and convenient, but electricity can face interruptions. Business will operate the costly electricity supply and it can be unreliable. Batteries need frequent charging and that can take time.

Consumers are held to ransom by high electricity charges, resulting in some appliances being too costly to use. The same will be true with charging batteries.

AI products could be targeted by hackers as have computers and banks been the target of electronic "'terrorists".

We will face some interesting times as we go further down the road to more computer gadgetry. Certainly there will be a plethora of onerous rules and regulations to make the futuristic system viable.

Jay Nauss, Glen Aplin, QLD

Now that our ACT government (LDA) has "called in" and approved its own rural to urban rezoning (September 2016) and approved its own development application for its own Ginninderry development ("First homes for new suburb get green light", August 5, p11) without NCA approval – perhaps it has neglected "due process" on too many occasions and is once again "jumping the gun". The headline ("Ginninderry first stage approved", August 9, p8) is not correct and is misleading, as NCA has not yet "given the environmental green (sic!) light". Surely NCA must support the ACT Conservator of Flora and Fauna's "opposition to removal of 20 regulated, hollow bearing and habitat trees (nearly 25 per cent), as none of them meet the criteria for removal".

According to Riverview's Mr Maxwell, the ACT Conservator's decision has been overruled and opposed by the ACT government developer's own ACT Planning Directorate who is obliged to formally refuse the independent, professional ruling, not based on arboriculture evaluation, but on "an unfortunate consequence of the way the legislation is written".

Our ACT government appears to be neglecting our unique fauna and flora in favour of development. We need to protect the habitat and forever lifetime, dream homes of other long-term ACT residents. Where are our Green MLAs when they are needed?

P.R. Temple, Macquarie

In a short opening sentence James Massola summarised the dichotomy that eight major power companies presented to the Prime Minister ("PM tackles power bosses on bill shock", August 10, p8). They "blamed a decade of political uncertainty in Canberra for sharp rises in power prices and implored the Turnbull government to adopt a proposed Clean Energy Target".

The dichotomy is the autonomy of the states. No matter what tax laws the Commonwealth enacts, whether direct or indirect, the states do not have to comply with any preferred generation and distribution plans. Anyway, no government can guarantee its laws won't change. The producers are goading the government(s). The government(s) are divided and conquered while producers are united by their unwavering, shared interest: profit.

Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor

Check the statistics on same-sex couples, many of whom have indicated they won't take the opportunity to marry.

The numbers given in an Australian Bureau of Statistics data sheet for 2016 indicate there are 46,800 same-sex couples in Australia. Even if the numbers are actually double this, why is the government so intent on wasting taxpayers' money and time to have a non-binding faux plebiscite to stop such a small number of people enjoying the same rights as the rest of the population?

Give same-sex couples a break — get over your hang-ups, do your job and show genuinely strong leadership and have a free vote in Parliament.

Spend the money saved on another deserving group, like the homeless.

W. Taylor, Hawker

What if Abraham Lincoln had sought to end slavery through a postal vote? A true leader, he used the representative democracy processes through a Congressional vote to deliver emancipation.

Malcolm Turnbull wants to provide fundamental human rights to Australians if an unreliable postal survey tells him to. This can only be the mark of a small and weak leader captive to the conservative minority of his party – a group that has never delivered anything of value to the Australian people.

Rohan Goyne, Evatt

I have read many articles in recent weeks about the proposed plebiscite for marriage equality.

Years ago the federal Parliament House was referred to as the aviary, there was a Hawke, a Peacock and a bunch of other galahs.

Now all we have left is a bunch of galahs.

Why is this current government willing to spend $122 million on a plebiscite and have another $60 million on campaigning for either a "yes" or "no" vote that will have no binding relevance on the politicians if the vote is in the affirmative.

This needs to be debated on and put to the vote in the Parliament where we as taxpayers can see our money at work and not wasted on the ideological whims of a few extreme right-wing conservatives.

Warwick Priestley, Amaroo

Come on Zed Seselja ("Same sex marriage could see Christians persecuted", canberratimes.com.au, August 10) were you persecuted before 2004 when John Howard managed to change the Marriage Act to specifically state that marriage should be between a man and woman? I don't think so.

Why would anyone persecute Christians for what they have, ie a marriage, when they are fighting for the same thing?

As you state somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent of the voting public believe that marriage equality should be legislated.

All members of Parliament are there to represent the views of the people, so why not simply have the vote in Parliament and save $122 million, which should easily be passed by at least 60 per cent of members if not as much as 70 per cent.

You could still vote no (whether in fact that represents the opinion of those in your electorate or not) and your conscience would be satisfied and you wouldn't be persecuted.

Mila Yates, Valentine, NSW

The Liberals have concocted an expensive legally dubious postal plebiscite that does not bind parliamentarians to follow the outcome and effectively disenfranchises the demographic most supportive of marriage equality, the young.

Rules against misleading and deceptive campaign material won't apply giving the green light to uglies and haters to bash the LGBTI community.

This tawdry stunt brings to mind Daffy Duck's deathless observation: They're despicable.

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

So we are to be given the fun of having a postal vote on whether we are in favour of same-sex marriage.

The vote will be conducted by the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics), the same organisation that bungled the census that was conducted last year.

On the day after census night the person in charge of the census stated on SBS TV that the ABS computers could handle a maximum of 260 census form entries per second which is 936,000 per hour.

From the ABS' own projected figures for 2016 the five eastern Australian states would contain 7,270,868 separate households.

Given that most families would probably sit down and attempt to fill out the census form at a similar time on census night it was no wonder the system collapsed.

We were told after the census date that the ABS suffered a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service Attack) that overloaded the bureau's computer systems but there was no indication of a DDOS attack on Australia shown on the DDOS attack map (www.digitalattackmap.com/).

Given the above it is a very trusting person who believes that the proposed postal vote can be conducted successfully by the ABS.

Norm Johnston, Monash

Just because the Senate doesn't apparently support the will of Mr Dobell (Letters, August 11), it doesn't mean that it is not supporting the will of the rest of Australia.

Voters elect senators, often with the explicit notion of having a Senate which is of a differing political persuasion to that of the House of Representatives.

It is worth remembering that the (now deceased) Senator Don Chipp established the Australian Democrats in 1977 essentially to "keep the bastards honest".

Successive minority parties have, by and large, done their job under this banner since then. On this basis it could be argued that the Senate better reflects the will of the people than the House of Representatives.

Helen M Goddard, Turner

POLL POSITION

Vote yes for marriage equality and smash the Abbott/Turnbull government.

John Passant, Kambah

SO MASTERFUL

If our strong leader is so spendthrift in appeasing the handful of his insufferable right, thank goodness we don't have a weak one.

Dick Varley, Braidwood, NSW

POSTING A PROFIT

What a stroke of genius this postal survey is. The profit Australia Post makes should just about cover the salary and bonus of its CEO.

R. D. Blakey, Belconnen

The non-binding, non-compulsory postal vote will cost $122 million. Given that there are about 17 million eligible voters in Australians, it seems every vote will cost about $7, that is if everyone votes. I will never even bother to mail my vote back or be involved in something so stupid as this, so I hope they send me nothing and save themselves $7. My vote: YES, YES, YES.

Mokhles K Sidden, South Strathfield, NSW

FURY OF TRUMP

Little Donny Trump has promised "fire and fury" to the North Koreans. They must have run out of "shock and awe".

Gary Frances, Bexley, NSW

Trump says America's nuclear arsenal is "more powerful than ever " (ABC News, August 10). Is that a good thing for humanity?

Rajend Naidu, Sydney, NSW

A WORLD VIEW

Most countries globally don't have gay marriage and many countries criminalise homosexuality.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield, Victoria

UN SOCIAL CLUB

So once again the feeble UN places sanctions on North Korea, a country with no nuclear weapons. In the same breath, one would have expected similar sanctions against the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia for their blockade of foodstuffs for Yemen, bombing of hospitals and schools and the outbreak of cholera, one dead every minute, starvation possible in the millions, no fresh water and civilian deaths by the thousands. The UN has become the most hypocritical world body, its value gone forever, a social club for the wealthy nations.

Rhys Stanley, Hall, NSW

PHANTOM POPULACE

Just who does Zed Seselja think he's representing? It surely isn't any working Canberran, as he's repeatedly advocated ripping apart one of the city's largest industries. Can't be the equality loving Canberrans who have led the country in supporting our LGBT community. Who is this fantasy Canberran he thinks will vote for him?

Erin Cook, Waramanga

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