Most of the disability sector's policies and procedures appear to provide a framework for the recipients of its services to have a "good" and, by implication safe, life.
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Yet clearly ("Cloud on ACT disability care, November 18, p1) the tragic loss of life (and I daresay a number of near misses not reported in public) over several years highlights a large disconnect between policy and practice, at least within some residential settings. Yes, recruiting and retaining suitable staff remains an issue, but handwringing won't remedy this.
It is time to take a serious look at the role of support workers – particularly whose who support individuals with significant and complex needs. It is they, not the policies and procedures, who are pivotal in ensuring a good and safe life.
The current move away from group living within systems towards other housing and support models for individuals with significant and complex needs, and others, can only provide the experience of a good and safe life if the staff providing the support actually want to do the work, are suited for it and can be recruited in large enough numbers.
Employers of support staff, whether families, committees or agencies, rightly expect them to have a wide range of high-level interpersonal and decision making skills and values. Their work is crucial but they are expected to do high-status work for low-status wages. As key workers, their critical role must be acknowledged and properly recompensed.
Iven Spicer, Ngunnawal
I am disgusted at the cases of malpractice in disability services. But the incidents referred to in the CT occurred in 2011 and 2000. Currently, as the National Disability Insurance Scheme comes into effect in the ACT, Disability ACT is moving out of direct service provision and houses are being transferred to the private sector.
NDIS promises increased accountability and choice for consumers. Certainly some staff are leaving, but who would not seek another employment opportunity when you know your job will not exist in a year's time? There are still dedicated staff working in group homes who provide responsible, caring support to people with disabilities and it is insulting to them to have such mischievous reporting as this.
Kerin Cox, Bruce
Folly funds fall short
Felix MacNeill (Letters, November 17) obviously didn't appreciate that I was aware of both the Prime Minister's and Professor Peter Newman's support for urban tram or train lines. The fact that I refer to ours as the Rattenbury/Barr "light-rail tram folly" indeed clearly states that I am not in support of it.
What I am in favour of, in accepting their determination to proceed with their folly, is to see the federal government chipping in big time – not just the $60million, as stated by Glen Hyde (Letters, November 18) – to relieve ACT taxpayers of great unnecessary financial expenditure. Any other chief minister or premier (as in the case cited in Tasmania) would surely seek greater federal government funding not only for good administration but also for the better expenditure of ACT taxpayer monies more urgently needed on other, worthier local matters.
This, after all, is the national capital and this is infrastructure at huge cost. Residents are not likely to use it, but tourists to the capital might like a tram ride to Gungahlin.
P.M.Button, Cook
Case study in light rail
Brisbane is one of the most dispersed cities in the world, in terms of low population density suburban sprawl, and so is (in this regard) comparable with Canberra and its decentralised and open-spaced layout.
Electric trams operated in Brisbane's inner city areas from 1897, with peak usage during the 1940s. As the city grew post-war, tram usage declined and gave way to more efficient and flexible bus services and also to private car use. All tram and trolley bus services were finally converted to bus operations by 1969, "in common with most other cities throughout the English-speaking world" (Wikipedia).
Subsequent plans for further light rail there have all been abandoned due to the high projected costs, with funds instead diverted into more numerous, frequent, and speedy bus services (with added transport hubs and busways). And which are linked via TransLink with the wonderful fast CityCat catamarans, CityFerry and the electric train systems.
Being very possible that smaller Canberra will only ever be able to afford one tramline, if that, at about $1 billion, why not build it Civic to the airport instead, and save the 860 trees and Northbourne Avenue?
A.Curtis, Florey
Race-hate help at hand
It is disappointing that just before the UN International Day of Tolerance on Monday, an allegedly racially motivated attack was committed against a Canberra taxi driver ("Taxi driver reports racial abuse, -assault on street", November 17, p8).
Whether ultimately proved or not, it is a reminder of how we must all be vigilant about promoting equality and understanding, and combating prejudice and hate. It is exactly for these reasons that I launched a positive campaign on November 16, to promote respect and tolerance in Canberra, called "Diversity Goes with Our Territory".
Laws in the ACT protect against discrimination on the basis of race, and prohibit racially motivated comments made in public that incite violence, as well as intentionally carrying out threatening acts. Anyone who suffers or witnesses such attacks can contact our office for further information, including about making a formal complaint.
Dr Helen Watchirs, ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner
Injudicious support
Full marks to Elizabeth Farrelly for her conclusion that "the courts don't simply interpret the law. They prosecute government policy, they keep governments safe" ("Food lands under attack", Times2, November 19, p4). In this case it is not even a fear of ISDS clauses in the Korean FTA, although the coal miner in question is Korean.
As Farrelly pointed out, the landowners' entitlement, refused by the commissioner of the court, pre-existed as Section 31 of the 1992 Mining Act which protects developed properties such as those in dispute.
The commissioner's rationale that to support those rights would have "alarming consequences for mineral exploration on vast areas of rural land in NSW" should be indictable.
Gary J.Wilson, Macgregor
Salvage of Syria must sidestep national chasms and keep it local
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says a political solution and not a military invasion will solve the problem of Syria ("PM sees political solution for Syria", November 19, p1).
Syrian society is deeply divided into ethnic and religious groups that loath each other. The political solution should focus on the development of local democracy rather than a national government.
Local elections do not pit one ethnic group against another, and tend to be harmonious and peaceful. The political solution should ensure free local elections, a free press and basic human rights such as freedom of movement.
National elections would be far more onerous. If groups are forced to participate in proportional power-sharing arrangements it would harden group identities and guarantee more conflict.
The biggest threat to peace in Syria is the United States, whose dedication to regime change in Syria is halting the peace process. War is great for business.
Victor Diskordia, McKellar
Tolerance is vital
I don't know the first comedian who fumed "I can't tolerate intolerant people". But those words resonate when hideous world events and mass migration by desperate hordes become so unsettling.
Frightened, insecure people, preoccupied with survival or fear of offending intolerant deities or leaders, tend to discard tolerance very quickly.
Civilised, tolerant people generally offer friendship and support to others in need. But, when numbers become overwhelming, tolerance may not keep pace. Several articles in the Canberra Times report, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, tolerance is shrinking. Borders are being re-established.
Paul Sheehan's article "The victimology myth about Muslims in Australia sells the country short" (canberratimes. com.au, November 15) reminds us Muslims overseas are engaged in violence on a massive scale, mostly on religious and/or ethnic grounds. He also asserts "Muslims, have, by far, the lowest ethnic inter-marriage rate in Australia. Arab Muslim women in Australia have the lowest workplace participation, the highest rate of welfare dependency, among the lowest tertiary education participation, among the highest birth rate, and the highest rate of forced marriages ... the root cause of all these elements is the attitudes and conduct of Muslim men."
We seem to have a wide tolerance for intolerance – even contempt – towards our values. We share welfare resources, built by generations of Australians, with newcomers who believe our culture, our values and our laws should align with dysfunctional countries that they deserted. Of course all residents are free to wear and to behave much as they choose. But newcomers who display and teach rejection of their hosts' values risk making their own intolerance less tolerable.
Don Burns, Mawson
Learn from history
Nicholas Stuart's article ("Nothing occurs in a vacuum", Times2, November 17, p1) brought to mind the truism: "If mistakes are not remembered they surely will be repeated".
Most will remember Neville Chamberlain's happy announcement of peace in our time after agreeing to Hitler's invasion of a small country.
It simply does not work to appease bullies. They rub their hands together and look for the next victim.
The other truism is not, if at all possible, to get involved in family fights. In Syria and Iraq, internal factions are fighting each other. IS is such a cruel movement, all we can and should do is support with weaponry the most reasonable faction that has the resolve to defeat it. Getting involved with troops on the ground is simply foolish. It has not worked in the past and it will not work now.
Howard Carew, Isaacs
Passport planted
It's sad to see that A.Pavelic, N.Bailey, Owen Reid (Letters, November 17) and others have been taken in by Islamic State's blatant ploy of leaving a passport to be found with a suicide bomber in Paris. Indeed it's astonishing how so much of the right-wing media (I'm looking at you, News Limited) has screamed that the discovery of the passport means that European compassion for Syrian refugees has made them more vulnerable to terrorism.
IS loathes the exodus of refugees from Syria and has worked to stop it in every way it can. And in fact it seems that Europe's compassion has been one of the most effective tools against radicalisation in recent times, as it directly contradicts the idea that the "West" is inherently anti-Muslim and pitiless.
Either the media frenzy is a deliberate political strategy from the hard right, along the lines of the endless baying for war that led to the Iraq disaster, or it's plain stupidity. Think about it: a suicide bomber brings a passport to the scene for one reason and one reason only: media strategy designed to provoke a response, just like the shootings and bombings. Don't be fooled.
Matt Andrews, Aranda
Refuge not enough
I am concerned that the response to the Paris attacks is divided between pro-Abbott supporters like your correspondent A.Pavelic and so-called bleeding heart lefties (Letters, November 17).
One of the features, indeed strengths, of Western democracies is compassion, and it is no wonder that many European nations opened their doors to people fleeing Syria and other Middle East and African nations in turmoil. That one of them turned against the country that welcomed him in this heinous crime is tragic. It would be very sad indeed were European nations to slam the door on people seeking refuge from civil war and grinding poverty.
The answer lies in how many any country can take in and support appropriately. How many social workers, how much accommodation, how much food is available?
There are 6.5 million Muslims in France, many residing in the slums of Paris, known as banlieues. Unemployment rates are high. It is a recipe for disaster. If some European nations are to keep their doors open, they must ensure that refugees are properly educated, fully integrated into society and not simply dumped into banlieue-type slums.
Jenny Goldie, Michelago, NSW
Free trade deal built on weak foundations
The recently signed free trade agreement with China offers pause for thought. It is some time since scandals about Chinese food products reached Australia. More recently there have been allegations about Chinese building products being implicated in a massive high-rise fire in Melbourne, asbestos in cladding, and faulty steel in a bridge at Busselton WA.
Has Trade Minister Andrew Robb considered all the implications of our so-called wonderful future trade relationship with China, when our existing relationship is already laden with very serious problems?
Matthew Higgins, Ainslie
Ads undermine ethics
I cannot believe that The Canberra Times continues to accept payment to advertise full-page "electronic attack aircraft" (November 17, p7). It is offensive to any reader and far more dangerous to our health than advertisements for alcohol and cigarettes. Please desist immediately and don't be bought out by international corporations who have no heart and soul. Australia has never been the attacker. Let's not start now by having unmissable and highly scurrilous advertisements in our precious and pacifist national The Canberra Times. Please reconsider.
Karen Dahl, Forrest
Wages of war unpaid
George W.Bush, Tony Blair, and John Howard will be remembered as the war leaders who invaded Iraq, based on American lies, to suit their political agendas may I add, and provided us with the aftermath, which we now call terrorism. I call it pay-back.
Stay alert and alive; the terrorist has yet to deal their cards of death on Australian soil.
Richard Ryan, Summerland Point, NSW
TO THE POINT
LIGHT RAIL EUPHEMISMS
I voiced concern to Shane Rattenbury at the rate increases light rail will cause. His reply? "That's not the way it works, it will be paid from consolidated revenue". Is this a euphemism for "He shall stick his hand in my pocket", or am I missing something?
Alan Lay, O'Connor
MARKET TRUSTS SENSE
The "sovereign risk" fear that the Canberra Liberals will cancel the light rail project is said to be based on the concept that the ACT government will lose trust with the financial markets, who will then increase borrowing rates. However, surely a government will gain trust with the financial markets if it cancels a project about which all responsible economists have agreed is patently not worthwhile.
Bob Nairn, Hawker
CALLING PAST LEADERS
Following the atrocities in Paris, where is Winston Churchill when you need him?
Dr Marjorie Curtis, Kaleen
MUSLIMS' TERROR TOLL
Those advocating a worldwide "stop the boats" policy (Letters, November 17) in order to protect the West from further terrorist acts seem to have forgotten that the refugees fleeing Syria are themselves victims of terror. Far more Muslims have been killed and traumatised by Islamic State and other extremist groups in the Middle East and Africa than have Westerners.
Eileen O'Brien, Kambah
CT READERS RESTRICTED
I note again that the CT's online comments are not available on articles dealing with Muslim murders and atrocities. Is this out of fear of being targeted by Muslim mass murderers or the much dreaded "extreme right wing racists and xenophobes", so abundant and well known in Canberra?
N.R.Watson, Chifley
NO STATE, NO PROBLEM
Margaret Clough (Letters, November 18) says she will be renouncing her Australian citizenship. So she does not become stateless, a Tasmanian passport is on its way to her.
John Milne, Chapman
I am willing to accept Margaret Clough's renunciation of her Australian citizenship and those benefits that accrue from it.
John Bromhead, Rivett
Margaret Clough wishes to renounce her citizenship, eh? Because she lives in "a wonderful country of freedom, fairness and opportunity"? Bet she doesn't!
Sonya Georgalis, Kingston
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