Contract locked in

However people might feel about the government's decision to build the Capital Metro; however someone might feel about the BCR and its inputs – my point is simple.

Canberra elected a government with a commitment to build the project in 2012. That government ran a legitimate tender.

A consortium fairly won the tender. That consortium has a binding, valid and legal contract with the ACT government. A new government could "terminate for convenience" but it should be very honest that this will cost a lot of money in (appropriate) compensation.

NSW axed its Metro under the short-lived Keneally government – a decision that cost taxpayers more than half a billion dollars. Sydney is now building its Metro again, under the Baird government.

Victoria axed the East West Link last year, which cost a billion dollars. And last month Infrastructure Victoria said that project needs to be built in the near term anyway. How much will Canberrans pay for a political point of difference – and what will be Australia's reputational cost with investors?

As Australia's capital, Canberra should demand a much better level of public debate, with respect for contracts and the rule of law.

Brendan Lyon, chief executive, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

If said before in these pages then it's worth repeating. If not said then it needs stating and repeating: an incoming ACT Liberal government can legislate to rid us of the light rail project and get rid of the contract at no cost to us taxpayers beyond the costs being incurred for the work done between signing the contract and its termination.

How and why? No Parliament can bind a successor. Our incoming government can easily pass a short law that states that there is no light rail project, that any contract pertaining to such project is hereby terminated, and that no compensation is to be paid for any alleged damages caused by such termination.

Is this some new principle? Not at all. It's been clear law since the 1930s.

H. Selby, Lyneham

Simon Corbell (Letters, June 1) mistakenly refers to the tram's contract cost as its project cost and carefully ducks this simple but key question which he could easily answer from the payment schedule in the secret tram contract: "What is the sum of the tram availability payments from each ACT government budget between 2019 and 2038 after inflation-adjusting each to 2016 dollars?"

Adding the 2016 dollar amounts of the capital down-payment, the Capital Metro agency costs and the "off-contract" costs for the construction of the Dickson interchange and other works to this availability payment total reveals the 20-year financial cost of the tram in current dollars.

Surely ACT residents are entitled to know how much actual revenue will be raised and diverted to the tram project, rather than an abstract accounting representation carefully chosen to obfuscate but which is unrelated to actual cash flows, rates, taxes and difficult expenditure priorities faced by future governments. What is Mr Corbell's motivation for determinedly concealing this amount?

Kent Fitch, Nicholls

A preference for demolition and a disregard for heritage considerations offer striking contrasts between Australian building practice and that in European cities. Our buildings are too often torn down after about half a century, whereas European ones remain part of the attractive streetscape.

This applies particularly to Canberra as a university town, contrasting with Oxbridge practice.

In Britain, college buildings of various styles and suitability are centuries old and venerated. Here, the ANU proposes to demolish Bruce Hall, a structure which exhibits architectural values and historical associations that are important contributions to campus heritage.

Surely alternatives to destruction exist. Must our capital city never enjoy the patina of age?

John Mulvaney, Yarralumla

What a civic service ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja provides. Not only had I forgotten that my wife's birthday was around the corner, but I had also forgotten how old she would be turning.

But then, like a message from heaven, Zed's birthday card arrived to not only remind me of the upcoming celebration, but also to remind me how old she will be turning; and all without having to open the envelope because he kindly printed it on the front.

But why so formal, Zed? No need to use the name on her birth certificate, her driver's licence, her passport and I guess the electoral roll, you could have used the name that she has been called from the day she was born. But how were you to know?

So, on behalf of all the husbands (and maybe the odd wife or two) who forget birthdays, I want to thank Zed for investing taxpayers' money to help keep our marriages intact.

Tony Firth, Narrabundah

Kirsten Lawson's article "LDA chief made call on Glebe Park land" (June 7, p1) raises a number of questions over this deal. The main one is who (and why) authorised a valuation by Colliers on the basis of a developer's "dream" of an eight-storey apartment on this block which was not permitted under the current lease.

Collier's valuation is completely irrelevant and whoever authorised the purchase on this basis should be immediately stood aside pending investigation by the Australian Federal Police (although they probably have their hands full working through the Brumbies mess at the moment).

There are a number of dots elucidated by Ms Lawson that can't be that hard to connect.

Andrew Gordon, Tuross Head, NSW

John Burns's response (Letters, June 6) to Jenny Goldie is blackened by his false logic as much as it is by his attachment to coal. He rolls out the argument that we should do nothing because we are a small player. It's morally unjustifiable to say we can do whatever we want, and damn the consequences. Australians pump out more CO2 per person than anyone else on the planet.

That alone should shame us into action. Sadly, the letter also betrays fossil thinking. China's coal imports have started to decline. There is no future in dirty monolithic coal burners, or in digging the stuff up. It's certainly not the way for the environment. If you want to destroy an economy, wreck the environment and see what happens. If we really want to help people, we'll leave coal in the ground. Global warming is not just more sunny days at the beach. It's heat that drives global weather, and the greenhouse effect is already showing how it can disrupt climate systems.

John, it's time to embrace renewable energy. Renewables are now cheaper than coal. The economics have changed, and we have a huge opportunity. Australia can show the world how it's done for both the environment and the economy.

A.R. Taylor, Giralang

While I agree in principle with Brett Goodwin ("How Americans have been sold a pup on guns', Times2, June 6, p5), he might reconsider some wording. "Firstly, set aside the fact that a well-armed citizenry is no match for a standing army, an aircraft carrier or a squadron of B52 bombers".

I suggest that there are a large number of middle-aged and even elderly men – and women – in Vietnam today who would strongly disagree with that statement, having very well matched all of the above, all at once, and in the case of carriers and bomber squadrons, in many multiples.

Len Bowen, Chisholm

How sad that Greg Ellis (Letters, June 3) did not verify the veracity of claims against the Clinton Foundation before propagating falsehoods.

One respected hoax-buster site, snopes.com, proclaims as "unproven" the assertions made. "No one else has reported on anything ... [the original] article provided no citations nor any credible information suggesting there was any truth to [the] claims."

Very sloppy writing. Ellis owe us readers and the Clinton Foundation an apology.

PS: The Clinton Foundation earned an "A" rating from an independent watchdog.

Judy Bamberger, O'Connor

Like Rod Holesgrove (Letters, June 3), I too have recently spent some weeks in the American Midwest. But I must have been hanging out with a different demographic because I think Trump has no chance of becoming president.

The people with whom I spoke long ago identified Trump as the dangerous, narcissistic demagogue that he is, and are horrified that he will be the nominee of a major political party.

Trump will receive very few votes from women, Hispanics, African-Americans and college-educated voters. He will win some of the "red states" in the south and southwest, but will not garner nearly enough electoral votes to win the election.

Mainstream Republicans and evangelical voters are contemptuous of Trump and all he stands for; they are unlikely to vote for Hillary Clinton so my guess is that many of them will simply stay home on election day or will only cast a ballot for local and state offices.

Of course, my optimism could be misplaced since we should remember that US voters twice elected the law-breaking Richard Nixon ("when the president does it, it isn't illegal") and the ignorant George W. Bush ("mission accomplished") so perhaps another atrocity is possible. But I think not.

Steve Ellis, Hackett

I criticised the Australian Electoral Commissioner for his advertising on the new Senate electoral system (Letters, May 3).

The fourth paragraph of the advertisement – "If you choose to vote below the line, you must number at least 12 boxes, from 1 to 12, for individual candidates in the order of your choice" – I described as a "lie".

And I went on that if I decided to vote below the line I would treat the advice as though it reads: "Place the numbers 1 to at least 6 in these boxes to indicate your choice" and I continued: "Were I to do that I would still be casting a perfectly formal vote."

In its more recent advertisements, the AEC has changed its wording of that statement to this: "If you choose to vote below the line, you need to number at least 12 boxes, from 1 to 12, for individual candidates in the order of your choice." Of course, you do NOT need to do that. However, as a result of this change I withdraw the word "lie" and say that the advertisements are still dishonest.

The most important thing I can do, however, is to draw the attention of readers to my last paragraph of that May 3 letter which reads: "The above pieces of dishonesty are not the fault of the Electoral Commissioner. It is the politicians who voted for this legislated system who are to blame."

Malcolm Mackerras, Campbell

Amanda Vanstone ("Bitter lesson in Labor waste", Times2, June 6, p4) is quite right in saying that people have long memories with respect to government waste and incompetence. One awful example that shouldn't be forgotten is the purchase of a fleet of six small patrol boats in 2005 by the Department of Immigration for use in the Torres Strait.

The boats were poorly designed and hurriedly built and one of them, the Malu Sara, sank just six weeks after being commissioned, with the loss of five lives.

It's surprising that Amanda didn't find space to mention this story, as she certainly knows about it – she was Minister for Immigration at the time and personally went to Thursday Island to launch the boats.

G. Burgess, Kaleen

Is Andrew Bolt a Liberal Party insider ("Andrew Bolt knew I was resigning before me: Bronwyn Bishop", canberratimes.com.au, June 7)?

Richard Ryan, Summerland Point, NSW

An opinion survey of sharks and crocs has yet to establish that they are deterred from their primitive evolutionary ways by the death penalty that has traditionally been applied to them as punishment for feeling hungry in their natural realm. No punishment seems more pointless than this merely reactive and equally primitive kneejerk response to standard prehistoric animal behaviours.

Alex Mattea, Kingston

I was concerned to read Kate Humble's ill-informed comment piece "Ugly animals just as deserving as cuddly gorillas" (Times, June 3, p5) proclaiming that humans are the only species capable of: communication, problem-solving and awareness.

The Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness recognises "the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness." The ideology that claims humans to be the superior animal is similar to ideologies that viewed women as inferior beings incapable of tasks outside housework and viewed other humans suitable for slavery. Human animals have more in common with other animals but we persist with this oppressive mindset.

Like differing human cultures, animals also have their own social structures; family ties; rituals; and ways of knowing, that humans struggle to understand and accept. And contrary to the claim of cute animals warranting protection, the koala would have to be one of the "cutest" animals on the planet but they are now classed as extinct in S.E. Queensland due to human negligence. There is not one known animal species that is free from human oppression and terror. Violence upon animals has little to do with degree of cuteness and more to do with human qualities of arrogance, ignorance, corruption and depravity.

Alice Jackson, Watson

SOUFFLE HAS RISEN

Many left-wingers have recently been very unfair to Malcolm Turnbull. They should at least recognise one great achievement by him this year. By being re-elected as head of the Liberal Party, and by his performance since then, particularly in the great debate, he has disproved PaulKeating's theory that a souffle cannot rise twice.

Robert James, Melba

'FEMINIST' INACTION

If Malcolm Turnbull really is a feminist as he claims, why is he locking up innocent women and girls on Nauru and Manus Island and subjecting them to rape, torture and other abuses? Bring them here. Let them stay. That is what a feminist would do.

John Passant, Kambah

SHOW ME THE MONEY

In physics, each force has an equal and opposite one. In the fiscal world, to balance the books, each expenditure has to have an equal revenue. Bill Shorten and the Labor Party have, to date, made extravagant, rash promises amounting to billions of dollars. Where is the equal revenue coming from, Bill?

Mario Stivala, Spence

DISRESPECT DOLLED UP

While Bill Deane (Letters, June 6) consistently delights in using provocation as one of his tools of trade, "dolls at risk" to describe women fearful of domestic violence is a step too far and a sickening example of the trivialisation of domestic violence and the lack of respect for women that underlies and perpetuates suchviolence.

Patricia Saunders, Chapman

FORBIDDEN USAGE

Clementine Ford ("This is what a rapist really looks like", canberratimes.com.au, June 6) imagines a rapist as "someone ominous and foreboding". I think Clementine means "forbidding". "Foreboding" is what the prospective victim might feel – that is, "presage or omen, presentiment, especially of evil".

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

RED CARD FOR SENATOR

Since when has it been part of the role of a senator to send birthday cards to people in his electorate? If Zed Seselja thinks that he and his staff are doing something worthwhile by spending taxpayers' money to trawl through the rolls and send them birthday cards, then those who have voted for him have really been dudded. As have taxpayers.

Bronis Dudek, Calwell

BIKE TO PEDDLE

I think David Morrison, former chief of the Australian Army, lost his bike. I found it on London Circuit.

Gerry Murphy, Braddon

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