Capital Metro Minister Simon Corbell told the North Canberra Community Council on May 19 it would be difficult for the government to meet its election commitment of a 10.5 per cent public transport mode share by 2016. But in a letter dated May 25, he declined to explain how Capital Metro estimated that the public transport mode share has already reached 11per cent, that buses provide 350 times the greenhouse benefit of light rail, or that light rail would take 24 minutes off the average peak period public transport trip, resulting in $222 million worth of travel time benefits.
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Capital Metro's business case reported micro simulation results that indicated a 15-minute travel time saving for each car trip, but did not calculate the economic benefits of those savings. Since there will be many more car trips than tram trips, the economic benefits of reduced car travel times would be even greater than those from reduced public transport travel times.
Capital Metro and its minister have been strangely silent on this news. Even though it would reduce the incentive to travel by tram, it would surely be welcomed by Gungahlin's drivers. Perhaps Capital Metro doesn't want to draw attention to yet another business case error. Or perhaps it wants us to believe the light rail project is all about increasing public transport use.
Leon Arundell, Downer
Mindset change
I worry that Canberra is about to commit itself to a stranded asset that will cripple our economy and cripple our capacity to finance all the public housing, schools, hospitals, gardens and other services that make Canberra a place worth living in.
I would like to be assured that promoters of the light rail have taken fully into account a tsunami of disruptive technologies that Tony Seba of Stanford University tells us are on track to revolutionise urban transport and urban planning. Seba challenges the assumptions that underpin the case for the light rail: roads will not become overcrowded, there will be fewer cars and travel times will shrink. He predicts:
- By 2030 if not before all new mass market vehicles will be electric.
- Within three years autonomous vehicles will hit the market.
- Autonomous vehicles will end congestion. At any one time 95 per cent of a highway surface is not being used. Cars with adaptive cruise control can improve highway capacity by 40 per cent.
- Electric buses already exist that are recharged by Wi-Fi technology set into the road at bus stops.
- Cost benefits from ride-sharing arrangements like Uberand self-driving cars mean we will need 80per cent fewer cars and 80per cent fewer parking places.
These changes will not require us to ditch the convenience of the car but simply to change our mindset to regard car transport as a service rather than necessitating a need to own one.
Bill Bush, Turner
A better battery
Roger Farrow's analysis of battery storage costs for solar energy (Letters, May 28) is comparing apples with oranges.
To ensure a long service life, conventional sealed lead acid deep cycle batteries should not be discharged by more than 20per cent. Whereas, lithium ion batteries, as used in the Tesla battery wall, can be completely discharged and recharged without damage. So, while dollar per amp-hour costs for lithium ion batteries are twice that for lead acid batteries, only a quarter of the storage capacity is required.
Hence, a Tesla battery wall does achieve Mr Farrow's benchmark of being half the cost of conventional battery storage.
This breakthrough is the game changer for the electricity generation and distribution industry.
Tim Herne, Calwell
Powering the way
As there have been three articles in The Canberra Times about storing energy as the back-up for renewable energy ("ACT could lead the way in renewable energy tech", May 2, "Next solar farm to store power", May 6, and "Testing times for renewable energy", May 8), it would appear the ACT government is starting to address the problem identified by Gordon Hinds ("Big-battery tech tipped to revolutionise renewables", January 22): "power from the ACT solar farms will be superfluous to needs when it is fed into the grid, unless it is stored."
There are two questions which the government must address in relation to each of its renewable targets: (1) what would be the required capacity of the energy storage devices (accumulated demand over what period); and (2) what capacity in excess of consumer demand would be required of the renewable energy sources in order to recharge the storage devices before the next prolonged outage of the renewable energy sources?
Before committing to its renewable energy targets, the government must have obtained answers to the above two questions and the related development and operating costs.
If the government has not obtained estimates of the above costs it should not have committed to the programs.
In addition, the related acreage of solar panels and wind farms should also be tabled; it would not be surprising if the area required is either impractical or unacceptable to the public.
Ed Dobson, Hughes
Roo control
It is a pity that the words of fact and scientific wisdom on kangaroo populations from Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe ("Writers removed from reality", Times2, May 29, p1) will fall on deaf ears. What could the former first director of Pest Animal Cooperative Research at the CSIRO possibly tell a South African novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature about kangaroo breeding and population control?
The ultra pro-animal views of groups such as PETA will never be swayed by logic and commonsense. Fluffiness and furriness will win out every time. Sadly Hugh, you may as well have written a piece extolling the virtues of Catholicism to ISIS.
T.J. Farqahar, Ainslie
As a regular walker around Canberra's urban reserves, I've seen no evidence of an "over abundance" of kangaroos. The real problem of temperate grassland loss is not indigenous wildlife but unchecked human population and poor infrastructure planning.
I reject Mr Tyndale-Biscoe's solution to shoot and kill kangaroos on that basis. Instead people need to come up with better (and more humane) solutions to live in harmony with the environment rather than simply destroying it.
R. Soxsmith, Kambah
Heritage village for historic buildings
How about setting up a heritage village to house historic Canberra buildings from Northbourne Avenue and elsewhere?
Perhaps at Oaks Estate where there is room to site them appropriately and they can bring new life to the area?
I have visited two heritage villages in Japan – Hida folk village near Takayama and Boso no Mura open air museum near Narita. Hida has old farm buildings saved from destruction in their original locations. Boso no Mura has merchant houses, craft workshops and farms. Both offer visitors insights into Japan's history and architecture, plus opportunities to participate in traditional crafts, buy craft products and choose from attractive lunch options.
Canberra's historic housing lacks the age and picturesque qualities of the Japanese but it represents the government's initiative to accommodate various influxes of new residents needing public or private housing. As well as the Northbourne flats, could we perhaps save – if there are any left – a duplex or two, a Tocumwall and a fibro cottage, and examples of the guvvies that covered the inner north, Woden and Belconnen. Such a village could also accommodate some traditional inner south houses such as the one on the corner of Bougainville Street and Empire Circuit due to be demolished for a block of units.
And further up Empire Circuit, the very old hospital that served until recent years as the Sri Lankan High Commission could be preserved in Oaks Estate for the people who value it, rather than provoking a storm when redevelopment is suggested.
The Heritage Council might like to move to the relocated hospital, surrounded by buildings it has worked so hard to save. Even the Institute of Architects might be tempted to relocate their iconic building from Mugga Way.
Moira Smythe, Forrest
Middle East strays spark instant amnesia in unforgiving TV Tony
TV Tony, surrounded by his stony-faced ministers and military brass, confuses me as he ramps up his rhetoric to convince us that anyone who strays near the Middle East conflict is probably up to no good and should live elsewhere. Surely it was only a few weeks ago that he, and his ministers, most of them avowed Christians, were lecturing Indonesian President Widodo on the meaning of the word "redemption".
Didn't Kevin Andrews and the Howard government use TV pillorying, back in July 2007, to detain, and cancel, the visa of Dr Muhamed Haneef, but finished up paying "substantial damages"?
Perhaps you can only be a member of Tony's Team Australia if you have no memory.
Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla
FOI mess tricky to fix
The article "Muzzling the FOI watchdog" (Times2, May 27, p1) is misleading in that the FOI regime is affected by the Privacy Act. This provides a rationale for non-disclosure of information by Commonwealth agencies. The Privacy Act was sold to the public as a measure to protect the privacy of individuals, but a major cost is the establishment of the means for Commonwealth agencies to enforce secrecy. Whether intended or not, the Privacy Act saw people clamouring to protect individual rights at the expense of open government.
The outstanding example of the use of the Privacy Act is in the administration of the ACT, where, despite the public interest in accountability, secrecy is routinely implemented on the pretext of protecting someone's purported right to privacy. For example, information about termination/suspension of the rights of professionals, including doctors and lawyers, to practice in their fields is denied to the public on the basis of someone's purported right. So, as has been the case for decades, FOI requests are easily deniable under secrecy regimes established long ago. Fixing the mess is notas simple as is implied in the article.
Kristine Clement, Cook
Payne out of touch
Human Services Minister Marise Payne's "clarification" of the problems with her department's call service (Letters, May 28) is typical of the current government's attitude towards the general public – that the punters will swallow anything if you say it loudly enough.
Does she really think that we would believe that call centre staff are paid $100,000 per year? Admittedly it was 20 years ago, but when I did a similar job (for a different department) my salary was about $36,000.
Moreover, is she admitting that the call centre has been understaffed by 1000 bodies and is she willing to say how long this shortfall has been in place? Or how long the staff have been battling with the "antiquated" IT system?
I gather that once the new IT program is up and running, telephone callers will get the usual "piss off and use a computer" answer. Given that Payne's department deals with people who are elderly (and like me, have trouble negotiating web sites), or poor (and unable to afford computers), or handicapped by isolation and/or mental health problems (and have no one to help them), I sincerely hope that the boffins who are designing the new website get real customers (like the aforesaid poor, elderly, confused) to test drive it before launching it.
However, they are probably more likely to be like the wonderfully funny IT chief sent up by Kitty Flannagan in the recent re-run of Utopia – interested only in impressive backgrounds and sound effects.
Barbara Fisher, Cook
Marisa Payne missed the point at issue. She set out improvements basically relying on internet communication. This ignores the fact that over 13million of inquiries to Centrelink ignored the internet and chose to phone.
What she shuts her eyes to is the fact that many pensioners are either computer illiterate, have no access to a computer, or are at an age when they dread the thought of using a computer or speaking to a recorded message. If Ms Payne wants to provide a service to her customers that will see her re-elected she should employ enough staff so that Centrelink can cope with demand.
Howard Carew, Isaacs
Bhutan paves the way
A friend recently visited Bhutan and recommended watching Khyentse Norbu's award-winning film Travellers and Magicians set in the remote and spectacular landscape to appreciate something of the culture and country.
In an interview Norbu stated that Bhutan is more interested in Gross National Happiness than Gross National Product. With alarming future predictions in the rise of depression, and a seven-year-old watching the news asking what does "suicide bomber" and "impaled" mean, perhaps we should all take a trip to Bhutan, particularly the media, for some "happiness" journalism.
Sue Telford, Forrest
Sacrosanct institution
Judith Ireland's cold facts regarding same-sex marriage ("Calm down, Australia! Here are the facts on what is happening with same-sex marriage," canberratimes.com.au, May 27) may well be cause for us to calm down; however, she did not mention the most significant reason for us to be in a state of agitation about a possible amendment to the Marriage Act: both a sacrosanct concept and institution will be rendered meaningless.
One of the beautiful aspects of human life is that we have the ability to name things – to invent terms which both differentiate and demarcate. In this nation, the term "football" is an inadequate catch-all descriptor of the array of ball sports played; we need further clarifying words such as soccer, Aussie rules, league and union. So it is also insufficient to label both a heterosexual and homosexual union as "marriage". The lack of complementary sexual organs and the inability to reproduce in the latter, changes the foundational make-up of the relationship. Millions of Australian citizens have take public vows within the historic one man-one woman framework. Shifting the goalposts will retrospectively determine that those many covenants are in fact, insufficient, inferior and invalid. This is not social progress of which to be proud.
Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic
TO THE POINT
ACID RAIN
The problem with the "salt and pepper" approach to the provision of public housing in Canberra's suburbs is that some unfortunate suburbs are liable to get a big sprinkling of vinegar as well!
Graham Bridge, Nicholls
LAND NOT LIGHT RAIL
For the cost of the current light rail proposal, Canberra could have a world-class public transport system. However, it is now abundantly clear that, for the ACT government, urged on by the big developer lobby, the light rail proposal is about land development, not public transport.
Patricia Saunders, Chapman
CRITICAL MASS
It's not a matter of hating Abbott or Howard, Brian Hale (Letters, May 29). It's simply the parade of deliberately mean, unfair, ineffective policies, presented with deceit and sneering.
Unsurprisingly, noted by much of the electorate with well-deserved, accurate and frequent criticism.
Don Clark, Latham
CURIOUS RE COTTER
Can anyone tell me why Cotter Road is still single lane from Tuggeranong Parkway to McCulloch Street, Curtin? There are three lanes going into one off the Parkway – who designed that? Why didn't the upgrade continue from Adelaide Avenue?
Gina Kikos, Kambah
B STANDS FOR BALANCE?
The Liberal-National Party wants the ABC to be politically balanced. Presumably this would mean some right-wing and some left-wing programs. Currently they are complaining about Q & A. If they want a balance, how does it translate into numbers?
Sophi Suttor, Narrabundah
A LOVING ALTERNATIVE
I congratulate the Archbishop Christopher Prowse for his excellent article "Real love and care is the alternative to euthanasia" ("Times2, May 29, p5). If euthanasia became legal, doctors and nurses would be forced to perform euthanasia on a patient whether they wanted to or not.
Anne Prendergast, Reid
DICING WITH DEATH
In reply to David Biles et al (Letters, May 27) on the death penalty and the innocent verses guilty totals worldwide, I qualified my criticism of imprisonment to those examples of beyond reasonable doubt cases, and stand by them. Secondly, euthanasia (which I support) cannot be legal without legislation, thus becoming the state-sanctioned killing people apparently abhor – an opinion no doubt held even for the Nazi war crimes trials and sentences.
Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla
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