One would hope that such an application would be dismissed out of hand. However that is exactly what the government is seeking to do with Draft Variation 343. Changes to the Territory Plan should only be made on the basis of sound planning ideas or principles.

Allowing greater development on random blocks just because some houses were treated in a particular way is ridiculous and undermines the integrity of the whole planning system.

What next? Perhaps we could have a ballot to select a particular street number and all blocks with that street number can be redeveloped with dual occupancies. A potential windfall for the lucky owners of the selected blocks but bad luck for their neighbours.

A ridiculous idea but no more ridiculous than allowing increased development simply based on the location of Mr Fluffy houses.

One would have hoped the government would have more respect for the planning system than to seek the capricious and expedient changes outlined in Draft Variation 343.

Jim Derrick, Florey

Parking chaos to come

Yarralumla has a high proportion of ageing residents (30 per cent over 60 last census) who already find it difficult to park at the shops and access the chemist, medical centre, supermarket, drycleaners, post office and bakery (just ask the medical centre receptionists trying to accommodate sick/elderly patients).

Three thousand (yes 3000 – more than doubling the suburb) additional residents in the planned extension to Yarralumla at the brickworks and surrounds, with only plans to add a mini mart and cafe to this new area, will cause absolute chaos to the parking at the shops.

Many Yarralumla residents already shop at Deakin so their parking woes (gym clients parking) will also increase. Fair go ACT government; we have already seen the thoughtless loss of health exercise benefits for the ageing with the sell offs of the bowling clubs (Griffith and Deakin and now Canberra City), the world-class golf pitch and putt (Woden) and Telopea tennis courts, often using ministerial call-in powers to veto community objections.

What happened to logical, thoughtful, compassionate and especially commonsense planning in Canberra?

Denise Page, Yarralumla

Much fun in Barnaby

Teachers will be rejoicing – Barnaby Joyce is back ("Politicians could learn a thing or two from Benaud", Times2, April 15, p5). I have often envied local educators being able to hand out copies of Barnaby's opinion pieces to their clear thinking and argumentative writing students; I had to inflict Andrew Bolt's vitriol on my Victorian students (admittedly, I also had The Age journalists as well).

Barnaby, however, often brings a smile to my lips and a tear to my eye as I reflect on how much fun students will have in identifying the logical fallacies and rambling structure in his writing. Welcome back, Barnaby.

Maggie Watts, Calwell

Bouquet for upgrade

Congratulations to the Queanbeyan City Council for its decision to proceed at last with the upgrade of Queen Elizabeth Park and the riverfront area. Queanbeyan's population of 40,000 is growing rapidly but the CBD has for too long been left to stagnate, hampering new business growth and pedestrian traffic alike.

This project is a tangible sign of confidence by our city's leaders in Queanbeyan's future business growth and should help breathe new life into it. I recall this was an election commitment of Tim Overall back in 2012. As with the Crawford Street Precinct project, when it was first put forward there were the vocal opponents who said it wouldn't work, that it was a pipe dream, that it was unrealistic. Now Crawford Street is the place to go for coffee or casual, al fresco dining.

It's unfortunate that not all councillors were on board; their negative approach has not gone unnoticed by us ratepayers. Let's hope that with this project under way councillors will now reject the naysayers and their petty politics and turn their attention to delivering the multiplex cinema that Queanbeyan residents have been crying out for.

Robert Flynn, Queanbeyan

Solar suspicions

Have other readers who have solar panels experienced a late electricity bill lately?

My gas and electricity meters were read on the same day, February 18. The gas bill stated date of issue February 20 and was due for payment on March 9. However my electricity bill did not arrive until March 30, and after two phone calls by me chasing it up two weeks beforehand. I also talked to a friend who has solar panels and he has experienced the same problem.

I may be too suspicious but it seems to me that maybe ACTEW is delaying these bills and would be able to use the credit for four to six weeks, which would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars if widespread as my credit was $1996.

If you've experienced the same problem, email me at schuster@grapevine.net.au

Arthur Schuster, Chapman

Minister responds

In response to Rohan Goyne's query regarding school bus route 445 (Letters, April 13), this route originally travelled through North West Belconnen suburbs and brought students to several schools, including Daramalan College in Dickson.

A route now travels to those schools but starts from the Belconnen (Cohen Street) interchange (route services). This arrangement provides options for students to travel on public transport to schools that are out of their local area and it also greatly improves the network's efficiency and its ability to service a wide range of travellers.

The changes were made as part of a network review that sought to service more passengers for the same amount of funding. Regarding correspondence, Mr Goyne contacted my office twice in August 2014, and I responded to those concerns by email on October 2, 2014. Mr Goyne subsequently wrote back to me on October 6. I took his further email as comment and provided it to ACTION as feedback.

Shane Rattenbury, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services

Roz Lambert and Linda Reaby (Letters, April 11) are right: a move of elements of Immigration and Border Protection away from Belconnen appears short-sighted.

A degree of co-location makes sense for related functions, such as the several former Customs elements in Civic, but it makes less sense, given the dislocations it would cause, to move the traditional immigration functions that have limited crossover with customs functions just so that the two can be together. Further, given the capacity of modern communications technology, it is nonsense to assert a need to be located "within 10 minutes of Parliament House".

It seems more likely that the reason for this criterion is the self-importance of the Secretary (memo to Secretary: come the zombie apocalypse, there's a good chance Ministers will be in their electorates, not Parliament House).

There may be much about DIBP that needs improvement. It is less clear that this will be assisted by the wholesale loss of corporate knowledge and experience implicit in the dumpings and departures of senior staff that have occurred in the last six months. How long before we have another Cornelia Rau or Vivian Solon, or worse? Judging from morale levels, the loyalty and inclination to strong performance of remaining DIBP staff is not being improved by what is perceived to be an impatient, dictatorial senior management style. These days, that isn't leadership. The Minister is an acknowledged dill who may not yet have recognised that neither he nor the government are well served by what is happening in parts of DIBP, but the Australian public deserves better.

Chris Whyte, Higgins

Hugh White ("Vietnam equally important", Times2, April 14, p5) has painfully reminded the surviving Vietnam veterans of the impending anniversary of Robert Menzies' momentous announcement 50 years ago. I remember his speech to the Parliament as a year 10 schoolboy. I knew then I would be unlucky enough to win the lottery which resulted in my being there in the final year of our deployment.

Sadly, as Professor White observes, the issue of the "Red Peril", which so strongly influenced Menzies' decisions, faces Australia again as China challenges American influence in the Asian region. The difference today is our dependence on China for our economic wellbeing.

Hugh tells us that the anniversary of Menzies' commitment has much more to teach us about our future then the events of a century ago. Why then are we ignoring the lessons that he points out?

I agree marking Menzies' statement and Calwell's reply at the end of this month (April 29) would be a good way to start. I was able to read Calwell's speech on the internet. It was absolutely remarkable for its predictions and observations about the war, its impacts on those who served and on the geopolitical landscape since we withdrew in 1972. A prophet is never appreciated in his lifetime!

Gavin O'Brien, Gilmore

Gross unfairness

In his call for fairness when reforming the existing tax system, Nicholas Stuart ("Tax inquiry means 'gentleman's agreement is over"', Times2, April 14, p5) pinpoints the current tax avoidance by multinational companies and individuals at the top of the income scale, further stating that it is an outrage that capital gains are taxed at half the amount of real work.

Many readers will agree with Nicholas Stuart when he states that this is a moral issue as much as a fiscal one.

Might I add that when the tax inquiry gets underway the gross unfairness of negative gearing, whereby investors can obtain tax concessions when claiming loss of income from all sources after taking out interest-only loans, will become apparent. This costs the federal government billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and enables these privileged taxpayers to outbid buyers of a family home. Will fears of losing around one million voters prevent the government from doing the sensible thing and winding back negative gearing?

Keith McEwan, Bonython

Coerced vaccinations

Can we now assume that the federal government is accepting liability for any adverse reactions that may occur from coerced vaccinations? In particular, serious adverse reactions that result in permanent disability?

Can we now assume those damaged will receive appropriate compensation and support for the duration of their injury, without having to resort to years of legal wrangling [the Saba Button case for example]?

I'm sure Minister Scott Morrison won't have a problem providing such a guarantee, as the likelihood of being confronted by such a claim is zero ... apparently.

Chris Morgan, Evatt

Abuse factories

H. Ronald (Letters, April 14) seeks some advice on what might be a better refugee policy than that of the current government.

Some obvious elements:

1. Close processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island. This system of abuse factories costs billions to run, is harshly cruel to people fleeing persecution, and causes huge reputational harm to Australia, blunting our standing to promote cooperative regional solutions to refugee problems by diplomatic means.

2. Use the billions saved from closing the abuse factories to fund safe resettlement, in much larger numbers than at present, of refugees from neighbouring countries, especially Indonesia. If refugees have a real chance (rather than just the ghost of a chance) of being resettled to a safe country, they will have no incentive to board boats and the smugglers' business model will be undercut in a humane rather than vicious and evil way.

3. Speed up offshore refugee processing. In 2013-2014, the average processing time for a granted refugee visa was 42.3 weeks, and a Special Humanitarian Program visa, 65.5 weeks. No wonder people go to people smugglers.

4. Stop making policies designed simply to keep radio shock-jocks and their listeners happy. Giving refugees only temporary rather than durable protection is a classic example of such a policy. It has never worked as a deterrent, and only causes misery for refugees already here — typically vulnerable people fleeing the very kind of extremism that Australia purports to oppose.

5. Remember the wise warning of Sir Robert Menzies, speaking about refugee policy, that "harsh administration never yet improved any law but only impaired it", and that "notoriously harsh administration raises up to any law hostilities that may some day destroy it". He would never have agreed to run a system of abuse-factories.

(Dr) William Maley, Reid

Leaners and rorters

The cleverly alliterative slogan "debt and deficit disaster" provided an excuse for the 2014 Budget to prune Government spending on "leaners", which, right wing ideologues believe are ruining the country. If there are no "price signals" in the welfare system then, they believe, bludgers will inevitably rort it.

Last week two other groups of rorters were exposed. Firstly, the vice-chancellors, most of whom support Christopher Pyne's plan to de-regulate university fees and fleece the young. They claim "university finances are unsustainable", yet they accept pay rises that take some to more than a million dollars/year. Then there are the multinationals who launder profits of many billions of dollars through tax havens like Singapore without, they claim, breaking Australian law. Will the forthcoming budget reveal whether the Coalition has any better understanding of the meaning of the word "fair", or will they insult us with more bt and spin.

Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla

KNOCK OUT THE JAB PICS

It might help the child vaccination cause if, every time vaccination is mentioned, the press refrained from unnecessary and up-close pictures of babies getting a needle-jab. These pictures and video clips are unpleasant to watch, and surely do not encourage parents to rush their children in for a similar experience.

Ted Lilley, Aranda

WINE WITHOUT WHINE

Brian Wenn's whinge (Letters, April 13) exemplifies how removed Canberrans are from the rest of the (real) country. A great many Australians, struggling with young families or elderly on fixed incomes, who have no surplus funds for dining out, would probably accept happily a glass of wine served any way it comes.

James Ogilvie, Kew, Victoria

Although your correspondent Brian Wenn failed to make the connection, it is clear that the increasing incidence of diners being presented with wine already poured, rather than being shown the bottle, is a direct result of Tony Abbott's prime ministership.

Terry Levings, Curtin

RED AND BLACK RULE

Frank Marris's prediction of another Hawthorn premiership this year (Letters, April 15) causes great concern to those with an aesthetic sense. Surely a team that sports the colours of No.1s and No.2s cannot be allowed to win again. Glorious and uplifting red and black are the colours of the year particularly given recent events.

Stephen Horswell, O'Connor

Thanks, Frank Marris (Letters, April 15), I do love a split hair. Melbourne's triple was completed in 1957. I'm not a Melbourne supporter; I just believe that the best teams win matches – even Hawthorn.

Bob Gardiner, Kambah

ATTENTION SEEKER

Exactly, Ian Webster (Letters April 14)! H. Ronald's views are undoubtedly genuinely held, but are also attention seeking and so are best ignored.

Patricia Saunders, Chapman

Like a number of other Canberra Times readers, I have found myself mulling both the views and the likely persona of H. Ronald. Through the use of advanced linguistic studies, a profile has emerged. H. Ronald is revealed as a reduxing political pro from America's left, and perhaps the world's foremost exponent of the perverse and intriguing art of straw-man activism.

Ross Kelly, Monash

Have H. Ronald and Andrew Bolt ever been seen together in the same room at the same time?

Gordon Fyfe, Kambah

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