I cannot think of anything more important to public debate than a knowledge of the costs, benefits etc. More likely, they don't want us to know just how expensive this project is, just as they have desperately tried to avoid allowing the public to know the facts about the tram.

The Auditor General has now confirmed that tram sceptics like Leo Dobes and Robert Nairn are in fact right. The real BCR is about 0.5; the government's line is hogwash.

Stan Marks, Hawker

Emma Kelly ("Property owners set to gain from light rail", June 18, p1) reports that Watson is one of the suburbs "set to reap the benefits of Canberra's light rail route". Benefits?

According to Capital Metro, light rail will see the discontinuation of the current direct Watson-to-Civic bus service. For many Watson residents commuting to Civic, this will mean either taking a bus from Watson to a light rail stop and waiting for the next tram, or else walking over two kilometres to the proposed Phillip Avenue light rail stop or over three to the proposed Dickson stop and waiting for the tram there. Meaning, in either case, longer travel times, more inconvenience, less physical security at night, and an increased incentive to drive rather than to use public transport.

Commuters from other northern suburbs that currently have direct bus services to Civic via Northbourne Avenue (i.e. services to be discontinued once light rail commences), such as Bonner and Kaleen, are likely to be similarly affected.

Michael Plummer, Watson

Light rail has already worked its magic on the house and unit prices of Watson and Downer, which increased by 12 per cent from 2014 to June, 2016 ("Property owners set to gain from light rail", June 18, p1). But wait a minute, the comparable figure for Kaleen was also a 12 per cent increase and for Kambah it was 14 per cent. The residents of Aranda must be really excited about light rail because the increase for their suburb was 32per cent.

David Pederson, O'Connor

The Auditor-General may question the business case for light rail between Civic and Gungahlin ("Auditor calls for light rail caution", June 17, p1) but a business case for Woden to Civic would also be hard to justify. The current business case does not identify what the costs will be if light rail from Civic to Gungahlin does not proceed. At this time there is approximately one kilometre of bus lane along this route.

One of the challenges for those supporting light rail is the need to prove a business case for one stand-alone section of a network that will be Canberra wide. Infrastructure elements like power supplies, maintenance depots, ticketing systems and the initial tram rolling stock will add a significant cost to the first stage of light rail regardless of where the first stage occurs.

Fortunately the Civic to Gungahlin route does have some unique opportunities that could make considerable contributions to offsetting costs.

Investment in light rail will not provide instant gratification; it is a long-term project. Over the next 15 years we should plan to see light rail linking Civic with Gungahlin, Woden, Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Molonglo and Fyshwick.

Ian Ruecroft, Bonner

Patrick Kilby (Letters June 18) seems to have misunderstood my criticism of the ACT government's $30 levy to combat domestic violence.

My truncated published letter of June 14 made clear my criticism was not of the government's committing $21.4 million in response to domestic and family violence but of the government's using this scourge as an excuse for yet another charge. Indeed, I argued combating domestic violence is a valid cause. The appalling commentary on our society is that such programs are necessary.

I do not believe, as suggested by Mr Kilby, that governments should do nothing about domestic violence. I do believe, supported by academic intergenerational studies, there is a clear link between domestic violence and a person's upbringing.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, I abhor violence generally and support publicly funded programs to support victims and programs aimed at perpetrators and potential perpetrators.

Graham Downie, O'Connor

Are any of the candidates seeking election to the ACT Legislative Assembly promising to build a new crematorium? Haven't heard a word about it in quite some time.

We had my mother's funeral service yesterday but were unable to accompany her to the crematorium as there is about a two-week wait for a service there. I know of some people who are having to wait that long to farewell their loved ones.

This is just not good enough for the capital city of Australia.

Jenni Warren, Isabella Plains

I was confused when I read about the ACT government's plan to save the DFO from imminent bankruptcy by allowing them to have a supermarket.

The Barr government has been unable to deliver a replacement supermarket for Giralang for over 10 years, blaming legal action by Supabarn, and I couldn't see how DFO could wait that long.

I failed to see how the government is going to stop the inevitable, drawn-out legal action from the many commercial interests who would benefit from the DFO going broke, or who may be hurt by the supermarket in an area never zoned for supermarkets in the first place.

Then it came to me: the government intend for Supabarn to be given the DFO site as they have with other sites. Everything that benefits Supabarn works out in this town. DFO is saved.

Sarah Hulbert, Giralang

Malcolm Turnbull's whole economic "jobs and growth" strategy is geared to an unfunded $50 billion tax cut to corporate Australia that purportedly adds just 1 per cent of growth to GDP in 20 years' time. There is not one economist in the land who supports this and there is no modelling that forecasts how many jobs will be created. This is pure crystal ball stuff.

There are too many variables over 20 years to consider – an unpredictable global economy, several changes of government, the ever-fluctuating price of our commodities, ballooning offshore processing expenses and possibly more commitments to costly wars, to name a few. Given that over 500 companies paid no tax last year and those that did only averaged 22¢ in the dollar, I feel the tax break is unjustified.

The $50 billion could be invested much more wisely in health, education and infrastructure.

Ray Armstrong, Tweed Heads South, NSW

The right wing of the Liberal Party want Malcolm Turnbull to make Tony Abbott defence minister if re-elected. This is the strategic thinker who said that in the Middle East there were only "baddies and baddies". He sent the RAAF off to find some baddies to bomb!

He considered bombing the pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine, effectively declaring war on Russia! An ideal choice.

Richard Keys, Ainslie

I get tongue-tied. So I'm grateful to journalists for tips on modern language usage.

When an Islamist of Middle-Eastern origin shouts "Allah Akbar" and murders a symbolic figure like a uniformed soldier or policeman we are to say tolerance, inclusiveness, diversity, multicultural.

And when a Christian of Anglo-Celtic origin, who helps his elderly neighbours with their gardens, shouts "Britain first" and murders a symbolic figure like a politician we say extremist, right-wing, neo-Nazi, madman.

David Z. Hughes, St Kilda West, Vic

When Labor was trying to win power at the 2007 election, Labor and our local candidates (including Gai Brodtmann and Mike Kelly) made promises about addressing inequities in ADF pensions (namely the unfair indexation rules for DFRDB pensioners). However, once elected, they announced that it would be too expensive to implement, and the promise was broken. Why would any Defence or ex-Defence voters put any value on Labor's latest promise ("Labor says it would reform ADF pay policy", June 17, p5).

Kym MacMillan, O'Malley

Apparently some 30 per cent of us will be voting for minor parties and independents, and yet The Canberra Times' coverage is almost exclusively devoted to Liberal and Labor.

Given the journal's motto "Independent. Always", I suggest that the coverage should reflect our interests and intentions by devoting at least 30per cent to the minors and independents.

Indeed, to redress the previous imbalance, how about devoting 80 per cent to them for the remaining weeks.

Fred Pilcher, Kaleen

I read with interest Peter Martin's article on convergence between Labor and the Conservatives towards conquering greenhouse gas emissions ("Climate change agreement", Times2, June 16, p4). I hope he's right.

A couple of comments. Labor is proposing a mutation of the original emissions trading scheme, to "baseline and credit". A baseline for emissions is set and any emitter that emits less earns credits, while any that emits more must buy credits from the former. An attractive feature is that emitters trade between themselves, and the government collects no money.

Political opponents cannot honestly call this "another tax", although they are already doing so. If the baseline is measured in emissions – tonnes of carbon dioxide – it must be set for each emitter, implying many bureaucratic judgments.

That may be avoided if a single baseline is set in "emissions intensity" – megatonnes of CO2 per Megawatt-hour – which is Labor's proposal. But now a new problem: limiting emissions intensity does not necessarily limit emissions.

We should remember the point of the exercise: reducing emissions. That is what the Emissions Trading Scheme was designed to do. On the figures of Hugh Saddler, quoted by Peter Martin, for emissions before and after the termination of the carbon price, it was doing it well.

John Cashman, Yarralumla

Gerry Murphy (Letters, June 17) asks how France's strict gun controls helped Parisians in November's terrorist attack.

It's not hard to find that France's firearm-related homicides is 0.21 per 100,000 while America's is more than 16 times higher at 3.43. If France had the same rate of killings as the US then they would have more than 2000 additional deaths each year.

That's the equivalent of a Paris terrorist attack about every three weeks. To answer Mr Murphy's question, it seems that strict gun controls help Parisians quite a bit.

Matt Grudnoff, Giralang

Hear hear Gerry Murphy! America has suffered 135 massacre deaths in 2016 (CNN 2016) and Australia two in the past 20 years. Gun laws truly do not make a difference!

E. Batten, Gilmore

So, Hans Zandbergen (Letters, June 17) suggests that people taken by complete surprise by a man running amok with an assault rifle should be brought down by one or more of the threatened persons.

Imagine a shocked victim taking on a madman wielding a military automatic, or semi-automatic, long arm with a puny sidearm, the former with a huge magazine full of bullets. I know it happens on TV quite frequently, but it is not very realistic.

The alternative seems to be, as Mr Zandbergen seems to suggest, that all people attending social functions should carry their own cumbersome assault weapons.

That just doesn't sound like a civilised society to me.

Chris Woodland, Bawley Point, NSW

Steve Thomas (Letters, June 15) wonders how PETA thinks nature intended us to live. If I could hazard a guess I would say not as we do now – breeding and slaughtering billions of farm animals annually. With yet another exposé of the sickening treatment of animals in the live export industry, this time in Vietnam, most compassionate people will be appalled. Yet many may get on the "humane slaughter" bandwagon, citing how much better it is for animals killed in Australian abattoirs. Surely, though, the awfulness of the life and death of farmed animals here or in Vietnam is but a matter of degree.

Why, when there are delicious, nutritious, plant-based options, when there are countless examples of healthy people who don't consume animals, when we can choose to inflict animal suffering or not, do we choose to eat meat?

Ignoring the tired old excuses, the real reason is simply that we like the taste, and of course our taste buds transcend all else.

The "mmmm bacon" brigade must never be denied their gustatory pleasures, no matter what suffering is incurred, no matter what hell the animal lives in. Perhaps we might do better to live with compassion and empathy for live-export animals and farm animals everywhere, none of whose lives are valued beyond their worth in dollars.

Jan Darby, Isabella Plains

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's refusal to suspend live cattle exports is predictable ("Joyce warns live cattle exporters after Vietnam abuse revealed", June 18, p3). Why would a government which makes political capital from incarcerating and abusing asylum seekers, bother about a few cows having their brains bashed out with sledge-hammers?

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan, NSW

NOW FOR OTHERS

Presumably the Prime Minister will now host multi-faith dinners to celebrate Easter and the Jewish Passover.

Owen Reid, Dunlop

COURTS IN MARGINALS

Ah, now I understand what the Coalition's grand vision for Australian capitalism is; not public health, not public education, not public transport, not addressing climate change, not even jobs and growth, but putting a netball court in every marginal seat.

John Passant, Kambah

NO WINNERS HERE

Ho hum. Tweedledee and Tweedledum. As Mark Twain famously remarked, "if voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it."

Adrian Sever, Hawker

POLITICAL SIGNS GONE

Over the past few weeks I have noticed several signs on the side of the main roads, mainly from the Labor Party and the Greens. Yesterday I noticed all those signs were gone, and replaced by signs for a Liberal, Zed Seselja. I think that everyone can put up signs, but to take down signs that are from the opposing viewpoint is a bit off.

Peter Adamson, Lyneham

NAIVE, NOT GREEN

Population growth and human behaviour are two major factors contributing to destruction of our natural environment and global warming. Whilst politicians are attempting to change human behaviour by limiting the use of fossil fuels, no attempt is being made to limit population growth. Without such a policy candidates for the coming election cannot credibly call themselves "Green".

Barry Aldridge, Griffith

KATTER STILL WON

People were upset by Bob Katter's "shoot your rivals" election ad. The fuss over Katter reminds me of Marilyn Monroe's dictum: "There is no such thing as bad publicity."

Graham Macafee, Latham

COUNT TO 12 THEN VOTE

Malcolm Mackerras ("A dishonest Senate system", Times2, June 17, p1) has a beef about our shonky politicians and their rigged voting ballot papers. I would point out that the ballot papers could only be rigged because of the indolence of the Australian voters. Any voter who has been paying attention will vote below the line, numbering the required 12 squares.

Max Jensen, Chifley

EDDIE DOES IT AGAIN

You can take the boy [Eddie Maguire] out of Broadie (Broadmeadows) but not the Broadie out of the boy.

Alex Wallensky, Broulee, NSW

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