Don Aitkin's opinion piece canvasses some pertinent points but omits three major considerations relating to Canberra's light rail project. Firstly, why are so many people needing to commute during peak hours? Workers should not need to travel to Civic to work. Gungahlin should be an employment centre too. Government policies, initiatives and incentives could provide more public and private sector employment in the Gungahlin town centre. Gungahlin was never intended to be just a dormitory suburb for Civic.

Secondly, what will Canberra forgo to pay for the light rail? Education, health, policing, public housing, maintenance – right down to grass mowing, will all be searching for adequate funding once the light rail gets going. Will it be worth the undoubted loss of widespread community amenity just to avoid peak-hour congestion on Northbourne Avenue? Is light rail a fair use of our limited government resources?

Thirdly, $1billion is a lot to pay for the uglification of our city. Northbourne Avenue will be like a war zone for years to come (just look at the never-ending Constitution Avenue project). The avenue's 500 trees, removed for the project, may eventually grow back but the overhead wires will be a blight forever.

In fairness, $1billion is not the government's publicised cost. However, since no local government project has ever finished on budget, $1billion-plus would seem true to form. The only credibility which could be lent to the government's lower budget figure would be a pre-election pledge from them to resign office should the project exceed $1billion. Failing this, the ACT electors may as well give over a blank cheque to the light rail project.

Penleigh Boyd, Reid

Is Don Aitkin serious? He structures his article around his stated simple-minded view that the government is there to govern, but he is unsure whether the ACT government is correct in planning for light rail, that if the decision is bad then the electoral consequences will follow, and that the huge cost of a single light rail service to and from Gungahlin has been widely considered against other forms of public transport.

What folly. Disastrous government decisions made for political expediency litter the halls of every parliament in this country.

If this decision is the financial and transport disaster many fear it to be, we the ratepayers, will be paying a dear price for many years to come.

The vast majority of the naysayers are not opposed to improving and increasing our communal use of public transport. It is the ill-considered devotion to this massively expensive single service we question.

Ken Stokes, Wanniassa

Huge loss to science

I believe the Australian Academy of Science is about to make a tragic error in attempting to close the Basser Library and Fenner Archives ("Scientist upset at closure of lower-priority Basser library", January 5, p1).

Professor Andrew Holmes and his task force should seriously rethink this move. Apart from doing a serious disservice to those who established these entities, their closure would be seriously detrimental to future Australian science.

Ann Moyal ("Trouble under the Academy's learned dome", Times2, January 5, p5) rightly points out that they represent the national archive in the history of this country's science, and should be maintained by the academy.

It is interesting to note that the Australian Academy of Science was "modelled on the Royal Society of London". A society which maintains as one of its priorities one of the most important scientific heritage collections in the world. A collection that supports academic research into the history of science and publishes Notes and Records: the Royal Society journal of the history of science, an international journal which publishes original research in the history of science, technology and medicine.

The Australian Academy of Science claims to "champion, celebrate and support excellence in Australian science, promote international scientific engagement, build public awareness and understanding of science and provide independent, authoritative and influential scientific advice".

To consider the Basser Library and Fenner Archive to be a low priority is inconceivable, and does not champion, celebrate or support excellent science.

Murray Upton, Belconnen

This letter was published on January 9 in an edited form. The Canberra Times, while reserving the right to edit letters, accepts that in this case the deletion of the third paragraph may have altered the author's intended meaning and tenor.

Planners forget basics

Several dozen private homes were wiped off the map in the 3D Vision of the Inner North published this week as part of the City and Gateway Urban Renewal Discussion Paper. In its enthusiasm for over-developing the site of the ABC flats, the government plans to extend two of its projected high-rise apartment blocks into part of the privately held Argyle Square complex!

It may surprise to Planning Minister Mick Gentleman's planners that compulsory purchase is unlikely to be an option. Instead of playing on computer screens, planning bureaucrats ought to get out and check to see what's actually built there. They might discover that examples of good urban design already exist in the real world, including the 140 medium-density apartments and townhouses in Argyle Square, and the architectural award-winning Jerilderie Court, the public housing complex next door (which the computer modeller has also eliminated).

Mr Gentleman has invited comment on this discussion paper. How about an apology, the withdrawal of this model, and the publication of a corrected version?

Elizabeth Teather, Reid

Oval in minor league

The editorial "Manuka Oval held back by its size" (Times2, January 22, p2) proclaimed that Andrew Barr would be well pleased not just with the result at Manuka – Australia won – "but because the crowd of 10,992 was a sell-out". Barr needs to get a grip on reality if he gets excited by such a number. Top attendance at the SCG is over 46,000 and 48,000 at the MCG for cricket. It has held over 100,000 for the AFL.

Realistically, expectations for any Manuka Oval development are strictly limited.

Gary J.Wilson, Macgregor

There can sometimes be a fine line between national pride and national arrogance, and the Australian flag has often been used as a symbol to reflect both of these aspects. The flag sometimes seems to be used more to emphasise our differences with other nations.

I believe the symbolism that a flag portrays should be used in a more constructive way. I would suggest that the Australian flag should at all times be flown side by side with the United Nations flag to show symbolically that we are proud to be part of the world we all share, as well as being proud Australians.

Symbols can be a powerful force for good and over time can change perceptions and attitudes in a positive way. If we were to use the Australian flag and the UN flag to denote a common purpose, we could do much to unite the world rather than highlight divisions.

We could at the same time make efforts to convince all nations to use their national flag and the UN flag in the same way. In time, we might all be happy to fly the UN flag alone!

Peter Stubbs, Gungahlin

Local prices go postal

Today it cost me several dollars more to post something to Broken Hill than it did to post a similar item to Hong Kong at the same time.

On the basis of a lifetime commitment to letter-writing I am seeking a dispensation from Australia Post from the hideous new domestic price increases and dramatic increases in delivery time.

I look forward to a (non) reply but not to knowing the obscene tens of millions of dollars successive Australia Post chief executives are paid upon retirement.

Shame on the Turnbull government for supporting this terrible situation.

Return To Sender (as Elvis said).

Annie Lang, Kambah

Ben Roediger's comments on innovation in medical research ("Australia can learn from US ingenuity", Forum, January 16, p3) cover one important area almost completely ignored in past discussions. He draws attention to the need to understand better how the working conditions of the would-be innovators influences their work outcomes. He reports accurately that what can be achieved by Australian scientists under the right conditions is truly remarkable.

When the John Curtin School of Medical Research enjoyed continuous funding it produced innovative wide-ranging research results (vaccines, virus inhibitors and biological control agents, and so on), that earned three Nobel Prizes, one Japan Prize and many honours, while producing handsome returns for the whole community.

What changed was the funding and employment system. Scientists now primarily work for the bureaucracies that control them and their funding, and for the publishers that control the publication and perceived importance of their findings. Since those days when the JCSMR was so productive, science has become throttled by bureaucracy.

Scientists are now forced to waste time and mental energy jumping through hoops devised by bureaucrats; their system based on competition for funding, not competition for the discovery of novelty.

Will politicians and bureaucrats now be as innovative as they wish scientists to be, look at the evidence provided by the JCSMR and ANU's experience, admit the failure of the funding model of the past three decades and return, even in an experimental way, to providing innovators with working conditions like those of the past, that clearly worked better?

Adrian Gibbs, Yarralumla

More (or less) equal

We would all like to do little or no work, yet still receive a basic income ("A universal basic income for all Australians", Times2, January 22, p5). Providing a basic income to all was trialled in the Soviet Union and in Communist China. It did not work.

It did not even eliminate wealth inequality, as some were more equal than others. To try this in Australia, we could disband the portfolio of social services, and equally distribute its budget of $145 billion to our population of 23.5million. This would provide a weekly basic income of $118. How well would that work?

Bruce A. Peterson, Kambah

They're our heroes

A huge vote of thanks to ACT SES from one Ainslie household which suffered severe water damage from Thursday's flash storm. From Jenny, the calm person staffing the crisis help line, to the fire and rescue unit, we have nothing but admiration and gratitude forthe officers who responded. They quickly dismantled a three or four hundredweight steel structure which, under the weight of water and tree debris, had collapsed inside our garage, and set it outside for easy later removal.

A mini-disaster for an ordinary household, a safe and professional 15-minute task for the SES. Another reason for counting our lucky stars that we live in Canberra.

John Clanchy, Ainslie

Get a fairer senate

In his bagging of Senator Nick Xenophon, Malcolm Mackerras ("History of senate voting vigorously debated", Times2, January 18, p5) makes some strange assertions. He says, for example, that the "awful system" for electing senators has managed to reflect the "will of the people" in almost all cases. I wonder how he manages to identify the "will of the people".

Since governments rarely, if ever, attract more than 50 per cent of primary votes, then simply passing legislation on the strength of government numbers in the senate does not reflect such feeling.

I do, however, agree with him that we have an awful system for electing our senators.

The current senate is far more representative of the general population than any in recent times. If we had a fairer distribution of seats between states, it might be even more representative with more non-aligned senators, and then we might be able to detect the "will of the people".

Alan Parkinson, Weetangera

Sickies more tricky

The Canberra Times has accepted and published unquestioningly the assumption that public servants would be "chucking sickies" en masse on Monday ("APS has to show up, says Carnell", canberratimes.com.au, January 21).

It's an easy cheap headline, but presumably it will be followed with a detailed analysis of just how many sick days without medical certificate were actually taken on the day and how this compares with an average weekday. That might require actual effort by journalists; however accusations require evidence.

Terry George, Kingston

Lame assertion

If Australian commentators are going to use American political terminology, they need to get it right. Thus, James Massola refers to US President Barack Obama as "a lame-duck president" ("Holy innovators, Barackman!", Times2, January 15, p4).

He is not.

In American usage, a lame duck is an office holder who has been defeated in a bid for re-election but remains in office because his/her term has not expired. In the days when congressional and presidential terms began in March after elections in November, this was significant: a lame duck could shovel a lot of pork in four-plus months. These days, of course, the political cycle is such that most US politicians are like frozen duck at least one year in two.

Stephen Brown, Forrest

Men's Shed a target

Having been a member of this Tuggeranong Men's Shed in the past, may I urge caution to the executive members in considering the membership application for several women ("Men's Shed split over opening door to women", January 21, p5).

This feminista action could only be likened to the suffragette movement in the past. If the application is refused, can we anticipate that these applicants will go next door and throw themselves in front of the archery targets as Emily Davison threw herself in front of the racehorse Anmer at Epsom Racecourse on June 4, 1913?

Alan P. May, Isabella Plains

UNITY IN TANTRUMS

I think I need a check-up. I find myself in full agreement with H.Ronald's comments (Letters, January 22) about "tantrums" on Australia Day. Well said.

L.Christie, Canberra City

As one of H.Ronald's "permanently outraged", let me "throw [my] annual tantrum on all things that are wrong with both the date [of Australia Day] and nature of the celebration". Australia Day celebrates genocide. If you aren't permanently outraged by that you are either ignorant of history or a white supremacist, or both.

John Passant, Kambah

POLITICS OF WAR

Apropos of H.Ronald's comments (Letters, January 20). The difference is that Tony Abbott believed what he said, while Malcolm Turnbull is simply playing politics with our "friend". And, yes, Tony Abbott was, and remains, a warmonger.

John Rodriguez, Florey

MODEL MATCHMAKING

It is heartening to know that Jerry Hall ("The model and the mogul", Times2, January 19, p1) is not just some flake who has let herself be taken in by Rupert Murdoch's rugged good looks and charm. It seems that she is thoughtful enough to value his qualities of loyalty, patriotism, and integrity as well as being impressed by his financial acumen in making sure that his stash is not diluted any further by adding to the number of his heirs.

Barbara Fisher, Cook

SEARING BLACK FRIDAY

There is nothing wrong with Ann Prendergast's memory, Paul Pentony (Letters, January 19). Like her parents I was in Sydney on that day. School holidays. Six miles south of the CDB and our water pressure was a mere trickle. The chooks (under the choko leaves) survived but not our canaries. I can assure him the day became known as Black Friday.

Maurice Cowan, Downer

VOLLEY FOR VOLUME

I would like to see players who grunt and scream when they hit the ball liable for a fine the same as using bad language is. Perhaps we could then watch the tennis with the sound on and get the atmosphere that goes with the game.

P.McDonald, Lyons

GEOGRAPHIC LOWDOWN

The article "Dick Smith considers tilt at Bishop's Sydney seat" (January 21, p7) said Mr Smith "ran the National Geographic business from Terrey Hills". I believe Mr Smith founded the Australian Geographic about 30 years ago. I don't know of any connection with the American magazine.

Michael Travis, Bruce

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