The excellent editorial, "Heritage flattened by minister" (Times2, November 26, p2) was timely.
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A Labor government that sells off public housing at a time when there are well over 2000 souls on the waiting list is, in the opinion of any caring person, not a true Labor government in any sense of the word.
At the moment 600 or so houses are being built to house the evicted tenants. Half of those houses are not public housing, they are affordable housing which means they are built by the private sector for private sale or rental.
This ignores the agreement made when we were given self-government that any public housing sold would be replaced by public housing before the tenants were moved out.
This government plans to sell off over $300million worth of public housing. This money, with an asset sales bonus from the federal government, is being put aside to finance light rail. That money could house most of the people on the housing waiting list.
The last time I heard, St Vinnies alone was doing some 1100 calls a month to aid the homeless and others in need. The saddest thing is that not one voice from the other two parties can be heard.
Howard Carew, Isaacs
Vision needed for park
I was not initially supportive of the arboretum when it was first proposed. However as this project has taken shape, I am delighted to have been proven wrong.
The project shows what insight and a long term vision can achieve. This facility will undoubtedly feature highly in the capital's list of attractions in years to come. It's to be hoped a similar degree of vision can be taken with Haig Park.
As the housing density of Braddon, Dickson and Turner increases, inner Canberra is fast resembling many European and United States cities where backyards are a thing of the past and green spaces decline. For the residents of these cities, sanity is often found in the refuge of a well designed central park.
Most people will be familiar with New York's Central Park, however cities like Madrid, Boston and many others have common areas that are well designed and a welcome refuge to the local residents. On a recent trip to Madrid we spent considerable time in its Retiro park. We watched tai chi classes, couples picnicking on manicured lawns, the odd brass band practicing and enjoyed a glass of wine and tapas at the small stalls and outlets within the park. Haig Park is a wonderful green space, but it could be so much more.
As the population of the inner city increases, consideration should be given to a cosmopolitan overhaul of Haig Park.
Stephen Barnett, O'Connor
No change of direction
I would like to correct the record about statements made in your editorial ("Building code review overdue", Times2, November 24, p2) that inferred the government had made a change of tack by undertaking a review of the building industry. This is simply untrue.
You stated that I, in March 2014, as the then responsible minister dismissed the idea of a review and that the government has since had a change of mind. What I said at the time, which was reported in your paper on March 4, was that that an "independent" inquiry was unnecessary and that the government was "acting to address issues with the quality of building work and the professionalism of builders in the industry".
Your article reported me as saying the government had "$6.6million over the next four years to improve, refine and upgrade our powers to deal with poor building practice in the territory" and that we had
"embarked on a multimillion-dollar reform with more powers, more offences, more ability to investigate [and] more ability to rectify bad work".
The announcement of a "government" review by Planning Minister Mick Gentleman earlier this week was not a change of direction for the government but rather a continuation of the process I started when I was minister.
Simon Corbell, Deputy Chief Minister
Wheel out the green bins
In the context of the recent discussion about green bins, one cannot help wondering what makes the provision of a beach for volleyball at Lyneham ("Budget spike ... Lyneham in the sand stirs $1m debate", November 26, p1) so attractive to the government. Many would not begrudge this provision, at a cost of $1million plus ongoing maintenance costs to the lucky few - 150 players? Many residents "cannot wait" for the provision of something as unglamorous as green bins.
Our government is vigorously encouraging us to give up cars, to recycle and it recognises that Canberra wishes to be known as an age friendly city. It tells us not to put green waste in ordinary garbage bins, but does nothing to help.
Has it considered the provision of a means tested service or a "needs tested" service? Why is there no political will to deal constructively with an issue which it recognises is needed by many Canberra households?
Sue Schreiner, Red Hill
Leave the trees alone
I abhor the loss of trees in Commonwealth Park but I take issue with the NCA boss describing it as "not an urban park". If not, then what is it? And then why is the Canberra plan being altered to provide easier access from the city? It is not the botanical gardens – we have the one at Black Mountain.
This of course, reinforces my view of the NCA pedants. They would rather we residents of Canberra all just disappeared, and they were left with their pristine 'Kreminlesque' vistas – sans human beings.
R. C. Warn, Griffith
Break the monotony
It seems that entertainment establishments for ordinary people will be excluded from the ACT government's lavish plans for the "City to the Lake" precinct. The government loves nearby New Acton, lauding its "vibrancy". However, it's very densely developed, an expensive place to go for many, and it contains virtually no truly public open spaces. The government reportedly has no time for the likes of our major clubs in the City to the Lake precinct.
Could it be because clubs are granted concessional land leases? They currently provide high quality affordable dining, function, entertainment, sporting, and limited gaming facilities, for thousands of Canberrans and their guests.
There's no reason why major clubs shouldn't be included in the attractive West Basin precinct, even if just to break up the serried ranks of monotonous view-impeding blocks of flats currently envisaged there.
In fact, for unambiguous equity in who owns the "public realm" of the West Basin lakeside foreshore, low-rise clubs, shops, cafes, and restaurants, with no apartments above, are much more suitable than the likes of some of the Kingston Foreshore and new Lake Tuggeranong Southquay apartment blocks that alienate the public from the foreshores.
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
Barton needs real fix
The NSW Roads and Maritime Services has called for comments on a new Barton Highway 20 year development plan. It outlines intersection upgrades, and passing lanes developments over the next 20 years with reference to upgrading to a dual highway a low priority. The dual highway is costed at $900million with a 47per cent contingency – an unbelievable extra $423million for what?
It also brands the Barton Highway an "alternative" road to Canberra. What other road is available for southern and western travellers to Canberra?
It identifies 0. 37 crashes/km/year for the Barton, significantly higher than similar roads. It predicts an annual traffic increase of between 1.8per cent and 3per cent per year.
Elsewhere it has been rated as one of the most dangerous highways in Australia. Yet they propose to improve safety, over the next 20 years, with continuous road works on dangerous sections, like that which we have endured over the last five years. This would mean longer journey times, frustrated drivers and would take years to complete, only to be dug up again a few weeks later, after the road sealing fails.
It is time for our federal, state, local, and NRMA representatives to take the Barton Highway seriously and pressure federal and state governments to complete the upgrade to a dual highway and stop the proposed money wasting with the band aid measures.
Ken Helm, Murrumbateman, NSW
Hitting a sour note
If the ANU appoints a new director of the school of music without giving them much more power and autonomy, without acknowledging the historical decline of the school under its umbrella, without conceiving of a school clearly better suited to its time and place, without due interest in and responsiveness to the feelings and needs of the regional community, and without vigorously working to place the capital's music school at the top of the ladder, the ANU will have wasted a monumental opportunity to distinguish itself as an admirable place of higher learning.
David Pereira, Murrumbateman, NSW
Project emissions
Environment Minister Simon Corbell has indicated his conviction that electric cars will soon become a common presence on our roads ("Corbell looking at electric car recharging stations", November 24, p1).
Yet on the day following this announcement, speaking as the Minister for Capital Metro, Mr Corbell commended the release of a study, "Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions from Canberra's Light Rail Project".
The abstract of the paper includes the following rationale: "Each Canberran who shifts from a motorcar to the light rail will essentially reduce their emissions for the journey by 100%". Hello? Didn't the authors notice that motor car technology is rapidly moving towards electric powered transmission and so is equally part of the clean energy focus of the ACT government.
By the time the trams become fully operational the emissions reduction resulting from a mode change from motor car to tram will be approaching zero.
Moreover, there will be a very large quantity of greenhouse gas emissions (60,000 tons of CO2) produced due to construction of the light rail line (see Capital Metro Environmental Impact Statement) so much so that the whole project is likely to prove a net greenhouse gas contributor.
A. Smith, Farrer
Prevention better way
Both Hugh White ("We can't rely on our allies", Times 2, November 21) and Bruce Cameron (Letters, November 27) emphasise the need for Australia to be self reliant in time of war. Given current conditions, this seems a wise precaution. But it should be added that national security also resides in prevention which, it is generally agreed, is always better than cure. Australia has a good record in this regard.
In 1995/6 the Australian government's initiative, the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, was presented to the United Nations. It set out clear, practical ways to transition to a less threatening, less militarised, nuclear free world. The report engaged leading military personnel and environmental activists of the day.
Perhaps now, 20 years later, it would be worthwhile renewing this demand for a saner world.
Harry Davis, Campbell
The right rule
Geoff Clarke (Letters, November 25) is correct in a fundamentalist way that would make ISIS proud, and in the same way that the originators of the original "give way to the right" rule were found wanting — when the rule required vehicles on through roads to give way at even minor T intersections.
Good lawmaking in the real world requires more understanding. The reality is that if cyclists are allowed to turn into or enter a pedestrian crossing at speed, accidents will ensue and it will be nigh on impossible to determine who was to blame. The only sensible solution is to require that cyclists stop, or virtually stop, for a moment, without having to dismount. This will ensure the driver is given a clear signal of intent as well as providing a couple of seconds of valuable extra time to analyse and react.
Trevor McPherson, Aranda
Report shows coral cannot stem the tide
H.Ronald (Letters, November 25) claims island nations like Kiribati, "will usually cope" with slowly rising seas balanced by coral growth. Readers of H.Ronald's letters will know it is always necessary to check the supposed facts, rarely if ever sourced, against some reputable reference.
A simple check of easily found sources shows coral growth is highly sensitive to, among other things, rising ocean temperatures and rising ocean acidification. While coral growth rates are variable, so too are sea-level changes. H.Ronald is silent on all these important points.
In Kiribati's case, the 2014 PACCSAP report Climate Variability, Extremes and Change in the Western Tropical Pacific 2014 confirms that ocean acidification is expected to continue (very high confidence) and sea levels will continue to rise (very high confidence). Mean sea levels in the Kiribati Line Group are expected to rise between seven and 17centimetres by 2030, and by between 13 and 33centimetres by 2055 (95 per cent confidence intervals). The report is a joint effort of our Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and local national Meteorology Offices.
These results are consistent with and more serious than those of the earlier 2011 PCCSP report Current and future climate of Kiribati (a joint BOM, CSIRO and Kiribati Meteorology Office project).
Both reports are readily found online. That H.Ronald has advanced unfounded claims on this matter without critical examination should raise questions about the reliability of the views.
Don Clark, Latham
TO THE POINT
The Canberra Times wants to hear from you in short bursts. Email views in 50 words or fewer to
letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au
DOUBLE-DIP PARKING
Is a parking voucher, paid for at one car park, valid at another down the road? If not we should be asking for changes to a more reasonable and convenient system within the CBD.
Kit Huang, Yarralumla
LETTERS HOLD ANSWERS
The answer to Susan MacDougall's puzzle (Letters, November 26) is that judging by H.Ronald's letters, the "something else" is: hubris.
John F. Simmons, Kambah
FREEDOM OF DRESS
Alan Kelley (Letters, November 25) questions the wearing of the burqa/niqab in Australia. While many Australians do find the sight of women deprived of individuality and personhood deeply confronting and distressing, in a free society people are entitled to dress as they please or as they believe their religion dictates.
Patricia Saunders, Chapman
COMPENSATE TAXI FEES
While the country moves towards "outcome-based legislation", our town council continues its destruction of the livelihood of taxi plate owners. It is inexcusable that no effort [is made] to compensate people who have made considerable investments to buy into a government-created monopoly which the government is now destroying.
Gary J. Wilson, Macgregor
FAREWELL MALCOLM
I enjoyed Elizabeth Farrelly's column ("Why Malcolm will endure", November 26). Her predictions are slightly more accurate than John Pilger. Both serial prognosticators' claims prove to be so inaccurate I'll ask either to accompany [me] to the racetrack one Saturday. I'll back the other horse ... earn a motza!
Gerry Murphy, Braddon
NUCLEAR WASTE DECAYS
Politicians claim we need a waste dump to continue using nuclear medicine, but this is clearly not so. After use, the vast majority of radioisotopes decay rapidly, so are held for a short period and then go into the normal waste stream.
Dr Margaret Beavis, Medical Association for Prevention of War
LIBERTY LOCKED DOWN
One of the organisers of the now banned Climate Change march in Paris is under pre-emptive house arrest. Is this the Liberte which France is supposedly defending in bombing Syria?
John Passant, Kambah
ABBOTT'S FAITHFUL FEW
The core group who believe there is an Abbott government in exile can continue to deny his hopelessness till the cows come home. His supporters will have their day.
Linus Cole, Palmerston
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