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The government has also been urged by the ATM industry to reverse its $250 a day limit on ATM withdrawals in clubs.
No mention is made in the article of a facility being available for players to deposit their "winnings" into their accounts at the gambling venues. Perhaps this is an oversight.
My dictionary defines a parasite as "a person who lives off or exploits another or others". It also defines a "pimp" as someone who lives off the earnings of a prostitute or a brothel. It seems some of Australia's state governments and clubs are sailing a bit close to the wind when it comes to having a social conscience.
Les Brennan, Sunshine Bay, NSW
Dickson debacle
Reading about the planning debacle in Marsden Street, Dickson ("Bringing battle close to home", Forum, May 16, p3) made me wonder about the accountability of ACT public servants. Surely if those involved had performed their jobs competently, applied the rules fairly and transparently and followed the ACT Public Service Code of Ethics, this saga could not have happened.
Dickson residents would have been spared a great deal of stress and wasted time and energy, and taxpayer resources would not have been wasted.
Taxpayers need assurance that the public servants involved will be held to account for their role and not allowed to continue "business as usual".
M.Ryan, Majura
Fluffy economics
Rod Frazer (letters, April 22) suggests "the government's offer to Mr Fluffy owners was extremely generous and at considerable cost to the community". Many Fluffy home owners have lived in their homes and local communities for decades, renovating, nurturing gardens, raising families and investing their life savings in these homes. Then the ACT government announces they will buy back Fluffy homes at market value. What does market value mean?
Selling your home at auction, by negotiation or by agreed price is not an option, so the market value will be the average price of two independent valuations. The average price now becomes a guide-price and not true market value, as true market value is the value a buyer is willing to pay.
If auctions I have attended recently are any indication, this would mean many Fluffy home owners could be out of pocket between $50,000 and several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Would non-Fluffy home owners forgo that much of their life savings? Many Fluffy home owners are in their 70s and 80s, some approaching retirement and many wanting to see out their twilight years in their loved homes and communities.
Mr Fluffy home owners are rate payers and part of our community; they may never recover from previous governments' maladministration and the ACT government's veiled threats of financial ruin if they do not opt into the buyback scheme. Generous? I do not think so.
L.Carvalho, Lyons
Light rail sacrificed
If ACT Labor is struggling to sell the light rail project to the community, it's at least in part due to the Gungahlin Drive Extension, which it built for purely short-term political reasons in the face of massive and well-founded community opposition.
Labor's response then to any suggestion that light rail was a much better alternative, and should be built instead, was so vehement as to effectively dismiss as worthless the very project that just a few years later they are now arguing is essential. With Labor's credibility regarding the Gungahlin transport solutions already expended on the GDE, little wonder many Canberrans are disbelieving about light rail, especially when the mere existence of the project is itself proof of the GDE's failure to deliver the outcomes so cynically and falsely promised at the 2004 and 2008 ACT elections.
Hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been spent on light rail years ago were spent on the GDE and follow up projects, such as the Parkes Way widening to cater for extra traffic the GDE created. Worse still, the outcome was the creation of another competing car route that must to some extent weaken the justification for light rail; even though, ironically, its business case stills stacks up far better than the GDE's ever did.
Now that, with Greens' persuasion, Labor is finally adopting the solution they should have built in the first place, I hope they succeed. But if they don't, they have only themselves to blame.
Terry George, Kingston
What price for a life?
Recent letters have questioned what value the death penalty can have in modern society. Perhaps it's instructive that last week saw the death in jail of William MacDonald, known as the Mutilator, who terrorised Sydney in the 1960s by stabbing and emasculating homeless men ("'Mutilator' who scared a city dies at age 90", May 14, p3).
MacDonald himself said he should have been hanged; he was in jail for 52 years and clearly there was no hope of rehabilitation. A journalist who knew him said: "He never wanted to get out; he knew he would do it again". So, in retrospect, what value did society gain by not inflicting the death penalty on MacDonald? Was it just so we can all feel warm and fuzzy, or more self-righteous, about not being killers ourselves?
MacDonald's incarceration cost the taxpayer more than $500,000, even if calculated at a mere $10,000 a year ($200 a week).
How many babies, children or elderly citizens since 1963 could have been saved from death with medical facilities funded by an extra $500,000? Weren't we killing them, too, by community neglect? Didn't we effectively trade their lives for his? As a society, why did we decide to save the Mutilator at all costs yet knowingly commit good Australians to death because of a lack of facilities and staff?
B.Thompson, Belconnen
McCrone's star fades
I suggest Peter Duffy (Letters, May 15) get out early to home games and see Josh McCrone play for the Mounties. His pass is still weak, his defence ineffective and his running predictable. Despite his time in NSW Cup, his game has not improved.
At least Mitch Cornish shows some promise, which Josh McCrone has displayed but not delivered. I also had thought he would be a star but, unfortunately, he has failed to shine.
Ewan Higgins, Garran
Opposition Leader's irresponsible policy promises 'economic lunacy'
Bill Shorten, with his additional unfunded spending measures, is seeking to rapidly surpass his projected debt of $667billion (about $100,000 a family). No cuts to middle welfare under Santa Bill – everyone is a winner. It's a magic pudding.
His irresponsible populist rhetoric in his budget-in-reply speech did not contain a single funded policy, except to slug retirees' super, and block about $25billion in responsible saving measures. This is economic lunacy and younger Australians shouldn't let him destroy their future in this manner.
Johann Sheller, Forrest
Labor's plan for future
The article on the policies that I announced in my budget reply speech ("Labor's focus on science welcomed but its maths questioned", May 16, p4) was a disappointing misrepresentation of the facts.
Last week, I set out Labor's plan for the future: the jobs, business and infrastructure Australia will need in 2020 and 2030. I firmly believe we need to invest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to make sure Australians are ready to take up jobs in the new economy.
I also believe this is a debate our country needs to have right now and I'd hoped The Canberra Times would want to be part of that debate. But rather than discuss the merits of the ideas, The Canberra Times attacked, without foundation and without checking its facts, costings underpinning those policies.
Your assertions were unfounded, unchecked and completely erroneous. With the exception of one number, none of the assertions or assumptions of those costs were checked with me or my team. This meant the whole premise of your story was incorrect and readers were unfortunately given a dramatically inflated cost, which was simply wrong.
I hope The Canberra Times can be an informed participant in the debate of how we prepare Australia for the jobs of the new economy in the future.
Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition Melbourne
Howard profligate
Robert Willson (Letters, May 15) either wasn't paying attention in the Howard era, or he has a very short memory. John Howard did not create a budget surplus through good management of the Treasury; in fact, quite the reverse.
Does Mr Willson not recall the sale of Telstra (twice), of the Commonwealth Bank, and of the vast bulk of this nation's gold bullion reserves – at fire-sale prices? Add to this the floods of revenue from the mining boom, and any idiot could have manufactured a surplus ... not surprisingly, one did.
Now that Howard has sold this nation's birthright for a mess of pottage, this act of wanton profligacy cannot be repeated by subsequent governments, although this is hardly good news. Conservatives in Australia and worldwide need to wake up and smell the coffee: the means by which you achieve your results are usually far more important than the results themselves. And you're getting it all wrong.
Mark Raymond, Manton, NSW
Lift taxes for wealthy
Taxes do cause distortions, no argument from me on that one. However, raising revenue can be done in a way that minimises distortions so long as it doesn't undermine our desire for equity in tax burdens and promoting economic activity. The "tax-cut advocates" on the other hand would have us believe that substantial efficiency benefits arise from reducing taxes on the rich – a nice red herring ("No good comes of taxing the rich", Forum, May 16, p6).
Increasing taxes on the wealthy might cause a reduction in economic growth, but it would have to be bloody high. For example, if the rich were taxed at say 50per cent, there would be an adverse effect, the rich might do business overseas or move to a low-tax regime, but it depends on the cost-to-profit ratio: if the reward from a new product is $200million instead of $400million, would that reduce the incentive to make the product?
There will be a margin at which such a reduction in the reward for work matters, but this can be overcome through progressive taxation. Taxes on the wealthiest are unlikely to have such a negative impact, especially on economic productivity and a desire to make profit. Some taxes on the rich may even increase economic growth.
There is mounting evidence that too much inequality reduces growth (and the pool of workers), so taxes that are used to promote equality, and therefore incentive to increase income and living standards more generally within the community, can indeed promote growth. It's nothing but a falsity and ideology that taxing the wealthy reduces economic prosperity. A tax system that reduces inequality, is fair, efficient and simple to understand is in all our interests, even the rich.
G. Thompson, Narrabundah
Boat people
In Lindsay Murdoch's article on boat people in the Andaman Sea and Malacca Strait ("Myanmar to boycott refugee summit", May 17,p13), the first paragraph contains the phrase "thousands of illegal economic migrants and asylum seekers".
As far as I am aware, none of the people concerned have had any immigration claim processed, so Lindsay Murdoch has no right to hang the label "illegal economic migrant" on any of them. If Murdoch thinks they have done something illegal, then he should let us know the nature of the alleged crime and provide some sort of evidence for his claims.
Bill Edwards, Scullin
Support for Palestine
Last week, the Vatican concluded its first treaty that formally recognises the state of Palestine. On April 1, Palestine formally joined the International Criminal Court as well.
These events now focus attention on the personal decision made by our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, to not support a country that is recognised by all but Israel and the US, when such support was requested at the United Nations in December 2014.
It is now time to see the wishes of by far the greatest majority of Australians represented honestly at the UN and not to have our government dictated to by the Israel/US lobbies through the actions of compliant ministers.
Rhys Stanley, via Hall, NSW
Welcome swallows delightful dreamers
A big thank-you to Ian Fraser for his review of the book Tales of Remarkable Birds ("Fascinating feats of avian eccentricity", Panorama, May 10, p16). Such feats as the wing speed of the hummingbird or the romance of male fairy wrens bringing early morning flowers to their partners indeed depict feats of avian eccentricity.
Readers may also be interested in one such feat of the Australia swallow or welcome swallow (Hirundo neoxena). One such bird, whose dream was to be a ballet dancer and perform at London's Covent Garden, decided to make the long flight to London to attain its passionate vision. Being young and strong, the flight across the Australian continent to Asia presented no difficulties. Flying further on across central Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region the young swallow's energy was fading, but its dream drove it on over Italy, France and across the channel to London.
Its energy fading as it approached the Solent with London in sight, the young swallow was buffeted by heavy winds above the Thames and faltered – falling to earth – and was about to see its dreams shattered.
Fortunately, a group of London's famous pigeons from Trafalgar Square flew to the swallow's rescue. Offering their tails as support, they towed the young bird up the Thames.
Within sight of Covent Garden, the pigeons with the young swallow in tow were hit by a strong wind gust and all plunged to their deaths in the river.
Readers should know the moral to my imaginary story: if you want to dance at Covent Garden you cannot be pigeon-toed.
John F.Janke, Pearce
TO THE POINT
WHAT'S GLENN'S PLAN?
So Glenn Lazarus is to start his own party ("Lazarus forms his own party, now playing as a team", May 14, p5). I wonder what his policy agenda is to be? Surely he won't be duplicating existing party policies of Labor, Greens, PUP, etc. If so, he is unlikely to obtain much support.
Or is he going to copy Jacqui Lambie's policy, which is to vote against all Liberal National Party legislation?
Ed Dobson, Hughes
LOGIC BAFFLING
Would someone explain to me why a public servant enjoying a very generous, indeed benchmark, paid parental leave arrangement should be able to access a second taxpayer-funded scheme without any strings attached.
H. Ronald, Jerrabomberra, NSW
MORAL JUDGMENT
Whatever happened to the moral compass of Mathias Cormann and Josh Frydenberg? Just because you could double dip doesn't mean it was morally right to do so. Or could it be that I am still hanging on to the past, where that trait was held in high esteem?
D.J. Fraser, Mudgeeraba, Qld
SENIORS' NIGHT OUT
So seniors in Western Australia will benefit from free travel on public transport from 7pm to 6am, according to the latest WA budget. Must be a lively lot over in the west. I thought they'd all be tucked up in bed, rather than frolicking on public transport in the wee hours.
Peter Dahler, Calwell
VALUABLE ADVICE
Another feather in Marie Coleman's cap and a big thank-you to her for her letter to the Editor (May 14) about the Medibank Private insurance. I am in the same position as she was and now, thanks to her, I will be requesting a review of the price and will be demanding a "corporate rate".
Mary Robbie, Aranda
NO MANDATE
At the 2012 ACT election, Labor and the Greens got 49.6per cent of the primary vote. Does this give a decisive mandate to implement light rail, kill off kangaroos, or anything else for that matter?
Philip Machin, Wamboin, NSW
NOT THE FIRST
How can Nicole Feely have been named as "the first woman to run an Australian prime minister's office" after John Howard's 1996 election win ("ÄCT Health appoints new boss", May 16, p1) when some 28 years before 1996 a young woman named Ainsley Gotto ran the prime minister's office after John Gorton became prime minister in 1968?
B. Cox, Bruce
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