In response to Pauline Westwood's angst (Letters, May 23), I simply say "welcome to The Machine". The passive torpidity displayed by most of the population almost guarantees the "blueprint" is globally accepted without question.
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Naturally, our universities continue pumping out dogmatic zombies to perpetuate the accepted blueprint while totally ignoring the elephant in the room, which is that endless growth and prosperity within a finite environment is mathematically impossible. Our economic blueprint is akin to a giant pyramid or Ponzi scheme, and the symptoms that Westwood describes are predictors of the inevitable collapse.
But everyone plays the game, selfishly hoping the scheme will remain stable enough during their lifetime, so the inevitable carnage of the collapse will be somebody else's problem long after we are all dead. Unless there is a fundamental shift towards sustainable economic and population policy worldwide, nothing is going to change until the global web of perpetual growth-based economies collapses under the weight of human overpopulation and greed.
Ultimately, we are no different to the kangaroos that we cull, except if they overpopulate an area we call them dumb animals – but when we overpopulate an area we call it progress and expect it will bring a higher standard of living for all.
Kangaroos may be dumb, but the expectations of most humans are clearly just plain greedy, selfish and stupid.
Jamie Geysen, Aranda
Apologies warranted
Mr Jannaway (Letters, May 26) is right; we cannot fix all historic wrongs. But we should certainly apologise to those whose lives have been ruined by unjust, harsh and discriminatory laws within living memory while we still can. If this is "pandering", I would hope that governments with a sense of decency and humanity would always respond in this way, as shown by the bipartisan apology from the Victorian Parliament and its cancellation of convictions.
David Roth, Kambah
Light on logic
The evidence shows that Leon Arundell's assertions (Letters, May 21) that the light rail contract will increase greenhouse gas emissions, increase public transport emissions, and discourage public transport usage are in fact wrong. Light rail is a significant step towards creating a sustainable, zero-emission city.
A study by Professor Will Steffen and David Flannery from the Canberra Urban Regional Futures estimated that by 2021 the first stage of light rail will remove about 2900 to 4700tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector annually, which is up to 30per cent lower than a business-as-usual scenario. Light rail will run on 100 per cent renewable energy, an important step towards ending out reliance on fossil fuels.
Mr Arundell claims light rail will discourage public transport use. But local modelling, as well as the general evidence on light rail, shows that light rail is an excellent way to increase public transport patronage, and significantly more popular than buses. Mr Arundell also makes a complaint I find rather strange when he says the government is not reducing transport emissions because it is reallocating the buses replaced by light rail to other routes.
But investment in the bus network is exactly what we need. It will allow more people to access decent public transport as well as achieve a range of environmental benefits.
When suggesting that light rail will increase emissions, or traffic, it should always be compared with thealternatives.
Neither business-as-usual, nor bus investment alone, will sufficiently mitigate the challenges Canberra is facing, or achieve the positive sustainability outcomes we're seeking. This is one of the reasons I'm a strong supporter of light rail for Canberra.
Shane Rattenbury ACT Greens Member for Molonglo
Lost 'opportunity' cash
Under the contract the ACT government has signed with the Canberra Metro consortium to build the Gungahlin-Civic light rail, the government intends to make a "capital contribution" (down payment) in 2019 of $375million, leaving $335million to be funded by the contractor. Governments can borrow money much more cheaply than a commercial entity at significant risk under contract.
The current long term-government bond rate is 2.29per cent. One national bank posts a commercial base rate of 8.49per cent. The government could be paying as much as 5 to 6per cent more on $375million for the privilege of having the consortium funding the $335million. By not paying the full amount of $710million, the government is foregoing as much as $190million in "opportunity cost", i.e. paying more interest than it has to. So, why is the government not paying the whole $710million upfront in2019?
M. Silex, Erindale
To say the light rail project will eventually cost $939million based on today's calculations ("Light rail costs will hit $939m by finish", May 25, p1) seems a bit of a euphemism. The fair thing to say is that ACT residents may still be paying through the nose long after the "light rail" is completed thanks to the arrogance of the Barr Government.
Ed Harris, Bonython
Snail mail winner
I recently posted a letter from Curtin to Pymble. It took 98hours to reach its destination, which I understand is the new benchmark for Australia Post. According to Google Maps, it would take just 75 hours to walk there. So I could stop for meals and a daily nap, play a round of golf upon arrival (although I may need the assistance of a cart by then) and still be able to hand-deliver a letter sooner than Australia Post could manage it.
Is this the worst mail service in the world?
Terry Levings, Curtin
Rubbish government
Canberra ratepayers have been advised to make "contingency plans" if the industrial dispute involving garbage truck drivers continues. It is just bad luck for many elderly and other residents who, for health or a variety of other genuine reasons, may find the trip difficult. The government and Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris seem to have conveniently distanced themselves from the problem and are calling on the contractor and TWU to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.
Often it seems that this government is more obsessed with grandiose development plans than providing ratepayers with basic services and facilities.
David Fisher, Curtin
Crying poor while wasting $2m a day in Syria is hypocrisy
Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals have a new mantra: they ask how Labor can pay for all its promises, and say we can't afford it. What hypocrisy!
Thanks to the genius of TonyAbbott, Australia is throwing away and burning about $2million every day (about $73million every year) on the war in Syria and Iraq – and it has been going on for two years already.
This war does not concern us, and it will profit us nothing even if we are on the winning side. So if we can afford such colossal waste, we can afford anything at all.
Anything the Liberals may say about Labor is completely undermined by the Liberals' own irresponsibility.
It's therefore obvious why Malcolm Turnbull is chanting his diversionary mantra so loudly, so long and so often.
He is in the same position as the president of Iran. It doesn't matter how good his own policies may be, because he must always answer to a crowd of religious crazies who will stifle, stymie and overrule him, regardless of what should be happening in the real world.
G.T.W. Agnew, Coopers Plains, Qld
Power-play leftovers
It's very simple: The political right is completely beholden to the most powerful corporate interests. The political left is completely terrified of upsetting the most powerful corporate interests.
The most powerful corporate interests play them off against each other, to their own benefit, and the ordinary voter gets what's left over. And they wonder why ordinary people are disillusioned with mainstream politicians?
John Walker, Queanbeyan, NSW
Appoint a famous five
We should all support Ian Dunlop's call for national unity government after July 2 ("Citizens awake – we are being taken for fools", Times2, May 25, p5). Winston Churchill, three days after election as prime minister in 1940, informed the House of Commons "A war cabinet has been formed of five members representing with the Labour, Opposition, and Liberals, the unity of the nation". Perhaps Turnbull PM, Joyce Energy, Shorten Industry, Di Natale Climate and Wong Finance. After this famous five, other ministers could be selected on merit. If we see voters move to the ALP we could have Shorten PM and Turnbull in Climate, Marriage Equality and the Republic !
Michael Flynn, Downer
In his hysterical and scaremongering piece "Citizens awake – we are being taken for fools",Ian Dunlop claims among other things that there is a "climate-driven refugee crisis engulfing Europe". Since when? That's drawing a long bow even for a Gaia worshipping member of the Club of Rome. Apart from a sprinkling of genuine asylum seekers, the majority of the refugees "engulfing Europe" are there for purely economic reasons, and the freebies offered by Angela Merkel.
Owen Reid, Dunlop
US v them peace plan
Peter Hartcher ("Are extremists on the run?", Times2, May 24, p1) speculates that "...the tide of battle has turned finally against the forces of Islamist extremism". Well, that may or not be correct right now but one thing I'm pretty certain of. There will be no lasting peace in the Muslim world until the Americans stop going into other people's countries and smashing them up.
From the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953 to the current endless bombing campaign in Syria and a dozen regional interventions in between, American administrations of both political hues have lied, bought, bribed, undermined, overthrown, betrayed, bombed and invaded their way through the entire region with a determination and resolve that would be admirable if it had achieved, or even gone close to achieving, a single positive outcome.
Peter Moran, Watson
Censure over census
The article "I don't trust ABS with my personal data: ex-ABS staffer" (May 21, p3) quotes a former Australian Bureau of Statistics officer who has not been employed with the agency since 2007.
Importantly, he has had no involvement in the ABS' careful and considered decision and processes regarding the 2016 census that included public consultation, engagement with all privacy commissioners and the Australian Information Commissioner. This is outlined on our website.
Privacy is a fundamental pillar of an official statistical system. The ABS never has, and never will, release identifiable census data.
The ABS has a range of strong security and legislative protections to keep census information safe and secure. ABS security protections are routinely audited and meet the highest standards of the Australian government.
Participation in the census is critical to ensure quality data can inform matters of importance to Australia and Australians. The vast majority of people willingly participate and provide accurate responses. Any encouragement of boycotting the census is encouraging people to act illegally and is deeply regrettable.
Further information on the decision to retain name and address information, how the ABS keeps census information safe and secure, and how the information is used to benefit Australians can be found on the census privacy, confidentiality and security page.
Chris Libreri, general manager, Census and Statistical Network Services, ABS
Age-old travel issue
Travel insurance once you turn 80 should be looked at as an age discrimination issue. For those who wish to travel overseas at 79 and have dared to reach 80, the insurance will have doubled. It is a sad fact that travel insurance gets dearer as you get older – until it is no longer available at all from some insurance companies if you are well into your 70s – and scarcely available at all after you turn 80. This is despite the fact that virtually all prior health conditions are excluded from the cover. One wonders what we are insuring for!
The price of travel insurance to Britain for approximately six weeks for an 80-year-old couple is about equal to or more than the cost of their house and contents insurance for 12 months. It seems that age alone is a major factor in assessing travel insurance risk.
Bob Budd, Curtin
Hang it, there's more power in the flower
I read with dismay that Canberra CBD has no plans to renew the contract to provide hanging baskets of petunias throughout the city centre ("Lights, not hanging flowers, in the city", May 24, p3).
Surely some things are worth the effort, despite not delivering the best "bang for our buck". In these troubled times, the petunias symbolise optimism, cheer and reassurance that there might be a few things right with this world. Canberra needs to enhance its reputation as a garden city, not diminish it.
Libby Shaw, Duffy
I was devastated to read that our beautiful hanging baskets are going to be replaced with lights in trees. True, lights in trees can last the whole year long but we already have a number of them, and the hanging baskets were a glorious sign of summer.
As a resident of the CBD, I was delighted by them on morning walks and they were a spot of beauty in areas of fairly indifferent architecture. Please, CBD Group, reconsider this decision: lights in trees cannot compare with beautiful live flowers.
Gail Tregear, Canberra City
Norfolk to suffer
Julian Yates (Letters, May 24) neglects to mention his department fought for a decade in the courts to prevent the release of their own report that shows what Canberra's imposed changes will do to the Norfolk Island economy.
This report – the Centre for International Economics Report (2006) – stated the economic impacts of the extension of federal legislation and taxation to Norfolk Island will be:
■ Substantial falls in household incomes for up to eight years;
■ Heavy regulatory and compliance costs for small businesses and individuals;
■ Higher input costs for employers, especially in wages and super contributions;
■ Rises in unemployment and loss of on-island jobs; and
■ Much higher taxes on residents than their mainlandcounterparts.
Brett Sanderson, Norfolk Island
TO THE POINT
NOT A GOOD LOOK
It's not as bad as having a PM caught on film during an election outside a Reject Shop sign. But where were Mr Turnbull's minders in the Dandenongs on Wednesday ("PM pledges millions to keep Billy puffing", May 26, p4)? A Prime Minister seemingly about to be run down by a puffing Leader of the Opposition is not a good look.
Tim Hardy, Florey
Good to see the PM exercising his innovation strategy by giving $6.5million to Puffing Billy in the Dandenongs.
Ed Highley, Kambah
JOYCE OUT OF DEPTH
It is little wonder Johnny Depp is still taking the mickey out of Barnaby Joyce ("Joyce laughs off Depp 'inbred tomato' jibe", May 26, p2). After all the way he handled Depp's dog entering the country without the proper papers was over the top and more about big-noting himself. If Joyce had any semblance of nous he would put up his white flag and get on with other problems he has.
D.J. Fraser, Currumbin, Qld
About 50 years ago, when airlines from Europe transited Darwin, a first-class UK passenger brought along her miniature dog. The Territory's chief veterinarian, Dr G. Letts, shot it right there on the tarmac. The past may be a foreign country, but this story was widely reported.
Frank Duggan, Chisholm
OPPOSITION CLEAR
Further to Mark Kessel (Letters, May 24), Australia's most senior citizen in the mid-1930s, Governor-General Sir Isaac Isaacs, was not only opposed to Zionism but felt that being Jewish was a religious identity not a national or ethnic one. Further he was opposed to nationalism and the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Adrian Jackson, Middle Park, Vic
SOLAR FIX
Solar PV cells produce direct current of fixed polarity. Using today's solid state techniques, we could have a solar PV cell that inverts its polarity every half cycle, namely a 50Hz power oscillator plus a third electrode for timing, ie, to enable parallel operation and synchrony with the power grid.
Colin Glover Canberra City
RUBBISH SERVICE
Can we assume that the ACT government has suspended payment to, or is seeking damages from, Suez contracting for failing to deliver the garbage collection service?
George Beaton, Greenway
Can we expect a rebate on our rates for each day the trash is uncollected?
Bruce A. Peterson, Kambah
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