Whilst there were few high-rise residential towers at the time, there was little need for major post-occupancy rectification in those built.

With the rush to privatise government services, came policies which have since failed. The idea that private certifiers worked for the building owner and would ensure quality was flawed from the start.

For most buildings the initial owners are the builders or developers. It is obviously in private certifiers' interests not to antagonise future customers ie. builders or developers.

Those who buy the buildings are the ones who have to suffer the plethora of faults.

Home owners have been lumped with bills into the thousands to rectify what is possibly their biggest purchase ever.

A further issue requiring rectification is the substandard materials being imported without passing Australian standard assessments.

Major failures are resulting from below-standard materials such as cement and steel.

The original policy intent was to audit at least 10 per cent of certifiers' work. However, with budget reductions, this was never possible to achieve.

We need to ensure building legislation is effective in drafting and application to ensure the level of approval and inspection required. Public certifiers, or random allocation of private certifiers, is essential to break the nexus between developer and certifier.

Adequate resources to respond to the fluctuating level of building work and regulated approval and monitoring must be guaranteed.

The most sustainable way to achieve this is to establish a Building Quality Board that is fully funded from building applications and related regulatory functions.

By quarantining the building approval revenue for the board's work, building quality will be independently managed and adequately funded on a user-pays basis.

Gina Pinkas, Aranda

Even the ACT government must now see that private certification of building work is a total failure.

Is anyone, except perhaps the government, the least bit surprised that self-interest has prevailed over building standards?

Private certification may be appropriate for small renovations such as decks or carports but it has manifestly failed when it comes to larger structures.

It might possibly work if there was a rigorous oversight policy with severe penalties for certifiers and builders who fail to maintain standards but there appears to have been an almost total lack of oversight and enforcement.

We need to return to a system of government inspections using well-qualified, well-trained, independent and government-employed building inspectors who check buildings at the crucial stages of their construction.

Prevention is always better than cure. It is time for the ACT government to finally put the interests of building purchasers ahead of those of builders and developers.

Jim Derrick, Florey

How I miss the purposeful old Braddon. A great service centre for inner north Canberra full of mechanics, auto-electricians, spare parts shops, tyre retailers, car yards, printers, art supplies, a newspaper, camping stores, a hardware store, Coggans bakery, an Aussie takeaway, the Stockade steak house and its regulars, the public servants working nearby.

Now we have many grotty little places selling third-rate food and second-rate coffee with impossible parking.

Plus a lot of young unit dwellers wandering around as if they are desperately looking for a purpose in life. So now Braddon is just a little bit of Melbourne or Sydney, the very thing Canberra was designed to avoid.

Vale Braddon.

John Holland, Dickson

It was heartening to see that the community disgust at the proposal to spend half a billion dollars to redevelop the Australian War Memorial is still being raised (Letters, January 30).

Ann Darbyshire is correct in her shaming of those who signed off this proposal.

What many people still do not realise is that this proposal will not only destroy the magnificent Anzac Hall but it will turn almost the entire Australian War Memorial site into one big construction site for the best part of nine years.

This proposal should be seriously reconsidered if only to prevent the desecration of what should be a protected heritage site.

Murray Upton, Belconnen

It is inconceivable that ACT Planning and Transport Canberra and City Services could be considering a central urban location on Ipswich Street for a major waste facility to adjoin a scrap metal operation that has had eight fires since it commenced in 2014. This Fyshwick location is four kilometres from Parliament House and within metres of other retail traders in Fyshwick.

The latest fire was reported in The Canberra Times on January 26.

Previously, at an Inner South Community Forum on August 23, 2017, the audience of some 240 were told by an environment expert that in 2015 alone there were 5000 fires concerning waste sites in NSW.

The company with the Fyshwick fires is also a partner in the proposed Materials Recovery Facility next door and was previously combining with ActewAGL to establish Canberra's first Waste to Energy incinerator for the site.

The zone does not allow incineration nor railway use to transfer the waste to Woodlawn landfill.

TCCS in its Market Sounding of 2017 states the Hume Waste Precinct to be the location of a centre of waste excellence in Australia.

It identified proximity to the rail line for export as a feature.

The Hume zone permits such use.

B. Moore, Kingston

While other countries are surrounding residential blocks with parkland and incorporating recreational spaces throughout buildings, we are still constructing ugly unit blocks. Those built along Northbourne will have spectacular views of the traffic below or the neighbouring tower blocks.

Rates and body corporate fees will strain budgets.

The cost of major repairs, if needed, could prove to be staggering. When the electricity fails, so will the home phone, lights, water and elevators.

Potential buyers should check on what emergency provisions have been made.

Will swipe cards work or will people be locked in their units??

Pauline Westwood, Dickson

Retirees are the wrong target

You spend 40-odd years working, paying the appropriate rate of tax and save some of your income in order to be independent in retirement.

You are well aware of those who have enjoyed significantly higher incomes during their working lives, spent the lot, openly bragged about paying little or no tax and front up for the full age pension on retirement.

In keeping with your age, you are not particularly interested in growth investments, preferring the highest yield and I mean grossed up yield in order to maximise your current income. It comes as a shock to learn that your political party of choice, because you always considered it to be the party of the fair go, are about to help themselves to about one-third of your income from investments that you have become used to receiving to maintain your standard of living.

The Labor Party claims it is reasonable to assault your lifestyle because other countries don't have this policy.

It forgets that many of those countries provide far more generous welfare systems than a very wealthy Australia.

It has also not given any consideration to the fact that the targeted retirees are saving the government up to $35,000 per annum by not relying on the aged pension.

They argue the revenue saved by this policy would be better utilised to build more hospitals and schools.

I am certainly in favour of this goal but there are much larger pots of untaxed revenue to go after than bullying the retirees.

If only it had the courage to take on the big end of town instead of bleeding the retirees it would provide 10 times more hospitals and schools with plenty left over for other worthwhile projects.

John Vincent, Wanniassa

We should welcome the recent Labor Party policy proposal to promote the development of an Australian merchant marine. Australia used to have its own overseas shipping line.

As in the US and some other nations, the Australian federal government has aviation and shipping policies to encourage some local ownership. For various reasons shipping ownership has not been a success.

There are several high-cost nations such as Norway and the Netherlands operating substantial commercial shipping with considerably less seaborne trade than Australia. Research is needed to determine why their companies are profitable.

In an increasingly uncertain world an island nation, like Australia, with extensive seaborne trade cannot afford to be almost totally dependent on other nations for both shipping and for providing the supporting maritime and engineering skills required to operate and maintain services associated with shipping.

The Labor Party initiative would only work long term if agreements could be reached between government, industry and maritime unions to provide a cost structure that would allow Australian ships to compete effectively on some trade routes.

Mike Gawan-Taylor, Red Hill

Chris Bowen appears intent on establishing a reputation as a potentially "hard-nosed" treasurer in the Paul Keating mould. His reported statement ("Franking credits battle heats up", January 31, p5) that retirees affected by Labor's plan to end tax refunds for franking credits are free to vote for another party, smacks of duplicity.

The policy, in effect, is penalising retirees for holding shares compared to other asset classes.

Not only will it severely affect the incomes of many retirees but it will also have a dampening effect on the value of shares particularly, for example, banking shares which they hold.

His statement clearly indicates that Labor thinks that the present government is in such bad odour that an election defeat is a certainty and that it can get away with this deeply flawed policy to help build up a financial "war chest".

If Labor does win the election he will certainly make a doubtful claim that he has a mandate for his policy.

If Labor loses some marginal seats because of this policy that it should have won, then an intransigent Chris Bowen will be to blame.

David Fisher, Curtin

Mike Quirk (Letters, January 24) questions why we celebrate our nation on January 26.

The main problem is no one can agree on another day that is significant.

He mentions Federation on January 1, but this is celebrating what many like him are critical of: white European settlement.

On January 26, 1788, all remaining ships of the first fleet sailed peacefully into Sydney Harbour and landed at Sydney Cove.

No Aboriginals were murdered or massacred on this day, as were no white settlers or convicts.

In fact, in 1824 on January 26, coincidentally the first sanctioned marriage between an Aboriginal woman and a white convict man occurred in Parramatta.

Surely that is a good enough reason to celebrate our national day on what is Australia Day!

Ian Pilsner, Weston

Queen Victoria would be spinning in her grave at Dr K. Williams' suggestion that we had an English king on January 1, 1901 (Letters, February 1). Her eldest son's protracted monarchical apprenticeship did not, in fact, end until her death at Osborne on January 22, 1901.

Frank Marris, Forrest

Brian Voce (of Bungendore), your Australia Day experience with the RAAF F/A-18 Hornet sounds overly melodramatic, and might I say, over-exaggerated? (Letters, January 30).

Craig Brankin, Canberra

While the Australia Day long weekend is still fresh in our minds how about giving some thought to making it a permanent calendar fixture?

Australia Day could be celebrated on the third Monday of January each year making it an Australia Day long weekend. I am sure this would be welcomed by families.

Celebrations could be spread over three days just as they were this year.

Could The Canberra Times perhaps test this suggestion with its insider readers panel?

Graham Brady, Hughes

FENCING OUR SCHOOLS

Those residents and associations who don't want a fence around our schools ("School fence debate after vandals strike again", February 4, p9) can foot the bill – $50,000 at Curtin Primary – for damage done.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

BANKS JUST A BIT RICH

If, say, there were a royal commission into any massive escalation in crime statistics nationally and the severe impacts of this on the lives and financial security of many thousands of individuals, would current and past criminals be given special early access to the commission's final public report? ("'It's outrageous': Banks' fury over royal commission lockout", canberratimes.com.au February 1)

Sue Dyer, Downer

DODGED A BULLET

So after all the huffing and puffing in high places Commissioner Hayne has flogged those nasty bankers with a feather. Oh, the suffering humanity.

M. Moore, Bonython

SHORT MEMORY

Amanda Vanstone in her column ("Watch out for Labor Party's next big lie", CT, February 4, p19) reminds us of the "mediscare" campaign by Labor in the last federal election. Does she remember the Coalition's "children overboard" campaign by John Howard?

Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt

SCIENCE IGNORANCE SCARY

We shouldn't have people in government who don't understand or "believe" in science. It's ultimately detrimental to our country.

Susan MacDougall, Scullin

CITY TURNING INTO SLUM

I think the infrastructure for the light rail is the ugliest eyesore I have seen in a long time. The same is true of some of the ugly, high-rise, unit complexes also under construction. Andrew Barr is turning Canberra into a slum. I wish we could turn back the clock 10 years.

Phil Nicolls, Monash

FALSE ADVERTISING

Should we be pleased that a federal government is spending millions of our bucks to tell us how good they are going?

Aren't there laws about false advertising?

Linus Cole, Palmerston

WHO NEEDS THIS?

Re: the report on the poor workplace culture within the ACT health service. It's unbelievable the federal government wants these people to take over the Norfolk Island hospital from NSW.

Brett Sanderson, Norfolk Island People for Democracy, Norfolk Island.

CRICKET NO SELLOUT

Manuka, Sunday a sellout? No way. The attendance was 4000 below capacity. I tried to do my civic duty but went home. As if I'm going to buy two reserved seats at $45 at 4.15 pm.

Anthony Bruce, Gordon

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