That people are entitled to object to a development application is not questioned. But there is a process for objections and stirring up xenophobia is not part of it.

Last Monday I received an email from the council president, Ewan Brown, in which he said, ''The executive of the GCC reacted strongly to your assertion [in The Canberra Times, ''Gungahlin plan welcomed'', June 30, p2) that it had given 'tacit support' to the plans to erect a mosque in Gungahlin.''

The council either misread that report or worded its response incorrectly. The report actually said the council had given tacit support to opponents of the proposed mosque. I would be happy to clarify the point with Brown but his email says the council is reviewing its mechanisms for purporting to make representations on behalf of the community and will decline to make any comment to the media until a resolution is reached.

''So don't bother to contact me until you hear otherwise.'' So there!

This council, as with the other six around Canberra which each receive more than $12,000 annually from the government, often claim unto themselves far greater influence than they are entitled to claim. Canberra citizens elect an assembly which in turn pays handsomely for qualified planners to pontificate over development applications. Though not perfect, the planning regime is frequently frustrated by self-interested objections by some notable individuals and these largely unrepresentative councils.

There might well be reasonable concerns, purely on planning grounds, to the proposed mosque in Valley Way, Gungahlin. But it is noteworthy there were no objections to the Uniting Church, opened in October 2010, or to the proposed Salvation Army centre, also both in Valley Way. It is also noteworthy that plans to build a mosque in Nicholls were abandoned after objections. A spokesman for the Concerned Citizens of Canberra, to which no reference appears on ASIC's register of associations, businesses or companies, says there has been a lack of consultation over the proposed mosque. There is nothing to suggest there was greater consultation over the Uniting Church or the Salvation Army centre. So it seems reasonable to deduce concern over the mosque reflects an underlying, though not representative, fear of or objection to Muslims.

In a media statement, the Gungahlin Community Council says, ''The council does not believe that it has a right to oppose any development on cultural, religious or ethnic interest grounds.''

In which case it might be reasonably expected to check the bona fides of groups to which it gives tacit support, whether or not that was its intention.