Shoppers probably take for granted that trolley collection is an outsourced corporate function of all supermarkets, as collectors wear visi-vests with logos which do not correspond to that whose supermarket trolleys they collect ("Coles calls an end to ACT trolley collection outsourcing", September 13).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Few shoppers, if any, would have cast a glance at or exchanged greetings with modern-day, trolley-retrieving slaves who must look enviously upon the consumables, which they themselves will never aspire to afford, with which trolleys are so casually loaded. Flexible work hire arrangements – code for body hire, out-sourcing – results in workers being in a limbo, neither employees nor contractors. Such precarious employment invites potential for low pay, from $7-15 per hour.
Workers exposed to these conditions are frequently less than 20 years old, possess less than 10 years' education and were born outside Australia. As exposed in the 7-Eleven investigation, and earlier 4-Corners fruit picking investigation, worker exploitation is rife in Australia. It is difficult to believe that regulatory watchdogs were unaware of its presence and shamefully, at the behest of vested interests, chose, for decades, to conveniently ignore it.
In "the land of the fair go", where "Jack is as good as his master", a conspiracy of silence has evolved whereby exploitation of workers, everywhere, is an imperative to maintaining a lifestyle of "affluenza".
Albert M. White, Queanbeyan
Make solar a priority
It is indeed a "no brainer" that double glazing be compulsory in all new builds as it is in much of England and many European countries (Letters, September 13). But why stop there? If the ACT government is truly serious in its emissions reduction aims then it would seem pursuing mandatory installation of solar panels on all new builds would be a priority.
Further, with hot water accounting for up to 80 per cent of household electricity bills, rooftop solar water systems should also be included. Talk about jobs, jobs, jobs. Australian jobs.
It seems the ACT government is more focused on pandering to electricity "bill raising" with large-scale, mostly overseas renewable development concerns than spruiking the obvious.
William Gray, Bungendore, NSW
Roos in deep trouble
Given the truckloads of misinformation regarding kangaroos to which the Australian public are subjected by governments, farmers and the kangaroo industry, T.J.Marks' response (Letters, September 13) is predictable.
Sadly, there are few genuinely independent ecologists working in Australia today but those who are independent all seem to agree that eastern grey kangaroos are in deep trouble: Croft, Ramp, Ben Ami and Mjadwesch spring to mind.
And let us not forget Charles Darwin, who predicted the extinction of the kangaroo within a couple of centuries of European settlement.
Indeed it is impossible to look at the state data on quotas and harvesting numbers for this species without realising populations are in steep and alarming decline. Nor is it hard to understand why.
Eastern grey kangaroos have a naturally very high youth mortality rate. Add to this the huge additional anthropogenic pressures: harvesting, culling, habitat loss, climate change, collisions with motor vehicles, pollution and diet related diseases.
Perhaps worst of all is the loss of learned wisdom when few kangaroos are permitted to live long enough to both learn and pass on their life lessons.
T.J Marks is certainly right that kangaroos are not confined within the Canberra Nature Park reserves.
This is why there is such a high death toll among them from motor vehicle accidents, especially straight after a cull when the roads that run along the sides of the reserves are lined with terrified orphaned young.
Frankie Seymour, Queanbeyan
My letter of September 6 stated: "Since the cull is described as taking place in enclosed reserves from which the kangaroos cannot escape", which T.J.Marks has misunderstood as meaning that I don't believe roos can jump or push through fences.
Since I see them do this every day, obviously I don't believe that, but the ACT government appears to.
Peter Marshall, Captains Flat
Have a look at the plan
Apparently the ACT Land Development Agency doesn't know that the National Capital Plan permits a casino (and hotels, etc) anywhere on the ACT government's own important extensive land holdings between London Circuit and Vernon Circle.
Otherwise our infamous LDA might have been more proactive in view of the reported casino expansion here ("Plan for new $330m resort-style casino", September 16).
The land on which the current casino sits was not zoned for casino use when "approved" by Rosemary Follett's government, and still isn't in the current Territory Plan.
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
Market covers the city
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has provided a preliminary view that Coles' takeover of some Superbarn stores in Canberra would "substantially lessen competition", and therefore be illegal ("Supabarn sale raises competition concerns", September 12).
With respect, as a former deputy chairman of the ACCC (when it was called the Trade Practices Commission), and as a long-time resident of Canberra shopping at supermarkets, I heartily disagree.
The ACCC talks of a substantial lessening of competition (the test for illegality) "near stores in [a number of Canberra suburbs]". This is incorrect; to be unlawful, a takeover has to "substantially lessen competition" in a particular market – and, with Canberra's excellent road network and prevalence and ease of car travel, there's no way particular suburbs could be described as separate "markets".
The reality is that, if customers are not happy with a supermarket in a particular location, they can quite easily (and will) go to a supermarket somewhere else. So the "market" to be considered is Canberra as a whole – or perhaps North Canberra one market, and South Canberra another.
And given the intensity of competition in those markets (between Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Costco, IGA, and other outlets selling similar products), it defies imagination to think of the transfer of ownership of some of the stores of one player as "lessening competition" – let alone "substantially".
R.S.Gilbert, Braddon
Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message field, not as an attached file. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.
Keep your letter to 250 words or less. References to Canberra Times reports should include date and page number. Letters may be edited. Provide phone number and full home address (suburb only published).
