Canberra Times letters: Reading, not understanding

Not long after, we received a letter from ActewAGL advising us that the property could not be accessed because there was a padlock on the gate and subsequently an "estimated" electricity account will be sent to us. I called ActewAGL Customer Service and advised them that the padlock is an ActewAGL padlock that we purchased at great expense so that ActewAGL staff could have access, as this wasn't the first time they advised they couldn't access the property.

I requested an actual meter read given that we have a large number of solar panels on the roof.

We received another letter from them advising that the electricity meter had been re-read and that the first reading was correct or words to that effect.

Go figure. I called customer service again and asked how this is possible when they never read the meter the first time. How could it be possible that the second electrical meter reading be the same as the first when the meter was not read.

Customer service staff agreed this was strange and also advised that the information for the second reading of our meter had not been uploaded into their system.

After several more phone calls to acquire the actual electrical use and the new account, we gave up in frustration and paid the estimated bill.

I'll leave the readers to draw their own conclusions as to whether our electrical meter was read or not read. Perhaps the meter reader does have psychic powers.

Hopefully they'll get it right for the next quarter.

James Bodsworth, Phillip

The covetous "City to the Lake Plan" is the root cause of the reported wheeling and dealing in land etc that has so concerned our Auditor-General ("Key players to appear at ACT parliamentary inquiry into LDA", September 26, p1).

As usual, the prices paid, and the future prices demanded for public land as part of this "plan", will force down the quality of the associated new infrastructure, landscaping, and, particularly the density, height, bulk, architectural expression, and finish of new buildings in the subject areas.

Even still, developers will likely demand more "capex" (government public expenditure) to be spent, and planning controls to be relaxed, as they implement their schemes. We will pay too much, only to end up with rubbish development in some of the most nationally significant precincts in the the national capital, viz. the West Basin foreshores, City Hill, the Olympic Pool site, and the adjacent Parkes Way footprint.

The only solution is to scrap the City to the Lake Plan now. Basically, West Basin should remain as parkland and be refurbished; pedestrian access to and from the city to the lake, and across Commonwealth Avenue, should be increased, improved, and made more safe and legible; City Hill's south, south-west, and south-east sectors should remain as predominantly open space; the pool complex should be renovated with some redevelopment; and Parkes Way and London Circuit south should remain as is.

If required, Reid could be an alternative for sensitive incremental redevelopment.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Marriages are not merely public pronouncements of love between people who currently feel warm, fuzzy feelings toward each other.

Marriages are, in addition, inherently predisposed to creating (and thus caring for) children.

Marriages are the natural environment for children – children don't occur naturally to single people, or homosexual couples, or such.

That is what makes marriage and children intertwined.

Put another way, if you get married, you are to be prepared to raise children, because your union will almost certainly create some.

It is entirely true that relationships other than heterosexual unions can get children, be this via adoption, foster care, IVF and so on. But those relationships are not inherently predisposed towards children; child creation and rearing is not intertwined with them.

This is what makes marriage different.

To say marriage is the best environment for children, apart from being true (including for the moment homosexual couples), is not a moral condemnation of other family arrangements.

To say that it is a less than perfect environment for their children is an admission of an unfortunate reality, nothing more. If anything, it should redouble our efforts to love and support such families, and to ourselves be grateful we do not face the same hardship.

Christopher Budd, Turner

In an article written by Saman Shad ("The ultimate status symbol? Why wealthy families are opting for more kids", canberratimes.com.au, September 24) she confesses to having had her third child, theorises that the wealthy have extra children as a status symbol, then seems to suggest that the not so wealthy like her should get assistance to also have multiple children.

I wondered why she did not address the fact we are facing environmental catastrophe, mainly as a result of people having too many children.

Her writing suggests she is far too intelligent to be a climate change denier.

I can only guess it's because she doesn't really care about our environment and the quality of life of future generations.

If that is the case and she cares about her own status, I advise her to not broadcast the fact that she has had her third child.

Rod Campbell, Ainslie

George Williams ("Time to end the parliamentary prayer", September 25, p19) votes "yes" to ending daily prayers in Parliament.

I agree. However, it is not appropriate to compare the 1966 "no religion" census figure with that for 2016.

Only from 1971 was "no religion" explicitly indicated as an option on the ABS census survey form. It was known at the time that the 0.8 per cent "no religion" figure for 1966 was a substantial underestimate.

The 1971 change in the census form followed a suggestion to the ABS from the Humanist Society of Canberra. For a period prior to the 1966 census, the Society had inserted advertisements in The Canberra Times and had written letters to the editor urging that those without religious belief should write "none" as a response to the religious question (see 1966 issues of The Canberra Times, available on the Trove website).

This modest campaign achieved a statistically significant change in the ACT's census data when compared with the 1961 survey – "no religion" responses rose and "no response" fell.

From 1971, total Australian "no religion" responses have grown steadily from census to census.

The Society's actions followed an approach to the ABC seeking more balance in the relative numbers of religious speakers broadcast vis-à-vis non-religious speakers.

The ABC responded that they were guided by the relative numbers of religious denominations as published in census data.

While there's improvement, the ABC could still do better – and Parliament's abandonment of daily prayers is long overdue.

Kevin Bryant, Aranda

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has not arisen from nowhere.

North Korea was devastated by the US in the early 1950s when 20 per cent of their population died and every city and town was flattened.

It's not that long ago.

Today the US has dozens of military bases facing them, flies nuclear capable bombers over their peninsula regularly, has positioned THAAD missile detection systems in South Korea together with 28,500 US forces and the US naval fleet, including three aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers, patrols the seas off North Korea's shores.

That North Korea feels threatened and has sadly moved to develop missiles and nuclear weapons to defend itself against another feared US invasion is perhaps understandable.

Pressure is being put on North Korea to step back from the brink, and similar pressure should be put on the US by the Australian government and others.

At the very least, and as a start, the US should stop their provocative military exercises and flights near North Korea.

There is no military solution that doesn't involve the loss of thousands to billions of lives.

Negotiation is the only sane way forward.

Kathryn Kelly, Chifley

With no NRL and AFL games scheduled on Sunday night I sat back and watched Foxtel's coverage of the one-day international cricket match between India and Australia.

Like the football codes it supports, Foxtel's coverage was first class, not only for the quality of the picture but also because it it does not bombard the viewer with commercials at the end of each and every over.

I realise that sponsors contribute to the cost of running and broadcasting the sport including the various classes of cricket.

I similarly accept that the sponsors are entitled to have their particular products advertised. However, being a cricket aficionado/tragic I regard cricket as a unique contest between bowler and batsman or between bat andball.

I like nothing more than to settle down in front of the television with a cold can of the amber fluid and absorb myself in the contest, without having my concentration continually shattered by someone exhorting me to rush out and buy a motor vehicle or a McDonald's or KFC.

If we are to have commercial breaks why not stagger them to every, say, three overs or during official breaks (e.g. lunch, drinks etc)?

Andrew Rowe, Florey

Australians are not being told the truth about our gas supplies.

BHP Petroleum chief Mike Yeager told journalists in 2014 that there was plenty of gas available in the Bass Strait, and it could supply people in Victoria and NSW, and possibly even Queensland, "indefinitely".

The reason we are seeing gas "shortages" is because the mining industry has been given the legal right to take our country's assets and sell them overseas, with total disregard to those who actually own them.

All our land, water, air, gas and coal rightfully are the property of Australia's citizens.

Members of the Minerals Council of Australia have only to buy a cheap miner's licence and they have a guarantee of massive profits at the expense of the Australian population.

The governmentis trying to bully the states into destroying farming land so other members of the Mineral Council of Australia and their shareholders can fill their greedy pockets at our expense.

Gerry Gillespie, Queanbeyan

Katherine Curchin ("There's a better way than no jab, no pay", September 26, p19) writes: "The welfare system is not like an ordinary contract where one party's breach (the recipient) means the other party (the taxpayers) doesn't have to pay." Does she truly believe that?

David Johnston, Belconnen

So now if I use an ATM belonging to another bank to make a cash withdrawal, I will not be charged a fee, but if I use an ATM belonging to my own bank, I will continue to be screwed by a transaction fee of2 per cent of the amount withdrawn.

Putting aside the fact that the current method of calculating fees is just legalised theft, it seems more than a little ironic that it is cheaper for me to use the services of any bank other than my own?

John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW

SPACE ODYSSEY

Let's hope that Monday's announcement of an Australian space agency isn't just the start of another Groundhog Day. Does anyone remember the Australian Space Council and the Australian Space Office, circa 1993? They even published their second five-year plan in 1994. Failed on the launch pad under the Howard government. Perhaps this new vehicle will achieve Earth orbit.

Jonathan Mobbs, Malua Bay, NSW

RUNS FOR CASH

In order to improve the performance of the Australian cricket team the players should immediately be given a pay rise.

Peter Crossing, Glengowrie, SA

REASON TO BELIEVE

We are being told that the "yes" vote is down six points, but with the number of people they asked the margin of error is around 6 to 7 per cent.

You can't believe anything when it comes to same-sex marriage. Just believe the public want LGBTI people to be able to marry.

Ken Morehouse, Wangaratta, Vic

BLOWING IN THE WIND

No country on earth has yet demonstrated that it can maintain modern living standards by totally relying on renewable energy.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield, Vic

DECLINE AND FALL

What a state the nation has descended to. Science scorned, churches clinging to agendas, man-made homelessness, Fed's gouging with dodgy robo debts generated by faultyprocess. Could a Cowboys or Richmond victory calm the Crows blowing before the Storm?

Matt Ford, Crookwell, NSW

BOUND TO PLEASE

When Peter Costello's biography was released some said it was a book without a spine. Given Malcolm Turnbull's recent lack of positive engagement in many issues from marriage equality to clean energy, will we soon have a sequel book without a spine?

Nick Reddan, Hackett

SET IN STONE

I just watched an interview between a moderator, Mr Bill Clinton and Mr George W. Bush. I think both are great men regardless. Compared with Mr Trump, they are like the pyramids of Egypt next to a rock.

Mokhles K Sidden, South Strathfield, NSW

GOD'S WORK

Sue Dyer (Letters, September 25) should be careful for what she wishes. If the government was to provide all services currently provided by the churches, the country would go broke or our taxes would rise alarmingly to pay for them.

Maria Pellegrino, Gungahlin

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