Light rail, hefty rates

Although the chairman of the ACT Light Rail Group, Damien Haas, seems to consider that Canberra is "lucky" to be the first and, in all likelihood, only Australian city to construct a more expensive light rail system that is powered by a third rail, or operates battery or super capacitor trams, I suggest that ACT ratepayers who are concerned about their ballooning rates' bills might have a completely different view.

Bruce Taggart, Aranda

Many people opposed to light rail complain about the debt that taxpayers will have to service. They are right to complain but they should also complain about all government debt. The way ACT Treasury handle debt is unfair on existing residents. In the case of the Cotter Dam, with an expected life of 100 years, existing residents are paying 99 times more in interest than residents in 100 years time. This was pointed out by the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission who recommended that we change the way we repay loans.

If we take a crowdsourcing variation of the ICRC recommendation and obtain the funds from today's residents the total cost to the community of the Cotter Dam will be 25 per cent of debt financing and the funding profit will go to residents. This assumes an interest rate of 4per cent over the 100 years.

For light rail with an expected life of 33 years the cost will be half the cost of using debt. Using this approach we can afford to have Capital Metro cover the whole of the ACT.

Kevin Cox, Ngunnawal

It seems a shame when someone, who by their own admission has been involved in academia for several years, presents a series of incorrect and unchecked statements as fact. Emeritus Professor Ross Fitzgerald ("Investment fund decisions must fulfil an academic mission", Forum, September 12, p7) has recently done just that. Last February the University of Sydney, after consultation with the university community and other stakeholders, made a public and innovative commitment to reducing the overall carbon footprint of its listed equity portfolio.

The university did this thoughtfully and with a clear understanding of the obligation it has to preserve the return on investment even while reducing its carbon footprint. We did consider divesting from all fossil fuel producers, however divestiture is a blunt instrument and does not address the fact that some non-fossil fuel producers are actually heavy carbon emitters.

It is true that the University's ethical investment guidelines prohibit direct investment in tobacco and alcohol. In moving to a new emerging markets fund manager, the university has been indirectly and inadvertently exposed to a small number of those stocks through a pooled investment fund. We are addressing that indirect exposure.

Hair-splitting? Some may think so. The fact remains that we take the commitment to reduce our carbon footprint seriously and we intend to achieve it in a manner that is neither knee-jerk nor irresponsible.

Sara Watts, vice-principal (Operations), University of Sydney

Ross Fitzgerald complains that Australian universities are taking sound long-term investment action based on rigorous scientific climate change research. Does Ross Fitzgerald think that they should ignore Minister Peter Dutton's sage advice that on low-lying Pacific Islands, "Time doesn't mean anything when you're about to be, you know, have water lapping at your door"?

Dr Peter Smith, Lake Illawarra, NSW

Does Ross Fitzgerald expect market-driven vice-chancellors who support Minister Christopher Pyne's proposals for fee deregulation to ignore the stock market's investment advice simply because the present government and Professor Fitzgerald are not yet ready to listen to what the market has to say about investing in coal?

Sophia Yates, Parkville, Vic

Preschool psychopaths So now we're labelling some three-year-olds as psychopaths ("New tool identifies children at risk of psychopathic behaviour", September 11, p4).

What's even scarier is that they're being targeted for reprogramming.

Disengagement is a coping strategy, a rejection of people or situations you don't like. Ask any procrastinator.

We need to think very carefully before tagging infants as potential criminals.

How do you tell a parent their toddler is a menace and needs to be repaired? How is the parent going to carry that stigma while loving and caring for the child?

I think a better approach would be to ensure the parents are taught parenting skills, including the need to show affection to the child and, hopefully, also to each other.

Let's not be too hasty about discarding the presumption of innocence. I hope it wasn't my tax dollars that funded this malevolence.

Martin Ruddell, Nimmitabel, NSW

The Canberra Airport is a major gateway to our territory. Nearly 2 million overnight domestic visitors arrive this way each year. What an opportunity to promote all the positive features of our Territory – national parks, national institutions, festivals and exhibitions.

Instead, the current crop of promotions which greet visitors at the baggage carousels predominantly promote arms and weaponry – international conglomerates with budgets in the billions that deal in the business of missiles, nuclear arms, drones, weapons and bombs.

I agree with Katie Lubbe (Letters, September 12) that the message these advertisements send is negative and does not reflect the character of our city or its citizens. We are a human-rights jurisdiction and a declared refugee welcome zone.

I call on the airport management to show its true leadership in our region by eliminating arms advertisements from its promotions policy, so that visitors are always greeted by welcoming, positive, peaceful messages.

Sue Salthouse, Chisholm

There could be no greater testament to the future course of the Liberal party as a progressive political force for change than Malcolm Turnbull's victory in becoming Australia's 29th Prime Minister.

It signifies the shedding of the ideological accretions of the past that were embodied in Tony Abbott's stubborn refusal to acknowledge he could no longer govern effectively for the nation.

But even more striking is the political transformation of deputy prime minister Julie Bishop. This changing of the guard from the Howard years of government to one that will strive to meet the aspirations of all Australians will stand as her greatest contribution to the political future of our nation.

Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin, Rivett

Well, it's a great start towards a change in government and it was wonderful to awaken this morning in Canada to the news that Tony was gone. There was dancing in the streets of Ottawa when we heard. But the policies won't change and the fight has become more earnest with Malcolm at the helm. Noses to the grindstone ... don't give up the fight!

W.Book, Hackett

Three cheers for Malcolm Turnbull. We now have a brilliant brain and a leather jacket in the prime ministerial seat.

Cynthia Moloney, Yarralumla

It seems Mr Turnbull is going to retain Mr Abbott's policies regarding same-sex marriage, climate change and the salient parts of the second budget. What is the point of a change in leader if the direction remains the same? And treasurer?

Who would be Treasurer with a recession possibly just around the corner? The Treasury gig is good in fine economic weather, other than that it is a death sentence.

Mr Morrison could destroy his career by taking Treasury.

Ray Armstrong, Tweed Heads South, NSW

So, no change to climate change policy, no change to same-sex marriage obstruction, no change to superannuation tax and capital gains tax concession rorts, no change to cuts to services for disadvantaged Australians. Different jockey, same (dead) horse.

David Jenkins, Casey

"Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive", enthuses the new blood-spattered PM as he retrieves his knife from the latest political corpse.

Kent Fitch, Nicholls

Five Prime Ministers in five years? Looks like the (banana) republic has arrived.

Tom Lindsay, Monash

Julie Talleyrand-Bishop!

Steve Thomas, Yarralumla

In March 2012, UN/Arab League Special Envoy Kofi Annan was sent to Syria to negotiate a ceasefire with President Assad. It was the time of the Arab Spring. Dictators had been deposed in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and in Syria the streets of Damascus and other cities were filled with pro-democracy crowds. In Libya, Gaddafi had been murdered by insurgents, and in Egypt president Mubarak had been sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the killing of protesters. The chance for a peaceful transition in Syria must have lain in the UN/Arab League envoy arranging for a safe exit for Assad and family.

However, the delicate negotiations were sabotaged by world leaders calling from the sidelines for Assad's head.

In April, British Prime Minister David Cameron was demanding that Assad be "called to account for his savagery". At the same time President Barack Obama called for Assad to "step aside", and in France President Nicholas Sarkozy joined the chorus for regime change.

Assad is a cruel dictator, but one whose co-operation was essential for a peaceful transition. It is sad to think that it is possible that if Kofi Annan had been allowed to get on with his job without this threatening outside interference, a deal might have been agreed with Assad, and today's awful humanitarian tragedy avoided.

Harry Davis, Campbell

The world learnt of socialism's failure in 1989, but apparently John Passant (Letters, September 14) has not yet been informed of it. Socialism, in case anyone has forgotten, caused enormous destruction in economic and human terms.

It never ceases to amaze me how people come up with new justifications for a world view that did not pan out.

Socialists never figure out that there is economic scarcity and that only through capital formation, specialisation, private property ownership and the free market price system can this scarcity be overcome.

Socialists never tell us how production and distribution can be organised and economic productivity improved apart from a free market price system. Socialists cannot tell us what the co-operative arrangements and the competitive bidding arrangements among civil government, producers, wage earners and consumers are going to be. How can there be co-operation, exchange and harmony if there is no system of free market-generated prices? What are the legal, moral and economic sanctions by which people will get what they want in a socialist society?

Socialism never offer a blueprint. The economic chaos of socialism is equalled only by the tyranny of socialism.

Victor Diskordia, McKellar

It's hard to find a news or opinion outlet which doesn't regard Jeremy Corbyn's election to the British Labour Party leadership as a joke. Even on ABC radio, every pundit and every compere sees the development as a fillip for the Tories.

It seems that the ABC sees socialism as a relic of the past; a chimera; a pipedream of hippies and mooncalves.

Will the righties give the ABC any credit for treating the left as a joke? Not a bit of it; beating up on our national broadcaster is a labour of love for them. Putting Andrew Bolt in charge wouldn't satisfy them.

So give it up, ABC; stop banging your head against a brick wall. Nothing you do will satisfy them because they hate you.

S.W. Davey, Torrens

I read with dismay, but not surprise, the list of proposals quietly released by the ACT government, to address the harm caused by alcohol consumption. Once again, the state will be saving us from ourselves, with such ideas as "scores on doors" where you will be able to see just how dangerous the venue is for which you are seeking access.

There are a range of other thought bubbles, but the best is an "independent drink marshal" for large venues to monitor the behaviour of patrons and close the bar early if deemed necessary.

Can you imagine the thrill of power such a marshal will have, as he contemplates shutting down the rowdy elderly patrons at the Hellenic Club in Woden, or the Uni Arts students rabble at the Phoenix in Civic, so recently arisen from its own ashes?

The government has apparently said it does not actually endorse any of them , but I fully expect many of them, especially the marshal idea, will soon be enshrined in regulation. This government hates surprises, especially from the unruly populace. What we must understand, however, is that the nanny state problem arises not from the various governments that rule and regulate our lives. It derives from the Canberra public and the Australian people in general, who continuously demand more rules and regulation to protect them from problems, both real and imagined.

In a secular society, it is the state to which Australians look for salvation. To paraphrase the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, the problem is that Australians are always in favour of general liberty and particular regulation. We must stop demanding more rules and regulations and tell the government to simply leave us alone.

Michael van Leeuwen, Fitzroy North, Vic

FAREWELL ABBOTTISMS

A relentless campaign by the ABC and Fairfax, a feral Senate and, constant undermining by Turnbull and his followers. Tony Abbott never stood a chance. To top it off, Malcolm Turnbull had the temerity to claim he was "very humbled".

As Cory Bernardi said: "a sad day for Australia".

Owen Reid, Dunlop

We will never have to endure those Abbottism's like "death cult", "shirt-fronting", "Team Australia" again. For that alone we should all be grateful. Amen.

Rex Williams, Ainslie

At least we don't have to pay to move the Abbotts from the Lodge.

Linus Cole, Palmerston

CANBERRA'S CHOICE

As an acolyte of Tony Abbott, Senator Zed Seselja did not look a happy man on Monday night, nor would he front the media on Tuesday morning. Do Canberrans really want an ultra right-wing Senator representing them, one who rolled the moderate Gary Humphries? And in 2016 do they want a right-wing controlled Canberra Liberal government making decisions affecting our progressive city?

John Davenport, Farrer

ASSAD DOMINO EFFECT

Iran's ambassador has a point with his warning ("Toppling Assad will open the door to IS", September 12, p4). Any such move would be a slap in the face for both the United States and Saudi Arabia. It would be unpopular with China and Russia, too, liberating the US and its allies from a proxy war with the old Communist bloc.

Gary J.Wilson, Macgregor

PREGNANT PARLEY

Alan Robertson's dislike of euphemisms (Letters, September 11) reminds me, in similar vein, of my father's great dislike of the expression "falling pregnant". When someone used it, he'd mumble under his breath: "As far as I can remember, falling plays no part in it".

Virginia Berger, Barton

HIPPOCRATIC OAFS

Who would have thought? Hippocrates must be readjusting in his grave with the revelation that so many of his disciples have been serially preying on women in their prestigious, exclusive and well-paid ranks ("Sexism entrenched in surgery, says report", September 10, p4).

Many apt vocational metaphors or similes are at hand, such as viral, toxic, infectious, cancerous. More apt, though, are: sexist, predatory, controlling, bullying, condescending – and despicable.

A. Whiddett, Yarralumla

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).