Make some noise for Raiders

I expected a deluge of letters to The Canberra Times over the referee's decision to hand the game to the Melbourne Storm by enforcing the 10-minute send-off rule on Jack Wighton, at a crucial time in the game. This rule is seldom enforced and this decision proved to be decisive in a close-fought game. It is no coincidence that the Raiders' loss suits the Sydney rugby league fraternity. It now gives the underachieving Cronulla Sharks a chance at beating the boring but error-free Storm in a Sydney grand final.

Without doubt, the most exciting team in the competition was the Raiders, which had monstered both the Storm and the Sharks in games at the end of the season.

I ask myself why is the genteel Canberra community so forgiving? I have been following the Raiders since the '80s and I think it is because the Canberra community has come to expect that this will happen every year.

Maybe it is time we stood up for this team which represents us all so well and make some noise!

Michael Lucas, Conder

I think Richard Denniss hit the nail on the head when he wrote the article "Growth, tram on way" (Saturday, September 24, p10). He felt that so many people might be angry about the tram proposal because they don't like Canberra's population being projected to double. That would fundamentally change the character of the Canberra we love to be more road congested, polluted and a less amenable place to live.

Furthermore, he correctly says that we don't have to have our population doubled. Despite federal bipartisan support for rapid population growth, were enough Australians to object loudly, politicians would change their minds. Ultimately getting re-elected is even more important to them than obeying big business.

Objecting to high population growth has nothing to do with our refugee intake, which could be substantially increased were the non-refugee intake significantly reduced.

Julia Richards, Kambah

Murray May of Cook (Letters, September 28), you pose a good point regarding aircraft noise, yet the corridor of Ainslie and Majura surely assist abatement.

I must be an odd one out. Having resided in many a castle over various Canberra suburbs, including Pialligo, I have found aircraft noise to be akin to installing a new refrigerator. After a while, you don't notice it.

Ah, the serenity!

Phil O'Mara, Macgregor

Graham Downie (Letters, September 29) bemoans the lack of action from various political parties on ACTION to shift it from the rigidity of off-peak inefficiencies.

In 2013, in these pages, I wrote: "We are at the dawn of the smartphone era where a dynamic public transport system will enable punters to communicate a desired route and timing; receive a best fit answer; accept or reject it; and enjoy continuous feedback of bus/minibus arrival time."

Our public transport should be geared to Canberra's unique and difficult catchment: our metropolitan area is large and our density is low. Light rail, in addition to its many other failings, will guarantee the irritation of multi-vehicle travel to and from suburbs – precisely why people stick to cars!

We have the technology to create a demand-driven network. A dynamic system could be simulated without any change to the existing set-up. If the simulation proved effective, it could be trialed on Sundays, the sine qua non of off-peak inefficiency.

Peter Robinson, Independent (Kurrajong), Ainslie

How do we trust the Barr and former Gallagher governments when both repeatedly stated the federal government was not supportive and a major impediment to conducting a royal commission on the Mr Fluffy debacle?

It has been reported (Canberra Times, September 7) that in his "supposedly" strongly worded letter to Mr Turnbull, Mr Barr stated: "Mr Fluffy, whilst important, is not a priority."

Am I and those caught up in this horrid debacle missing something?

The design and management of the Mr Fluffy buyback scheme was flawed from its inception; victims have lost their homes, taken from them in a supposed "voluntary" buyback scheme, in many cases losing hundreds of thousands of dollars; stressed due to unwanted relocation that will never put them back in the same financial position they were in prior to this debacle and none of it their own doing.

Added to this, many could be at risk of contracting a deadly asbestos-related disease, yet a royal commission is not a priority.

Mr Barr does not want a royal commission because it will expose his government, the architects of a poorly thought-out and managed program, to an independent body that can scrutinise every aspect of the Mr Fluffy debacle prior to and including self-government.

Mr Barr's lack of support for a royal commission is because he knows the Mr Fluffy buyback has been a fiasco and any negative publicity will reflect poorly on his government and those administering the scheme.

L.Carvalho, Lyons

Next to every Labour party candidate election poster on Hindmarsh Drive, the Liberals have planted a "Trams = Higher Rates" sign.

The upcoming election is a Liberal scare campaign based on a lot of innuendo about light rail.

Just like the Liberals promoting "Better Rates/Better Schools" or "Fairer Rates", where are the facts/details?

How do you measure "better or fairer"?

The ACT Liberals don't, however, promote how they intend spending your rates to destroy a futuristic and beneficial new mode of transport in Canberra.

I wonder what pressure this massive amount of money spent will place on the Liberals and Canberra ratepayers to achieve a better and fairer Canberra?

Howard Moffat, Weston

What an unstatesmanlike performance by our Prime Minister over the current power crisis in South Australia.

His haranguing of the state's renewable energy efforts when he should have been offering assistance is deplorable.

Anyone with half a brain who has seen the condition of the 22 transmission towers, twisted beyond repair, would have to agree that there was simply no grid for power supply, renewable or otherwise.

With 80,000 lightning strikes, this was a freak weather occurrence, resulting in downed power lines all over the place. It was a God-send that there was a black-out for the safety of those citizens having to make their way home the best way they could.

Can we hope that there will be a concerted effort by politicians of every persuasion to put the rhetoric on hold and instead consider offering every assistance to South Australia?

This country is the first to offer aid overseas. How about doing the same for our own – generators for hospitals would be a good start.

P. Watson, Red Hill

The concerted but misleading campaign to blame wind generation for all of South Australia's electricity woes continues. In light of Wednesday's extreme weather and resultant blackout, the Australian Energy Market Operator has advised that the root cause of the event is likely to be the multiple loss of power lines due to severe storm activity.

Nick Xenophon and Barnaby Joyce seem to think that fallen power lines only affect wind power, perhaps unaware that that the recently closed coal power station would have used those same power lines.

They also seem to think it was too windy for wind turbines to operate on Wednesday. Again, it seems they were unaware that South Australia's wind generation was doing extremely well in the very windy conditions, supplying about two-thirds of South Australia's demand in the hours leading right up to the moment that the power lines collapsed.

David Osmond, wind engineer, Dickson

I am appalled at the Prime Minister and other members of government, as well as people from MSM and the ABC attempting to make political capital from the extreme weather in South Australia.

To say that it is the fault of "green" energy is mischief making, ignorance or both.

The science is there, the extreme weather is due to climate change. The electricity was out of action due to the weather. The federal government will use this to support the coal industry. The government believes it was correct in dismissing the carbon tax, which was bringing revenue in and aiming to cut emissions.

The most inept government in Australian history, thinking only of themselves and their business partners.

People in South Australia, take note this is not about you and the problems you are facing, it is about them.

Jan Gulliver, Lyneham

Ruby Hamad ("Playing us for fools", September 29, Comment, p18) is a hypocrite.

The theme of her argument was to criticise people who use words to convey false images, but she did precisely this throughout her article. She criticised the term "queue jumpers", saying there is no queue. There is. It contains several million asylum seekers.

People who fly to Indonesia, and hire people smugglers to then take them towards Australia, with the intent of being given preference over other asylum seekers, are "queue jumpers"; they should be put at the end of that queue; never allowed to enter Australia.

She mentioned the Children Overboard scandal. Why? Probably because there have been no genuine scandals committed by Australians. The real "criminals" of that scandal were the unethical parents who put their children into great risk to blackmail Australians into granting the parents citizenship – but this most important factor of the "scandal" was not mentioned as it would have revealed the propaganda intent of Hamad's narrative.

She said, "people seeking asylum have been subjected to such incredible cruelty for such a sustained period of time". Providing people with shelter, food, health support, and education facilities, is not cruelty. Providing such support should be greatly praised.

What angered me was her use of the term "us the public". The Australian public opposes giving preference to queue jumpers, and I object to an unethical person like Hamad claiming to be one of us.

Robert James, Melba

When Rob Westcott (Letters, September 30) refers to "the vitriol oozing from my correspondence", I presume he is referring to the words "ignorant", "sadly pathetic", "sanctimonious", "self-righteous delusion", or the accusations of xenophobia and racism?

Or perhaps he might be referring to people with a different point of view as "moral empty vessels, devoid of understanding and incapable reason and rationality"?

If he is, he needs to understand these are his words, not mine. I did accuse Westcott of writing an "histrionic jeremiad". I think it would be fair to say he's now done that twice!

Westcott presumes that people like myself "reject Muslims because they have a different set of beliefs". In fact, Westcott presumes way too much. I believe that Islam, like Christianity, is essentially a religion of peace. By the same token, however, I view Muslim extremists with much the same anxiety and horror as I view bible-thumping Arab-bombing evangelical Christians so beloved in the American south.

I don't want any coming here upsetting our relative peace.

Greg Ellis, Murrumbateman

Regardless of who takes the premiership trophy in this weekend's AFL grand final match, it is worth us collectively giving thanks for the fact that, despite recent threats here in Australia, there will be no need for MCG security personnel to carry assault weapons; riot police squads won't be needed at nearby railway stations, and the barrackers of the losing side won't resort to field invasion and physical attacks on opposition players.

Perhaps it is being too starry-eyed, but in such a current global climate of fear and animosity, we should celebrate the solidarity that the pure enjoyment of sport will bring to not just the 100,000 people at one ground, but all throughout this contest-loving nation.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic

ADVICE INSIGHT

The logical inference drawn from Paul Bowler's contribution (Letters, September 29) is that all available advice was not considered when the light rail issue was presented. I'd like to know how Mr Bowler was able to access all the advice while mere mortals such as myself have to wait for the scheduled release of the 2016 cabinet documents?

Bill Gemmell, Holder

DOUBLE DIPPING

I have difficulty understanding the rules surrounding the proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage. Is is true politicians will have two votes? One during the plebiscite and a second vote in Parliament no matter what the public at large has voted?

C.J. Johnston, Duffy

WRONG CULPRIT BLAMED

Am totally dismayed at our federal government's response to the severe weather occurring in South Australia. Why not blame the one responsible for weather? God? Whatever they imagine him/her to be.

David Willenborg, Royalla

Despite the wild speculations of the cause of SA's blackout, within an hour of it happening, it is clear that the blackout was God's judgment on South Australia for voting in Xenophon, Pyne, and Bernardi. Will Queensland be next?

Ian White, Cook

ON ROAD TO RUIN

The ACT Minister for Transport and Municipal Services has indicated that road resurfacing products have expected lifespans up to 25 years. Copland Drive's 2016 resurfacing did not even last 25 weeks. If this is the quality of the ACT government's contract management, then how long is the proposed multibillion-dollar light rail network going to last?

Chris Oxley, Evatt

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).