No need for waivers

It is unclear why such a waiver might be necessary when the threshold for compulsory repayment of a VET loan is an income of $53,345, well above that expected for the target victims. It only becomes relevant, in the future, if that threshold is not indexed.

The Commonwealth is the victim of unethical and fraudulent behaviour here. It is the Commonwealth which must pursue, under existing laws, the sharks cruising through the shoals of the unemployable. The laws exist. There is no need for unethical retrospective legislation.

The real problem is that such misrepresentation exists, in a more subtle way, in the tertiary education industry.

Fifty per cent of humanities graduates will not cross the repayment threshold and that does not even include the drop-outs.

The Commonwealth will be left holding the can, paying academics for futile endeavours doomed to failure from the inception.

Gary J.Wilson, MacGregor

I share M.Silex's doubts (Letters, March 22) about Minister Simon Corbell's promise of employment for 3500 people over three years for the proposed light rail project.

Australia's most productive (heavy) rail is the 330-kilometre line from Roy Hill to Port Hedland which has employed up to 1500 people during the past 18 months it has taken to complete.

Less than half the workers over half the time, for over 20 times the distance. The cost of the heavy rail line was $620million, or less than $2million per kilometre, compared to the ACT government's estimate of more than $60million per kilometre and rising, for the Gungahlin tram line.

No wonder Gina Rheinhart is Australia's richest person, and why Canberra's ratepayers will be the poorest in the nation if this project is "rail roaded" through by the government green coalition without having first obtained a mandate to proceed from the ACT electorate.

David Dickson, Kaleen

Ben Westcott's article ("Canberra's Light Rail Journey", March 22, p4) was all about a project that has hurdles to leap.

Firstly, the tenders are not in. One of the tenderers has built light rail in Surfers Paradise for $1.3billion plus the Queensland government has pledged $300million over 15 years for its infrastructure. It covers 13 kilometres and Gungahlin-Civic covers the same.

How that company intends to build a similar light rail in Canberra for half the price has yet to be seen.

Speaking realistically, I believe that getting the full cost of light rail over 20 years from Simon Corbell will be like trying to extract teeth from a rhinoceros.

I feel most Canberrans who have a healthy regard for their rates would like the ACT auditor to do a full cost/benefit.

If this does not happen, the Liberal Party will have a mandate to cancel it if they win the election and find the $780million estimate by Mr Corbell a joke.

Howard Carew, Issacs

Stan Marks's attempt (Letters, March 22) to support Graham Barrow's suggestion (Letters, March 13) that a walking track with overnight huts be built in Namadgi National Park's wilderness area by giving Tasmania's Overland Track as an example as to how this can be done while retaining wilderness values is fallacious.

I have recently completed my third (and last) multi-day walk along the Overland Track. To describe it as a wilderness experience is a misnomer. Not only are large stretches of the track covered in duckboards but the huts have been rebuilt to accommodate up to 60 people. The huts are now conspicuous and out of place. Worst of all, helicopters now fly over the track several times day, ruining any last vestiges of wilderness.

No, keep Namadgi precious wilderness true to its intent. As Rod Griffiths of the ACT's National Parks Association pointed out (Letters, March 19) "Wilderness is nature's refuge – areas in which natural values can continue to evolve without significant human intervention – and vital for the health of Australia environment."

In an increasingly overdeveloped world, let's at least protect the few remaining areas of true wilderness.

Timothy Walsh, Garran

I recently wrote about the lack of infrastructure planning by the ACT government to complement the University of Canberra's Health Hub (Letters, March 16). It was interesting, therefore, to see in the Sunday Canberra Times last week, both a news item ("Retailers call for Dickson impact study", p3) pointing out the lack of "fit and connectivity" between the proposed development and that which currently exists, and the editorial ("Planners must not kill off Dickson, p12) claiming the current infrastructure in the Dickson area was not working.

The requirement for the necessary infrastructure to support new developments and facilities in Canberra is apparently beyond the comprehension of the ACT government's Environment and Planning Directorate.

Time and again we see developments designed in isolation with no thought given to how they will affect their immediate neighbours.

The latest "Have your say" about the University of Canberra Public Hospital (Canberra Times, March 21, p5) unfortunately shows that the planning of the infrastructure to support this much needed proposal is missing.

The planners have made sure that no one can complain about car parking – there is none! And this at a hospital with facilities that will require a large staff component and a larger visitor/carer component. The parking problems at all Canberra hospitals are abysmal yet it appears to have been totally overlooked in this case. Why?

It is to be hoped that common sense will force a complete rethink of the plans for this proposal before it is too late.

Murray Upton, Belconnen

Meredith Clisby reported in last week's Sunday Canberra Times on the high rate of house sales by auction in Canberra last Saturday.

Her report was informative but there is one aspect of the day's dealings that she did not cover. I would like to know how many houses were purchased on Saturday by investment buyers and not by families in search of a home.

With sale prices increasing over the last couple of months, young families are being priced out of the market, even in those suburbs not considered the desirable ones.

I am related to two such families currently combing the ACT housing market. Who is driving up market values? It's not young families.

Jane Baker, Yass

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