Rail plan may hit $15 billion

That's another seven or eight more stages with a probable cost well in excess of $15 billion (non-discounted) over the next 40 years assuming that this well-heeled ACT government agrees to fund future rollouts on the same basis.

If we are only "talking" about the Gungahlin stage then let's see it for what it is, a political stunt and a shady deal between ACT Labor and Shane Rattenbury, the sole surviving member of the Greens, done to ensure that Labor retained control of ACT government. The ACT Auditor-General has questioned the dubious benefits claimed for stage one ("Auditor calls for light rail caution", June 17, p1), what about the rest?

Peter Toscan, Amaroo

What's the point in having an ACT Auditor General's office if the government doesn't want to heed her findings ( "Auditor calls for light rail caution", June 17, p1)? Dr Maxine Cooper's audit results should be accepted in full and the government figures amended immediately. Furthermore, any further attempts at trying to hide or fudge figures on the light rail, or anything else, should be automatically treated as contempt of the Assembly (and the electorate).

Of course, in the case of the light rail, all work should cease until after the election but, before that, the government should publish the full costs of cancellation in the event the Liberals win, which , in my view, is becoming more likely with the release of each new revelation about the Barr Government's dissembling. I would also like the Liberals to spell out in detail their plans to cancel the project, in particular, the circumstances under which they might break their current promise and allow the project to go ahead.

Most important, the Auditor-General should be enabled to audit any claim by the consortium for cancellation costs and her findings published before any compensation is paid.

Eric Hunter, Cook

Now that the Auditor-General has declared 49 cents in the dollar for the Gungahlin-Civic tram, it is worth considering the other vapour ware that was used to con the ratepayer into this $1.45billion white elephant. Whatever these intangible benefits (wider economic benefits and land use benefits) amount to, they are most likely measured in the short term gain of property developers and rent collectors. The justification repeatedly used by Minister Corbell for these dominant components of his business case is that they have been observed in other cities. Did the Minister ever stop to think that Canberra is markedly different to other cities and that he has neglected to include a large penalty (negative benefit) in that corridors of high rise leading to Civic seriously detract from the beauty and economy of a city planned as an urban village?

A. Smith, Farrer

Wasted service

I sense Graham Downie (Letters, June 17) actually wants a green waste service. I'm disappointed he feels this way but even more disappointed in Shane Rattenbury. I can recall Shane giving a reasoned and convincing argument against the idea of green waste collection at a public meeting not long ago: Firstly many people in the ACT have no need for this service and it would be unfair for them to subsidise those who desire it.

This includes the many Canberrans in apartments or those who process the waste themselves.

Secondly there are a number of small enterprises, who provide the service at a modest cost to those who need green waste collection, which would be demolished by the ACT government entering the market.

Seems Shane has had more influence with the "green tram" than green waste.

Bill Blair, McKellar

Gunman's faith?

As an atheist, I was wondering whether Owen Reid (Letters, June 16) would care to elucidate what faith was instead driving James Wesley Howell, who – on the same day of the Orlando shooting – was arrested with three assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car just before a major gay pride parade in Indiana, and was caught before he could act.

Also of interest the following reactions to the shooting: the tweet from Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick with the words of Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows"; or Christian Pastor Steven Anderson's video praising the slaughter on the ground that "homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts" and are "paedophiles"; or Family First candidate Peter Madden strumentalising the massacre to endorse his party's anti-gay marriage agenda.

Luca Biason, Latham

Political reflection

It's difficult to think of a more poorly conceived, articulated and expressed article than "Dyed-in-the-wool conservative feels fleeced by Labor" (June 15, p1). The article's premise was that the recent inclusion of the Yass Valley area into the seat of Eden-Monaro made the prospect of Labor winning much more difficult. To amass the evidence to support this argument, the writer interviewed a farmer apparently possessing broad conservative views, and held him up as somehow reflective of political views across the Yass Valley.

As a resident of the Yass Valley, I find this conclusion both patronising and utterly misleading. Like everywhere else in Australia, voters in the Yass Valley carry an assortment of political views. Equally, who they choose to support is motivated by policies and local issues. As an example, the much needed duplication of the Barton Highway is an issue of immediate significance for many voters in the region. An article on this issue, covering the reaction of voters to Labor's commitment to commence duplication, would have made for a much more accurate reflection of the political dynamics at play in the Yass Valley.

Journalists play a critical role in our democracy, carrying the great responsibility of informing the public objectively.

This responsibility is at its heaviest during elections. But the article from Wednesday did not meet the necessary standards.

I know we will see better from this paper of record.

Brendan Forde, Gundaroo, NSW

M. Aken (Letters, June 14) asked how much funding the government dedicates to development of the facilities (schools, hospitals, roads etc.) needed to accommodate our population growth. The answer is more than $100,000 for each additional Australian – or somewhere around $40 billion per year for our recent population growth surge.

It's a pity that most of the burden falls to state and local governments and utilities, while the federal government controls the population growth. For all Abbott's bluster about infrastructure, the states are left to tunnel their way out of CBD gridlock.

So why don't state and territory governments of either colour complain? One can only assume that they're less interested in balancing their budgets than in keeping their supporters in the property industry happy (or looking after their own property portfolios). It doesn't leave voters with much choice.

The Sustainable Australia Party is a lone voice challenging this agenda, but despite Dick Smith's endorsement, its odds are long.

Jane O'Sullivan, Chelmer, Qld

Consensus needed

Amin Saikal ("No winners in defeat of IS", Times2, June 15, p1) suggests that rather than seeking a military victory over the Islamic State – which is in control of two cities in both Iraq and Syria – perhaps bringing together countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia for a consensus may have a more positive outcome for the two countries and the region.

Frankly, I see little possibility of the Shiite Iran and the Sunni Saudi Arabia agreeing to sit at the same table.

Indeed, with Iran now fighting on the same side as America – its one-time enemy – it may require a great deal of persuasion and several commercial agreements in its favour before Iran would talk to Saudi Arabia – its current enemy.

Sam Nona, Burradoo, NSW

As one of the 40 per cent of Australian voters who aren't committed to either coalition, the Labor/Greens camp or the Liberal/National camp, I go back to the old adage that you should vote for the group that offers you the least goodies because they will, or should, tax you less.

However, given the state of affairs the current, and previous 21st century governments have visited on well-meaning taxpayers, there has to be an alternative. Current federal borrowings are said to be about $100 million each day – a continuation of the previous government's spend.

Given that most of this expenditure is for transfer payments that unfortunately don't have a payback period and this is through no fault of the recipients, isn't it time the major players focused on using their exaggerated expected savings to pay down accumulating debt rather than for new initiatives particularly when capital is marking time until the Global Financial Crisis is dead and buried.

Nothing has been proposed politically to get Australia back in the black and we need politicians who have a realistic vision and plans for our future ... I'm still one of the 40 per cent.

Les Brennan, Sunshine Bay, NSW

Hawke's rethink

Did I really see Bob Hawke in a Labor Party advertisement warning us that the Liberals wanted to privatise Medicare, and that the sky would fall in? Is this the same Bob Hawke who oversaw the privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Qantas, and who floated our currency, despite warnings from his own party that all this would bring about the fall of the world as we knew it?

Roger Dace, Reid

Life experience

At least the controversy about former Defence Force personnel standing for election has helped show us some of the people who have had a real job in previous life, unlike the party hacks currently being pre-selected.

R. Richards, Weston

Health benefits

Unsurprisingly, a for-profit privatised health insurer is being taken to the Federal Court for "misleading and unconscionable conduct". Given how easy it is to move to a not-for-profit fund, why anyone, let alone the millions of Australians who either feel they will be disadvantaged or can't be bothered don't move from NIB, BUPA or Medibank is quite beyond me.

The loss of a billion dollars every year in profits from our health system is far too much to ignore and contributes nothing to any member's health.

Steve Thomas, Yarralumla

CSIRO cuts

Peter Martin ("Climate change agreement", Times2, June 16, p4) says about Labor and the Coalition that "each side appears to have learnt from the other and each is likely to introduce a similar mix of policies should it find itself in office, assuming each genuinely supports the agreement signed in Paris". This seems an overly optimistic assessment, although the assumption about genuine support for the agreement is a great 'get out of jail free' for the assessment.

The Turnbull government will find it hard to know what is going on with the climate as they propose to sack some of CSIRO's and the world's most experienced climate scientists, like sea level rise expert, Dr John Church.

While Labor and the Greens have both committed to stopping the staff cuts at CSIRO and allocating around $300 million over four years to the organisation, the Turnbull government seems bent on continuing with the cuts, in line with the Abbott agenda being implemented by the CEO Larry Marshall.

Kathryn Kelly, national coordinator, Friends of CSIRO

Necessary expense

Paul Feldman (Letters, June 15) objects to my pointing out that two fundamental principles of taxation are that income from all sources is added together to form assessable income and that expenses necessarily incurred in gaining income are deductible. Of course interest is an expense necessarily incurred in obtaining rent when debt is used for purchase; this is not a tax incentive but a simple application of the fundamental principles.

Failure to understand these principles in their policies demonstrates ignorance on the parts of the ALP and Greens. He quotes an economist with a merchant banker allegedly demanding that the none-existing tax incentive be taken away from property investors and manipulated into an incentive for investors to place their funds with his bank thus enabling them to cream off a significant percentage for their own coffers!

Anyone with experience in investing is aware that an investment that relies on, or is spruiked as having, an artificial tax advantage should be treated with the utmost caution as it is almost certain to be of high risk and low return.

If the underlying investment does not stand up in its own right then it should be avoided like the plague.

Michael Lane, St Ives, NSW

Terminology matters

On the same page as the excellent letter from Sheelah Egan calling for care in the use of terminology relating to mental illness (Letters, June 15) was another letter referring to the knife-wielding man who was recently shot by police as "intellectually disabled". To my knowledge, the man who was shot had a mental illness, not an intellectual disability. They are not the same thing, and people who suffer from mental illness are not helped by being treated as though they lack intelligence.

Andina Faragher, Macquarie

A treasure Trove

I am pleased to see the Labor Party values Trove. I am one of the 70,000 users a day of this magnificent resource.

Users have at their keyboards a direct link to history. For example, I have found on The Singleton Argus stories of my maternal family back into the 1800s. As we learn about our history, political as well as family we learn and hopefully build on for Australia.

With Trove, the National Library of Australia has shown all the values Malcolm Turnbull espouses – innovative, creative, technology. Perhaps it's time he committed the Coalition to restoring its funding too.

Janette James, Mawson

JOBS ARE TEMPORARY

So now we know the effect and the direction of the Turnbull government's jobs and growth policies. The jobs are temporary ones. The growth is in Medibank Private profits ("Insurer 'kept change secret to boost profit", June 17, p1)

Paul Kable, Sutton, NSW

LIVE CATTLE ATROCITY

Yet another slaughterhouse atrocity in another Third World country, Vietnam, with no culture or concept of animal welfare, which the Australian livestock industry is powerless (or too indifferent/insensitive/greedy) to address. How many more before this appalling trade ceases?

Gaynor Morgan, Braddon

WEAPONS STILL LETHAL

I don't know what Gerry Murphy (Letters, June 15) means when he states that "automatic weapons are illegal in the United States". A quick look at the Cabelas (a US outdoor supplier) website reveals several choices are available to purchase military style semi-automatic weapons with magazine capacities of 30 rounds.

I confess that I do not know the difference between semi automatic and automatic – but they still sound pretty lethal!

C. Peady, Bywong, NSW

CYCLISTS IN DANGER

I was driving home from Tharwa on Wednesday. It was almost but not quite dark when I reached that part of Tharwa Drive below Banks where there's no street lighting.

I came upon two cyclists that clearly had a death wish – they were both wearing dark clothing and neither had lights on their bikes. Is it any wonder that so many motorists get exasperated when on-road cyclists do such a dumb thing.

Don Sephton, Greenway

LESSONS IN CHARITY

John Milne (Letters, June 16) reminded me of a Christian Brother teaching a large combined 5th and 6th year class of boys, of which I was one. I don't remember much of what he taught but I have not forgotten him saying "Charity should begin at home; but should not end there."

John F. Simmons, Kambah

SKIFIELD MEMORIES

Thanks to The Canberra Times for its obituary on Nev Gare, first superintendent of Kosciuszko Park ("Scaled peaks of conservation", June 17, p8). As a 10-year-old camping at Sawpit Creek in the 1950s ski seasons with my mother, I remember Nev, on a number of occasions dropping in at night to chat with us over the camp fire about his work in running the park. He was a dedicated conservationist.

Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor

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