I am thrilled to read that Murray cod and golden perch are again thriving in the food-rich environment of Lake Burley Griffin (''Catch of the day reflects lakes' healthy waters'', February 3, p7).
Although I wouldn't particularly like to encounter a 50-kilogram monster fish I am wondering whether it might just be possible to apply some of the environmental talent used in this successful fish -restocking project to make the lake also habitable for humans again.
I nostalgically remember a time when Australia Day was celebrated at Rond Terrace with a mass swim. Under a different, Speedo-clad, prime minister, Rond Terrace may just be restored to that much more ''Australian'' Australia Day use.
Perhaps lake restoration and a mass swim-in could be a suitable Canberra centenary celebration project? I look forward to the day.
Eric Lindemann, Greenway
BRUMBIES SPONSOR
John Murray (Letters, February 4) disputes my argument that the sponsorship of the Brumbies by the University of Canberra is unprecedented. Yet the examples he uses to support this are entirely different, being university-based sports teams being sponsored by largely student-funded university sports associations. They are fundamentally different as they have a strong foundation in the sporting activities of university itself. They are also nothing of the apparent scale of the UC-Brumbies arrangement.
I stand by my argument that public funding for public universities should be directed to educational activities and not toward the intangible outcomes of speculative corporate sponsorships.
Stephen Darwin, National Tertiary Education Union (ACT)
E10 DEBATE
The ethanol in petrol debate has resurfaced. I have no wheelbarrows to push, so I can present the facts as I know them as a scientist.
Cuthbert Douglas (Letters, February 4) implies that ethanol drives a car one-third fewer kilometres than petrol, and has presumably done sums assuming a reduction in mileage which is linear in ethanol content of petrol. Fuel economy is not based solely on its so-called energy density.
This nebulous term energy density is used in the industry, and it is important to read the units that are commonly expressed as kj/l or kj/kg. These numerical values for a particular fuel can be 20per cent different. One needs to work out from the figures how much one gets per litre, not kilogram, since you pay per litre at petrol stations.
Fuels have different efficiencies in different makes of car. ''Efficiency'' has different meanings - it can mean power, and also kilometres travelled per litre. These are unrelated. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than unleaded, and can be used (admixed) in motors of higher compression and provide more power. But one gets less kilometres per litre of E10 than one does from regular unleaded. The difference is only a few per cent. The price difference is only a few per cent as well. Finally, be it known that E10 can clean moisture from fuel systems, not vice versa.
Greg Jackson, Kambah
CITY HIGH RISE
Canberrans need to know that ACTPLA's Territory Plan Draft Variation 308, which has been open for public comment over the Christmas break, proposes to build 30 apartment blocks in Braddon and Reid, on Cooyong Street and Ainslie Avenue. To accommodate this, the social housing in the Allawah, Bega and Currong flats will be demolished.
Blocks of apartments up to 15 storeys high will look down on the five-storey Canberra Centre on one side and the two-four storey Argyle Square and Gorman House on the other. This will create wind canyon effects at ground level, solar shading and destroy vistas. Only a handful of trees will be protected.
Ainslie Avenue, an important visual vista of the Burley Griffin Plan, will get 15-storey buildings on each side. Narrow Kogarah Lane, in Reid, will be the only access to a 333-383 space underground carpark. However, the number of car spaces will fall short of the government's own standards by about 300 spaces.
Variation 308 includes a ''precinct code'' which allows the Government to circumvent its own high-density ''residential multi unit housing development code'' which would have provided many of the protections now being sought by nearby residents.
Consultation has been poorly targeted. Most Argyle Square and Monterey owners were not notified. Consultations held in mid-2010 were based on a master plan no longer under discussion. This plan had a maximum building height of 10 storeys, but contained more units. We're told the recent change to 15 storeys is to increase profit - yet the new master plan shows fewer units.
I don't object to high-rise apartments in the city core, but variation 308 brings them into nearby suburbs. The city core already has plenty of space for high-density residential developments, but those already approved are not proceeding, for example, Section 96.
I encourage residents to look at the ACTPLA website, make submissions before February 20, and stay in contact through either the residents associations of Braddon or Reid, or the North Canberra Community Council.
Chris Emery, Reid
Comments on variation 308 are due by February 20, but the first many of the residents in Argyle Square, including myself, knew of the proposal was December 2011.
Yes, I have since been informed there were notices in the newspaper, but considering we residents are only one block away it's very poor communication by the Government not to have made more of an effort to reach those most affected. Variation 308 also includes a ''Precinct Code'' that allows the government to by-pass its own High Density ''Residential Multi Unit Housing Development Code'' - the very code that would have provided many of the protections now being sought by local residents. Please email your local member and send out a loud and clear message.
For more information go to www.actpla.act.gov.au/home.
Jorge Guillen, Reid
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