The north shore of Lake Burley Griffin is under threat; its aesthetic, community and symbolic value is in danger of being overwhelmed by the massive ASIO headquarters building that could be imposed on a plot between the south side of Constitution Avenue and the lake.
Simulated photographs of the plan reveal this building to look like an automobile factory as large as all four of office buildings on the same stretch of Constitution Avenue. The photos show it will dominate the landscape, impinge on the Anzac Parade vista, bring substantial extra traffic flows and limit public access to the lake.
Furthermore, the symbolism of locating the HQ of Australia's security organisation absolutely centre stage in the Parliamentary Triangle suggests a sense of civic values closer to those of Russia and Vladimir Putin than to those of the liberal democracies most Australians admire. The headquarters of the FSB (successor to the KGB) occupies a prominent plot in central Moscow. Do Australians want the obvious comparison to be made? They haven't had much chance to say no. Parliament exempted this building from the usual Public Works scrutiny. Minister Peter Garrett gave the public 10 days to comment and then dismissed their views.
The proposal is now before the National Capital Authority but work is already proceeding on the site, which has been fenced off; trees have been felled and a large office site erected before approval has been granted. Does this constitute adequate consultation and transparency? Surely not.
I encourage your paper to draw attention to the way this building is being steamrollered forward.
Andrew Schuller, Campbell
Good move
I welcome Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland's announcement that the Australian Government has signed the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (''Torture protocol to open our doors'', May 23, p1).
The protocol increases accountability by obliging countries to allow periodic international inspections of places of detention, and to establish formal mechanisms to enable regular local examination of the treatment of people being detained. The activities under the protocol are particularly relevant to the ACT, as these new obligations are very much consistent with the work the ACT Human Rights Commission has already undertaken in conducting human rights audits under the ACT Human Rights Act 2004.
We were the first jurisdiction to test local detention facilities against human rights principles, such as Belconnen Remand Centre and the former Quamby Youth Detention Centre.
Importantly, the protocol extends beyond correctional facilities, and also requires inspections of other ''closed facilities'' such as locked psychiatric wards, aged-care facilities and immigration detention centres. In February 2009 the Human Rights Commission issued a review of services using a human rights framework at the Psychiatric Services Unit, led by the Health Services Commissioner.
Torture is one of the few human rights considered absolute in international law, no matter in which setting it takes place. However, many people in detention, such as those with mental illness, are particularly vulnerable and as a community we must vigilant about the way these people are treated.
I look forward to Australia's formal ratification of the Optional Protocol.
Dr Helen Watchirs, ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner
Fishing rules
Vivien Mason wants the South Coast's Aboriginal people to be allowed to hunt for and gather seafood, unrestrained by white-fella rules and regulations, just like they did back in the old days.
She wants to encourage their kids back to a traditional cultural connection with the sea (''NSW fishing rules kill black spirit'', May 24, p16).
Sounds good to me. They should traditionally spear from bark/log canoes and trap (using grass/stick traps) seafood for family consumption, without a licence, to their hearts content. What they should be heavily fined for is using white-fella stuff like outboard-motor-powered aluminium boats and 300m nylon gill-mesh fish nets to flog estuaries, and modern dive gear and wetsuits to extract garbage-bins-full of abalone, to sell on the lucrative black market. That would be teaching kids cynical abuse of culture for corrupt purposes.
Tom Waring, Ainslie
Energy basics
Isn't it about time that journalists understood the basics of energy if they are going to write about it? The Canberra Times contained yet another howler in the article ''Ceramic fires up on fuel cell'' (May 25, p11).
This article described household-sized generators that would be ''little power stations inside people's homes''.
I like the idea, but the claimed 17,000 kilowatts for each if used in the home would vaporise it. More likely would be the capacity to provide 17,000 kilowatt-hours over a year, which equates to a still impressive continuous rate of supply of energy of nearly 2kW.
T. Werner, Farrer
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