Schools left out in coldACT EDUCATION minister Andrew Barr has said all ACT schools will be carbon neutral by 2017.
The recent federal funding would have gone a long way to put schools on the path to achieve this ambitious target. Most schools will need $2-3million to retrofit existing buildings including redesigning and insulating roofs, double glazing windows, insulating external walls and reducing car travel to and from schools.
Yet the funding announcements (''$12m spruces up ACT schools'', Sunday Canberra Times, April 5, p3) reported haven't been used for any such improvements to schools' energy efficiency or sustainability.
It wasn't long ago Torrens Primary School children were sent home after having unacceptable temperatures of 36 and 37 degrees within their classrooms. Many schools reported similar problems because not all the older schools are insulated. Temperatures will be cold in many of these classrooms this winter, even with heating.
Curtin Primary, where the roof has leaked for years and requires replacement and redesign for environmentally sustainable design principles, received little, if no, consideration from federal funding. Several external doors at Curtin are left open in winter because of safety issues. The school struggles to maintain adequate temperatures because of poor maintenance from the Education Department, which has no interest in sustainable schools.
Martin Miller, Chifley
Vaccine danger evidence
TIM SCHILDBERGER (''Refusing to vaccinate children an arrogant choice, Sunday Canberra Times, April 5, p24) seems unaware of recent news about vaccine safety, and the contradictions in his statements.
In February this year there was enough reliable evidence of a link between autism and the MMR vaccine for the United States Government to pay compensation for the second time to parents of a child who became autistic after vaccination. There is enough doubt about this vaccine's safety for the Japanese Government to have banned its use. No one has ever tested it and found it will protect a child during a measles, mumps or rubella outbreak. No one has proved it is safe to give to every child. So no one can claim vaccinations work in this case.
It has been shown again by the 2008 measles epidemic in the US that no level of coverage is enough to create the fabled ''herd immunity'', once thought of as community protection.
There are multiple examples of outbreaks where vaccinated children are equally affected. I hope Tim's children do not suffer from reactions to the MMR vaccine. As for the other vaccines, I would like to warn him that the effects are incremental the immune system reacts more strongly with each injection. Signs like excessive dribbling, face dropped to one side, sudden jerky movements and fever show the immune system has not coped and the brain has been affected. If it is your child, it is more than ''a terrible shame'', and no amount of community feeling can remove that pain.
Jennifer Heywood, Spence
Tired of Israeli lobbyists
WELL DONE, Stephen Smith. In Sunday Focus (''Absent friends support Israel'', Sunday Canberra Times, April 5, p25), he has left the door open for Australia to attend the UN Sponsored Conference Against Racism.
Paul Daley's bias towards not attending was so blatant. Surely he must know the world is tired of years of well organised Israeli lobby activity, distributing largesse everywhere and calling in their markers when the time was right. Thankfully, the US neocon activity, the planners of the Iraq war, has made the world shun the arrogant Israeli influence. The world hopes this year will see US foreign policy in the Middle East made by the US for US interests for a change just as Australia must make such decisions here, free from non-Australian and vested influences.
R Williams, Ainslie
Mistake more than 'silly'
Putting odd socks on is a silly mistake. Driving if you are drunk should never be described as a ''silly mistake'' as the manager of Canberra Raiders player Trevor Thurling, David Riolo, has done. (Canberra Times, April 11, p2.) That requires a deliberate and dangerous decision.
Please stop sugar-coating such a serious situation. All footballers know the rules. Why do they continually ignore them and expect to be forgiven just because of who they are? Come on guys, grow up. If you want to be recognised by your fans, earn their respect. I feel sorry for the ''good guys'' who get tarnished by the antics of the idiots.
Lorraine Buckley, Duffy
Sacking sympathy
I CAN'T help feeling sorry for Jane Wolfe (''Top woman in Defence sacked over poor performance'', Canberra Times, April 8, p1).
My first thought was that a woman appointed to streamline the processes of a boys' club was on a hiding to nothing. However, reading between the lines, it appears the Department of Defence has followed APS inefficiency procedures and its conclusions have been supported by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. This is not an easy process and demands a lot of emotional energy from all involved. I agree with the Defence source who said her recruitment should be reviewed and those responsible penalised. I would include her references from her previous employers, the NSW bureaucracy and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in that review. Someone has been less than honest and the result is a lose-lose for the APS and Wolfe.
David Groube, Weetangera
Civic overhaul needed
THE SQUAT, quasi Spanish Mission-style Sydney and Melbourne Buildings are difficult to use, and climatically unsuitable.
But the two ''Duchesses of Northbourne'' have become part of our heritage. Their uninviting colonnades are disappointing in terms of scale, depth, column size, and adornment.
The first-floor veranda openings are ill proportioned and ambiguous. Northbourne Avenue's carriageways could be brought to the centre of the road reserve, creating generous landscaped sidewalks, mutually enhancing the colonnades and the approach to City Hill, while better linking east and west Civic. That idea (of mine) was included in the Griffin Legacy recommendations.
Restoration of the Melbourne Building has been as successful as it could be, and the Sydney must follow, through the leasehold system (''Study to look at reviving Civic's twin landmarks'', The Canberra Times, April 7, p7). Jon Stanhope's suggestion to transform the courtyards into quasi Melbourne city lanes-type development might work, but smacks of a cultural cringe. The enhancement of the twin-building precinct needs to be carried out as part of a comprehensive master plan for City Hill, including creating a sunny new Civic Square with an axial ceremonial route to Parliament House, over an underground replacement transport/retail centre, along with traffic diversions.
Jack Kershaw, Kambah
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