Presumably this is a cost cutting measure and the monies saved will be channelled into other areas of health.
The rationale being used is that there is a new hydrotherapy pool about to open (July 23) in the University of Canberra Hospital, and it can service all public patients and the Arthritis Association et al Canberra wide.
We understand southside patients will be transported by flexibus to and from the CUPH. This cost presumably comes from another budget. This would mean someone from Tuggeranong would have to find their way to the TCH then catch a bus to and from Bruce, and then get home again.
This would probably take up to four hours. But who cares, this government seems to be only interested in the north side of the ACT — where their political base is — and the southsiders can make do!
The ACT Arthritis Association uses the TCH pool nearly every day of the week, with up to 100 participants over that period. Many of the sessions are early in the morning (7am) and at night time. There is no bus at that time anyway. The only other hydrotherapy pools are privately owned, very busy and charge significantly more for group use.
The TCH is a public facility and should always be available to pensioners and ratepayers at a nominal rate.
Unless a decision is made to maintain the operation of the TCH hydrotherapy pool the bean counters will have won. We hope they don’t live on the southside, get old and don’t require pain management therapy.Dave and Maureen Jeffrey, Farrer

Those responsible for our laws should hang their heads in shame at current arrangements that see people like Sonia Kruger in court defending charges of racism from comments on Islam or any other religion.
This is shameful, not just because religions are not race based, but because no agreed definition of ‘‘race’’ exists.
There is only one race, the human race.
Once that is understood we can tackle discrimination in ways that can be defined and not abused.
Doug Hurst, Chapman

To those who think that culling of kangaroos or brumbies is our most pressing ecological issue, I say that the Titanic has some deckchairs that need rearranging.
Culling of kangaroos and brumbies will affect some of the endangered species in the ACT and in Kosciuszko National Park.
Scientists estimate that climate change is putting 7 per cent of the world’s species at risk of extinction. The ACT has 35 endangered species. If 7 per cent of species in the ACT were at risk of extinction, then the endangered species list would increase to around a thousand. Numbers for the whole of Australia would be proportionately larger.
The average Canberran causes four times as many tonnes of greenhouse emissions as the average person in the rest of the world.
The government’s 100 per cent renewable electricity target is addressing one-quarter of our emissions — those that occur outside the ACT in producing the electricity that we consume.
Its Zero Net Emissions target will address another quarter of our emissions — those that occur within the ACT. That will leave untouched the half of our emissions that result from travel outside the ACT and from production of products that we consume – products such as food, building materials and cars.
Under the ACT government’s targets Canberrans will continue to fuel species extinctions, by causing twice the current world average of greenhouse emissions.
Leon Arundell, Downer

Paddock to the plate has never been more tortuous for our lowly sheep (and cattle).
Picture the scene of basking in the paddock sunshine one day, only to be suddenly herded into a cramped livestock carrier.
This is different.
Crammed into an unknown noisy, hot, lurching and small environment with absolutely no personal space.
Dropped off at the port to be held in stockyards – another frightening and debilitating experience.
Then rushed on board a ship that has its own unique atmosphere, noise and smells. But the worst is yet to come.
A 21-day trek across the ocean.
Have you ever sailed the seas for any length of time? Even very large ships are subject to pitching, heaving and rolling around.
It’s not just the cramped, hot, ship-borne conditions that sheep have to cope with, but also the ability to keep one’s balance and ponder, ‘‘Where the hell am I going?’’
And next to you may well be a distressed and dying buddy who simply cannot cope any longer.
Did I say it couldn’t get any worse?
Well we all know how livestock is treated in the hot and torrid maelstrom of the Middle East, don’t we?
Politicians, farmers and veterinarians who think this is a good way to treat our animals should hang their heads in shame.
The barbaric live animal trade must be stopped – dead in the water. Right now.
Philip Machin, Wamboin, NSW

There has recently been discussion about overcharging and other unwelcome behaviour by medical specialists and surgeons.
My recent personal experiences serve as an example.
Several years ago I was referred to a urologist who ordered tests which showed that I had prostate cancer.
The urologist recommended a radical prostatectomy by robotic surgery because this was the procedure least likely to cause unwanted side effects.
He quoted me the breathtaking sum of $15,000 to perform this procedure.
I then asked my GP for a referral to a very highly regarded specialist in a well-known Sydney clinic.
This specialist, after ordering an MRI scan, performing a targeted biopsy and, finding that the cancer was low grade and non-aggressive, recommended a wait-and-see approach.
Two years later, my PSA level had decreased to nearly normal, and a second MRI showed that two of the original three cancerous lesions had disappeared.
A few weeks ago I went to see the Sydney specialist for another targeted biopsy, and was later advised that no cancerous tissue had been found.
By seeking the advice of the Sydney specialist I had saved almost $13,000 and spared myself the trauma of an operation and avoided the problems that can result from prostate surgery.
Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

In perusing the Canberra Times’s budget coverage the horror headline nearly jumped off the page. ‘‘Here’s how rates will change for every suburb in Canberra next year.’’
I have lived in Canberra for nearly 10 years now and receive a NSW State Super pension, courtesy of having spent my working life teaching. It was stressful, demanding work, but I thought my retirement would be a very comfortable time because my pension is indexed.
I can only wish it were by the same percentage as the rates increase.
The steep rates escalations of the past 10 years have seen my pension unreasonably eroded, as have many retired Canberrans, who like me worked industriously all of their lives and aimed to be self-sufficient in retirement.
Now it really is a case of asset rich, cash poor, for me and for many of my friends.
I don’t want to be forced out of my home by this greedy government. My family regularly stay with me over the weekend, which could not happen if I were in a small unit.
I have been a Labor voter all of my life but am seriously thinking about how I will vote in the future. I encourage all who are in a similar position to make their voices heard.
Yvette Goode, Yarralumla

The Canberra Times report on the ‘‘ACT budget in your region’’ showed that Tuggeranong only received a few measly upgrades and maintenance dollars around the dilapidated Lake Tuggeranong area. Mr Barr gave other parts of Canberra hundreds of millions of dollars in new infrastructure, additional services and new amenities. Tuggeranong residents will not see any improvement to their region whilst ever the ACT electoral boundaries enable the government to target funding to the parts of Canberra that ACT Labor need for re-election and alternatively write off Canberra’s south as not a part of their election-winning strategy.
Brendan Halloran, Wanniassa

It seems the arts allocation in the ACT budget for 2018-19 is mostly going to buildings again. Lovely to upgrade our theatres and galleries. However, the professional artists who populate them with their work constantly struggle to make ends meet. Is there no increase for the grants budget this time? $879,000 doesn’t go far when spread among the many artists across all artforms, who want to create new work or get their work seen. A fully professional new theatre production can cost well over $100,000. Could we ‘‘encourage the creativity of the capital region’’ by ensuring that artists do not have to continually subsidise their own work?
Chrissie Shaw, Hackett

So Andrew Barr has raised the rates for unit owners by another 10 per cent. He obviously sees this as a cash cow. I suspect these rates costs will simply be passed on to those renting the units.
The number of new units that are under construction or upcoming construction works is astounding. Who will occupy them all?
I believe the bubble will burst and there will be a major oversupply of units. This should benefit renters and buyers. Future buyers and renters may have to wait a couple of years, so why would you buy off the plan when you can probably negotiate a better purchase or rental price down the track?
Of course developers, builders and real estate agencies won’t agree with my view.
J. R. Ryan, Phillip

There is nothing new in the ACT budget announcement of stamp duty concessions for first home buyers of established homes.
This was the situation for many years until September1, 2012, when the concession was withdrawn to assist the government to fund stamp duty reductions overall. Those stamp duty reductions have also been put forward as an excuse to hugely increase rates.
It seems that first home buyers of established homes since September 2012 have had to pay twice. They paid the stamp duty and the increased rates. These inequities need to be addressed.
Chris Donohue, Canberra City

Andrew Barr is saying that fixed-point speed cameras will be removed. The current arrangement is motorists are given a warning that their speed will be checked, giving them the opportunity to slow down. Why not just remove the warning sign? The law is the law for good reason. Don’t speed; don’t get fined.
Steven Hurren, Macquarie

Archbishop Christopher Prowse (‘‘Reporting scheme shouldn’t ignore Catholic community’s wish to be part of the solution’’, June 7, p.20-21) defends the indefensible — concealing crime under the guise of religious freedom.
Secret confession and token penance were originally developed by the church to reinforce the role of purported prospective eternal post mortem reward or punishment in subjugating oppressed, superstitious and uneducated populaces to the authority of the church and its associated undemocratic rulers.
Prowse claims Catholic paedophiles don’t confess to abuse now and certainly would not if they thought they would be reported.
If true, then he has nothing to fear from an obligation to report. But if the significant numbers of paedophiles that are Catholic priests do not confess, then that tells us that they are content to face the eternal damnation that they hypocritically promote and preach, or — more likely — that sensible disbelief in this outdated confected theology is rife in the ranks of the church. And if Prowse really wants his particular religious practices to be exempt from criminal law, then he must logically accept that other religions, and other even more offensive but criminal religious practices — many with more purported biblical or Koranic ‘‘authority’’ than this — should have similar rights.
Constitutional freedom of religious belief must not cover the conduct or concealment of crime.
Mike Hutchinson, Reid

Blues win at last
What a triumph for the Blues. So glad NSW has delivered a strong performance in the lifetime of my 14-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
M. Moore, Bonython

BETTER WAYS TO SPEND IT
Senator Seselja has come out in support of the $500 million expansion of the Australian War Memorial because it has received an increase in visitors and it needs more ‘‘space’’. Couldn’t this money be spent on medical and other support services for past, present and future armed services people suffering, among other things, from PTSD caused by our politicians sending them off to useless conflicts?
Graeme Rankin, Holder

VETERANS DESERVE IT
No to $500 million in additional funding for the Australian War Memorial. Yes to $500 million in additional funding for services to military veterans. Military service has many long-term human deleterious consequences.
Greg Blood, Florey

OUT OF THE CORNER
Thanks to the powers that be for releasing one of our great journalists from the shadow of being the Four Corners presenter and out to a real assignment. It beggars belief that Sarah Ferguson has been locked away at Four Corners all this time, as some sort of cosmetic adornment. It cannot be difficult to read a prompt announcement about a program. After all, Kerry O’Brien did it.
Warwick Davis, Isaacs

RADICALS OF THE RIGHT
It must be a shock for Barnaby Joyce to discover that many of his anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-common folk but hugely pro-corporate Coalition colleagues are ‘‘conservative’’ in self-description only. Try anti-conservative. Or, if the truth be told, just radicals of the right. Indeed really much like Joyce himself.
Alex Mattea, Kingston

CAUSE CÉLÈBRE
Derryn Hinch has been deposed. Barnaby Joyce is now the human headline.
James Walcott, Mawson

BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
It’s a pity Ross Kelly (Let the brumby rejoice, Letters, June 5) didn’t also mention the endangered Mountain Pygmy Possum or the Dusky Antechinus, or the Corroboree Frog for that matter, also trying to ‘‘live their life large’’, but having difficulty in an environment being destroyed by mobs of feral non-Australian animals in Kosciuszko National Park. Pope’s cartoon (June 6) says it all.
Jim Cullen, Melba

PUBLICITY SHY
Memo to ASIC: The cure for poor corporate behaviour lies in that great American institution: ‘‘walking the perp’’ so they can be publicly named and shamed.
Bob Gardiner, Isabella Plains

BEAN OF CONTENTION
To Bean or Nott to Bean is the question. Whether it (the new electorate) should be one or the other can be resolved by naming it ‘‘Nott-Bean’’.
R. Roach, Scullin