Canberra Times Letters: ABC ratings chase a rort

The official rationale: the later time would be more suitable for ABC viewers' lifestyles. It didn't work and a few years on, the separate 7pm news and 7.30 Report were re-introduced.

What is most disturbing about the proposed moves is they appear mainly about ratings. This is not the ABC's prime objective; if it were, the ABC would be no different to the commercials and, therefore, there would be little justification for its continued existence.

Yet, we are already seeing evidence of an ABC move towards "populism" with the introduction of more and more lightweight programs. Unfortunately, most of them seem to rely on four-letter language in the guise of humour which is likely to result in a further drop in traditional ABC viewers.

Incidentally, I do not believe there will be any long-term rise in audiences for the "new" entertainment programs either.

The ABC's reputation will suffer by dumbing-down to chase ratings.

And, if the ABC is worried about its current affairs audiences, it would do better to address the steadily declining standards of journalism in these areas (Four Corners excepted).

Eric Hunter, Cook

Even by the standards of the Liberal Party, the proposal for a postal plebiscite on same sex marriage is ridiculous.

Voting would not be compulsory, and there is no obligation for the government to abide by the result.

As the big majority of Australians want a parliamentary vote, like so many other countries, I expect most people will choose not to vote on other people's relationships. The field will be left to the extremists, who will spend far too much taxpayer's money haranging and harassing other people on how they should live.

Richard Keys, Ainslie

In Saturday's Canberra Times (August 5), Christopher Budd writes of the "unique meaning" of marriage, without defining the phrase. Historically, marriage was not only a religious ritual but in some cultures, a financial transaction. That's why brides had dowries, where possible bringing livestock, property or wealth to the partnership.

In fact, the ritual of the bride's father "giving away the bride" stems from a time when the daughter was the father's property until marriage.

Perhaps Christopher Budd should define "unique meaning" and explain why same-sex marriage would mean the loss of that "unique meaning". Why would same-sex couples be less committed to each other. As a woman in a happy marriage, I fail to see Mr Budd's objection.

Vee Saunders, Weetangera

I remember John Howard responding to a request to look back over his career and name any mistakes he'd made. Like Theresa May, he couldn't think of any. But I wonder if he admits any responsibility for the marriage equality quagmire now miring his party.

Until Howard restricted marriage to heterosexual couples, we apparently existed in blissful ignorance of the possibility of non-compliant unions for nearly a century.

Now society is at odds and his party is tearing itself apart. I wonder if he thinks the political points scored back then were worth all the trouble. Of course, I'm assuming that the current protagonists are genuine on the issue, and not just using it as a factional proxy war.

S. W. Davey, Torrens

The misappropriation of the Griffins' intentions for Canberra by certain contributors to this page is surely beyond parody by this point. The past few months in particular have seen a constant stream of grumbling from people invoking the idea of the "Bush Capital™" and Griffin's "City That Is Not Like Any Other™" to justify their personal preference for the development of the nation's capital, often divorced from the actual plans devised by this city's original designers.

One noteworthy criticism claims Walter Burley Griffin never planned for light rail along Northbourne Avenue (Letters, March 16 and 19, April 2). In fact, every iteration of the Griffins' plans, from the original 2 Competition Plan through to detailed subdivision plans drawn by Griffin in 1919, involved tramways running down Northbourne Avenue on either side of the median. Criticisms of the Canberra Metro project may be valid, but not if they involve distorting Canberra's history.

Ryan Hemsley, Wright

The headline for Saturday's article on West Belconnen's Ginninderry development hides a disquieting underbelly ("First homes for new suburb get green light", August 5, p11).

At the August 3 annual general meeting of the Ginninderra Falls Association I heard Associate Professor Jason Sharples speak about his bushfire hazard report for the area.

In essence, the nature of the adjacent vegetation and topography suggest that intense bushfires, ember attacks, and associated turbulent winds are real threats. Another case of buyer beware?

Murray May, Cook

I do not oppose a republic. I said, "The time is not ripe." I too have known political fervour. If only you Lobaschers had read me carefully. Like a certain Dr Flint, who once invited me in as a monarchist on reading my praise of Britishness. I am sorry to have offended you. I hate offending people.

Barrie Smillie, Duffy

The Canberra Times has reported that Minister for Corrections Shane Rattenbury has instigated a national inquiry into the increase in the number of women in prison. He should have first concentrated on the situation in the ACT, for which he is personally responsible.

The situation in Canberra is alarming. Since June 30, 2016, there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of women imprisoned at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. One year ago there were 28 women in the prison, 25 per cent of whom were Aboriginal. There are now 40 women imprisoned at the AMC, 35 per cent of whom are Aboriginal. Aboriginal people constitute 1.6 per cent of the Canberra population. The increase in the overall number of women imprisoned in Canberra is, in the main, a result of a doubling, in the space of just one year, in the number of Aboriginal women sent to prison. These outcomes are consistent with the third world and should, for the capital of Australia, be a matter of national shame.

The surge in the imprisonment of women in Canberra will only be reversed with a coherent strategy to address the causes of Indigenous disadvantage and poverty and a commitment to work with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in doing so.

You don't need a national inquiry to tell you that.

Julie Tongs, CEO Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service

Caroline Fitzwarryne (Letters, August 3), in saying that "it would be wonderful (for unions) to lose their role as political power brokers", completely ignores the history of the union movement in Australia and the establishment of the ALP as the "political arm" of that movement. Likewise the Liberal Party is the "political arm" of "big business" and no doubt Caroline would see it as "wonderful" were "big business" to lose that role with the Liberal Party.

Interestingly it was enlightening to see our Prime Minister supping with his power brokers recently and excoriating them for their lack of support. I wonder, purely in the interests of "a fair-go" and "governing for all" of course, just how long it has been since Mr Turnbull dined with a trade unionist.

Roger Terry, Kingston

With the latest CBA scandal breaking courtesy of AUSTRAC, this might be a golden opportunity for the bank to revert to its original status when founded in 1911 – a "common wealth" of the Australian people. With estimates of 50,000+ contraventions attracting total fines of up to $1trillion, it's worth noting that the CBA's total assets of $933 billion (2016) and the prospective fines balance out quite nicely. So I suggest we re-nationalise the Commonwealth Bank at virtually no cost to taxpayers and look forward to whopping annual profits $9.2billion (2016) to finance what really matters — health care, education and social security. The resulting leverage over the behaviour of the other "big four" banks will be a bonus.

Heather Stewart, Weston

Your front page article "Awash with potential energy" (Aug-ust 4) discusses various sites in the ACT where matched reservoirs of water with a 300-metre vertical separation would allow a pumped storage and power regeneration to occur. But such a scheme doesn't actually need water.

Any mechanism that converts kinetic or mechanical energy into potential energy would do the same job.

The Macdonnell Ranges at Alice Springs rise 300 metres above the surrounding plain. A set of railway trucks (five maybe?) could be loaded with sand or rock and hauled up to the top of the slope by electric, solar-powered motors. That 500 tonnes sitting above the plain could then be lowered at one foot per minute, attached to the same set of pulleys that lifted them up, generating 25.5Kw per minute. Nine hundred feet at one foot per minute takes 15 hours. While that's not much, it is highly flexible as it could be 51Kw for 7.5 hours, or it could be scaled up by building, say, 40 such rail lines from the valley floor to the top of the range.

There's plenty of room. The range stretches for hundreds of kilometres.

It doesn't need scarce and volatile water, nor expensive tunnels, just currently-mothballed ore trucks and some old railway line.

George Beaton, Greenway

I was very interested in the article on the work of Andrew Blakers and team on pumped hydro energy storage, "Awash with potential energy" (August 4, p1). When I was working in areas closely related to electricity generation and usage some years ago it seemed to me that a key to the future would be finding cost and environmentally effective ways to store electricity generated by renewables (especially wind and solar). I thought at the time that using surplus power to pump water back up hill and then using it to run through a generator when needed was a very tempting idea. On that basis I hope all parties look very seriously at the ideas put forward in Professor Blakers' report. I also note that the elephant in the room is the attitude and influence on governments of coal groups concerned about their stranded investment in power stations and exports. To some extent the same comment applies to gas producers.

David Coutts, Flynn

Mike Hutchinson (Letters, August 4), I said Europe have (the present) successful constitutional monarchies, for example Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg and Monaco. The others, like France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and Spain, were never constitutional monarchies during their colonial period. The Netherlands was more interested in trade with its colonies. Italy's colonial period was mostly during the fascist era. As for a president, the US model is an option, but we don't know what is proposed by Mr Shorten or the Australian Republican Movement. I note another republican party has just been registered with the AEC, having scraped together the required 500 members again, but few voted for similar named parties in the past. In the last referendum all the states and the NT supported a constitutional monarchy. I hope the ACT will not be out of step in any future vote.

Adrian Jackson. Middle Park, Vic

FOLLOW THE MONEY

With corruption abounding at every societal level – political, banking, business, social clubs, etc – surely it is oxymoronic to have the full panoply of government, via "Taskforce Integrity", unleashed on penurious welfare recipients when "real" money lies elsewhere ("Centrelink cops flak for using AFP logo", August 5, p8).

Albert M. White, Queanbeyan

NOT A CHOPPER

Some news media are having trouble identifying the aircraft type of the tilt-rotor MV22 Osprey. It's not a helicopter. It's a VTOL – vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Bert Castellari, Curtin

DOCK MPS' PAY

The easiest way to restore dignity to Parliament would be to ensure that members and senators who would rather use plebiscites than a vote on the floor of Parliament lose some of their pay.

Any supporters of a plebiscite rather than a vote on the hill should lose 50 per cent of their salary and allowances, as a start.

Peter Harris, Belconnen

OFF-PEAK STING

I just received my electricity bill from ActewAGL. Peak power up by 19 per cent but off-peak is up by 27.9 per cent.

Not bad seeing that my basic income has been lucky to exceed 1 per cent per annum for years now. Are we being gouged again by this money-hungry government?

While we may have been expecting an Australia-wide hike of about 19 per cent, Mr Barr should force ActewAGL to reveal exactly, in detail, why the huge difference in increases between peak and off-peak rates.

M. Flint, Erindale

TRUMP'S INSIGHT

Donald Trump's observation about Malcolm Turnbull – "You are worse than I am" – shows Trump to have a level of insight and discernment hitherto unknown to the world.

Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld

NEED FOR UNIONS

What Western nations need now is the unionisation of their entire workforces to fight for better wages and conditions, improved regulation of capitalism, a role in trade deals and tariffs, and influence over automation and its consequences.

Rod Matthews, Fairfield, Victoria

PM ONE OF THE WORST

I just think that Mr Turnbull is not really keen any more on doing his job. I think he is rich and had enough of politics. He probably had made up his mind to retire soon.

I think he will be regarded as one of the worst prime ministers in Australia's history.

Mokhles K. Sidden, South Strathfield, NSW

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