With several recent serious illnesses in my family, I have had to visit Canberra Hospital regularly over the past few months, most recently with my elderly parents.
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My father is in hospital and my ageing mother has to visit him every day to comfort him, learn about his condition, and speak to various medical specialists. She herself suffers from both forms of arthritis and has a great deal of trouble walking any distance.
Considering the hospital caters mostly to the sick, elderly and infirm, I find it astonishing that the ACT Health Department does not ensure ease of access to the hospital for family members and other visitors.
There is a multistorey car park with lots of spaces for the disabled, however these people still have to walk a great distance on uneven paths and in the open to access the hospital. After a week of this with no end in sight, my mother is in enormous pain with the amount of walking she has to do and could herself end up in the hospital as a result.
With all the renovation work being done at the hospital, it would have been sensible to have included some measures for the elderly and disabled, such as travelators, a shuttle service, and mobility scooters that could be used by staff to drive visitors back to their vehicle or other mode of transport.
To ''future proof'' our hospital, consideration must be given to the location and quantity of parking for both the sick and their visitors.
Fiona Hume, Banks
Cut the hard sell
Simon Corbell's article (''Sticking with the urban glue'', Times 2, July 16, p5) typifies the overselling of the light rail project. For example, he writes that ''introducing light rail is projected to halve corridor congestion immediately''. For this to happen, virtually everybody currently driving from Gungahlin to Civic would need to leave their cars at home and take the tram, given that many people driving down Northbourne Avenue don't come from Gungahlin or stop in Civic so they'll continue to drive.
Corbell then quotes a Curtin University study that found ''no evidence'' that bus rapid transport (BRT) attracts investment, while not mentioning the ACT government-commissioned City to Gungahlin Transit Corridor: Concept Design Report (April 2012). This states on p13 that ''worldwide examples … exist of how BRT has brought new investment to cities''.
Please, let's have less ''sell'' and more balanced, credible information about this proposal.
Michael Plummer, Watson
Political suicide
Jack Waterford referred to the present government's belief that Bill Shorten's honest approach to taking effective action on climate change was equivalent to signing a suicide note (''Climate change: sense or suicide?'', Forum, July 19, p1). But Waterford failed to emphasise that local political suicide is less important than the widespread social suicide that would result from the effects of runaway global warming.
Australia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate disruption, in terms of sea-level rises and extreme weather events, such as mega fires, floods, droughts and threats to food security. A global temperature rise of 2 degrees, which now seems inevitable, will be disastrous, but a rise of between 4 degrees and 6 degrees by the end of the century would be catastrophic for the human species.
Australia has the technical and resource capacity to build a renewable energy future that will be just as viable - economically and in terms of jobs - as our fossil-fuelled activities.
''Yet by repealing laws that price and limit carbon pollution, Australia has become the world's first country to dismantle a functioning and effective carbon market, taking a monumentally reckless backward leap, even as other major countries are stepping up to climate action,'' the Climate Institute says.
In conforming to the old proverb ''none so blind as those who will not see'', Tony Abbott and his ilk display both foolishness and irresponsibility, which may reflect poorly on them at the next election.
Bryan Furnass, Hughes
Unviable vehicles
Ian Bell's lengthy letter (CT, July 18) was a rewrite of Simon Corbell's earlier efforts. In essence he said all of the criticisms of light rail were based on insufficient evaluation. But if the basic facts are considered, light rail is not viable in a city like Canberra, with a widely spread population of 400,000. In Sydney, which has a population of 5 million, it is a necessity.
Public transport, whichever form it takes, never makes a profit. The basic criterion used is which type costs the ratepayer the most. Using this criterion, trams cost the most. Brisbane's large tram network has been out of use since the 1950s.
The argument that it will create employment is particularly weak. The cost/benefit created by a new hospital or housing for the homeless would be much stronger.
I was brought up in Melbourne, which has one of the biggest tram networks in the world. The trams were nicknamed ''Rattlers''. As the track aged, the rattles increased. I never travelled on one that exceeded 60km/h. The comparison between our buses, which cruise at 80km/h, and trams does not favour light rail.
Howard Carew, Isaacs
No fear of death
I thank Mike O'Shaughnessy (Letters, July 7) and Douglas Mackenzie (Letters, July 17) for their replies to my letter (July 3). My key argument is that animals cannot imagine future events, hence whatever they fear, it is not death.
Mackenzie asks, ''Why do they run away from predators?'' Theories other than fear of death exist; the conclusion that animals fear death is, at least, not inevitable. Most plausibly, their behaviour is instinctive; animals that did not evolve instinctual fear in the face of predators have left the gene pool. Bad experiences also create instincts (think cows and electrified fences).
Death and our fear of it bear some consideration. Some people think of death as if they survive it to lament what is lost. But nothing survives it; there is nothing to fear because there is nothing similar to being dead. What is to be feared is violence preceding it. If an animal is to be put down, this is what must be eliminated.
While I have the floor, I thank the lady (apologies, I lost her letter; about July 9) who urged Thomas Suddendorf and me to get a cat. Professor Suddendorf apparently knows a lot of chimpanzees. Myself, I have a cat. Or rather, there is a cat in Yarralumla who thinks I belong to him. The more I know about him factually, the more I cherish him sentimentally.
John Cashman, Yarralumla
Tertiary fees fair
Stephen Darwin of the National Tertiary Education Union (Letters, July 22) is right when he says people care about university funding. As a voter and taxpayer, I care as I don't see why individuals seeking a university education should be funded by the government, i.e. the taxpayer.
Free education for all to secondary level is a right and a given; education at tertiary level is not. Individuals seeking to enter university are not doing so for the good of the nation. It is being done for their own intellectual advancement and potential enhancement of future earnings.
University entry is open to everyone as long as minimum entry requirements are met. It is not only for the rich.
The current HECS scheme is a very good, very fair user-pays scheme, which does not impose undue hardship on participants. In the unlikely event that the proposed university deregulation scheme comes into effect and fees are increased, it is up to the individual to decide whether to proceed or not, bearing in mind that a university degree is not necessarily a passport to higher remuneration.
Universities have regrettably become big business, and they have to act accordingly to remain viable.
Lastly, the NTEU is being somewhat hypocritical in its assertions as it conveniently forgets that it was a Labor government that introduced fees, and what did the unions in general - and the NTEU in particular - do to stop it? Bugger all!
The age of entitlement is well and truly over across the board and the sooner everyone accepts that, the better it will be for everyone.
Mario Stivala, Spence
Dirty backflip
Alan Moran (Letters, July 23) mentions that the big winners from the carbon tax were generators such as Snowy Hydro and Hydro Tasmania. This illustrates beautifully how the price on carbon worked.
Clean generators were taxed less heavily than dirty generators and therefore obtained a competitive advantage. This increased competitiveness meant Hydro Tasmania boosted its output by about 20 per cent to increase exports to Victoria, thus displacing generation from fossil fuel generators.
Hydro Tasmania doubled its profits during the first year of the tax and helped reduce the emission intensity of Victoria's generation. Indeed, emissions from electricity generation across the national grid fell by 8 per cent during the two years in which the tax applied.
With the recent removal of the carbon tax, the competitive advantage will switch back to the dirty generators and emissions from electricity generation will probably start climbing again.
David Osmond, Dickson
Budget derailed
Back from a few days' sojourn to northern climes. Gold Coast tramway opened on Sunday. Crowded trams, lots of smiles. But it was a free ride on the day. A beaming Gold Coast mayor pronounced success, then let slip its real cost - $1.2 billion.
Didn't Simon Corbell say our Gungahlin tramway would cost just $645 million based on the Gold Coast line, which is over a similar distance.
Oh dear, blown again. Maybe Mr Corbell will soon announce that he intends to not only sell the land on which EPIC and Canberra Racetrack are sited (12,500 homes) to fund the line, but to also create a gulag wall of Redfern-style blocks of flats along the route for the extra funding.
W.A. Brown, Holt
To the point
LET PUTIN COME
It would be childish and stupid to withdraw the invitation for Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 meeting in Brisbane. After all, we should be thankful Russia did not veto the motion recently moved by Australia at the UN assembly, allowing it to pass with unanimous support.
Beryl Richards, Curtin
REFLECTING ON MIRRORS
The threat reported months ago has eventuated (''City's skyline set to change as $300m project is approved'', July 23, p1). Our town council has seen fit to ignore the problems inherent in mirror-faced buildings. Now we must wait for the problems to emerge, then try to retrofit the while exercise.
Gary Wilson, MacGregor
INCREDIBLE LIGHT RAIL
One might question the credibility of light rail proponents who make statements like ''doesn't even think about all this sort of stuff'' (CT July 16, p1) and ''one of the problems with buses is they sometimes weave around'' (July 23, p3) in support of the plan for light rail in Canberra.
Ed Dobson, Hughes
CONSPICUOUS SILENCE
Regarding the recent tirade from Jacqui Lambie, where are the criticisers? Where are Katy Gallagher, Andrew Barr, Tania Plibersek, Penny Wong, Lin Hatfield Dodds, Shane Rattenbury? Those who were quick to pour the bucket every time Tony Abbott said anything even vaguely unpleasant are now conspicuously silent!
Chris Tonkin, Narrabundah
RESPECT FOR GAZA
Surely the people living in Gaza deserve a little dignity and respect, too.
Yvonne Francis, Apollo Bay
JOE FOR THE JOB
Joh, now Joe for PM!
Rod Matthews, Fairfield
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