My family were visiting from Phillip Island, Victoria for The Canberra Times running festival over the weekend and enjoyed the event immensely.
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The positive buzz and excitement was really great.
We always love visiting Canberra and participating in events such as this one.
![The Australian Running Festival 2019. Photo: Dion Georgopoulos The Australian Running Festival 2019. Photo: Dion Georgopoulos](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc74wc34fvl4wv82vt5zj.jpg/r0_264_5056_3108_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This is why we were so disappointed to return to our car to find a $97 parking fine tucked under the wipers.
Tickets were issued on a Sunday at a major community fund raising event to hundreds of cars parked on the grass in the only clearly accessible parking area in close proximity.
We were keen to park else but multiple road closures, lack of clear signage or parking attendants and the need to get to the start of our runs on time made this a non-option.
This seemed to be a cynical fund raising campaign for the local government coffers.
I would respectfully suggest ACT the government look to other ways to raise an income.
Adrian James, Cowes
Drones are a bad mistake
Your editorial "Do Canberrans really want drones?" (April 15, p.12) discusses whether drone deliveries will become part of everyday life in Canberra.
The mass delivery so-called "pizza" scenario proposed by Wing with 11,000 drone deliveries each day in the ACT by 2030 is unlikely. The social and environmental costs of this invasion of suburban peaceful amenity will quickly overwhelm any perceived benefit.
A much more likely scenario is where drones are used for rural rescue functions for example, and minimally invasive uses such as Evoenergy's monitoring of power lines.
Your editorial states most Canberra residents remain comfortably at arm's length from the impact and implications of drones. Those in the Bonython trial quickly found Wing's drone invasion was a quality of life destroyer with 80 per cent against it.
Residents wanting to protect the peaceful amenity of their suburb are unlikely to get much comfort from the ACT government as Chief Minister Andrew Barr and minister Mick Gentleman seem to be promoters of Wing's activities.
One way to communicate one's lack of support is to make contact with companies planning to use Wing's drone deliveries. I wrote to one such food company and received the following response: "Hi, we have previously participated in the Google Wing trial, but are unsure at this stage whether we will continue. Cheers".
Murray May, Cook
Drone rollout was ad hoc
Your editorial "Do Canberrans really want drones?" (April 15, p.12) neatly summarises the ad hoc way Wing has been granted permission by the Barr Government to launch its service after a limited trial opposed by many Bonython residents.
I note no single agency, federal or ACT, takes sole, if any, responsibility for regulating these future pests over our residences. But this does not prevent the Barr government from licensing a site from which to launch them.
If no agency will take responsibility for regulating drones when they invade our amenity, privacy and animal life flying near or over our properties which agencies will prosecute people who bring them down?
John Mellors, Coombs
Support Soldier On, not AWM
Soldier On recently launched "In Their Honour" at the Australian War Memorial, an initiative seeking donations to continue and extend its work with service women and men whose transition to civilian life can leave them in very dark places.
Those who spoke at the launch included the AWM director who implored the public to be generous in their support.
The apparent hypocrisy was startling given the $500 million approved for the expansion of the AWM could go a long way towards assisting Soldier On to reach out to the many veterans with still unmet needs in the regions it currently does not operate.
This charity receives only one per cent of its funding from government and wants to extend its work beyond the 2800 men and women it currently helps.
Yes, let us support the invaluable work of Soldier On but please let there be some commonsense prioritising of scarce public funds.
Ann Darbyshire, Hughes
Bread and circuses
It comes as no surprise the Barr government is spending over $100,000 to celebrate the advent of light rail.
It comes as no surprise the Barr government is spending over $100,000 to celebrate the advent of light rail. It's a classic bread and circuses approach.
- Mike Quirk, Garran
It's a classic bread and circuses approach designed to distract the community from the government's poor performance. Nero and Caligula would be impressed.
Mr Barr start addressing the challenges facing the city: the increasing congestion, declining housing affordability, poor city maintenance and declining access to facilities and services.
Mike Quirk, Garran
Can they fix this?
The online facility for paying ACT rates fails to provide the ratepayer with the opportunity to visually confirm the account number and amount were correctly entered before taking the user to the actual payment page. Only when payment has finally been processed do we get to see the account number that we originally entered and, hopefully, experience the relief of belatedly knowing that we'd entered it correctly.
My request to Access Canberra a few months ago to fix this glaring deficiency was met with the response that the A.C.T government doesn't actually own the payment gateway!
As I indicated in reply, it would be a matter of the utmost programming simplicity to echo the account number and the amount payable (and preferably also the address of the property) back to the user before proceeding to the payment page.
I've received no further reply from Access Canberra and needless to say nothing has been done.
G. A. Joseph, Hackett
Brexit disaster looms
I thank Crispin Hull ("Navigating the ... border issue of Brexit", April 13, Forum p27) for mentioning the mouse in the room.
Ireland has managed to wedge its way into the world techno scene despite being stuck out in the Atlantic, 'an island behind an island' as France's King Louis XIV once dismissively described it.
It did this first by producing a well-educated workforce from a tiny impoverished resource base, and then by lowering its corporate tax rate to attract the wealthiest, and most advanced, corporations and their skills to its territory.
The effects of a Brexit crash out on the British economy were compared by Nick Miller with 'a GFC hammer blow'. Deeply damaging though that will be, it will be a mere slap compared to the effect on the economy next door.
The peace treaty (the Good Friday Agreement) that ended the UK civil war in 1998 could be destroyed by a messy Brexit process.
The British Isles could fragment into three or more states.
Even London might join Scotland and Ulster and secede to rejoin Europe.
A. Moore, Melba
Fear campaign under way
It appears there is a stark difference in tax plans between Coalition and opposition.
I'm concerned the Coalition has created the perception of politicising the public service by getting Treasury, to cost out Labor's tax plan.
I'm also concerned that the sudden blow out of costings from $200 to $387 billion does not indicate what components are forecasts and what are legislated.
Thomas Natera, Ngunnawal.
What about grandmothers?
So the Senate's Centre Alliance wants refunds of excess franking credits grandfathered (Labor facing $6 billion threat to plans from cross-benchers, April 12, p.5).
First pensioners, now grandfathers. Who will be exempted next from this unfair policy?
What about exempting grandmothers who are likely to have less assets in superannuation and so more need for a refund?
Or Labor could recognise that franking credits are not the problem and address the real problem of a few Self Managed Superannuation Funds with excessive assets paying 15 per cent tax on earnings.
Bruce Porter, Palmerston
What animals want
I was most amused by Mike O'Shaughnessy's vegan style rant (Letters, April 15) regarding what animal liberationists really want.
Re: "Non-humans (animals) want to be given the same respect as humans and not subjected to pain, stress or loss of freedom". Life itself comes with a modicum of pain and stress. I assume this is true for human and non-human alike.
What intrigued me was non-humans should not be subjected to loss of freedom.
I imagine he was referring to farmed animals and those kept in zoos. Imagine how many of those on Newstart could find gainful employment in patrolling around picking up dung from all of the cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, llamas, elephants, zebras, lions, meerkats and so forth suddenly free to wander our streets.
T. J. Farquahar, Ainslie
TO THE POINT
LET'S MAKE A LAW
Okay, build the separated bike paths but please, will our pollies introduce a law at the same time that any cyclists who continue to cycle on the road when a bike path is supplied cops a fine?
Dale Rymer, Downer
WE'RE ALL SINNERS FOLAU
Never mind Israel, the 'establishment' and the crowd crucified Jesus for speaking unpalatable truth too so you're in good company. But you left out the rest of humanity. All of us is under the same sentence and the same offer of salvation is open to all.
J. Halgren, Latham
WHAT DO WE WANT?
I read with interest that Scott Morrison kicked off his campaign in Tasmania. I'm sure he and his entourage enjoyed a direct flight to this important part of our landscape. Being a Canberran with family in Tasmania I can only dream of having the same privilege. I wouldn't have to spend the longest part of the journey waiting for a transfer from either Sydney or Melbourne.
Joseph Italiano, Red Hill
SAY THAT AGAIN
My car insurance renewal showed the value of the vehicle decreased by five per cent this year while the premium increased by 9.5%. If the rate is calculated as a premium percentage of the value of the vehicle, the rise in rate is from 0.04190788 to 0.0460196 (a bit under 4.2% to 4.6%). That would infer a rise of only 0.4% rather than the actual cash cost of 9.5% on a lower value vehicle. Is this how the government presents to us that inflation is hardly happening?
Ian Coombes, Macgregor
WAIT FOR THE HANGOVER
So the Barr government is to blow $100,000 on a shindig to celebrate the opening of Canberra's light rail. If you think that's scandalous wait until you see the bill for the wake.
John K. Layton, Holt
THE PIERS AND TONY SHOW
I see Tony Abbott has embraced the support of conservative journalist, Piers Akerman, to tread the footpaths of Warringah in support of his re-election. Doesn't Abbott have enough trouble already? Onions and knighthoods. What next?
Linus Cole, Palmerston
A PAINFUL PROSPECT
I am sorry Abbott's Village Bakery. I cannot buy your bread. My wife does not want to be reminded of Tony Abbott, and by extension, the Catholic church, every time she looks at the bread. Even if Tony is booted out I suspect it will take years for her to recover.
John Hutchison, Coombs
PRISONER AT RISK
Your article "Jail Fail" (April 15, p.1) referring to makeshift weapons at the Canberra prison identified a current inmate who revealed the situation. Would it be surprising if he came to harm from fellow prisoners?
D. Tanner, Curtin
CLEVER MOVE BILL
If elected, Bill Shorten will provide $200 million dollars for light rail. This will just about extend the line to the beginning of Adelaide Avenue. When the House has a late sitting, Bill will be able to duck down to Civic, pick up a couple of take-aways and jump on the tram back home to the Lodge.
Ken Keirven, Melba